The Hundred Years' War: Part 1 - Edwardian War

The Hundred Years' War, just from the name itself, gives rise to three varieties of people: one, a somewhat embarrassed person running a google search for "how long was 'The Hundred Years' War?"; two, someone eagerly awaiting the chance to correct someone and state the war actually spanned 116 years; and third, a one-upper arises to gleefully correct number two in saying that the timeframe stretched 116 years but the times in which they were actually fighting was somewhat shorter. Personally, I have already been number one, but by the time I am done this series I hope to be more than ready to be the jerk who becomes two, three, or even better, both on separate occasions when the need arises. As you know, the surest way to make friends is to correct people on minor details.

Edward III, practicing drawing the
family crest.

To set the tone for this exceedingly long conflict, I'll give a little background. The Edwardian War is the first of three sets of conflicts to split up the Hundred Years' War into more manageable pieces, this particular piece ranging from the dates of 1337-1360. The fighting arises from issues of who is the rightful owner of the French crown. The two choices came down to a matter of lineage mixed with a little bit of a distate of the idea of women in power. Charles IV, the king of France, died, the nearest male in line being Edward III of England - his mother being Isabella, sister of the dead king. However, since only men could be the leading monarch, he could not have lineage passed down from his mother - or so was the argument from the French aristocracy who claimed the nearest heir was Philip VI who may have been a little further out but went through a line of manhood. It was a case of "no girls allowed" that turned into a series of wars that lasted over a century.

Now, keep in mind that the war has not yet started - this is all just build up. When things really went south was when the French decided they were going to go in and take over Gascony, a place that preferred the rule of an English king that, for lack of a better term, decided to let them do their own thing without too much intervention - the French, on the other hand, felt the need to stick their stereotypically long noses into their affairs. This was what largely led to the war, but there were some other notable issues as well. Allegiances in the lower countries were split, France moved a naval fleet close to England (the middle ages way 'flexing' when you're a ruler), and France also supported Scotland who were by no means cool with England, which is an entirely different matter altogether. The issues in Scotland later allowed Mel Gibson to yell while wearing blue face-paint - a win for the whole world, really.

Edward III, the king of England, taking over in the wake of Edward II (who history seems to acknowledge was somewhat of a screwup) was charged with defending Gascony while the rest of the English fighting force would invade France from the north. Edward also purchased support in the lower countries in the form of mercenary groups and allegiances, forming an alliance which cost in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. He had to take out a loan from a few separate banks just to pay for the war, and you'll find that economics plays a massive role in how it all plays out.

While the English were holding out in Gascony, the French attacked the coastline of England, raiding a number of cities. England's armies split between a number of locations (the coastal defense, moving south into France, and defending in Gascony) meant a notable lack of protection against the general unrest of Scotland. Edward knew he had to solidify alliances with other lands or else he would slowly crumble under the weight of just too many battles. Fortunately, he got some help from Philip, although not intentionally. The would-be French king placed an embargo on the English goods going into Flanders (it's stated as mostly wool, but one can naturally assume tea, soccer balls and VHS copies of Monty Python were likely in the mix). Relying on those goods, Flanders revolted, taking a few other cities with the in the fight. It resulted in a strengthening of his forces in the south, as the low countries saw themselves as rebelling against Philip in favour of the true king of France - who, in this case, would be Edward... England's king. Yes, I find that a little confusing as well, but here we are.

A picture of one of the battles where they have not yet
learned that a bow and arrow can be used to attack an
enemy from greater than one foot away.

Many battles waged between both sides with varying degrees of success for both. Eventually, what struck the hardest was the economic pain of war. Crippling levels of debt plagued (foreshadowing!) both sides of the war, and they decided on a truce mostly due to a lack of funds to continue paying soldiers to go fight. As a result, they called what would be a relatively brief peace treaty.

During the peacetime, the Breton War of Succession came to pass. In a similar situation, a desire for the throne threw everything into chaos. Instead of going fully in depth about what the sides were so upset about, I'll give you the basics: France supported one guy who wanted the throne, the guy they didn't support went to England for help. By the way, a Breton is someone from the area in France called Brittany, in what I can only assume was called Breton instead of Briton because the English had already beaten them to the punch on that one. Anyways, to sum it up, England's armies won out and they called a truce once again due to exhaustion of resources.

William de la Pole, an important investor
for Edward III's war effort. Money was so
important they made a statue out of him.

The peace of course didn't last forever, and Edward was at it again with a great number of ships and men meant to raid and loot the countryside of France. They wouldn't take the territory, not wanting to engage the French quite yet, and would instead just pillage. The French eventually forced a battle, but the longbowmen of the British side were ultimately the deciding factor in pushing them back successfully. The Black Death (foreshadowing complete!) eventually stopped England from mounting any further pushes through France for the time being.

Once the plague started to recede, the fighting in this excessively stop and start war began again. Edward's son (lovably nicknamed the Black Prince, although not for any love of Ozzy Osbourne) took up the reins and went back to war, but this time with a notably savage twist; the raids he conducted were meant to kill the resources of the king, spread fear, and demoralize the French. During the fighting, the British captured the king and ransomed him off for a massive cost.

Completely lacking money at this point, France picks whatever is left of the bones of the peasantry, but scrapes a little too hard. An uprising (the Jacquerie, it's called) of the peasant class from the imposition of ridiculously high taxes, unpaid work and, regardless of all the taxation, the duty to defend the houses of the people pushing these rules on them. It was more of an anvil that broke the camel's back, rather than a straw. They destroyed a number of chateaux (the fancy houses of the nobles) while committing a bunch of atrocities against the higher class along the way. While they were eventually defeated, Edward tried to capitalize on the chaos and attacked but was defeated here and there regardless of the possible advantages he held.

In what feels like a somewhat anti-climactic end to the Edwardian section of the Hundred Years' War (I really was hoping that Black Prince guy - not to be confused with Martin Lawrence's The Black Knight - was going to be more of a central character) they decided to once again call a truce. Edward agreed to give up the throne to the French king, and he would take control over the territories of Aquitaine and Calais. Tune in next time for more war-time fun that surely will rival the excitement of next week's Game of Thrones episode.