Beginning of the war: 1337–1360 End of homage At the end of April 1337, Philip of France was invited to meet the delegation from England but refused. The
arrière-ban, a call to arms, was proclaimed throughout France starting on 30 April 1337. Then, in May 1337, Philip met with his Great Council in Paris. It was agreed that the Duchy of Aquitaine, effectively Gascony, should be taken back into the King's hands because Edward III was in breach of his obligations as a vassal and had sheltered the King's "mortal enemy"
Robert d'Artois. Edward responded to the confiscation of Aquitaine by challenging Philip's right to the French throne. When Charles IV died, Edward claimed the succession of the French throne through the right of his mother, Isabella (Charles IV's sister), daughter of Philip IV. His claim was considered invalidated by Edward's homage to Philip VI in 1329. Edward revived his claim and in 1340 formally assumed the title "King of France and the French Royal Arms". On 26 January 1340, Edward III formally received homage from Guy, half-brother of the
Count of Flanders. The civic authorities of
Ghent,
Ypres, and
Bruges proclaimed Edward King of France. Edward aimed to strengthen his alliances with the
Low Countries. His supporters could claim that they were loyal to the "true" King of France and did not rebel against Philip. In February 1340, Edward returned to England to try to raise more funds and also deal with political difficulties. Relations with Flanders were also tied to the
English wool trade since Flanders' principal cities relied heavily on textile production, and England supplied much of the raw material they needed. Edward III had commanded that his
chancellor sit on the
woolsack in council as a symbol of the pre-eminence of the wool trade. At the time there were about 110,000
sheep in Sussex alone. The great medieval English monasteries produced large wool surpluses sold to mainland Europe. Successive governments were able to make large amounts of money by taxing it. France's sea power led to economic disruptions for England, shrinking the wool trade to
Flanders and the wine trade from Gascony.
Outbreak, the English Channel and Brittany from a
BNF manuscript of
Froissart's Chronicles, Bruges, . On 22 June 1340, Edward and his fleet sailed from England and arrived off the
Zwin estuary the next day. The French fleet assumed a defensive formation off the port of
Sluis. The English fleet deceived the French into believing they were withdrawing. When the wind turned in the late afternoon, the English attacked with the wind and sun behind them. The French fleet was almost destroyed in what became known as the
Battle of Sluys. England dominated the English Channel for the rest of the war, preventing French
invasions. At this point, Edward's funds ran out and the war probably would have ended were it not for the death of the
Duke of Brittany in 1341 precipitating a succession dispute between the duke's half-brother
John of Montfort and
Charles of Blois, nephew of Philip VI. In 1341, this inheritance dispute over the
Duchy of Brittany set off the
War of the Breton Succession, in which Edward backed John of Montfort and Philip backed Charles of Blois. Action for the next few years focused on a back-and-forth struggle in Brittany. The city of
Vannes in Brittany changed hands several times, while further campaigns in Gascony met with mixed success for both sides. The English-backed Montfort finally took the duchy but not until 1364.
Battle of Crécy and the taking of Calais , 1346, from the
Grandes Chroniques de France.
British Library, London In July 1346, Edward mounted a major invasion across the channel, landing on Normandy's
Cotentin Peninsula at
St Vaast. The English army
captured the city of
Caen in just one day, surprising the French. Philip mustered a large army to oppose Edward, who chose to march northward toward the Low Countries, pillaging as he went. He reached the river Seine to find most of the crossings destroyed. He moved further south, worryingly close to Paris until he found the crossing at Poissy. This had only been partially destroyed, so the carpenters within his army were able to fix it. He then continued to Flanders until he reached the river Somme. The army crossed at a tidal ford at Blanchetaque, stranding Philip's army. Edward, assisted by this head start, continued on his way to Flanders once more until, finding himself unable to outmaneuver Philip, Edward positioned his forces for battle, and Philip's army attacked. counting the dead on the battlefield of Crécy The
Battle of Crécy of 1346 was a complete disaster for the French, largely credited to the English
longbowmen and the French king, who allowed his army to attack before it was ready. Philip appealed to his Scottish allies to help with a diversionary attack on England. King
David II of Scotland responded by invading northern England, but his army was defeated, and he was captured at the
Battle of Neville's Cross on 17 October 1346. This greatly reduced the threat from Scotland. In France, Edward proceeded north unopposed and
besieged the city of
Calais on the English Channel, capturing it in 1347. This became an important strategic asset for the English, allowing them to keep troops safely in northern France. Calais would remain under English control, even after the end of the Hundred Years' War, until the successful
French siege in 1558.
