Hundred Years' War (1337-1360)
Encyclopedia
The Edwardian War was the first phase of the Hundred Years' War
, lasting from 1337 to 1360, from the outbreak of hostilities until the signing of the Treaty of Brétigny
. This 23-year period was marked by the startling victories of Edward III of England
and his son, the Black Prince
, over the French
at the Battles of Crécy
and Poitiers
. In the latter battle, John II of France
was captured, and in the following years France
came close to complete descent into anarchy
and civil war
. As a result, France was forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty
. The peace lasted only nine years until the second phase of the war broke out: the Caroline War.
had become more decentralized. This meant that the Low Countries
were now de facto
sovereign
, with their princes feeling the encroaching power of the French king. In August 1337, the majority of them signed a treaty of alliance with England. In return for their services, Edward III promised to pay them heavy fees. The neighbouring County of Flanders
, a fief within the Kingdom of France, had difficulties of its own — its large cloth making industry was wholly dependent on wool imports from England. This trade had been embargo
ed by the English government in 1336, and by December the situation had become so grave that the artisans revolted. The Count was forced out, and a new government was formed in Ghent
, led by the merchant Jacob van Artevelde
. Philip VI
was forced to accept Flanders
's neutrality.
Because of continued administrative and financial difficulties, Edward was not able to cross the Channel
to Antwerp before July 1338. By then the English treasuries were empty. To pay the fees promised to his allies, Edward was forced to borrow heavily from the great banking houses Bardi
and Peruzzi
and numerous local moneylenders. These efforts forced Edward to again delay his invasion of France.
With the threat of invasion temporarily gone, the French government could spend its resources elsewhere. While England lacked an organized fleet, and instead relied upon cumbersome merchantmen, the French had hired galleys from Genoa
, and with these they were able to strike almost at will upon the English coast. Portsmouth
was raided, Southampton
sacked, and Guernsey
captured. In December 1338 Gascony was invaded. Oliver Ingham
, the seneschal of Gascony, was an able commander; but with almost no help received from England, he was forced to adopt a static defence. In April 1339, the important castle of Penne in the Agenais
and the twin cities of Blaye
and Bourg
upon the Garonne
fell to the French, opening up the Duchy for an attack from the north.
The French campaign at sea
continued in the spring of 1339, but with much less success than the year before. On the English coast, the county levies had been mobilized at great cost, and the raiders were driven off before much damage could be done. In August, quarrelling over pay within the Genovese contingent resulted in a mutiny, and most of the galleys returned to Italy
.
Although little real damage was done by the French raids, it drained English resources away from other frontiers, and the English situation in Scotland had become increasingly bad. In August, the Scots recaptured Perth
, one of the last English strongholds north of the Firth of Forth
. By now King Edward had all but exhausted his Italian bankers. Instead he took up huge loans from the merchant William Pole, the crown was mortgaged and several of his friends were held hostage as security. Interest rates of 50% were not unheard of.
Threatened with the immediate collapse of his plans, Edward desperately needed some positive military results. In September he finally launched his invasion of France, accompanied by his wavering allies. The English scorched the Cambrésis and the Thiérache
, but without capturing any place of value. Low on victuals, Edward III offered the French battle at La Chapelle 23 October 1339, but Philip VI, who led the French army in person, refused and the English-German army was allowed to retreat across the border.
During 1339, English-Flemish relations became increasingly friendlier as Jacob van Artevelde consolidated his position in Flanders. By December, the Flemings were ready to formally join the anti-French coalition. However, to the medieval mind, to rise in open rebellion against your lawful king was among the gravest of crimes. Thus, to secure his alliance with Flanders, and to remove the taint of rebellion from his war, on 26 January 1340 Edward proclaimed himself King of France in the market square of Ghent
. Shortly thereafter, he left for England and a deeply worried Parliament.
In 1340 the situation at sea turned. In Genoa, English diplomats convinced the shipmasters to receive money for staying in port, and in January, a small English fleet raided Boulogne
and burned the French galley fleet in harbour. Thus deprived of her galleys, France had to fall back on requisitioned merchantmen. In preparation for the next invasion from England, the French fleet gathered off the coast of Flanders. On 24 June the two fleets met in the Battle of Sluys
. The resulting English victory ended with the almost total destruction of the French fleet. As many as 18000 French may have fallen and 190 ships were captured. This was an especially hard blow for Normandy
, which had supplied the majority of ships and sailors. After this, England was able to dominate the English Channel
for the rest of the war, preventing French invasions.
The severely strained English defence of Gascony was also relieved for some time. Two of the three principal French noblemen in the south west, the Count of Armagnac
and the Count of Foix had long been bitter enemies. Now the feud broke out into open warfare. The third, Bertrand-Aiz Albret
, openly defected to the English, dragging with him his large network of friends, kinsmen and vassals. The uprising failed to secure any place of real importance, but the conflict now spilled into previously untouched provinces.
