Hundred Years’ War

A

English Resurgence

The turmoil generated by John the Fearless left France highly vulnerable to attack, and King Henry V of England inaugurated the Lancastrian war by invading France in 1415. A large French force trapped Henry’s troops in October near Agincourt in northern France. Though Henry’s forces were severely outnumbered, the English archers and foot soldiers held their ground against the French heavy cavalry. The French, who no longer had leaders like Clisson who understood English tactics, reverted to their traditional cavalry charge and were easy targets for English arrows. The French suffered a defeat that approached a massacre at the Battle of Agincourt.

In 1417 Henry began the methodical conquest of Normandy and other parts of northwestern France. He met little resistance since many of the noblemen of Normandy had died in the massacre at Agincourt. Henry was aided by the forces of Philip the Good, the son of John the Fearless of Burgundy. Philip sided with the advancing English after his father was murdered by forces loyal to the French king. In 1420 the French government was forced to sign the Treaty of Troyes, which disinherited the dauphin (the French heir to the throne), gave his sister Catherine to Henry V in marriage, and declared Henry the heir of Charles VI. Philip the Good accompanied the English king into Paris. In 1421 Henry and Catherine had a son, Henry VI. Like Edward III before him, he was the grandson of two kings but owed his French royal blood to his mother.

The Treaty of Troyes did not end the Lancastrian War, for much of central and southern France did not accept it; they supported the dauphin, who became Charles VII in 1422. Though still young, Henry V of England died in 1422, and Charles VI followed a few months later. The infant Henry VI was officially the king of both countries, and his uncle John, duke of Bedford, continued the English war effort in France, with the much-needed support of Philip the Good of Burgundy. In 1424 the duke of Bedford defeated the French in battle at Verneuil, and in 1428 he besieged Orléans, an important city in central France.

B

Joan of Arc

Early in 1429 there appeared before Charles VII a most unusual and unexpected visitor—a 17-year-old peasant girl, dressed in men’s clothing. This young woman claimed to have had visions of saints who told her that she was to lead a French army against the English besieging Orléans. Though hesitant to accept this offer, Charles finally agreed and sent a relief expedition that successfully broke the siege. The young heroine, known to history as Saint Joan of Arc, followed this success with another victory over the English at Patay, and then led Charles to Reims, deep in enemy-held territory, where he was crowned king of France.

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However, despite the dramatic French victories under Joan of Arc, they were merely a brief episode in which the French made limited gains. Joan was eventually captured by the Burgundians, turned over to the English, and executed in 1431.

VI

The End of the War

In 1435, after lengthy peace negotiations with Charles VII, Philip the Good of Burgundy abandoned his support of the English. Without the support of Philip’s forces, the English were unable to adequately hold their territory, and the tide of the war turned in favor of France, and the French regained Paris in 1436.

In addition, the French revived the stable coinage, regular taxes, and the standing army that had originated under Charles V but had disappeared during his son’s insanity. France also acquired superiority in the use of firearms, especially field artillery. These large, mobile cannons were capable of inflicting heavy damage, and they gave the French the same sort of military advantage that the longbow had given the English in the previous century.

In 1444 French conquests forced the English to agree to a truce. When that truce expired five years later, the remaining English possessions in France quickly fell into French hands. Artillery decided both the battle of Formigny (1450), which determined the fate of Normandy, and the battle of Castillon (1453), which ended English rule in Aquitaine. The battle of Castillon marked the end of the Hundred Years’ War. The English retained Calais in the far north until 1558, but were never again able to mount a serious threat to France.

The end of the Hundred Years’ War was also the end of a long period of economic trouble and declining population in both countries, to which the war had contributed. In France, the war encouraged the emergence of centralized governing institutions. In England, the loss of French territory forced the government to focus on domestic issues. By the end of the war both the French and English peoples began to view themselves as separate and distinctive nationalities, and not merely as members of a feudal empire.

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