Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War was an intermittent struggle between England and France over a series of disputes, including the question of the legitimate succession to the French crown, and it lasted from 1337 to 1453¹. Rather than a single continuous conflict, the war consisted of a series of campaigns; it was not one unbroken war¹. The fighting involved several distinct phases¹. The conflict was fought mostly in France, where the opposing armies met across the long decades of the struggle. Because it was punctuated by truces and treaties, its course was never steady. These characteristics shaped how contemporaries and later historians understood the scale and nature of the war.¹

The Hundred Years' War was a defining moment in the history of both England and France¹. It was an intermittent struggle between the two kingdoms over a series of disputes, including the question of the legitimate succession to the French crown¹. The war lasted from 1337 to 1453¹. It was a series of campaigns rather than a continuous conflict¹. The conflict involved several phases¹. It was fought mostly in France¹. The war was not a single continuous conflict. Taken together, these features explain why the struggle is treated as a distinct period rather than as one uninterrupted war between the two nations.¹

The Hundred Years' War was an intermittent struggle between England and France over the French crown.¹ It was fought primarily over English claims to the French throne.¹ The English king Edward III claimed the French crown after the death of Charles IV.¹ The war lasted from 1337 to 1453.¹ It was not a single continuous conflict, but a series of campaigns.¹ The conflict was punctuated by several truces and treaties.¹ It involved several phases, the first being the Edwardian War.¹ The conflict was fought mostly in France.¹ The war saw the use of new military tactics.¹

The question of the legitimate succession to the French crown stood among a series of disputes between the two kingdoms.¹ The war was a defining moment in the history of both nations.¹ It had a lasting impact on both England and France.¹ The conflict contributed to the development of national identities.¹ It contributed to the centralization of power in France.¹ The war contributed to the decline of feudalism and saw the rise of professional armies.¹ It had a major impact on medieval society.¹ The war saw the use of gunpowder artillery.¹

The Hundred Years' War lasted from 1337 to 1453 and was not a single continuous conflict but a series of campaigns punctuated by several truces and treaties¹. Rather than one unbroken struggle, the war unfolded in several distinct phases¹. The first of these was the Edwardian War, the opening phase of the conflict¹. The second phase is known as the Caroline War¹. The third phase, the Lancastrian War, followed later in the struggle¹. Each phase was separated by intervals of truce and settlement, so that the conflict is best understood as an intermittent rather than a permanent state of hostilities..¹

Among the settlements that interrupted the fighting, the Treaty of Calais was signed in 1360 and ceded Calais to England². That treaty represented only a temporary peace². A later settlement, the Treaty of Troyes, was signed in 1420 and recognized Henry V as heir to the French throne, while disinheriting the Dauphin³. The war finally ended with the Battle of Castillon in 1453¹. At Castillon, fought on 17 July 1453, the French used artillery effectively and the English were defeated⁴. That engagement effectively ended the Hundred Years' War..⁴

The opening phase of the Hundred Years' War, often called the Edwardian War, produced one of England's most celebrated battlefield successes. The Battle of Crécy was fought on 26 August 1346, with the English army led by Edward III and the French army commanded by Philip VI. At Crécy, English longbowmen proved decisive, and the French suffered heavy losses. The engagement is remembered as a major English victory, demonstrating the effectiveness of the longbow against mounted forces. It formed part of a conflict that was not a single continuous war but a series of campaigns in which the English initially won several notable victories.¹

A second major English triumph came in the Lancastrian phase of the war. The Battle of Agincourt was fought on 25 October 1415, with the English army led by Henry V against a French army that was much larger. English longbowmen again played a key role in the fighting, and the French suffered a disastrous defeat. Like Crécy, Agincourt stands as a major English victory within the broader struggle, which saw the use of new military tactics and the longbow as a key weapon. The conflict, fought mostly in France, involved several distinct phases during its course.⁵

These early English successes rested on the tactical advantage of the longbow, a decisive factor at both Crécy and Agincourt, where English archers overcame larger French forces. The two battles illustrate how the war was punctuated by campaigns rather than sustained continuously, and how the longbow remained a key English weapon across the conflict's major engagements. The war involved several phases, and the English advantage in these early battles formed part of a struggle that would eventually turn against them. The Hundred Years' War was not a single continuous conflict but an intermittent struggle defined by such engagements.⁶