In spring 1340, Philip VI planned to smash the anti-French coalition by attacking Edward III’s allies. French forces invaded Hainaut
in May. But when news reached him about the disaster at Sluys, he turned his attention to counter the new threat. Edward III split his army in two. The first, led by Robert of Artois, an exiled French noble, invaded Artois. But in a battle
with the garrison of Saint-Omer
26 June, most of this army was destroyed, and Robert was forced to retreat. On the same day Edward III appeared before the walls of Tournai
, one of France’s largest cities. The siege
dragged out, and in September, Philip VI arrived with the main French army. Philip VI again refused to meet the English in battle. With his allies on the brink of desertion, Edward could do little but negotiate. In the Truce of Esplechin, 25 September 1340, the parties agreed upon a nine month truce.
The truce marked the end of the grand anti-French alliance. The German princes all backed out, only the burghers of Flanders remained. In return for enormous amounts of money, Edward III had achieved nothing of military value, in England; opinion was turning against him and most of Scotland had been lost. Essentially bankrupt, Edward was forced to cut his losses. Those whose support he could not afford to lose were repaid, others were not. Historians have stated that the great banks of Bardi
and Peruzzi
in Florence
were among those who had their loans repudiated, based on the writings of the Florentine Giovani Villanni.
However, this is considered simplistic and Villanni was not an independent source, his brother was a member of the Peruzzi company. Villanni said that Edward owed the Bardi 900,000 gold florins (£135,000) and the Peruzzi 600,000 (£90,000). However, the Peruzzis' records show that they never had that much capital to lend Edward III. Edward did not default on all his loans and repaid some with cash and others with royal grants of wool
, a principle export of the English economy at the time.
Further, at the same time Florence was going through a period of internal disputes and the third largest financial company, the Acciaiuoli
, also went bankrupt, and they did not lend any money to Edward. What loans Edward III did default on are likely only to have contributed to the financial problems in Florence, not caused them.
died childless, leading to the Breton War of Succession
. The succession was contested between John of Montfort
and Charles of Blois
, with most of the nobility supporting Charles of Blois. John of Montfort, dependent upon swift action, quickly took possession of the ducal capital Nantes
and then seized the ducal treasury at Limoges
. By the middle of August, John of Montfort was in possession of most of the duchy, including the three principal cities, Nantes, Rennes
and Vannes
. Up to this point, the succession crisis had been a purely internal affair, but then rumours reached Philip VI of France that John of Montfort had received agents from England. Charles of Blois became the official French candidate. Whatever had been his original intentions, John of Montfort was now forced to support Edward III.
The truce had been extended until June 1342, until then Edward III was prevented from taking any offensive action in France. Nothing in it hindered France from subduing rebellious vassals. In November, after a short siege, John of Montfort was forced to surrender at Nantes
by the citizens. This was certainly a bloody conflict. He was offered safe conduct to negotiate a settlement with Charles of Blois, but when this led nowhere he was thrown in prison.
It now fell upon John’s wife, Joanna of Flanders
to lead the Montfortist cause. Deeming her possessions in the east undefendable, she set up headquarters at Hennebont
in western Brittany. In Paris it was feared that Edward III would land at Calais
once the truce ran out. The major part of the French army was therefore withdrawn, and Charles of Blois left to pursue his claim on his own. Charles soon proved himself as an able soldier, Rennes and Vannes were taken and many of the Montfortist captains defected.
In Gascony the war had become a convenient cause for the numerous Gascon nobility in their equally numerous private wars. Thus while formally at truce in 1341, the fighting never ceased. The most flagrant breach was the English recapture of Bourg
. In spring 1342, the French succeeded in mopping up several English enclaves, only to see most of them back in English hands by autumn.
In late November, Edward III arrived with his army at Brest
. He almost at once marched against Vannes. The siege dragged on and a French army was assembled to meet him, but 19 January 1343, before any major engagements could be fought, the two kings agreed upon a new truce. The new truce was to last until September 1346. Vannes was taken into papal custody. With John of Montfort in prison, his son an infant, and his wife recently gone mad, the places under Montfortist control were in practise administered from London, with a large permanent English garrison at Brest.
In France, Philip VI had financial difficulties of his own. France had no central institution with the authority to grant taxes for the whole country. Instead the Crown had to negotiate with the various provincial assemblies. In accordance with the ancient feudal customs, most of them refused to pay taxes while at truce. Instead Philip VI had to resort to manipulation of the coinage and other unpopular measures. Also the French nobility was not impressed by how the war had been fought. In their eyes, Edward III had behaved like a true king by boldly marching forth, while Philip VI had cowardly avoided battle. Many had bankrupted themselves on expensive war equipment. In a defensive war there would be no plunder, without battles there could be no ransoms either.
