The 100 Years War (1337-1453) inflicted so much misery on France. Farmlands were laid waste, the population was decimated by war, famine, and the Black Death. Marauders terrorized the countryside. Civil wars (Jacquerie; Cabochiens; Armagnacs; and Burgundians) and local wars (War of the Breton Succession) increased the destruction and social disintegration.
The 100 Years War was fought between France and England and lasted 116 years. The war started because Charles IV of France died in 1328 without a son. Edward III of England then believed he had the right to become the new king of France through his mother, Isabella, daughter of Philip IV of France.
Edward was the eldest son Edward II and Isabella. She married Edward II in 1308. Neglected and mistreated by Edward, Isabella nourished hatred for the royal favorites, the Despensers, who were responsible (1324) for the confiscation of her states. Their son, Edward III was made Earl of Chester in 1320 and duke of Aquitaine in 1325. In 1325 she was sent to France with her son Edward, the future Edward III, to negotiate with her brother Charles IV over Gascony. Once there, she ignored royal orders to return to England with her son. Becoming the mistress of Roger de Mortimer, late 1st Earl of March, English noblemen, she plotted with him to invade England. Their invasion (1326) was successful. Mortimer inherited (1304) vast estates and the title of his father, Edmund, 7th baron of Wigmore. Appointed lieutenant of Ireland (1336), he was instrumental in securing the defeat of Edward Bruce, Scottish king of Ireland (1316-1318), brother of Robert I of Scotland, and thus was able to consolidate his own holdings in Ireland. After Edward II was forced to abdicate by Isabella and Mortimer, Edward III was enthroned as king early in 1327, although the real power was in fact exercised by Isabella and Mortimer. They caused the murder of Edward II and began a corrupt rule in England and at the same time acquired a great wealth. In 1328 Edward married Philippa of Hainaut, and in 1330 his first son, Edward the Black Prince, was born.
In 1327, Edward, who had gone to Scotland on an unsuccessful expedition, resented the terms of the treaty of North-Hampton (1328), by which he had renounced the Scottish throne, and decided to support Edward de Baliol's claim to the Scottish throne against the young Scottish king David II. Baliol invaded Scotland in 1332 and was crowned at Scone. He was soon driven out.
In 1330, Edward seized power over the English crown and had Mortimer executed and forced Isabella, to retire. In 1334, Edward III, came to Scotland again to support Baliol and together defeated the forces of the young David II at Halidon Hill. Then Edward de Baliol as king ceded several Southern counties to Edward III. Baliol was driven out again and David II, who had been in France, returned in 1341 as king. In 1356 Baliol retired surrendering his title as king to Edward III.
Then the basic cause of the 100 Years War was a dynastic quarrel that originated when the conquest of England by William of Normandy created a state lying on both sides (France and England) in the English Channel, also known as The Arm of the Atlantic and La Manche (the sleeve).
In the 14th century the English kings held the duchy of Guienne, in South West France which had no geographic unity and included part of the Aquitaine basin and part of the Central Highlands in South Central France. The highlands cover almost a 6th of the surface of France. They English resented paying homage to the French kings and they feared the increasing control exerted by the French crown over its great feudal vassals.
Then the immediate causes of the 100 Years War were the dissatisfaction of Edward III of England with the nonfulfillment by Philip VI of France of his pledges to restore a part of Guienne taken by Charles IV; the English attempt to control Flanders, an important market for English wool and a source of cloth; and Philip's support of Scotland against England.
Guienne was synonymous with Aquitaine until the 100 Years War. It passed to England through the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II in 1152. Bordeaux is the historical capital, the chief port, and the center of the wine industry.
The birth of the lyric poetry of the troubadours (aristocratic poet-musicians) occurred in Guienne from the end of the 11th century through the 13 century. Many of them were noblemen and crusader knights and some were kings, e.g., Richard I, Coeur de Lion; Thibaut IV, king of Navarre; and Alfonso X, king of Castile and Leon. Of the more than 400 known troubadours living between 1090 and 1292 the most famous are -Jaufre Rudel de Blaia, -Bernart de Ventadorn, -Peire Vidal (1180-1206, of Toulouse, traveled widely in Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, Spain and Malta. Richard I Coeur de Lion was one of his patrons. He involved himself in numerous escapades and he was notable for his strong personal feelings and simple style), -Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, -Folquet de Marseille (archibishop of Toulouse, -Bertrand de Born, -Arnaut Daniel, -Gaucelm Faidit, -Raimon de Mirabal, -and Guiraut Riquier. Their lyrics were sung and accompanied by instruments that duplicated the melody (all music preserved is monophonic). The poems were written in the Southern dialect called 'langue d'oc.' The most common forms were political poems, morning songs, pastorals, and disputes. The favorite subjects were courtly love, war, and nature. Their influence spread to central and North France, where their counterparts were the trouveres. In Germany they were imitated by the minnesingers. The tradition was also carried to Spain and Italy.
The war is dated from 1337, when Edward III of England assumed the title of king of France, a title held by Philip IV. Edward first invaded France from the Low Countries (1339-40) North West of Europe comprising the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, with small success on land but defeating (1340) a French fleet at the Battle of Sluis. In 1346 Edward won the Battle of Crecy and besieged Calais, which surrendered in 1347. In 1356 he won the Battle of Poitiers, capturing King John II of France. After prolonged negotiations, the Treaty of Bretigny was signed (1360); England received Calais and all of Aquitaine, as well as a large ransom for the captive king.
The Gascon nobles, oppressively taxed by Edward the Black Prince, appealed (1369) to King Charles V. The war was renewed and by 1373, Bertrand Du Guesclin, greatest French soldier of his time, and very knowledgeable of the tactics used by both parties, won back most of the lost French territories.
In 1415, Henry V of England renewed the English claims, took Harfleur and defeated France's knights at Agincourt. By1419 he had subdued Normandy. Philip the Good mediated between Henry V and Charles VI of France and Charles recognized Henry as heir to the crown of France.
By 1429 the English and their Burgundian allies were masters of all France North of the Loire, but in that year Joan of Arc raised the siege of Orleans and saw Charles VII crowned king of France. Her capture by the Burgundians and her judicial murder did not stop the renewal of French successes.
In 1435, Charles obtained the alliance of Burgundy. By 1450 the French re-conquered Normandy and by 1451 all Guienne but Bordeaux was taken. After the fall of Bordeaux (1453), England retained only Calais, which was not conquered by France until 1558. England, torn by the War of the Roses, made no further attempt to conquer France.
The successor of Charles VII, Louis XI benefited from all the chaos that the 100 Years of War brought to France. He began his reign dismissing many of his father's best advisers, and also deserted his former allies and began the task of centralizing authority in the crown. A model that later was followed by all the crowns of Europe. A born diplomat, Louis skillfully checked his foreign and domestic enemies and set up an efficient central administration. He used commissions to give his acts the appearance of popular approval. He diminished the power and the prestige of the courts. He intervened freely in church affairs. he imposed heavy taxes, using much of the revenue to purchase support. he encouraged industry and expanded domestic and foreign trade. He preferred men of humble origin using them as his personal advisors to lecturing himself how to move the popular mass with false hope. Fearing assassination, he spent his last years in virtual self-imprisonment near Tours, capital of Touraine in West central France. This city was a center of medieval Christian learning and favored by many kings. It was there that Charles Martel halted (732) the Moorish conquest of Europe. The city has produced painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, and tapestry weavers.
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