The Hundred Years' War
Middle AgesA War That Lasted More Than a Century
Despite its name, the Hundred Years' War actually lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453. This epic conflict between England and France wasn't one continuous battle, but rather a series of wars interrupted by truces and periods of peace. At its heart, this was a dynastic struggle over who had the right to rule France. When the French king Charles IV died without a male heir in 1328, his nephew Edward III of England claimed the French throne through his mother Isabella, Charles's sister. The French nobility, however, preferred Philip VI, Charles's cousin, setting the stage for over a century of warfare that would transform both kingdoms forever.
Early English Victories and the Rise of the Longbow
The war began with stunning English victories that shocked medieval Europe. At the Battle of Crécy in 1346, Edward III's outnumbered army devastated a much larger French force, thanks largely to the deadly English longbow. These six-foot weapons could pierce French armor at 200 yards and fire twelve arrows per minute—far faster than the crossbows used by French forces. Ten years later, at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, Edward's son, known as the Black Prince, captured the French king John II himself. These victories established England as a major European power and demonstrated that traditional heavy cavalry could be defeated by disciplined infantry armed with superior missile weapons.
French Recovery and the Turning Point
By the early 1400s, France seemed on the verge of collapse. King Henry V of England won a crushing victory at Agincourt in 1415, and by 1420, the Treaty of Troyes declared Henry heir to the French throne. However, France's fortunes dramatically reversed with the appearance of a peasant girl named Joan of Arc. Claiming divine visions, Joan convinced the French court to let her lift the English siege of Orléans in 1429. Her success reinvigorated French resistance and led to the coronation of the Dauphin as Charles VII. Though Joan was captured by Burgundian forces, sold to the English, and executed in 1431, she had already transformed the conflict from a dynastic dispute into a war of national liberation.
The End of Medieval Warfare
The war's final phase saw revolutionary changes in military technology and tactics. The French began using cannons effectively, most notably at the Battle of Castillon in 1453, where artillery fire decimated the English army and killed the English commander John Talbot. This marked the end of the age of knights and castles—gunpowder weapons were making medieval fortifications obsolete. By 1453, the English had lost all their French territories except Calais. The war had bankrupted both kingdoms, killed hundreds of thousands, and fundamentally changed European warfare. France emerged as a unified nation-state, while England turned its attention to internal conflicts that would soon erupt into the Wars of the Roses.
Legacy of a Century of War
The Hundred Years' War transformed medieval Europe in ways that extended far beyond the battlefield. In France, the conflict helped forge a national identity and established the monarchy's authority over feudal lords. The war also accelerated the decline of feudalism—knights proved vulnerable to common soldiers with longbows and cannons, while the enormous costs of warfare strengthened royal power at the expense of nobles. For England, the loss of French territories forced the kingdom to look inward and eventually toward maritime expansion. The conflict also advanced military technology, tactics, and the art of warfare itself, marking the transition from medieval to early modern military practices.
Key Dates to Remember
- 1337 — Edward III claims the French throne, beginning the Hundred Years' War
- 1346 — Battle of Crécy - English longbows defeat French cavalry
- 1415 — Battle of Agincourt - Henry V's famous victory over the French
- 1429 — Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orléans, turning the tide for France
- 1453 — Battle of Castillon ends the war with English defeat
- 1453 — England loses all French territories except Calais