Home > Hundred Years' War

The effective beginning of the war was the decision of King Edward III of England to make a claim to the throne of France following the death of King Charles IV of France in 1328. Edward's claim was through his mother, Isabella of France, Charles's sister. However, the French quoted the Salic law in order to bypass female heirs. Edward refused to do homage to Philip VI of France in 1337 and war began soon afterward.

Edward's campaigns against the French knights were mostly successful. He was far less successful against their castles. He defeated the French at the Battle of Crecy in 1346 and was defeated in turn at the Battle of the Thirty in 1351 during which 30 French knights from Chateau Josselin called out and defeated 30 English knights. The French, observing chivalric tradition, sold Knollys ( Canolles ) and Cavely . This was good for the individual knights but damaged the country. Again, at the Battle of PoitiersBattle of Poitiers Dates of battle September 19, 1356 Conflict Hundred Years' War Battle before Crecy Battle after Agincourt Site of battlenear Maupertuis, 3km south of Poitiers Combatant 1England led by Edward, the Black Prince Forces9,000 men Combatant in 1356Events January 20 Edward Balliol surrenders title as King of Scotland to Edward III of England September 19 Battle of Poitiers The English defeat the French in the Hundred Years' War, capturing the King John II of France in the process. December 25 Empero, John II of FranceLouvre Museum), the oldest profile portrait in Europe Jean II ( April 16, 1319 April 8, 1364), sometimes called Jean the Good ( French: Jean le Bon , was King of France from 1350 to 1364. Jean, a member of the Valois Dynasty, was the son of Philippe VI an was poorly served by the disloyal French noble, Captal de BuchCaptal de Buch (later Buch was an archaic feudal title in Gascony, captal from Latin capitalis "prime, chief" in the formula capitales domini or "principal lords. As an actual title the word "captal" was used only by the seigneurs of Trene, Puychagut, Epe, who led an outflanking movement which cost the French the battle, and led to the imprisonment of the French king in England. At that time the English forces were under the command of the king's eldest son, Edward the Black Prince.

In 1358Events Births August 24 King John I of Castile September 25 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Ashikaga shogun Deaths 25 January Isabella of France (wife of King Edward II of England) June 7 Ashikaga Takauji, Ashikaga shogun August 16 Duke Albert II of Austria 1358., a peasant revolt called the JacquerieThe Jacquerie was a peasant revolt that took place in northern France in 1358, during the Hundred Years' War. After the capture of the French King John II the Good by the English during the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, the power in France devolved to the E took place. It was caused in part by the deprivations suffered by the country people during the war and their hatred of the local nobility. Led by Guillaume Kale (Carle or Cale), they joined forces with other villages, and beginning in the area of BeauvaisBeauvais is a city of northern France, prefecture (capital) of the Oise departement''. Population (1999): city: 57,355 beauvaisiens ; city and suburbs: 59,003; urban area (in French: aire urbaine : 100,733. It lies about 90 kilometers north of Paris., north of Paris, committed atrocities against the nobles and destroyed many chateaux in the area. All the rebellious groups were defeated later that summer and reprisals followed.

Fortunately for the French, the next king Charles V, nullified English gains. The Treaty of Brétigny in 1360 served to consolidate English holdings in the south-west of France.

Just before New Year's Day 1370, the English Seneschal of Poitou, John Chandos, was defeated at the bridge at Chateau Lussac . The loss of this commander was a significant blow to the English. Captal de Buch was also captured and locked up by King Charles who, like the English, was not bound by outdated chivalry. The Black Prince was heavily involved in Spain. During the reign of his son, the boy-king Richard II of England, there was something of a lull, and it was not until Richard had been deposed by Bolingbroke ( Henry IV of England), that his son Henry V of England seriously revived the English claim to the French throne.

Henry V's victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 resulted in his being accepted as the heir of King Charles VI of France, whose daughter, Catherine of Valois, he married. A civil war in France between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs was exploited by Henry V, who allied with the Burgundians.

On January 19, 1419 Rouen surrendered to Henry V of England, which made Normandy a part of England after over 200 years of French control.

After Henry's early death in 1422, almost simultaneously with that of his father-in-law, his baby son was crowned King Henry VI of England and also King of France, but the French (Armagnacs) remained loyal to Charles VI's son, dauphin Charles. War continued half-heartedly until the raising of the siege of Orléans in 1429, which brought Joan of Arc to the fore and led to dauphin Charles being crowned King Charles VII of France.

In 1435, the Burgundians under Philip the Good switched sides, returning Paris to the King of France. In 1450, the count of Clermont and Arthur III, Duke of Brittany caught the English army at Formigny and defeated it, using cannons to break up the archers. By 1453, Charles VII had finally created an army as opposed to a group of knights, and in the final battle of the Hundred Years' War, fought at Castillon (east of Bordeaux), the Bureau brothers used cannon to good effect against the John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, who was killed.

Following Henry VI's episode of insanity in 1453 and the subsequent outbreak of the Wars of the Roses, the English were no longer in any position to pursue their claim to the French throne and lost all their land on the continent (except for Calais). Ill feeling between the two nations continued well into the 16th century. England did not formally renounce rights to the French throne until 1800.