Joan of Arc was a French peasant girl who claimed divine guidance, and she rallied the French troops during the Siege of Orléans, which lasted from 1428 to 1429. The siege was lifted in 1429, and the French victory at Orléans boosted French morale, marking a turning point in the war. In this moment of crisis for the French crown, her intervention reversed the momentum of a conflict that had until then favoured the English. She became a symbol of French resistance, and her brief career reshaped the final decades of the struggle between England and France. ⁷

The Siege of Orléans lasted from 1428 to 1429 and proved to be a turning point in the war. Joan of Arc rallied the French troops during the siege, and when the siege was lifted in 1429 the victory boosted French morale. This reversal followed a period in which the English had won a series of notable victories, including Crécy, Agincourt, and the settlement at Troyes. The relief of Orléans therefore opened the way for the French recovery that would continue over the following years, and it established Joan as a symbol of French resistance. ⁸

Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians in 1430 and was tried and executed in 1431. Her death did not end her influence: she became a symbol of French resistance, and centuries later she was canonized as a saint in 1920. The Siege of Orléans, which lasted from 1428 to 1429, remained a turning point in the war, and the French victory there boosted morale. Together, these events marked the moment when the French cause, previously set back by English victories, began the advance that carried it to final triumph. ⁹

The Hundred Years' War was punctuated by several truces and treaties, reflecting its character as a series of campaigns rather than an unbroken conflict.¹ One early settlement, the Treaty of Calais, was signed in 1360.² By its terms, Calais was ceded to England, establishing a strategic foothold on the continent.² Yet the agreement proved to be only a temporary peace, as hostilities between the two crowns resumed in subsequent decades.² This pattern of negotiated pauses followed by renewed warfare would recur throughout the long struggle.¹ The treaty thus illustrated how even formal settlements failed to resolve the underlying disputes over the French crown.¹

A more decisive political settlement came with the Treaty of Troyes, signed in 1420.³ This agreement recognized Henry V as heir to the French throne, fundamentally altering the line of succession.³ Critically, the treaty also disinherited the Dauphin, excluding him from the royal inheritance.³ The settlement aimed to unite the English and French crowns under Henry V's line, but its provisions would be contested by the Dauphin's supporters.³ The disinheritance of the Dauphin became a central grievance fueling continued resistance.³ The Treaty of Troyes thus represented both a high point of English ambition and a source of future conflict.³

The conflict was punctuated by several truces and treaties, but none proved lasting until the final English expulsion from all of France except Calais.¹ The Treaty of Calais, signed in 1360, was a temporary peace that ceded Calais to England.² The Treaty of Troyes, signed in 1420, recognized Henry V as heir to the French throne and disinherited the Dauphin.³ These settlements, while significant, were part of a broader pattern of intermittent diplomacy and warfare.¹ They demonstrate how political agreements shaped the war's course without permanently resolving the central dispute over the French crown.¹

The Battle of Castillon, fought on 17 July 1453, proved to be the decisive engagement that brought the Hundred Years' War to its close. At Castillon, the French deployed artillery to considerable effect, a development that demonstrated the growing importance of gunpowder weapons on the late medieval battlefield. The English forces were defeated in the encounter, and the outcome effectively ended the long conflict that had begun in 1337. The battle thus stands as the final major military action of a war that had spanned more than a century, ending with the Battle of Castillon in 1453.¹

In the wake of the French victory, the English were finally expelled from all of France except Calais. This expulsion marked a definitive reversal of the earlier English gains and confirmed the ultimate triumph of the French crown. The war itself had a lasting impact on both England and France, reshaping their political and social orders in ways that endured well beyond the cessation of hostilities. What had begun as a dynastic dispute over the French succession concluded with the French firmly established in control of their territory.¹

The conclusion of the conflict at Castillon was not an isolated event but the culmination of the war's final phase. The war ended with the Battle of Castillon in 1453, marking the close of an intermittent struggle that had been punctuated by truces and campaigns. The English were defeated at Castillon, and with their defeat the long contest over the French crown reached its terminus. The battle effectively ended the Hundred Years' War, leaving a legacy that would shape both nations.⁴

