In April 1360, the English army was struck by one of the worst weather-related disasters in its history. Edward III’s force of 10,000 men, the most powerful army yet mustered for the hundred years war, rampaged across France. The French army took shelter behind the walls of Paris and refused to do battle, so Edward decided to besiege Chartres.
On 13 April, Easter Monday, a sudden and intense thunderstorm struck the English camp. Violent winds tore apart tents and overturned wagons. Lightning flashed down, killing several men. Panic set in when giant hailstones started falling, causing the horses to scatter, along with freezing rain.
“It seemed as if the world was come to an end,” wrote the French chronicler Jean Froissart. “The hailstones were so large as to kill men and beasts, and the boldest were frightened.” King Edward is said to have fallen to his knees and prayed as the storm raged.
The army reportedly lost more than 1,000 men to the combined effects of lightning, hailstones, stampede and sudden chill, more than been killed at the battle of Crécy.
Three weeks later, Edward, “much humbled”, according to Froissart, signed a peace treaty with the French. In it he renounced his claim to the French throne and ended the first phase of the war – all because of a storm.