Battle of Poitiers The
Black Death, which had just arrived in Paris in 1348, ravaged Europe. In 1355, after the plague had passed and England was able to recover financially, King Edward's son and namesake, the
Prince of Wales, later known as the
Black Prince, led
a chevauchée from Gascony into France, during which he pillaged
Avignonet,
Castelnaudary,
Carcassonne, and
Narbonne. The next year during
another chevauchée he ravaged
Auvergne,
Limousin, and
Berry but failed to take
Bourges. He offered terms of peace to King
John II of France (known as John the Good), who had outflanked him near Poitiers but refused to surrender himself as the price of their acceptance. This led to the
Battle of Poitiers (19 September 1356) where the Black Prince's army routed the French. During the battle, the Gascon noble
Jean de Grailly,
captal de Buch led a mounted unit that was concealed in a forest. The French advance was contained, at which point de Grailly led a flanking movement with his horsemen, cutting off the French retreat and successfully capturing King John and many of his nobles. With John held hostage, his son the
Dauphin (later to become
Charles V) assumed the powers of the king as
regent. After the Battle of Poitiers, many French nobles and mercenaries rampaged, and chaos ruled. A contemporary report recounted:
Reims campaign and Black Monday in 1360: hailstorms and lightning ravage the English army outside
Chartres Edward invaded France, for the third and last time, hoping to capitalise on the discontent and seize the throne. The Dauphin's strategy was that of non-engagement with the English army in the field. However, Edward wanted the crown and chose the cathedral city of
Reims for his coronation (Reims was the traditional coronation city). However, the citizens of Reims built and reinforced the city's defences before Edward and his army arrived. Edward besieged the city for five weeks, but the defences held and there was no coronation. Edward moved on to Paris, but retreated after a few skirmishes in the suburbs. Next was the town of
Chartres. Disaster struck in a freak
hailstorm on the encamped army, causing over 1,000 English deaths – the so-called
Black Monday at Easter 1360. This devastated Edward's army and forced him to negotiate when approached by the French. A conference was held at Brétigny that resulted in the
Treaty of Brétigny (8 May 1360). The treaty was ratified at Calais in October. In return for increased lands in Aquitaine, Edward renounced Normandy, Touraine, Anjou and Maine and consented to reduce King John's ransom by a million crowns. Edward also abandoned his claim to the crown of France.
First peace: 1360–1369 , English holdings in light red The French king,
John II, was held captive in England for four years. The
Treaty of Brétigny set his ransom at 3 million crowns and allowed for hostages to be held in lieu of John. The hostages included two of his sons, several princes and nobles, four inhabitants of Paris, and two citizens from each of the nineteen principal towns of France. While these hostages were held, John returned to France to try to raise funds to pay the ransom. In 1362, John's son
Louis of Anjou, a hostage in English-held Calais, escaped captivity. With his stand-in hostage gone, John felt honour-bound to return to captivity in England. The French crown had been at odds with
Navarre (near southern
Gascony) since 1354, and in 1363, the Navarrese used the captivity of John II in London and the political weakness of the Dauphin to try to seize power. Although there was no formal treaty, Edward III supported the Navarrese moves, particularly as there was a prospect that he might gain control over the northern and western provinces as a consequence. With this in mind, Edward deliberately slowed the peace negotiations. In 1364, John II died in London, while still in honourable captivity.
Charles V succeeded him as king of France. On 16 May, one month after the dauphin's accession and three days before his coronation as Charles V, the Navarrese suffered a crushing defeat at the
Battle of Cocherel.
