Edward the Third and Hundred Hears War

Edward the Third and Hundred Hears War

April 09, 2008

INTRODUCTION

The Hundred Years' War was fought for 116 years during the years 1337 to 1453 between the British and the French for the throne of France. The throne had fallen vacant after the lineage of the Capetian French kings fell vacant. The main contenders for the throne were the Plantagenet from England and the Valois from France. It was during the reign of King Edward III of England, who lived between the years 1312 to 1377 that the war actually broke into a full-fledged battle. This paper examines issues such as how the war began in 1337 and the major events that Edward the third was involved in through 1360.

1. HOW THE WAR BEGAN

The seeds of the war were actually sown in 1066 when William, Duke of Normandy who was a vassal of the French king invaded England and defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings and crowned himself as the King of England. As Duke of Normandy, he remained a vassal of the French King, and was required to swear fealty to the latter for his lands in France and he considered this very humiliating. On the French side, the Capetian monarchs resented a neighbouring kingdom holding lands within their own realm, and sought to neutralise the threat England now posed to France. After an era of civil wars and unrest in England during 1135 - 1154 known called as the Anarchy, the Anglo-Norman dynasty was succeeded by the Angevin Kings who ruled Normandy and England and other areas such as Aquitaine, Poitou, Anjou, etc. In fact, the British king had more French areas than the French King but the fact was that the French king was much weaker than the King of England though the latter was a vassal to the French King. This condition was a cause of continual stress and conflict. The French won three wars, the conquest of Normandy in 1214), the Saintonge War in 1242) and the War of Saint-Sardos in 1324 and this helped to reduce England's hold in France to a few small provinces in Gascony and the complete loss of the crown jewel of Normandy. By the early 14th century, many members of the British court yearned for the time when their forefathers controlled areas such as Normandy, which they also considered their ancestral homeland and they wanted to regain control of these areas (Neillands, 2001).

In France, the unbroken line of the Direct Capetian firstborn sons had succeeded each other for centuries. It was the longest continuous dynasty in medieval Europe. In 1314, the direct Capetian, King Philip IV, died, leaving three male heirs: Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. The eldest son and heir, Louis X, died in 1316, leaving only his posthumous son John I, who was born and died that same year, and a daughter Joan, whose paternity was suspect. To ensure that he himself and not Joan, inherited the throne, Philip IV's second-eldest son, Philip V, spread rumours that Joan was a result of her mother's adultery and he had her barred from the succession. This act was a by-product of the Salic law that prevented women from inheriting the French throne. When Philip died in 1322, his daughters too were put aside in favour of the third son of Philip IV, Charles IV (Neillands, 2001).

Allmand (1998) writes that in 1324, Edward II and Charles IV engaged in the War of Saint-Sardos in Gascony. In the siege of the English fortress of La RÐ"©ole, on the Garonne, the English forces, led by Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, were forced to surrender after a month of bombardment from the French cannons, after promised reinforcements never arrived. The war was a complete failure for England, and only Bordeaux and a narrow coastal strip of the once great Duchy of Aquitaine remained in English hands. The recovery of these lost lands became a major focus of English diplomacy. The war also galvanised opposition to Edward II among the English nobility and led to his eventual assassination in 1327, which in turn caused the succession of the young Edward III. Charles IV died in 1328, leaving only a daughter, and an unborn infant, which would be a girl. The senior line of the Capetian dynasty had thus ended, creating a crisis over the French succession. In England, Charles IV's sister Isabella, widow of Edward II, was at the time effectively in control of the crown in the name of the young king. Edward III, being the nephew of Charles, was his closest living male relative, and was at that time the only surviving male descendant of the senior line of the Capetian dynasty descending through Philip IV. By the English interpretation of feudal law, this made Edward III the legitimate heir to the throne of France. The French court could not accept the fact that France could be ruled by a British king. The Salic Law, that the royal inheritance could not pass to a woman or through her to her offspring was evoked. Philip of Valois, the most senior male of the Capetian dynasty after Charles IV and who had taken regency after Charles IV's death, was regarded as the legitimate heir and was allowed to take the throne. He was crowned as Philip VI, the first of the House of Valois, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. After Philip was crowned, the English still controlled Gascony. Gascony produced vital shipments of salt and wine, and was very profitable and it was a separate fief, held of the French crown, rather than a territory of England. The homage done for its possession was a bone of contention between the two kings. Philip VI demanded Edward's recognition as sovereign; Edward wanted the return of further lands lost by his father.

“In 1331, facing serious problems at home, Edward accepted Philip as King of France and gave up his claims to the French throne. In effect, England kept Gascony, in return for Edward giving up his claims to be the rightful king of France”(Allmand, 1998).

In 1333, Edward III went to war with David II of Scotland, a French ally under the Auld Alliance, and began the Second War of Scottish Independence. Philip saw the opportunity to reclaim Gascony while England's attention was concentrated northwards. However, the war was, initially at least, a quick success for England, and David was forced to flee to France after being defeated by King Edward and Edward Balliol at the Battle of Halidon Hill in July. In 1336, Philip made plans for an expedition to restore David to the Scottish throne, and to also seize Gascony.

“Open hostilities broke out as French ships began scouting coastal settlements on the English Channel and in 1337 Philip reclaimed the Gascon area, citing feudal law and saying that Edward had broken his oath by not attending to the needs and demands