III.

The Edwardian War (1340-1360)

The Edwardian war was a great English success. The English were able to put together a strong, well-financed army. In addition, the use of the English longbow against French forces enabled the English to win many important victories. By the end of the Edwardian war, the English had taken control of much of southwestern France, as well as the important northern city of Calais.

A.

Opposing Forces

Though England was smaller and poorer than France, it had more highly developed governing institutions, including a system of regular taxation. In France before the late 1350s, the king could levy taxes only by long negotiations at a local level, and Frenchmen stubbornly resisted paying anything when war was not actually in progress. Frequently short of money, the French found their advantages over England in wealth and population at the start of the war negated by inadequate financial institutions.

The English still faced challenges, however, as they had to fight on French soil. It was very complicated and expensive to transport an army of heavily-armored knights to France, and so the English found it much cheaper to send mainly infantrymen and foot soldiers. As a result, their armies were much smaller and contained fewer powerful horse-mounted cavalry than did those of the French.

However, the English compensated for their lack of cavalry by arming their infantry with the longbow, a powerful weapon that could fire an arrow both quickly and accurately. The longbow could penetrate knights’ chain mail, even when shot from a substantial distance. It enabled the English archers to destroy French cavalry charges. Consequently the English, even when outnumbered, usually won the pitched battles.

Hostilities began on May 24, 1337, when Philip VI invaded the English-held region of Gascony in southwestern France. In retaliation, Edward III reaffirmed his claim to the French throne and invaded France from the north. The English won command of the sea in June 1340 when they destroyed a French fleet off Sluis in the Netherlands. They were thus able to control the English Channel and prevent French forces from invading the English islands.

B.

Major Battles

The English conducted three major campaigns between 1345 and 1360. The first campaign was highlighted by three English victories, including the Battle of Crécy in Normandy (Normandie) in 1346. During the battles of this campaign, the English inflicted heavy losses on the French, and Edward III concluded the campaign by taking the important French port of Calais in 1347.

The next campaign began in the southwest of France, where Edward III’s son, Edward the Black Prince of Wales, conducted a very damaging raid in 1355. In 1356 the Black Prince marched his forces northward until the new French king, John II, cornered him near Poitiers in western France in September. There, however, the Black Prince defeated the French decisively, taking John II prisoner. John spent four years in captivity trying to arrange his ransom and to buy his release with generous treaties. Despite the fact that they were unable to finance an army, the government in France rejected the treaties negotiated in London. Edward III’s final campaign in 1359 was unopposed by the French. It ended with the Peace of Brétigny in 1360 that forced the French to cede all of the southwestern region of Aquitaine to the English, and left thousands of unemployed soldiers ravaging the French countryside.