In 1343 Oliver Ingham was recalled to England and Nicholas Beche was appointed Seneschal of Gascony in his stead. He upheld the truce as best he could. No major campaigns were fought, but he failed to restore the civil peace. The Gascon nobility considered private war an old privilege, and as the French financial situation deteriorated, the war merged with outright banditry. The first bands of routiers
began to appear at this time. These were large, organized bands of soldiers only nominally under English control. Typically, they would seize by surprise a town or castle of local strategic importance. From this base they would plunder the surrounding areas until nothing of value remained, and then move on to places more ripe. Not only did this utterly devastate the country where they had passed, it also made the local populace concentrate their resources on local defence and thus further drain revenue away from the central administration at Paris.
with about 750 ships and 7,000-10,000 men, beginning a major invasion across the Channel. With him was his nearly 16-year-old son, Edward, the Black Prince
(Edward of Woodstock), the recently created Prince of Wales
. On July 12, Edward landed at Hague in the Cotentin peninsula
of Normandy
. Jean Froissart
wrote in his Chronicles
that:
The army marched through Normandy. Philip gathered a large army to oppose him, and Edward chose to march northward toward the Low Countries, pillaging as he went, rather than attempt to take and hold territory. During this time, he fought two successful actions, the Storming of Caen and the Battle of Blanchetaque
. Eventually finding himself unable to out manoeuvre Philip, Edward positioned his forces for battle, and Philip's army attacked him at the famous Battle of Crécy
. The much larger French army made a series of piecemeal attacks against the expert English and Welsh longbow
men, and all of the attacks were dispersed with heavy losses until the French were forced to retreat. Crécy was a crushing defeat for the French.
Edward proceeded north unopposed and besieged the coastal city of Calais
on the English Channel
, capturing it in 1347. An English victory against Scotland in the Battle of Neville's Cross
led to the capture of David II and greatly reduced the threat from Scotland.
In 1348, the Black Death
began to sweep across Europe and in both England and France it would have huge consequences. This prevented England from financing and launching any major offensives. In France, Philip VI died in 1350 and was replaced by his son John II
("John the Good").
such as the Battle of the Thirty in 1351, during which 30 French knights from Chateau Josselin
called out and defeated 30 English knights. In keeping with tradition, the French ransom
ed many of the defeated English, including such men as Robert Knolles
and Hugh Calveley
, who would later continue to fight against France more successfully.
After the Black Death had passed and England was able to recover financially, Edward's son, Edward the Black Prince, invaded France from Gascony in 1356, winning a great victory in the Battle of Poitiers
, where the English archers repeated the same tactics used at Crécy, and the Gascon noble Captal de Buch
led a flanking movement that succeeded in capturing the new Valois king, John II of France
, and many of his nobles. John signed a truce with Edward, and in his absence much of the government began to collapse. John's ransom was set to two million, but John believed he was worth more than that and insisted that his ransom be raised to four million écu
s.
Later that year (1356) the Second Treaty of London was signed in which the four million écus ransom was guaranteed by having royal members of the Valois family come to London and surrender themselves as hostages while John returned to France to raise his ransom. As part of the treaty England gained possession of Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine and all the coastline from Flanders to Spain, thus restoring the former Angevin Empire
. As royal hostages they were given free rein to move about and once John had left for France, the hostages quickly escaped back to France. John, who was "Good" and chivalrous, was horrified that his word and honour had been broken and returned to England and turned himself in. John eventually died a prisoner in England in 1364 and was given a great chivalrous ceremony and honoured as a great man by the Plantagenets.
In 1358, a peasant revolt in France called the Jacquerie
took place. It was caused in part by the deprivations suffered by the country people during the war and their hatred of the local nobility. Led by Guillaume Kale (Carle or Cale), they joined forces with other villages, and beginning in the area of Beauvais
, north of Paris
, committed atrocities against the nobles and destroyed many chateaux in the area. All the rebellious groups were defeated later that summer at the battle of Mello
and reprisals followed.
Edward invaded France, hoping to capitalize on the discontent and seize the throne, but although no French army stood against him in the field, he was unable to take Paris
or Rheims from the dauphin Charles V
, and he negotiated the Treaty of Brétigny
, renouncing the French crown but greatly expanding his territory in Aquitaine and confirming his conquest of Calais.
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
, lasting from 1337 to 1360, from the outbreak of hostilities until the signing of the Treaty of Brétigny
Treaty of Brétigny
The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty signed on May 9, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II of France. In retrospect it is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War —as well as the height of English hegemony on the Continent.It was signed...
. This 23-year period was marked by the startling victories of Edward III of England
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
and his son, the Black Prince
Edward, the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....
, over the French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
at the Battles of Crécy
Battle of Crécy
The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War...
and Poitiers
Battle of Poitiers (1356)
The Battle of Poitiers was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War: Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt....
. In the latter battle, John II of France
John II of France
John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...
was captured, and in the following years France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
came close to complete descent into anarchy
Anarchy
Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
and civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
. As a result, France was forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty
Peace treaty
A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, that formally ends a state of war between the parties...
. The peace lasted only nine years until the second phase of the war broke out: the Caroline War.
Low Countries (1337–1341)
While France in the early 14th century had become increasingly centralized, the German states of the Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
had become more decentralized. This meant that the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
were now de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
sovereign
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
, with their princes feeling the encroaching power of the French king. In August 1337, the majority of them signed a treaty of alliance with England. In return for their services, Edward III promised to pay them heavy fees. The neighbouring County of Flanders
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was one of the territories constituting the Low Countries. The county existed from 862 to 1795. It was one of the original secular fiefs of France and for centuries was one of the most affluent regions in Europe....
