How the long wars between France & England started.
Fighting started in the Hundred Years' War because the
Kings of England - descendants of William the Conqueror
who still spoke French -wanted to rule France as well.
France was temptingly weak and divided.
It began with the English King already ruling a large part of
France (see Map 1); it ended with him ruling hardly any, but
with what is now Nord - Pas de Calais split off under
foreign rule for several centuries.
The English claim
MAP 1: Who ruled where
in 1328:
English King Edward III
held lands mainly in
Aquiraine, the rich winegrowing province around
Bordeaux in SW France.
It began in 1328, when the French king died with no
children. The English king Edward III actually had a good
"claim" to inherit the French throne. Edward's claim was
through his French mother, Eleanor, who was the dead
French king's aunt . It was usual for medieval royal families
to intermarry like this, always seeking to make alliances.
The French split
French nobles faced a choice: who would give them more
power and independence in their own lands - a French King
in Paris who they had helped into power, or a distant
Englaih King ruling often from London?
The first faction rushed to crown a French cousin whose
claim. was not as good as Edward's. With their new king,
they attacked Edward's lands in SW France (Aquitaine) and
in 1337, Edward III declared war.
The other faction allied with Edward. Counts of Flanders
tended to take England's side against France in any conflict,
because of links with England in the vital wool trade.
Powerful lords in other outlying regions such as Brittanny
and Normandy feared the ambitions of those who wanted a
stronger centralised French kingdom. They allied with the
English. to help keep their independence
The English "nutcracker"
Tactically Edward had a strong position, with the French caught in a "nutcracker"
between Edward's lands held as Duke of Aquitaine in the south and his Flemish and other
allies in the north.
French disasters:
(1) losing control of the Channel
In 1340, the French king prepared the first blow: he
assembled a great fleet, carrying an army to crush
England's allies in Flanders before invading England itself.
But the English attacked and destroyed the French fleet at
sea off Sluys (east of Dunkerque, in modern Holland).
Both sides anchored their ships and fought something like
a land battle across the wooden decks.
English win one of the first
ever sea battles: the Battle of
Sluys 1340
Edward III now controlled the Channel and was free to
invade and wage war over the enemy's lands - which
proved catstrophic for the people of the North. The
English army was a mixed force of infantry, archers,
pikemen and light cavalry - battle-hardened after
successfully fighting the Welsh and Scots, and made up of
well-trained and organised English mercenaries,
enthusiastic supporters of his cause and eager for plunder.
English slaughter French They proved to be the most effective army Europe had
seen since the Romans.
knights at the Battle of
Crecy 1346
(2) losing their finest knights at Crecy
In 1346, the English invaders were weakened by sickness
and retreating to the channel ports. They took a stand on a
hill at Crecy.
As the heavily armoured French knights struggled up the
muddy hillside in a traditional feudal cavalry charge. they
were massacred by the English infantry and archers - a
lesson they did not learn.
(3) losing Calais, which gave England a base in N.France
Edward III then besieged Calais. After a year, the inhabitants were starving - but under
medieval tradition, they would expect to be killed if the attackers succeeded, because
they had fought back. Six leading citizens offered their own lives if Edward III would
spare the rest of the townsfolk.
His queen took pity on them, and asked if the brave burghers could also be spared if the
town surrendered. The citizens of Calais were permitted to leave their town without
further bloodshed; their homes were given to new English settlers, who made Calais into
a fortified English stronghold - a base for military expeditions into France and the nearContinent for the next two centuries.
The capture of Calais (L to R):
1. Edward III besieges the town in 1347
2. Calais Town Hall with its spectacular belfry, and the famous statue of the Six Burghers
by Rodin.
3. In 1349, the French tried to retake Calais - despite sickness, the English defenders beat
them off.
Misery and the Black Death
The first half of the Hundred Years War proved as
catastrophic for the North as well as the rest of France.
Destructive fighting disrupted the economy: there were
appalling plagues (at least a third of the population of both
England and France died in 1348 in the Black Death), and
violent and bloody revolts in which peasants looted nobles'
houses and castles.
