The Hundred Years' War (Part 1)

 

100 years are a long time. Do you know how long a time 100 years are? Well, to get an idea, more or less...

-This is how long the Sleeping Beauty slept for.

-This is how long an average chess match lasts.

-This is how long it will be before Dan Schneider finally does us a favor and makes a Victorious reunion episode.

-Also, this is how long the Hundred Years' War lasted.

But what exactly is the Hundred Years' War?

Well, this is what historians arbitrarily call a series of conflicts that took place between France and England over the period 1337-1453. The truth, though, is that the conflicts between those two medieval kingdoms began long before that period and ended long afterward.

The pretext on which warfare commenced in 1337 was a dispute over succession to the French throne (we will come back to this below), but the rivalry between France and England went back a long way, dating back to 1066, when William the Conqueror, a French nobleman (we talked about him HERE), seized the throne of England.

This created a strange, unique situation: William found himself King of England and Duke of Normandy at the same time. In other words, just as all his successors over the following centuries, he was, at the same time, a vassal and a peer of the French King!

Things got even more complicated later, in 1154, when the House of Plantagenet, which originated from Anjou in France, took the English throne. Henry II, the first monarch from the aforementioned house (we talked about him HERE), held lands in France the extent of which surpassed even those held by the French King himself!

The Angevin Empire (this is the unofficial name of Henry II's vast state), though, was short lived. The English failed to hold onto all those territories of theirs in France and, by 1324, the Duchy of Aquitaine (aka Gascony, aka Guyenne) was the only French region left in English possession.

Moreover, the French King was ready to confiscate the aforementioned duchy at the drop of a hat (e.g. because the English King did not show the French King proper respect, or because the English King was at war with Scotland, an ally of France, or because the English King had given refuge to some enemy of the French King, or because the English King had blocked the French King on Facebook).

But let's come back to the Hundred Years' War. After the death of King Philip IV of France (we talked about him HERE), his three sons reigned one after another, with all three of them dying without leaving any male offspring behind.

And since, due to the Salic Law, females could not inherit the French throne, the next in line was Count Philip of Valois, Philip IV's nephew.

However, King Edward III of England, who happened to be the son of Isabella, the sister of Charles IV (the deceased king), claimed that, actually, he was the next in line, that, even though his mother had indeed no right to the throne, she could nonetheless bequeath to him a right she did not have!

In the end, Edward's arguments convinced nobody and the majority of the French nobility acknowledged Philip of Valois as the new king. Philip of Valois was crowned Philip VI in 1328. Seeing that further persistence would get him nowhere, Edward half heartedly paid homage to the French King.

However, when, in 1337, Philip confiscated Guyenne, Edward was like, 'Not cool, dude. Remember that time I acknowledged you as the rightful king of France? Well, you can kiss that goodbye. In fact, I'm gonna invade France and take the French throne right now!'

Philip was like, 'Come and get it, jackass. I will wipe the floor with you.'

Philip VI was sure he could win this war easily. And who could blame him? France was richer than England and, furthermore, its population was much larger. I, too, would have put my money on France!

What Philip did not take into consideration was the fact that the economy of the powerful County of Flanders greatly depended on the English wool trade, which, of course, Eddie used to his advantage, thus gaining a powerful ally.

The French army suffered crushing defeats at the Battle of Crecy (1346) and that of Poitiers (1356), during which King John II of France was captured.

To make matters worse, the French had to face not only the English but also the Black Death (a bubonic plague pandemic way worse than the COVID hoax) as well as one another; poor peasants were robbed by mercenaries and noblemen alike, anarchy prevailed.

And, with everything pointing towards England annexing France, an unexpected disaster occurred. On Easter Monday 1360 (which came to be known as Black Monday), on the way to Paris, the English army, led by King Edward III, was ravaged by a hailstorm which killed over 1000 men.

This forced the English monarch to negotiate and finally sign the Treaty of Bretigny. According to that, the English possessions in France were increased, Edward abandoned his claim to the French throne and a ransom would be paid for King John to be released.

And so, peace was restored. But not for long!

What happened afterward? I'll tell you another time.

Until then, if you like the way I write my articles, you can enjoy my political essay HERE.

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See you next time!