, a fief within the Kingdom of France, had difficulties of its own — its large cloth making industry was wholly dependent on wool imports from England. This trade had been embargo
Embargo
An embargo is the partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it. Embargoes are considered strong diplomatic measures imposed in an effort, by the imposing country, to elicit a given national-interest result from the country on which it is...
ed by the English government in 1336, and by December the situation had become so grave that the artisans revolted. The Count was forced out, and a new government was formed in Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
, led by the merchant Jacob van Artevelde
Jacob van Artevelde
Jacob van Artevelde , also known as the Wise Man and the Brewer of Ghent, was a Flemish statesman and political leader....
. Philip VI
Philip VI of France
Philip VI , known as the Fortunate and of Valois, was the King of France from 1328 to his death. He was also Count of Anjou, Maine, and Valois from 1325 to 1328...
was forced to accept Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
's neutrality.
Because of continued administrative and financial difficulties, Edward was not able to cross the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
to Antwerp before July 1338. By then the English treasuries were empty. To pay the fees promised to his allies, Edward was forced to borrow heavily from the great banking houses Bardi
Bardi
Bardi can refer to:*Bardi, Emilia-Romagna, a city in the province of Parma, northern Italy*Bardi, Western Australia, a town in Australia*Bardi bush, an Australian plant, Acacia victoriae...
and Peruzzi
Peruzzi
The Peruzzi were bankers of Florence, among the leading families of the city in the 14th century, before the rise to prominence of the Medici. Their modest antecedents stretched back to the mid 11th century, according to the family's genealogist Luigi Passerini, but a restructuring of the Peruzzii...
and numerous local moneylenders. These efforts forced Edward to again delay his invasion of France.
With the threat of invasion temporarily gone, the French government could spend its resources elsewhere. While England lacked an organized fleet, and instead relied upon cumbersome merchantmen, the French had hired galleys from Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, and with these they were able to strike almost at will upon the English coast. Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
was raided, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
sacked, and Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
captured. In December 1338 Gascony was invaded. Oliver Ingham
Oliver Ingham
Oliver Ingham was an English commander and administrator in Aquitaine during the War of Saint-Sardos and early Hundred Years War.He was born in 1287 at Ellesmere, Shropshire to Oliver de Ingham and Margery...
, the seneschal of Gascony, was an able commander; but with almost no help received from England, he was forced to adopt a static defence. In April 1339, the important castle of Penne in the Agenais
Agenais
Agenais, or Agenois, was a province of France located in southwest France south of Périgord.In ancient Gaul the region was the country of the Nitiobroges with Aginnum for their capital, which in the fourth century was the Civitas Agennensium, which was a part of Aquitania Secunda and which formed...
and the twin cities of Blaye
Blaye
Blaye is a commune and subprefecture in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:Its inhabitants are called Blayais or the Blayaises.-Geography:...
and Bourg
Bourg
Bourg is the French rendering of the Germanic root *burgs , related to the Germanic root *bergan "to protect, shelter"; and may refer to:-In France:* Bourg, Aisne, a defunct commune in France, now part of Bourg-et-Comin* Bourg,...
upon the Garonne
Garonne
The Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of .-Source:The Garonne's headwaters are to be found in the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees, though three different locations have been proposed as the true source: the Uelh deth Garona at Plan de Beret , the Ratera-Saboredo...
fell to the French, opening up the Duchy for an attack from the north.
The French campaign at sea
English Channel naval campaign, 1338-1339
The English Channel naval campaign of the years 1338 and 1339 saw a protracted series of raids conducted by the nascent French navy and numerous privately owned raiders and pirates against English towns, shipping and islands in the English Channel which caused widespread panic, damage and financial...
continued in the spring of 1339, but with much less success than the year before. On the English coast, the county levies had been mobilized at great cost, and the raiders were driven off before much damage could be done. In August, quarrelling over pay within the Genovese contingent resulted in a mutiny, and most of the galleys returned to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Although little real damage was done by the French raids, it drained English resources away from other frontiers, and the English situation in Scotland had become increasingly bad. In August, the Scots recaptured Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
, one of the last English strongholds north of the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
. By now King Edward had all but exhausted his Italian bankers. Instead he took up huge loans from the merchant William Pole, the crown was mortgaged and several of his friends were held hostage as security. Interest rates of 50% were not unheard of.
Threatened with the immediate collapse of his plans, Edward desperately needed some positive military results. In September he finally launched his invasion of France, accompanied by his wavering allies. The English scorched the Cambrésis and the Thiérache
Thiérache
The Thiérache or Grande Thiérache is a region of France and Belgium united by similar geography and architecture, including the presence of hedgerows, grassland, hilly terrain, scattered settlements, and traditionally-built stone or brick houses with stone dividing walls and slate roofs.Located in...
, but without capturing any place of value. Low on victuals, Edward III offered the French battle at La Chapelle 23 October 1339, but Philip VI, who led the French army in person, refused and the English-German army was allowed to retreat across the border.
During 1339, English-Flemish relations became increasingly friendlier as Jacob van Artevelde consolidated his position in Flanders. By December, the Flemings were ready to formally join the anti-French coalition. However, to the medieval mind, to rise in open rebellion against your lawful king was among the gravest of crimes. Thus, to secure his alliance with Flanders, and to remove the taint of rebellion from his war, on 26 January 1340 Edward proclaimed himself King of France in the market square of Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
. Shortly thereafter, he left for England and a deeply worried Parliament.