French ascendancy under Charles V: 1369–1389 Aquitaine and Castile In 1366, there was a civil war of succession in
Castile (part of modern Spain). The forces of the ruler
Peter of Castile were pitched against those of his half-brother
Henry of Trastámara. The English crown supported Peter; the French supported Henry. French forces were led by
Bertrand du Guesclin, a Breton, who rose from relatively humble beginnings to prominence as one of France's war leaders. Charles V provided a force of 12,000, with du Guesclin at their head, to support Trastámara in his invasion of Castile. in
Dinan,
Brittany Peter appealed to England and Aquitaine's
Black Prince, Edward of Woodstock, for help, but none was forthcoming, forcing Peter into exile in Aquitaine. The Black Prince had previously agreed to support Peter's claims but concerns over the terms of the treaty of Brétigny led him to assist Peter as a representative of Aquitaine, rather than England. He then led an Anglo-Gascon army into Castile. Peter was restored to power after Trastámara's army was defeated at the
Battle of Nájera. Although the Castilians had agreed to fund the Black Prince, they failed to do so. The Prince was suffering from ill health and returned with his army to Aquitaine. To pay off debts incurred during the Castile campaign, the prince instituted a
hearth tax.
Arnaud-Amanieu VIII, Lord of
Albret had fought on the Black Prince's side during the war. Albret, who already had become discontented by the influx of English administrators into the enlarged Aquitaine, refused to allow the tax to be collected in his fief. He then joined a group of Gascon lords who appealed to Charles V for support in their refusal to pay the tax. Charles V summoned one Gascon lord and the Black Prince to hear the case in his High Court in Paris. The Black Prince answered that he would go to Paris with sixty thousand men behind him. War broke out again and Edward III resumed the title of King of France. Charles V declared that all the English possessions in France were forfeited, and before the end of 1369 all of Aquitaine was in full revolt. With the Black Prince gone from Castile, Henry of Trastámara led a second invasion that ended with Peter's death at the
Battle of Montiel in March 1369. The new Castilian regime provided naval support to French campaigns against Aquitaine and England and England backed
John of Gaunt's claim to the Castilan throne. In 1372, the Castilian fleet defeated the English fleet in the
Battle of La Rochelle.
1373 campaign of John of Gaunt In August 1373,
John of Gaunt, accompanied by
John de Montfort, Duke of Brittany led a force of 9,000 men from Calais on a . While initially successful as French forces were insufficiently concentrated to oppose them, the English met more resistance as they moved south. French forces began to concentrate around the English force but under orders from
Charles V, the French avoided a set battle. Instead, they fell on forces detached from the main body to raid or forage. The French shadowed the English and in October, the English found themselves trapped against the
River Allier by four French forces. With some difficulty, the English crossed at the bridge at
Moulins but lost all their baggage and loot. The English carried on south across the
Limousin plateau but the weather was turning severe. Men and horses died in great numbers and many soldiers, forced to march on foot, discarded their armour. At the beginning of December, the English army entered friendly territory in
Gascony. By the end of December, they were in
Bordeaux, starving, ill-equipped, and having lost over half of the 30,000 horses with which they had left Calais. Although the march across France had been a remarkable feat, it was a military failure.
English turmoil and
Tovar, managed to raid the English coasts for the first time since the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. With his health deteriorating, the Black Prince returned to England in January 1371, where his father Edward III was elderly and also in poor health. The prince's illness was debilitating, and he died on 8 June 1376. Edward III died the following year on 21 June 1377 and was succeeded by the Black Prince's second son
Richard II who was still a child of 10 (
Edward of Angoulême, the Black Prince's first son, had died sometime earlier). The treaty of Brétigny had left Edward III and England with enlarged holdings in France, but a small professional French army under the leadership of du Guesclin pushed the English back; by the time Charles V died in 1380, the English held only Calais and a few other ports. It was usual to appoint a
regent in the case of a child monarch but no regent was appointed for Richard II, who nominally exercised the power of kingship from the date of his accession in 1377. Between 1377 and 1380, actual power was in the hands of a series of councils. The political community preferred this to a regency led by the king's uncle,
John of Gaunt, although Gaunt remained highly influential. Richard faced many challenges during his reign, including the
Peasants' Revolt led by
Wat Tyler in 1381 and an Anglo-Scottish war in 1384–1385. His attempts to raise taxes, including
poll taxes, to pay for his Scottish adventure and for the protection of Calais against the French made him increasingly unpopular.
