The HundredYears War

From the Middle Ages to the Dawn of the Renaissance

I. Causes

1. Conflicting claims to the French throne....

	Edward IV (England)

2. Economic conflicts over trade with Flanders (modern Belgium)

• Merchants have grown wealthy from the wool trade with England

  -Triangular Trade: English wool to Flanders, finished cloth to southern France, Wine to England

  -France attempts to reassert control and taxation

3. Factional fighting in France over territory (remnants of feudal vassalage)

• France is a collection of states with rivals for most of the thrones: Brittany, Normandy (claimed by England), Comte Franche, Aquitaine (claimed by England), Flanders

II. The Spark 1337

• Edward III of England decides to press his claim to the throne of France
• The wealthy merchants of Flanders give him their support.
• Philip VI declares Aquitaine and Normandy forfeit, because Edward does simple homage and refuses to pay liege homage

III.The War

• 1339-1360, English gain substantial lands in the North and West at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers, both of which are overwhelming victories for the English, in spite of having smaller armies, fighting ends with the Treaty of Bretigny in which France cedes the lands controlled by the English
• Fighting is reduced by both sides during the Black Death from 1347-1353

A. What made the English so powerful?

• England was united under one monarch
• French are divided and fight with or against the English, depending on their leader's interests
• Better weapons!!

THE LONGBOW

• The longbow first emerged as a hunting weapon as early as 8,000 BCE
• Vikings, using a much improved version of the bow, defeated the Welsh in the 600’s and 700’s.
• The Welsh, using an even better version of the bow, successfully defeated Edward I of England in his first attempt to conquer them in 1280, but later fell to greater English numbers
• The English began to develop their own version, and made limited but successful use of it against the Scots
• The English adopt the longbow as a military weapon; to be used primarily as massed infantry support
• English longbows were made from a single piece of yew, cut from the center of the branch or trunk to include both heartwood and sapwood, which workedtogether like a bimetal strip. These bows were 60” to 75” in length and had a draw weight of 80-100 lbs. Arrows were 27”-30” in length and could hit targets 200-250 yards away. They were tipped with narrow iron heads that were dipped in wax and could pierce the armor plate worn by mounted knights of the era.
• Edward III of England lay claim to the throne of France and began plans to invade. He was faced by superior French forces (France’s population was three times that of England) and the need to transport thousands of men (and armor and horses?) across the channel.
• Edward III assembled an army which included 10,000 longbow archers, who outnumbered all other soldiers in the English force, combined.
• The English soundly defeated the French at Crecy, largely due to the longbow archers
• Survivors of the battle said the arrows coming from the English archers formed a cloud that “darkened the sun.” 10,000 archers, firing 10 arrows a minute gave the English a fire power of 100,000 arrows a minute!!  Historians estimate that 1 1/2 MILLION arrows were used in the course of the battle. Close to 800 French soldiers were killed or wounded for each archer killed.
• The English became the supreme Military force in Western Europe and defeated the French time and again throughout the first part of the Hundred Years War, and were able to completely dominate Scotland and Ireland.
• The mounted knights of the nobility were no longer the mainstay of the English army, and began to lose the special privileges given them when they were so desperately needed by monarchs to fight their wars.  Instead, the monarchs now had to court the peasant farmers to fight their wars.  This led to a leveling of political power and the beginning of peasants having some political say.

B. Peasant Revolts

• 1358, The Jacquierie in France put down by Charles “the Bad” of Navarre, killing 20,000 peasants in the effort

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• 1381, Peasants Revolt led by John Ball, a priest, Wat Tyler and Jack Straw

C. The Return of the French, 1369-1373

• Charles V assumes the throne of France.By using hit and run tactics, wearing down the English garrisons, avoiding pitched battles with the English archers and making an alliance with the Kingdom of Castille and their powerful navy (which destroyed the English fleet),  the French are able to recapture most of the lands taken by the English.

D. Consolidation and Peace

• Charles V takes control of Brittany and puts down a Flemish rebellion, Charles VI takes over and makes his uncle, the Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flanders.
• Truce of Leuinghen stops fighting until 1404, Richard II of England marries Isabella (Charles VI daughter) and agrees to a 28 year truce
• English nobles, angered at being cut off from French plunder, rise up and depose Richard II (Plantagenet) in favor of Henry IV (House of Lancaster)

E. Return to Fighting

• 1402 French troops assist the Scots in an unsuccessful invasion of England, 1403 begin raiding the English coast, 1405 assist the Welch rebellion, 1406 attack the remaining English possessions in France.
• 1407,  the Duke of Burgundy assassinates the Duke of Orleans, brother of the King, and France is divided between the Burgundians (who also control Flanders) and Orléanists (Armagnacs), both appeal to Henry IV for help in 1411
• 1413, Henry V assumes the throne of England when his father dies and accepts an alliance with the Burgundians.

F. Return of the English

• Henry V invades northern France, and defeats a superior French force at Agincourt.
• Most of the leading nobles of the Armagnacs/Orléanists are killed or captured, gravely weakening them against the Burgundians. Both sides establish governments, Orléanists in Paris, Burgundians in Troyes.

The Height of English Power in France

• Henry V captured Normandy while the Burgundians captured Paris and central France. The two eldest sons of Charles VI are killed while in Burgundian custody, leaving Charles (VII) as heir.
• 1420, Henry V imposes the treaty of Troyes, which provides for his marriage to Catherine, Charles VI’s daughter and his assumption of the French throne on Charles death. Charles is suffering from severe mental illness and his daughter passes this into the English line.
• 1421, dauphin Charles (VII, heir to the throne) takes the field against the English only to suffer a series of defeats. 1422, Henry V dies leaving his ten month old son in the hands of a regent, his brother John of Bedford, who continues the campaigns, up until the siege of Orleans in 1429

III. The End of the War

• Jeanne (Joan to the English) de Arc becomes symbolic leader of Orléanist forces and unites all of France but Burgundy behind her. Breaks the siege of Orleans and captures several towns. Charles VII crowned king of France.
• Jeanne captured by Burgundians, turned over to the English, tried by the Inquisition and burned at the stake in 1430.
• Orléanists and Burgundians reach a settlement and create an alliance against the English in 1435
• Fighting continues until the Truce of Tours in 1444

France’s Ultimate Victory

• From 1445 to 1450, Charles VII reorganizes his military, builds up his navy and plans his moves.
• In 1449 the English break the truce and Charles invades the English territories. At Formigny in 1450, the French defeat an English army of longbow archers for the first time by using small barrel, mobile cannon to disrupt the English formations.
• Charles retakes all of northern France except the port of Calais

17 July 1453, in the battle of Castillon, the French, using 300+ cannon and handguns, rout an English army and retake the last territory still held in western France.

The Hundred Years War is at an end.

IV. Results of the War

1. Creation of professional armies ends the need to cater to the mounted knight representing the nobility and makes the peasant more important.

2. Introduces the gun as an important new weapon as well as different tactics.

3. Began the development of national monarchies in France and England and ended the feudal age in both countries.

4. England is able to become the champion of Protestantism and a challenger to Spain and her Catholicism

5. England turns to maritime expansion

6. Liberation of the French church from Rome, but still subject to the French crown