French defeat and creation of the Franc
Soldiers looting a captured
town
Peace was declared in 1360. The English won a massive
victory at Poitiers (1356), tcapturing the French King Jean
le Bon. He was released for a ransom paid in gold coins
called "franc-or" - "free gold".* He agreed to end the
fighting, and to leave the English in control of large areas
in western France - as well as Calais.
* Francs became the official national money of France at the French Revolution 1789, until the
euro (2002).
Reverses for the English
The peace allowed the French King to establish more control. In 1369 the Count of
Flanders died, and the French king, Charles V, had - for the time being - driven the
English from their early conquests in the north of France. He broke the Anglo-Flemish
alliance, by forcing the Count's only child, Marguerite of Flanders, to marry his brother
Philippe, Duke of Burgundy. The marriage joined the Low Countries in the north with
Burgundy in the east. After a few skirmishes, Flanders acquiesced.
The dying English king Edward III had hoped to strengthen the Anglo-Flemish alliance
by marrying the sought-after heiress to his fifth son - instead his ally was now controlled
by France. As the English grew weaker, Philippe brought the whole area of Falnders
firmly under his control. It remained Burgundian for four reigns of French kings.
English Peasants Revolt 1381
Young Richard II faced an English Peasants' Revolt in
1381. - fuelled by bitter resentment of the unfair Poll Tax
raised to pay for the costly French wars.
1381 Peasants' Revolt in
England: Richard II meets
the Kentish rebels led by
Wat Tyler
The French took advantage of English weakness. Having
driven the English out of all but Calais and a few other
strongholds in France (see Map 2), the French struck
across the Channel, helped by Spanish warships based in
Rouen.
Savage French raids
In savage raids in the 1380s, the French briefly captured
the Isle of Wight, and burned south coast towns like
Sandwich, Winchelsea and Gravesend. In Kent,
Canterbury and Dover hurriedly build town walls. Bodiam
Castle was built to protect Sussex. The English knew the
French had gathered a big fleet; and expected an invasion
in 1386.
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MAP 2: By 1382, Richard II
has lost most of the French
lands won by his grandfather
Edward III
...then Burgundy splits with the French
crown
French success did not last! In 1380 the French king
Charles V was succeeded by his son, Charles VI, who
sadly became insane. He had no children, and a feud
developed over who shuld take over.
In 1407 the French royal family divided into two camps the Armagnacs (Maison d'Orleans) and the Burgundians.
Their feud plunged France into civil war. The powerful
Duke of Burgundy failed to win the French crown, but
decided to set up his own empire instead.
1415 Azincourt - the height of English
power
The English took advantage of French divisions to invade
Normandy again. In 1415 Henry V, king of England, was
returning towaeds Calais when the French army, superior
in number, caught up with hom at Azincourt. This resultied
in another annihilation like Crecy, English archers wiped
out the flower of the French nobility.
After this victory, Henry V conquered the north and west
of France (see Map 3) - very nearly succeeding in
achieving his grandfather Edward III's ambitions.
Burgundy expands in the North...
Allied again with England, the Duke of Burgundy
conquered the county of Boulogne, then Hainaut and the
bishopric of the Cambrésis.
MAP 3: 1430 - the height of
English power in France.
...and Henry V prepares his coronation in
The Duke of Burgundy,
allied with the English has Paris
While the weak French king cowered south of Paris in the
captured Joan of Arc.
small remaining part of his kingdom.In1420 he signed the
Treaty of Troyes with Henry V., agreeing to English rule
over N France, and that Henry would inherit the crown of
France on his death - to run the two countries as a dual
kingdom.
Joan of Arc - the French fight back
In 1429, Joan of Arc began her quest to unite the French
behind the future Charles VII and drive the English out of
France. She relieved siege of Orleans, and led the Dauphin
to be crowned at Rheims in 1429.
But Joan was captured by Burgundian troops and handed
over to the English. They burnt her as a witch (for wearing
Jeanne d'Arc - a peasant girl
men's clothes), at English-held Rouen in 1431. English
inspired by "voices of
Henry VI was crowned king of France in Paris.
angels" rouses the
demoralised french trrops
However Joan had inspired a French revival.With a welland saves Orléans from an
organised disciplined army, the French king Charles VII
English siege
now had the war-weary English on the run.