1380 campaign of the Earl of Buckingham In July 1380, the
Earl of Buckingham commanded an expedition to France to aid England's ally, the
Duke of Brittany. The French refused battle before the walls of
Troyes on 25 August; Buckingham's forces continued their and in November laid siege to
Nantes. The support expected from the Duke of Brittany did not appear and in the face of severe losses in men and horses, Buckingham was forced to abandon the siege in January 1381. In February, reconciled to the regime of the new French king
Charles VI by the
Treaty of Guérande, Brittany paid 50,000 francs to Buckingham for him to abandon the siege and the campaign.
French turmoil After the deaths of Charles V and du Guesclin in 1380, France lost its main leadership and overall momentum in the war.
Charles VI succeeded his father as king of France at the age of 11, and he was thus put under a regency led by his uncles, who managed to maintain an effective grip on government affairs until about 1388, well after Charles had achieved royal majority. With France facing widespread destruction, plague, and economic recession, high taxation put a heavy burden on the French peasantry and urban communities. The war effort against England largely depended on royal taxation, but the population was increasingly unwilling to pay for it, as would be demonstrated at the
Harelle and Maillotin revolts in 1382. Charles V had abolished many of these taxes on his deathbed, but subsequent attempts to reinstate them stirred up hostility between the French government and populace. Philip II of Burgundy, the uncle of the French king, brought together a Burgundian-French army and a fleet of 1,200 ships near the Zeeland town of
Sluis in the summer and autumn of 1386 to attempt an invasion of England, but this venture failed. However, Philip's brother
John of Berry appeared deliberately late, so that the autumn weather prevented the fleet from leaving and the invading army then dispersed again. Difficulties in raising taxes and revenue hampered the ability of the French to fight the English. At this point, the war's pace had largely slowed down, and both nations found themselves fighting mainly through
proxy wars, such as during the
1383–1385 Portuguese interregnum. The independence party in the
Kingdom of Portugal, which was supported by the English, won against the supporters of the King of Castile's claim to the Portuguese throne, who in turn was backed by the French.
Second peace: 1389–1415 The war became increasingly unpopular with the English public due to the high taxes needed for the war effort. These taxes were seen as one of the reasons for the Peasants' Revolt. Richard II's indifference to the war together with his preferential treatment of a select few close friends and advisors angered an alliance of lords that included
one of his uncles. This group, known as
Lords Appellant, managed to press charges of treason against five of Richard's advisors and friends in the
Merciless Parliament. The Lords Appellant were able to gain control of the council in 1388 but failed to reignite the war in France. Although the will was there, the funds to pay the troops was lacking, so in the autumn of 1388 the Council agreed to resume negotiations with the French crown, beginning on 18 June 1389 with the signing of the three-year
Truce of Leulinghem. In 1389, Richard's uncle and supporter,
John of Gaunt, returned from Spain and Richard was able to rebuild his power gradually until 1397, when he reasserted his authority and destroyed the principal three among the Lords Appellant. In 1399, after John of Gaunt died, Richard II disinherited Gaunt's son, the exiled
Henry of Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke returned to England with his supporters, deposed Richard and had himself crowned Henry IV. In Scotland, the problems brought in by the English regime change prompted border raids that were countered by an invasion in 1402 and the defeat of a Scottish army at the
Battle of Homildon Hill. A dispute over the spoils between Henry and
Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, resulted in a long and bloody struggle between the two for control of northern England, resolved only with the almost complete destruction of the
House of Percy by 1408. In Wales,
Owain Glyndŵr was declared
Prince of Wales on 16 September 1400. He was the leader of the most serious and widespread
rebellion against England authority in Wales since the
conquest of 1282–1283. In 1405, the French allied with Glyndŵr and the Castilians in Spain; a Franco-Welsh army advanced as far as
Worcester, while the Spaniards used galleys to raid and burn all the way from
Cornwall to
Southampton, before taking refuge in