In 1340 the situation at sea turned. In Genoa, English diplomats convinced the shipmasters to receive money for staying in port, and in January, a small English fleet raided Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
and burned the French galley fleet in harbour. Thus deprived of her galleys, France had to fall back on requisitioned merchantmen. In preparation for the next invasion from England, the French fleet gathered off the coast of Flanders. On 24 June the two fleets met in the Battle of Sluys
Battle of Sluys
The decisive naval Battle of Sluys , also called Battle of l'Ecluse was fought on 24 June 1340 as one of the opening conflicts of the Hundred Years' War...
. The resulting English victory ended with the almost total destruction of the French fleet. As many as 18000 French may have fallen and 190 ships were captured. This was an especially hard blow for Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, which had supplied the majority of ships and sailors. After this, England was able to dominate the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
for the rest of the war, preventing French invasions.
The severely strained English defence of Gascony was also relieved for some time. Two of the three principal French noblemen in the south west, the Count of Armagnac
Count of Armagnac
The following is a list of rulers of the county of Armagnac:-House of Armagnac:*William Count of Fézensac and Armagnac ?– 960*Bernard the Suspicious, First count privative of Armagnac 960– ?*Gerald I Trancaléon ? –1020*Bernard I Tumapaler 1020–1061...
and the Count of Foix had long been bitter enemies. Now the feud broke out into open warfare. The third, Bertrand-Aiz Albret
Albret
The lordship of Albret , situated in the Landes, gave its name to one of the most powerful feudal families of France in the Middle Ages...
, openly defected to the English, dragging with him his large network of friends, kinsmen and vassals. The uprising failed to secure any place of real importance, but the conflict now spilled into previously untouched provinces.
In spring 1340, Philip VI planned to smash the anti-French coalition by attacking Edward III’s allies. French forces invaded Hainaut
County of Hainaut
The County of Hainaut was a historical region in the Low Countries with its capital at Mons . In English sources it is often given the archaic spelling Hainault....
in May. But when news reached him about the disaster at Sluys, he turned his attention to counter the new threat. Edward III split his army in two. The first, led by Robert of Artois, an exiled French noble, invaded Artois. But in a battle
Battle of Saint-Omer
The battle of Saint-Omer was a large action fought in 1340 as part of King Edward III's summer campaign against France launched from Flanders in the early stages of the Hundred Year's War. The campaign was launched in the aftermath of the battle of Sluys but proved far less successful for the...
with the garrison of Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer , a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais. The town is named after Saint Audomar, who brought Christianity to the area....
26 June, most of this army was destroyed, and Robert was forced to retreat. On the same day Edward III appeared before the walls of Tournai
Tournai
Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
, one of France’s largest cities. The siege
Siege of Tournai (1340)
During the Hundred Years' War, after the naval battle at Sluys on 20 June 1340, in which Edward III of England dealt the French a heavy blow, he went on to besiege Tournai. This city in Flanders was loyal to Philip VI of France....
dragged out, and in September, Philip VI arrived with the main French army. Philip VI again refused to meet the English in battle. With his allies on the brink of desertion, Edward could do little but negotiate. In the Truce of Esplechin, 25 September 1340, the parties agreed upon a nine month truce.
The truce marked the end of the grand anti-French alliance. The German princes all backed out, only the burghers of Flanders remained. In return for enormous amounts of money, Edward III had achieved nothing of military value, in England; opinion was turning against him and most of Scotland had been lost. Essentially bankrupt, Edward was forced to cut his losses. Those whose support he could not afford to lose were repaid, others were not. Historians have stated that the great banks of Bardi
Bardi
Bardi can refer to:*Bardi, Emilia-Romagna, a city in the province of Parma, northern Italy*Bardi, Western Australia, a town in Australia*Bardi bush, an Australian plant, Acacia victoriae...
and Peruzzi
Peruzzi
The Peruzzi were bankers of Florence, among the leading families of the city in the 14th century, before the rise to prominence of the Medici. Their modest antecedents stretched back to the mid 11th century, according to the family's genealogist Luigi Passerini, but a restructuring of the Peruzzii...
in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
were among those who had their loans repudiated, based on the writings of the Florentine Giovani Villanni.
However, this is considered simplistic and Villanni was not an independent source, his brother was a member of the Peruzzi company. Villanni said that Edward owed the Bardi 900,000 gold florins (£135,000) and the Peruzzi 600,000 (£90,000). However, the Peruzzis' records show that they never had that much capital to lend Edward III. Edward did not default on all his loans and repaid some with cash and others with royal grants of wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
, a principle export of the English economy at the time.
Further, at the same time Florence was going through a period of internal disputes and the third largest financial company, the Acciaiuoli
Acciaiuoli
The Acciaioli, Acciaiuoli, or Acciajuoli was an important family of Florence.Family name is also written Acciaioli, Acciainoli, or Accioly and Accioli in Portugal and Brazil, where there are branches of it. Descent can be traced in an unbroken line from one Gugliarello Acciaioli in the 12th...
