Does anyone know who started the Hundred Years' War?

Question

Also, what historical battles were included in the war? Details would be nice

Answer 1

The primary cause of the 100 Years War was England's attempt to take the French throne. Since the Norman Conquest in 1066 England's rulers had been French with strong ties to the French monarchy. In 1328 Charles IV, King of France, died childless. The strongest claim to the throne was Queen Isabella of England, Charles' sister, and her teen aged son, King Edward III. Horrified that an English King might actually come to sit on the French throne the nobles of France gave the crown to Philip of Valois. They based this action on Salic Law and ancient German rule that denied high office to females.

Edward was content with Philip being king of France until in 1337 the latter confiscated Aquitaine, a huge section of southwestern France that traditionally belonged to English kings. Edward had a choice. Let Aquitaine go or take the French throne.

To complicate matters, taking Aquitaine made many French barons understandably nervous. If Philip could violate long standing feudal obligations and take Edward's land, he could do the same to them. To counter the French king many French nobles transferred their loyalty to Edward. Thus the 100 year's war became an extended French Civil War with much of France's aristocracy fighting on the side of the English.

Finally, the wool trade between England and Flanders, the northeastern section of France in what is now Belgium, was the cornerstone of both countries economies. Flanders was divided between pro-English traders and manufacturers and pro-French aristocrats.

The Stage was set for a century of bloodletting.

Beginning of the war: 1337–1360
Open hostilities broke out as French ships began ravaging coastal settlements on the English Channel and in 1337 Philip reclaimed the Gascon fief, citing feudal law and saying that Edward had broken his oath (a felony) by not attending to the needs and demands of his lord. Edward III responded by saying he was in fact the rightful heir to the French throne, and on All Saints' Day, Henry Burghersh, Bishop of Lincoln, arrived in Paris with the defiance of the king of England. War had been declared.

When the war began, France had a population of about 25 million, whereas England had a population of about 6 million. Moreover, France was generally considered to have the most and best-trained knights in Europe.

Battle of Sluys from a fourteenth-century miniature of Jean Froissart's Chroniques.In the early years of the war, Edward III allied with the nobles of the Low Countries and the burghers of Flanders, but after two campaigns where nothing was achieved, the alliance fell apart in 1340. The payments of subsidies to the German princes and the costs of maintaining an army abroad dragged the English government into bankruptcy, heavily damaging Edward’s prestige. At sea, France enjoyed supremacy for some time, through the use of Genoese ships and crews. Several towns on the English coast were sacked, some repeatedly. This was a cause of fear and disruption along the English coastline. There was a constant fear through this part of the war that the French would invade. France's sea power led to economic disruptions in England as it cut down on the wool trade to Flanders and the wine trade from Gascony. However, in 1340, while attempting to hinder the English army from landing, the French fleet was almost completely destroyed in the Battle of Sluys. After this, England was able to dominate the English Channel for the rest of the war, preventing French invasions.

In July 1346, Edward mounted a major invasion across the Channel, landing in the Cotentin. 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. Finding himself unable to outmanoeuvre Philip, Edward positioned his forces for battle, and Philip's army attacked. The famous Battle of Crécy was a complete disaster for the French and victory was largely credited to the English longbowmen. Edward proceeded north unopposed and besieged the city of Calais on the English Channel, capturing it in 1347. This became an important strategic asset for the English. It allowed them to keep troops in France safely. In the same year, 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 ravage Europe. In 1356, after it had passed and England was able to recover financially, Edward's son and namesake, the Prince of Wales, known as the Black Prince, invaded France from Gascony, winning a great victory in the Battle of Poitiers, where the English archers repeated the tactics used at Crécy. The new French king, John II, was captured. John signed a truce with Edward, and in his absence, much of the government began to collapse. Later that year, the Second Treaty of London was signed, by which England gained possession of Aquitaine and John was freed. John eventually had to return to England as the hostages placed on his behalf had returned to France.

The final flurry of warmaking which engulfed France between 1415 and 1435 is the most famous phase of the Hundred Years' War. Plans had been laid for the declaration of war since the rise to the throne of Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, in 1399. However, it was his son, Henry V, who was finally given the opportunity. In 1414, Henry turned down an Armagnac offer to restore the Brétigny frontiers in return for his support. Instead, he demanded a return to the territorial status during the reign of Henry II. In August 1415, he landed with an army at Harfleur and took it. Although tempted to march on Paris directly, he elected to make a raiding expedition across France toward English-occupied Calais. In a campaign reminiscent of Crécy, he found himself outmaneuvered and low on supplies, and had to make a stand against a much larger French army at the Battle of Agincourt, north of the Somme. In spite of his disadvantages, his victory was near-total, and the French defeat was catastrophic, with the loss of many of the Armagnac leaders.


Fifteenth-century miniature depicting the Battle of Agincourt.Henry took much of Normandy, including Caen in 1417 and Rouen on January 19, 1419, making Normandy English for the first time in two centuries. He made formal alliance with the Duchy of Burgundy, who had taken Paris, after the assassination of Duke John the Fearless in 1419. In 1420, Henry met with the mad king Charles VI, who signed the Treaty of Troyes, by which Henry would marry Charles' daughter Catherine and Henry's heirs would inherit the throne of France. The Dauphin, Charles VII, was declared illegitimate. Henry formally entered Paris later that year and the agreement was ratified by the Estates-General.

Henry continued his progress through France, but died at Meaux in 1422. Soon, Charles too had died. Henry's infant son, Henry VI, was immediately crowned king of England and France, but the Armagnacs remained loyal to Charles' son and the war continued in central France.

The English continued the victory streak until 1429. In that year, a Franco-Scottish army isolated a supply convoy led by John Fastolf. By circling his supply wagons (largely filled with herring) around his archers, he repelled the much larger army in what was to be one of the last English successes won on the backs of their outstanding longbowmen: the Battle of the Herrings. Later that year, however, a French saviour appeared in the form of a peasant woman from Lorraine named Joan of Arc.

Answer 2

go to Wikipedia, and type in hundred years war