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Hundred Years' War, 1337–1360

First phase of the Hundred Years' War

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Edward had been granted the duchy of Aquitaine in 1325, and as Duke of Aquitaine he was a vassal to Philip VI of France. Due to political trouble in England during his early reign as a minor, Edward initially accepted Philip as King of France, but the relationship between the two kings soured in the 1330s when Philip allied with Edward's enemy, King David II of Scotland. Edward in turn provided refuge to Robert III of Artois, a French fugitive. When Edward refused to obey Philip's demands for the expulsion of Robert from England, Philip confiscated the Duchy of Aquitaine. This precipitated war and, in 1340, Edward declared himself king of France. Edward III and his son Edward the Black Prince, led their armies on a largely successful campaign across France with notable victories at Auberoche (1345), Crécy (1346), Calais (1347), and La Roche-Derrien (1347). Hostilities were paused until the mid-1350s for the deprivations of the Black Death. Then war continued, and the English were victorious at the Battle of Poitiers (1356) where the French king, John II, was captured and held for ransom. The Truce of Bordeaux was signed in 1357 and was followed by two treaties in London in 1358 and 1359.

After the treaties of London failed, Edward launched the Rheims campaign, which, though largely unsuccessful, led to the Treaty of Brétigny, which settled certain lands in France on Edward for renouncing his claim to the French throne. This was in part caused by Black Monday (1360), a freak hailstorm that devastated the English army and forced Edward III into peace talks. This peace lasted nine years before a second phase of hostilities known as the Caroline War began.

Background

Edward II, King of England, was deposed in 1327, and succeeded by his son Edward III. When Charles IV, King of France, died in 1328, the nearest male in line to the French throne was Edward III. The latter inherited his right to the throne from his mother, Isabella of France, who was the sister of Charles IV. The question arose of whether she could transmit a right that she, as a woman, did not possess, as only men could legally be the French monarch. An assembly of the French aristocracy was held to settle the manner. They decided that Charles IV's first cousin, Philip, Count of Valois, should be crowned king as Philip VI, as he was the nearest heir through male ancestry. The establishment of a legal succession to the French throne was central to the subsequent war, and Edward III and succeeding generations of English monarchs laid claim to the throne.

After some initial reluctance, in 1329, 17-year-old Edward III, in his capacity as Duke of Aquitaine, paid homage to Philip VI. Gascony, which had been incorporated into Aquitaine, was located in southwest France, just north of the Pyrenees mountains. The Gascons had their own language and customs. A large proportion of the red wine (known as claret) that they produced, was shipped in a profitable trade with the English. The trade provided the English king with significant revenue. The Gascons preferred their relationship with a distant English king who left them alone, to a French king who might interfere in their affairs.

Despite Edward's homage to Philip the French continued to interfere in Gascony. There had been a series of skirmishes at some of the walled towns along the Gascon border. Agenais was an area of Gascony in French hands, and the officials there put pressure on the English administration. A chain of religious houses, although in Edward's jurisdiction, had cases held by French officials. Philip also contracted with various lords within Gascony to provide troops in the event of war with England.

Gascony was not the only issue; in the 1330s, France's support for Scotland caused problems for the English. Loyalties in the Low Countries were split. In Flanders, the towns were dependent on supplies of English wool, whereas the aristocracy supported the French king. Another element was that of naval power. Philip had intended to go on a crusade and had assembled a fleet off Marseille. These plans were abandoned in 1336, and the fleet moved to the English Channel off Normandy in an obvious act of provocation against the English. One of Edward's influential advisers was Robert III of Artois. Robert was an exile from the French court, having fallen out with Philip VI over an inheritance claim. In November 1336, Philip issued an ultimatum to the seneschal of Gascony threatening that if Robert was not extradited to France then great peril and dissension would follow. When Philip confiscated the English king's lands in Gascony and the county of Ponthieu the following year, he laid emphasis on the case of Robert as one of the contributing causes.

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