, also went bankrupt, and they did not lend any money to Edward. What loans Edward III did default on are likely only to have contributed to the financial problems in Florence, not caused them.
Brittany (1341–1345)
30 April 1341 John III, Duke of BrittanyJohn III, Duke of Brittany
John III the Good was duke of Brittany, from 1312 to his death. He was son of Duke Arthur II and Mary of Limoges, his first wife...
died childless, leading to the Breton War of Succession
Breton War of Succession
The Breton War of Succession was a conflict between the Houses of Blois and Montfort for control of the Duchy of Brittany. It was fought between 1341 and 1364. It formed an integral part of the early Hundred Years War due to the involvement of the French and English governments in the conflict; the...
. The succession was contested between John of Montfort
John IV, Duke of Brittany
John IV of Montfort , was duke of Brittany, from 1341 to his death. He was son of Duke Arthur II and Yolande de Dreux, countess of Montfort, his second wife.In 1322 he succeeded his mother as count of Montfort, and in 1329, he married Joanna of Flanders at Chartres...
and Charles of Blois
Charles, Duke of Brittany
Charles of Blois , claimed the title Duke of Brittany, from 1341 to his death.Charles is the son of Guy I of Blois-Châtillon, count of Blois, by Margaret of Valois, a sister of king Philip VI of France. He was a devout man, who took piety to the extreme of mortifying his own flesh...
, with most of the nobility supporting Charles of Blois. John of Montfort, dependent upon swift action, quickly took possession of the ducal capital Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
and then seized the ducal treasury at Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
. By the middle of August, John of Montfort was in possession of most of the duchy, including the three principal cities, Nantes, Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
and Vannes
Vannes
Vannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.-Geography:Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west...
. Up to this point, the succession crisis had been a purely internal affair, but then rumours reached Philip VI of France that John of Montfort had received agents from England. Charles of Blois became the official French candidate. Whatever had been his original intentions, John of Montfort was now forced to support Edward III.
The truce had been extended until June 1342, until then Edward III was prevented from taking any offensive action in France. Nothing in it hindered France from subduing rebellious vassals. In November, after a short siege, John of Montfort was forced to surrender at Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
by the citizens. This was certainly a bloody conflict. He was offered safe conduct to negotiate a settlement with Charles of Blois, but when this led nowhere he was thrown in prison.
It now fell upon John’s wife, Joanna of Flanders
Joanna of Flanders
Joanna of Flanders , also known as, Countess Jeanne, Jehanne de Montfort, and Jeanne la Flamme, was consort Duchess of Brittany by her marriage to John IV, Duke of Brittany...
to lead the Montfortist cause. Deeming her possessions in the east undefendable, she set up headquarters at Hennebont
Hennebont
Hennebont is a commune in the Morbihan department in the region of Brittany in north-western France.-Geography:Hennebont is situated about ten miles from the mouth of the River Blavet, which divides it into two parts: the Ville Close, the medieval walled town, and the 17th century Ville Neuve on...
in western Brittany. In Paris it was feared that Edward III would land at Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
once the truce ran out. The major part of the French army was therefore withdrawn, and Charles of Blois left to pursue his claim on his own. Charles soon proved himself as an able soldier, Rennes and Vannes were taken and many of the Montfortist captains defected.
In Gascony the war had become a convenient cause for the numerous Gascon nobility in their equally numerous private wars. Thus while formally at truce in 1341, the fighting never ceased. The most flagrant breach was the English recapture of Bourg
Bourg
Bourg is the French rendering of the Germanic root *burgs , related to the Germanic root *bergan "to protect, shelter"; and may refer to:-In France:* Bourg, Aisne, a defunct commune in France, now part of Bourg-et-Comin* Bourg,...
. In spring 1342, the French succeeded in mopping up several English enclaves, only to see most of them back in English hands by autumn.
In late November, Edward III arrived with his army at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. He almost at once marched against Vannes. The siege dragged on and a French army was assembled to meet him, but 19 January 1343, before any major engagements could be fought, the two kings agreed upon a new truce. The new truce was to last until September 1346. Vannes was taken into papal custody. With John of Montfort in prison, his son an infant, and his wife recently gone mad, the places under Montfortist control were in practise administered from London, with a large permanent English garrison at Brest.
Truce of Malestroit (1343–1345)
The official reason for such a long truce was to allow time for a peace conference and the negotiation of a lasting peace, but both countries also suffered from war exhaustion. In England the tax burden had been heavy and in addition the wool trade had been heavily manipulated. Edward III spent the next years slowly paying off his immense debt.In France, Philip VI had financial difficulties of his own. France had no central institution with the authority to grant taxes for the whole country. Instead the Crown had to negotiate with the various provincial assemblies. In accordance with the ancient feudal customs, most of them refused to pay taxes while at truce. Instead Philip VI had to resort to manipulation of the coinage and other unpopular measures. Also the French nobility was not impressed by how the war had been fought. In their eyes, Edward III had behaved like a true king by boldly marching forth, while Philip VI had cowardly avoided battle. Many had bankrupted themselves on expensive war equipment. In a defensive war there would be no plunder, without battles there could be no ransoms either.