Harfleur for the winter. The
Glyndŵr Rising was finally put down in 1415 and resulted in Welsh semi-independence for a number of years. , in Paris in 1407 In 1392,
Charles VI suddenly descended into madness, forcing France into a regency dominated by his uncles and his brother. A conflict for control over the Regency began between his uncle
Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and his brother,
Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans. After Philip's death, his son and heir
John the Fearless continued the struggle against Louis but with the disadvantage of having no close relation to the king. Finding himself outmanoeuvred politically, John ordered the assassination of Louis in retaliation. His involvement in the murder was quickly revealed and the
Armagnac family took political power in opposition to John. By 1410, both sides were bidding for the help of English forces in a civil war. In 1418
Paris was taken by the Burgundians, who were unable to stop the massacre of
Count of Armagnac and his followers by a Parisian crowd, with an estimated death toll between 1,000 and 5,000. Throughout this period, England confronted repeated raids by
pirates that damaged trade and the navy. There is some evidence that Henry IV used state-legalised piracy as a form of warfare in the English Channel. He used such
privateering campaigns to pressure enemies without risking open war. The French responded in kind and French pirates, under Scottish protection, raided many English coastal towns. The domestic and dynastic difficulties faced by England and France in this period quieted the war for a decade. The body of the Duke of Clarence was recovered from the field by
Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury, who conducted the English retreat.
English success Henry V returned to France and went to Paris, then visiting Chartres and Gâtinais before returning to Paris. From there, he decided to attack the Dauphin-held town of
Meaux. It turned out to be more difficult to overcome than first thought. The siege began about 6 October 1421, and the town held for seven months before finally falling on 11 May 1422. At the end of May, Henry was joined by his queen and together with the French court, they went to rest at
Senlis. While there, it became apparent that he was ill (possibly
dysentery), and when he set out to the Upper Loire, he diverted to the royal castle at Vincennes, near Paris, where he died on 31 August. The elderly and insane Charles VI of France died two months later on 21 October. Henry left an only child, his nine-month-old son,
Henry, later to become Henry VI. On his deathbed, as Henry VI was only an infant, Henry V had given the Duke of Bedford responsibility for English France. The war in France continued under Bedford's generalship and several battles were won. The English won an emphatic victory at the
Battle of Verneuil (17 August 1424). At the Battle of Baugé, the Duke of Clarence had rushed into battle without the support of his archers; by contrast, at Verneuil the archers fought to devastating effect against the Franco-Scottish army. The effect of the battle was to virtually destroy the Dauphin's field army and to eliminate the Scots as a significant military force for the rest of the war.
French victory: 1429–1453 Joan of Arc and French revival in 1429. From
Les Vigiles de Charles VII,
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. The English laid
siege to Orléans in October 1428, which created a stalemate for months. Food shortages within the city led to the likelihood that the city would be forced to surrender. In April 1429
Joan of Arc persuaded the Dauphin to send her to the siege, stating she had received visions from God telling her to drive out the English. She entered the city on April 29, after which the tide began to turn against the English within a matter of days. She raised the morale of the troops, and they attacked the English
redoubts, forcing the English to lift the siege. Inspired by Joan, the French took several English strongholds on the Loire River. pictured in 1429 The English retreated from the Loire Valley, pursued by a French army. Near the village of
Patay, French cavalry broke through a unit of English longbowmen that had been sent to block the road, then swept through the retreating English army. The English lost 2,200 men, and the commander,
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, was taken prisoner. This victory opened the way for the Dauphin to march to
Reims for his coronation as Charles VII, on 16 July 1429. After the coronation, Charles VII's army fared less well. An attempted French
siege of Paris was defeated on 8 September 1429, and Charles VII withdrew to the Loire Valley.
