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The Hundred Years' War
On the strength of his claim to the French throne as a direct descendant of
Philip IV the Fair through his mother, Isabella of France, in 1337 Edward III of
England refused to do homage for Guienne to King Philip VI  , the first ruler of the
Valois branch whose legitimacy Edward contested. The hostilities that erupted
shortly afterward between France and England would continue, with periodic
truces, until 1451, hence the name : The Hundred Years' War. The early phase of
the conflict was marked by crushing setbacks for the French at the hands of
their more mobile and aggressive adversary (the Battle of Crécy in 1346 and the
especially disastrous Battle of Poitiers in 1356, which resulted in the capture
of King John the Good by the Black Prince ). Before long, however, major
military operations gave way to a war of attrition under Charles V. In Bertrand
du Guesclin, a future high constable, Charles found an able leader who rid the
kingdom of the marauding Free Companies, bands of mercenaries who were pillaging
the realm. By the time Charles V died in 1380 the situation had stabilized, and
the conciliatory policies of England's Richard II , at century's end, fostered
hopes for a lasting peace. But the madness of Charles VI and bitter feuding among the
princes of the blood seriously weakened the kingdom : in 1407 John the Fearless,
duke of Burgundy, engineered the murder of the king's brother, Louis of Orleans,
leaving France torn between warring Armagnacs and Burgundians. Henry V of
England seized the opportunity in October 1415 to inflict a devastating defeat
on France at Agincourt, abetted by the active neutrality of John the Fearless.
France emerged from the debacle divided into three parts : master of Normandy,
Henry secured Paris and had Charles VI acknowledge him as the legitimate heir to
the French throne ; John the Fearless and his son, Philip the Good, defended the
independence from France of the powerful duchy of Burgundy and its Flemish
dominions. The dauphin, Charles, youngest son of Charles VI and Isabella of
Bavaria, had retreated to Bourges, where he held the provinces of central and
southwestern France, save for Guienne. From that base, supported by Yolande of
Anjou and galvanized by Joan of Arc, the future Charles VII gradually shifted
the balance of power to his own advantage. Crowned at Reims, he recaptured
Paris, recovered Normandy in 1450, and took back Guienne in 1453 after the
victory of Castillon, the final military exploit of a long and painful war that,
among its many lasting consequences, forged the idea of a nation. One of the
best sources of information on the origins of the Hundred Years' War, its
evolution up to the end of the fourteenth century, and its repercussions in
Europe, is the chronicle written by Jean Froissart of Valenciennes.
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