Battle of Crécy
Edward ended the campaign by laying siege to Calais, which fell after eleven months, the Battle of Crécy having crippled the French army's ability to relieve the town. This secured an English entrepôt into northern France which was held for two hundred years. The battle established the effectiveness of the longbow as a dominant weapon on the Western European battlefield. English and Welsh archers served as mercenaries in Italy in significant numbers, and some as far afield as Hungary. Modern historian Joseph Dahmus includes the Battle of Crécy in his "Seven Decisive Battles of the Middle Ages".