The Hundred Years' War saw the use of new military tactics across its campaigns. The English longbow was a key weapon, and it was a key English weapon throughout the conflict. English longbowmen were decisive at Crécy, and at Agincourt the English longbowmen again played a key role. These engagements demonstrated the longbow's place in English tactics, and the war also saw the decline of the mounted knight. Taken together, such developments mark the conflict as a period in which established methods of warfare were tested and revised.¹

The war also saw the use of gunpowder artillery. The French used artillery effectively at Castillon, where the English were defeated. Beyond the longbow, this employment of artillery represents another dimension of the changing conduct of war. The Hundred Years' War saw the rise of professional armies, a development that accompanied the new tactics and weapons of the period. Such changes contributed to the broader transformation of military organization and practice that the war helped to advance.⁴

The longbow and artillery formed part of a wider set of changes in military practice during the conflict. The war saw the decline of the mounted knight, and the war saw the rise of professional armies. The Hundred Years' War saw the use of new military tactics. These elements together illustrate how the conduct of war developed between the 14th and 15th centuries. The war contributed to the decline of feudalism, a process connected with the shifts in armies, weapons, and tactics that its campaigns displayed.¹

The Hundred Years' War had a major impact on medieval society¹. Its prolonged demands for men, money, and matériel contributed to the decline of feudalism, weakening the traditional bonds of lordship and military service that had structured the medieval order¹. At the same time, the conflict saw the rise of professional armies, forces retained and paid for sustained service rather than raised through the older feudal summons. In this way the war reshaped both the social hierarchy of the warrior elite and the practical organization of warfare, leaving institutions of recruitment and command markedly different from those that had existed at the conflict's outset.¹

The war also contributed to the development of national identities in both kingdoms, as prolonged struggle sharpened the sense of allegiance and enmity that separated English and French subjects¹. Within France, the conflict contributed to the centralization of power, strengthening the crown at the expense of the great territorial lordships that had long checked royal authority¹. The war's conclusion registered this shift concretely: the English were finally expelled from all of France except Calais, leaving the French monarchy as the dominant power within the realm. The experience of war thus reorganized political authority as much as it redrew the map.¹

Taken together, these changes made the Hundred Years' War a defining moment in the history of both nations¹. The conflict had a lasting impact on both England and France, extending well beyond the campaigns and treaties that marked its course. Its consequences reached into the structure of society, the character of military service, the growth of national feeling, and the concentration of royal power. The war was not merely a dynastic quarrel over the French crown but a transformative episode whose effects shaped the subsequent development of both kingdoms.¹

The Hundred Years' War contributed to the development of national identities in England and France, as the long contest sharpened the sense of separate peoples bound to rival crowns.¹ The war had a lasting impact on both England and France, reshaping the institutions and expectations of the two kingdoms.¹ It was a defining moment in the history of both nations, one that later generations recalled as a formative episode of their political and cultural life.¹ The war had a major impact on medieval society, unsettling established arrangements of lordship and service across the lands drawn into the struggle. The conflict thus left a legacy extending well beyond the battlefield.¹

The war contributed to the centralization of power in France, as the crown gathered authority over the course of a prolonged defensive struggle.¹ Joan of Arc became a symbol of French resistance, her career embodied the resolve that answered the low point of the conflict.¹ She was a French peasant girl who claimed divine guidance, and she rallied the French troops during the Siege of Orléans, which was lifted in 1429.⁸ She was captured by the Burgundians in 1430 and tried and executed in 1431.⁸ She was canonized as a saint in 1920. Her memory outlasted the dynasty she served.⁸

Later phases of the war demonstrated the changing character of warfare, from the English victories at Crécy and Agincourt to the French recovery ending at Castillon.¹ English longbowmen were decisive at Crécy, where the French suffered heavy losses in a major English victory.⁶ At Agincourt the French army was much larger, yet English longbowmen again played a key role and the French suffered a disastrous defeat.⁵ The Battle of Castillon was fought on 17 July 1453, where the French used artillery effectively and the English were defeated.⁴ The battle effectively ended the Hundred Years' War.⁴