On the 26th of August in the year 1346, English and French armies faced each other across the battlefield near the town of Crecy-en-Ponthieu in northern France in what would be among the first major battles of the Hundred Years War.

The English armies were equipped with relatively new technologies, like the longbow and bombard (an early medieval cannon), providing them major tactical advantages.

So, at least for the French, the battle was murderous; Crecy was one of the worst defeats in French military history. But for local French people living in the area, it was only the beginning of dark days ahead.

Only a short time after the Battle of Crecy, France was infested with the Bubonic Plague.

Some cities lost more than 50% of their population to the plague. And for the people who survived, life changed overnight.

France's authorities deemed the plague to be God's punishment for humanity's evil ways. So their solution was to ban anything they deemed sinful, ranging from "human sensuality" to "extremely short garments" to men who "possess shoes with pointed toes. . ."

Fanatical religious cults sprung up all across Europe, including France, known as "flagellants", who would wander from town to town, viciously whipping their own naked flesh into a bloody mess, in order to atone for their sinful ways.