In 1343 Oliver Ingham was recalled to England and Nicholas Beche was appointed Seneschal of Gascony in his stead. He upheld the truce as best he could. No major campaigns were fought, but he failed to restore the civil peace. The Gascon nobility considered private war an old privilege, and as the French financial situation deteriorated, the war merged with outright banditry. The first bands of routiers
Routiers
The routiers were mercenaries associated with free companies who terrorized the French countryside during the Hundred Years War. The word routier is French for "road-man", referring to their travelling nature. -Background:Routiers were a product of their time...
began to appear at this time. These were large, organized bands of soldiers only nominally under English control. Typically, they would seize by surprise a town or castle of local strategic importance. From this base they would plunder the surrounding areas until nothing of value remained, and then move on to places more ripe. Not only did this utterly devastate the country where they had passed, it also made the local populace concentrate their resources on local defence and thus further drain revenue away from the central administration at Paris.
English victories (1345–1351)
On July 5, 1346, Edward set sail from PortsmouthPortsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
with about 750 ships and 7,000-10,000 men, beginning a major invasion across the Channel. With him was his nearly 16-year-old son, Edward, the Black Prince
Edward, the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....
(Edward of Woodstock), the recently created Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
. On July 12, Edward landed at Hague in the Cotentin peninsula
Cotentin Peninsula
The Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy, forming part of the north-western coast of France. It juts out north-westwards into the English Channel, towards Great Britain...
of Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
. Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart , often referred to in English as John Froissart, was one of the most important chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France...
wrote in his Chronicles
Froissart's Chronicles
Froissart's Chronicles was written in French by Jean Froissart. It covers the years 1322 until 1400 and describes the conditions that created the Hundred Years' War and the first fifty years of the conflict...
that:
- When the king of England arrived in the Hogue Saint-Vaast, the king issued out of his ship, and the first foot that he set on the ground, he fell so rudely, that the blood brast (burst) out of his nose [a nosebleedNosebleedEpistaxis or a nosebleed is the relatively common occurrence of hemorrhage from the nose, usually noticed when the blood drains out through the nostrils...
]. The knights that were about him took him up and said: "Sir, for God’s sake enter again into your ship, and come not aland this day, for this is but an evil sign for us." Then the king answered quickly and said: "Wherefore? [Why?] This is a good token for me, for the land desireth to have me.' Of the which answer all his men were right joyful. So that day and night the king lodged on the sands, and in the meantime discharged the ships of their horses and other baggages: there the king made two marshalsField MarshalField Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
of his host, the one the lord Godfrey of Harcourt and the other the Earl of WarwickThomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of WarwickThomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, KG was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War...
, and the Earl of ArundelRichard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of ArundelRichard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and 8th Earl of Surrey was an English nobleman and medieval military leader.- Lineage :...
constableConstableA constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
. And he ordained that the Earl of Huntingdon should keep the fleet of ships with a hundred men of arms and four hundred archers: and also he ordained three battles (battalions), one to go on his right hand, closing to the sea-side, and the other on his left hand, and the king himself in the midst, and every night to lodge all in one field.
The army marched through Normandy. Philip gathered a large army to oppose him, and Edward chose to march northward toward the Low Countries, pillaging as he went, rather than attempt to take and hold territory. During this time, he fought two successful actions, the Storming of Caen and the Battle of Blanchetaque
Battle of Blanchetaque
The Battle of Blanchetaque in 1346 was the second of the three battles which made up what became the Crecy campaign of King Edward III of England during the early stages of the Hundred Years War...
. Eventually finding himself unable to out manoeuvre Philip, Edward positioned his forces for battle, and Philip's army attacked him at the famous Battle of Crécy
Battle of Crécy
The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War...
. The much larger French army made a series of piecemeal attacks against the expert English and Welsh longbow
English longbow
The English longbow, also called the Welsh longbow, is a powerful type of medieval longbow about 6 ft long used by the English and Welsh for hunting and as a weapon in medieval warfare...
men, and all of the attacks were dispersed with heavy losses until the French were forced to retreat. Crécy was a crushing defeat for the French.
Edward proceeded north unopposed and besieged the coastal city of Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
on the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, capturing it in 1347. An English victory against Scotland in the Battle of Neville's Cross
Battle of Neville's Cross
The Battle of Neville's Cross took place to the west of Durham, England on 17 October 1346.-Background:In 1346, England was embroiled in the Hundred Years' War with France. In order to divert his enemy Philip VI of France appealed to David II of Scotland to attack the English from the north in...
led to the capture of David II and greatly reduced the threat from Scotland.
In 1348, the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
began to sweep across Europe and in both England and France it would have huge consequences. This prevented England from financing and launching any major offensives. In France, Philip VI died in 1350 and was replaced by his son John II
John II of France
John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...
("John the Good").