Henry's coronations and the desertion of Burgundy Henry VI was crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey on 5 November 1429 and king of France at Notre-Dame, in Paris, on 16 December 1431. Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians at the
siege of Compiègne on 23 May 1430. The Burgundians then transferred her to the English, who organised a trial headed by
Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais and a collaborator with the English government who served as a member of the English Council at Rouen. Joan was convicted and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431 (she was rehabilitated 25 years later by
Pope Callixtus III). After the death of Joan of Arc, the fortunes of war turned dramatically against the English. Most of Henry's royal advisers were against making peace. Among the factions, the Duke of Bedford wanted to defend Normandy, the Duke of Gloucester was committed to just Calais, whereas
Cardinal Beaufort was inclined to peace. Negotiations stalled. It seems that at the
congress of Arras, in the summer of 1435, where the duke of Beaufort was mediator, the English were unrealistic in their demands. A few days after the congress ended in September,
Philip the Good,
duke of Burgundy, deserted to Charles VII, signing the
Treaty of Arras that returned Paris to the King of France. This was a major blow to English sovereignty in France. The Duke of Bedford died on 14 September 1435 and was later replaced by
Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York.
French resurgence (1450) The allegiance of Burgundy remained fickle, but the Burgundian focus on expanding their domains in the Low Countries left them little energy to intervene in the rest of France. The long truces that marked the war gave Charles time to centralise the French state and reorganise his army and government, replacing his feudal levies with a more modern professional army that could put its superior numbers to good use. A castle that once could only be captured after a prolonged siege would now fall after a few days from cannon bombardment. The French artillery developed a reputation as the best in the world. By 1449, the French had retaken
Rouen. In 1450 the
Count of Clermont and
Arthur de Richemont, Earl of Richmond, of the Montfort family (the future
Arthur III, Duke of Brittany), caught an English army attempting to relieve Caen and defeated it at the
Battle of Formigny in 1450. Richemont's force attacked the English army from the flank and rear just as they were on the verge of beating Clermont's army.
French conquest of Gascony by
Jean Fouquet.
Louvre, Paris. After Charles VII's successful Normandy campaign in 1450, he concentrated his efforts on Gascony, the last province held by the English. Bordeaux, Gascony's capital, was besieged and surrendered to the French on 30 June 1451. Largely due to the English sympathies of the Gascon people, this was reversed when John Talbot and his army retook the city on 23 October 1452. However, the English were decisively defeated at the
Battle of Castillon on 17 July 1453. Talbot had been persuaded to engage the French army at Castillon near Bordeaux. During the battle the French appeared to retreat towards their camp. The French camp at Castillon had been laid out by Charles VII's ordinance officer
Jean Bureau and this was instrumental in the French success as when the French cannon opened fire, from their positions in the camp, the English took severe casualties losing both Talbot and his son.
End of the war Although the Battle of Castillon is considered the last battle of the Hundred Years' War, England and France remained formally at war for another 20 years, but the English were in no position to carry on the war as they faced unrest at home. Bordeaux fell to the French on 19 October and there were no more hostilities afterwards. Following defeat in the Hundred Years' War, English landowners complained vociferously about the financial losses resulting from the loss of their continental holdings; this is often considered a major cause of the
Wars of the Roses that started in 1455. The Hundred Years' War almost resumed in 1474, when the duke
Charles of Burgundy, counting on English support,
took up arms against
Louis XI. Louis managed to isolate the Burgundians by buying
Edward IV of England off with a large cash sum and an annual pension, in the
Treaty of Picquigny (1475). The treaty formally ended the Hundred Years' War with Edward renouncing his claim to the throne of France. Kings of England (and later of Great Britain) continued to
claim the title until 1803, when they were dropped in deference to the exiled Count of Provence, titular King
Louis XVIII, who was living in England after the
French Revolution. == Significance ==