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HISTODEX

Hundred Years' War

1337–1453

From 1337 to 1453, English claims to the French crown and disputes over lands and homage drove a long war interrupted by truces.

A panoramic summer 1453 view near Castillon, where French crews tend low hoop-reinforced bombards inside an earth-and-timber artillery camp as English mounted troops withdraw
Reconstruction note: This educational reconstruction is not a primary-source image of the event.
Period
1337–1453
Kind
War
Regions
Europe
Keywords
Anglo-French war · royal succession · longbow · Joan of Arc · Calais · Wars of the Roses

Follow the story · Four stages

  1. Background

    The succession dispute of 1328 combined with the confiscation of Aquitaine and Edward III's claim to the French crown as war began in 1337.

    • The French succession crisis of 1328
    • Disputes over Aquitaine, landholding, and homage
    • Edward III's claim to the French crown
    In early-1330s Guyenne, mounted royal messengers with closed plain leather satchels cross a feudal checkpoint on a stone river bridge

  2. Course

    England gained major victories such as Crécy, while Emperor Sigismund attempted mediation in 1416; after Joan of Arc's intervention, Charles VII's side recovered.

    • Intermittent warfare separated by truces
    • Early English advantages at battles such as Crécy
    • French recovery after the relief of Orléans
    English longbowmen shoot from behind stakes as French men-at-arms advance across the narrow muddy field at Agincourt in 1415

  3. Outcome

    French forces recovered Bordeaux in 1453, leaving Calais as England's only remaining possession in France.

    • Bordeaux recovered by France in 1453
    • Territorial consolidation under the French monarchy
    • Calais left as England's only French possession
    At the Orléans river gate in spring 1429, townspeople open the gate to admit French relief troops and supply carts

  4. Historical significance

    Taxation and military service operated through Parliament during the long war. Failure in France and domestic unrest encouraged English factionalism before the Wars of the Roses began in 1455.

    • Taxation and military service organized through Parliament
    • Long-term changes in royal and military organization
    • Defeat and unrest feeding English factional conflict
    After the campaigns in 1453–1455, royal officers receive revenue from town representatives beside ox carts carrying a secured hoop-reinforced bombard as freight

Related figures

Related events

  1. 1328

    The Capetian succession dispute

    In a French royal hall in 1328, rival English and French envoys face one another before an unlettered wooden dynastic display of ancestor profiles

    In 1328, the end of the direct Capetian line brought competing claims associated with Philip VI and Edward III into the open.

  2. 1329–1337

    Gascony and feudal conflict

    From 1329 to 1337 in Guyenne, two groups of envoys dispute feudal possession before a fortified gate and plain gate keys

    From 1329 to 1337, disputes over homage and possession of Gascony deepened while warfare in Scotland also shaped Anglo-French relations.

  3. 1337–1453

    The Hundred Years' War

    Current event

    At Crécy in 1346, English longbowmen hold a harvested ridge behind stakes as French cavalry in mail and coats of plates approach

    From 1337 to 1453, English advances and French recoveries alternated across truces until France retook Bordeaux.

  4. 1453–1558

    English possession of Calais

    After 1453 at Calais, English guards watch from sea-facing walls while small coastal boats cross the Channel below

    After Bordeaux was lost in 1453, Calais remained England's sole possession in France until 1558.

  5. 1453–1455

    Factional strain after defeat

    After the loss of France in 1453–1455, English magnates face one another in a divided royal council marked by an empty chair and central gap

    From 1453 to 1455, the loss of English rule in France and domestic unrest encouraged factional conflict before the Wars of the Roses.

Sources