Collapse of the French government (1351–1360)
Sporadic conflicts in Brittany continued, including notable incidents of chivalryChivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
such as the Battle of the Thirty in 1351, during which 30 French knights from Chateau Josselin
Josselin
Josselin is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:St Meriadek is said to have founded a chapel there during the 4th century...
called out and defeated 30 English knights. In keeping with tradition, the French ransom
Ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence...
ed many of the defeated English, including such men as Robert Knolles
Robert Knolles
Sir Robert Knolles was an important English soldier of the Hundred Years' War, who, operating with the tacit support of the Crown, succeeded in taking the only two major French cities, other than Calais and Poitiers, to fall to Edward III...
and Hugh Calveley
Hugh Calveley
Sir Hugh Calveley was an English soldier and commander, who took part in the Hundred Years' War, gaining fame during the War of the Breton Succession and the Castilian Civil War...
, who would later continue to fight against France more successfully.
After the Black Death had passed and England was able to recover financially, Edward's son, Edward the Black Prince, invaded France from Gascony in 1356, winning a great victory in the Battle of Poitiers
Battle of Poitiers (1356)
The Battle of Poitiers was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War: Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt....
, where the English archers repeated the same tactics used at Crécy, and the Gascon noble Captal de Buch
Captal de Buch
Captal de Buch was an archaic feudal title in Gascony, captal from Latin capitalis "prime, chief" in the formula capitales domini or "principal lords." Buch was a strategically located town and port on the Atlantic, in the bay of Arcachon...
led a flanking movement that succeeded in capturing the new Valois king, John II of France
John II of France
John II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...
, and many of his nobles. John signed a truce with Edward, and in his absence much of the government began to collapse. John's ransom was set to two million, but John believed he was worth more than that and insisted that his ransom be raised to four million écu
Écu (coin)
The term écu may refer to one of several French coins. The first écu was a gold coin minted during the reign of Louis IX of France, in 1266. Ecu means shield, and the coin was so called because its design included a shield bearing a coat of arms. The word is related to scudo and escudo...
s.
Later that year (1356) the Second Treaty of London was signed in which the four million écus ransom was guaranteed by having royal members of the Valois family come to London and surrender themselves as hostages while John returned to France to raise his ransom. As part of the treaty England gained possession of Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine and all the coastline from Flanders to Spain, thus restoring the former Angevin Empire
Angevin Empire
The term Angevin Empire is a modern term describing the collection of states once ruled by the Angevin Plantagenet dynasty.The Plantagenets ruled over an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland during the 12th and early 13th centuries, located north of Moorish Iberia. This "empire" extended...
. As royal hostages they were given free rein to move about and once John had left for France, the hostages quickly escaped back to France. John, who was "Good" and chivalrous, was horrified that his word and honour had been broken and returned to England and turned himself in. John eventually died a prisoner in England in 1364 and was given a great chivalrous ceremony and honoured as a great man by the Plantagenets.
In 1358, a peasant revolt in France called the Jacquerie
Jacquerie
The Jacquerie was a popular revolt in late medieval Europe by peasants that took place in northern France in the summer of 1358, during the Hundred Years' War. The revolt, which was violently suppressed after a few weeks of violence, centered in the Oise valley north of Paris...
took place. It was caused in part by the deprivations suffered by the country people during the war and their hatred of the local nobility. Led by Guillaume Kale (Carle or Cale), they joined forces with other villages, and beginning in the area of Beauvais
Beauvais
Beauvais is a city approximately by highway north of central Paris, in the northern French region of Picardie. It currently has a population of over 60,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, north of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, committed atrocities against the nobles and destroyed many chateaux in the area. All the rebellious groups were defeated later that summer at the battle of Mello
Battle of Mello
The Battle of Mello was the decisive and largest engagement of the Peasant Jacquerie of 1358, a rebellion of peasants in the Beauvais region of France, which caused an enormous amount of damage to this wealthy region at the height of the Hundred Years War with England...
and reprisals followed.
Edward invaded France, hoping to capitalize on the discontent and seize the throne, but although no French army stood against him in the field, he was unable to take Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
or Rheims from the dauphin Charles V
Charles V of France
Charles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
, and he negotiated the Treaty of Brétigny
Treaty of Brétigny
The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty signed on May 9, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II of France. In retrospect it is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War —as well as the height of English hegemony on the Continent.It was signed...
, renouncing the French crown but greatly expanding his territory in Aquitaine and confirming his conquest of Calais.
Sources and bibliography
- Allmand, ChristopherChristopher AllmandChristopher Thomas Allmand is an English medieval historian, with a special focus on the Late Middle Ages in England and France, and the Hundred Years' War. He was Professor of Medieval History at the University of Liverpool until his retirement in 1998, and is now Honorary Senior Fellow at the...
, The Hundred Years War: England and France at War, c.1300-c.1450, Cambridge University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-521-31923-4 - Seward, Desmond, The Hundred Years War. The English in France 1337-1453, Penguin Books, 1999, ISBN 0-14-028361-7
- Sumption, Jonathan, The Hundred Years War I: Trial by Battle, University of Pennsylvania Press, September 1999, ISBN 0-8122-1655-5
- Sumption, Jonathan, The Hundred Years War II: Trial by Fire, University of Pennsylvania Press, October 2001, ISBN 0-8122-1801-9
- Dunnigan, James F., and Albert A. Nofi. Medieval Life & The Hundred Years War, online book.