Hundred Years' War

1338-1453

This series of wars between England and France, began with Edward III's attempts to enforce his claims to the French throne and ended by England losing all its French conquests except Calais. In 1328 Charles IV of France died leaving no male issue, and Edward then claimed the throne in right of his mother, Isabella, sister of Charles, although by the Salic law women were excluded from the French throne. The French peers refused to acknowledge Edward and accepted Philip of Valois as their king. Edward then appeared to submit and did homage to Philip for Guienne (Aquitaine) which belonged to the English crown. But when Philip espoused the cause of David II of Scotland against Edward, the latter renewed his claim to the French crown, assumed the title of King of France, and invaded the country with an army to enforce his claim.

It is quite clear that throughout Edward was anxious to fight; he saw himself as one of the great warrior-kings of the age of chivalry. In addition he was probably anxious to keep the Flemish trade in English hands. The chief events in the period from 1339 to 1355 were the defeat of the French fleet of Sluys (1340); the campaign of Brittany (1342); the battle of Crécy (1346), and, in the same year, the beginning of the siege of Calais. David had invaded England as the ally of France, but was heavily defeated by Queen Philippa's army at Neville's Cross (12 October 1346). In 1347 famine caused Calais to surrender to Edward, and a truce was made with France which was further prolonged by the Black Death.

Philip VI died in 1350 and was succeeded by his son John II, known as 'the Good'. In 1355 the war was renewed as fiercely as before, with France considerably weakened by internal quarrels. Edward advanced from Calais, while the Black Prince ravaged the south of France. The next events were the battle of Poitiers (19 September 1356), the capture there of King John, and the latter's signed promise to return all those French possessions which had been held by Henry II, without exacting homage. The French nobility refused to ratify these terms, and Edward again invaded France and besieged Paris. As a result, the Treaty of Bretigny (1360) was signed, in which Edward renounced all claim to the French crown and to the provinces of Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Touraine, but received in return, without obligation of homage, the provinces of Poitou, Guienne, and the town of Calais, together with 3 million gold crowns as a ransom for King John.

War broke out again in 1369, however, owing to the Black Prince's harsh administration of Guienne. The Gascons then appealed to the King of France to help them. The Black Prince replied to the challenge by marching towards Paris at the head of a large army. But failing health compelled him to relinquish his command, and thereafter France gradually won back all the possessions, only Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Calais remaining to the English crown (1376). When hostilities were again renewed in earnest it was at the initiative of the French king, who demanded from Henry IV of England the dowry and jewels of Richard II's French widow, Isabella, which Henry retained as part of John's ransom. There was no open declaration of war, but a kind of piratical warfare was carried out at sea, and eventually, through the dissensions of the houses of Orléans and Burgundy and the imbecility of the French king, Charles, England, posing as the Orléans's champion, won back the sovereignty of Aquitaine, Poitou, and Angoulême (1412).

The distracted state of France at this time gave every encouragement to the ambitions of Henry V who revived all Edward III's claims to the French throne, demanded the restoration of all the possessions held in France by King John, the hand of Charles's daughter in marriage, and a dowry of two million crowns. When his demands were refused Henry invaded France and won the battle of Agincourt (25 October 1415). He then returned to England but invaded France again in 1417, with a larger army than before. The Burgundians had gone over to the English camp, owing to the murder of the Duke of Burgundy by the rival faction, and the French king had no option but to acquiesce in all Henry's demands. The Treaty of Troyes was signed in 1420, recognising Henry as regent, with the right to succeed to the French throne on the death of Charles. The premature death of Henry V, however, followed by the accession of the infant Henry VI, upset all these schemes, and though the infant Henry was duly proclaimed King of France, the Dauphin immediately assumed the title of Charles VII.

At Crévant, in 1423, and Verneuil, in 1424, the Dauphin met with crushing defeats and was forced to retire across the Loire. In 1428 the regent, Bedford, planned to cross the Loire and march into those provinces in the south which still adhered to Charles. At Orléans (1492) the defeat sustained by the French so discouraged them that Charles was on the point of giving up the struggle altogether when the whole situation was changed by the appearance of Joan of Arc. The English were thrown back from Orléans, and Joan helped to crown Charles at Reims. Though Joan died at the stake (1431) the English cause continued to wane. The Duke of Burgundy went over to the King of France (1435) at Arras. Bedford died in the same year, and before the new regent reached France Paris fell into the hands of the French king. Soon afterwards only Guienne and Normandy remained of all England's French possessions. At the end of a two-year truce (1444-46) the French overwhelmed Normandy, and then, turning south, captured Guienne. By 1455 Calais alone remained to the English and the long-drawn war was at an end. France emerged from the war ravaged but united into one kingdom as never before; England, however, was, at the conclusion, financially exhausted, politically unstable, and had reaped in the long run none of the commercial advantages for which Edward III had hoped.

© JM Dent/Historybookshop.com

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