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In 1435 Charles VII bribed Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, to break the alliance with
the English in exchange for Ponthieu. Only fours years later, though, he re-established the
important wool trade relations with England and the Flemish economy took off again.
Driving the English out of France
One by one, Charles VII besieged and captured the
remaining English strongholds.
With the capture of Bordeaux (1453), the English had lost
all their French all their French lands except Calais.(see
Map 4)
That was really the end of the One Hundred Years war so
far as England was concerned , though a formal treaty to
1450 - French king captures end the war between England and France was only signed
Cherbourg, England's last in 1475.
stronghold in Normandy ending the link from 1066 Charles VII's son, Louis XI (1461-1483) now fought to
assert his power over the mighty nobles - especially the
Duke of Burgundy....
The Aftermath: France v. Burgundy
In 1461 Louis XI confronted Charles the Foolhardy, the
last duke of Burgundy, who ruled a huge and very rich
state stretching from the North Sea to the Alps (see Map
4)
The frontier lands between them, Artois and Picardy, were
ravaged once again by bitter fighting.
MAP 4: By 1470, the
English have lost everything
except Calais; Henry XI
turns all his forces on the
Duke of Burgundy...
1464: young French King Louis XI (centre, left) fails to
agree peace terms with Charles, Duke of Burgundy
(centre, right). They fight for the next 13 years.
How Nord-Pas de Calais came under foreign rule
In 1477 Charles the Foolhardy was killed in a siege of Nancy, near what is now
Switzerland. Louis XI quickly took advantage, conquered much of the North, and
permanently siezed Burgundy itself.
Before the dead Duke's inheritance had completely fallen to Louis XI, Marie, his heir and
the new Duchess of Burgundy, married a Hapsburg, the future Emperor, Maximilian of
Austria.
It took Maximilian 20 years to re-establish control over the lands of his predecessor.
Louis XI continued fighting on this distant frontier, reluctant to leave the North in foreign
hands. But by 1493, Maximilian as Duke of Burgundy once again ruled Arras and the
Artois region as well Flanders.
Fpr the next 150 years, France fought to keep hold of the region around Montreuil and
Boulogne. Four isolated French strongholds also remained in Burgundian territory ,
including Therouanne and Hesdin.
France fought to control Montreuil and the Artois region
Henry VIII and François I
met in a grandiose summit
outside the English
stronghold at Calais - but
failed to agree an alliance.
Maximilian's grandson, Charles V, became Emperor in
1519. To limit his territorial ambitions and to get help in
regaining Artois, François I sought an alliance with
England. In 1520 they met at the Field of the Cloth of
Gold , but failed to agree. Henry VIII went off to
Gravelines to join forces with Charles V instead.
1529 - the Treaty of Madrid-Cambrai restored the Artois
region to the Charles V as Duke of Burgundy. For a
century, Montreuil became the frontier fortress of France.
1537 - Charles V besieged and captured Montreuil with
English help. they pillaged and largely destroyed the town.
1544 - Henry VIII besieged and captured Boulogne, but
handed it back to France in 1550 for a considerable sum.
Montreuil held out against another Anglo-Spanish siege.
1553 - The French continued their bloody incursions into Imperial territory from their
Artois strongholds. An infuriated Charles V ordered their total annihilation: Thérouanne
and Hesdin were razed to the ground and the soil rendered sterile with salt.
1558 - The French finally won Calais back from the English. In the 16th century, and
until reconquest by the French, blood origins remain of vital importance : under Spanish
rule, you were only allowed to work for the local administration if you were born in
Flanders, Artois or Hesdin.
1567 - Meanwhile, the French king built a strong Citadelle at Montreuil. It was again
attacked by the Spanish in 1594 - they realised the gateway was a weak point, so the town
walls were strengthened with only two gateways in and out. In 1604, Henri IV visited
Montreuil and declared it "Fidelissima Picardorum Natio."
1659 - Louis XIV's Treaty of the Pyrénées rejoined the Artois region to France, leaving
Montreuil safely well behind the frontier.