The Hundred Years' War was the ultimate family feud, stretching over five generations of kings who fought for the throne of France. It wasn't just a battle for territory; it was the crucible that forged the national identities of both England and France. This conflict saw the rise of the underdog longbow, the fall of the invincible armored knight, and the arrival of a teenage mystic who changed history. Furthermore, despite its name, it didn't actually last for a hundred years. Prepare to march into the mud and glory of the Middle Ages.
Hundred Years War
The war actually lasted for 116 years, not 100. The conflict began in 1337 and officially ended in 1453. Historians rounded the number down simply to make the name catchier for textbooks.
It wasn’t one continuous war, but rather a series of three different phases separated by truces. Long periods of peace, where no fighting occurred at all, punctuated the Edwardian, Caroline, and Lancastrian phases.
The English Longbow changed warfare forever during this conflict. Before this, heavy cavalry proved unstoppable, but the English yeomen archers could decimate French knights from a distance. The arrows flew with enough power to penetrate plate armor and pin a rider’s leg to his horse.
Joan of Arc was only 17 years old when she led the French army. This illiterate peasant girl convinced the Dauphin to let her command troops based on her visions from saints. Remarkably, she lifted the Siege of Orléans in just nine days after arriving.
The Black Death killed more people than the fighting did. The plague arrived in 1347, right in the middle of the war’s first phase. It devastated the armies and economies of both sides, forcing a temporary truce because neither side had enough healthy men to fight.
The famous “V for Victory” sign likely does not come from this war. A popular myth claims English archers held up two fingers to taunt the French, who threatened to cut off those fingers to stop them from drawing bows. However, historical evidence suggests this is just a legend, not fact.
English forces captured King John II of France at the Battle of Poitiers and held him for a massive ransom. While he lived as a prisoner in London, his captors treated him like a guest of honor and allowed him to travel freely. He eventually returned to France to raise his own ransom money but voluntarily went back to captivity when he couldn’t pay.
The English King Henry V died of dysentery, not in battle. The warrior king who won Agincourt succumbed to the “bloody flux” just weeks before he would have been crowned King of France. Consequently, his infant son inherited a chaotic situation that turned the tide of the war.
Mud often defeated French knights even before the enemy could. At the Battle of Agincourt, the heavy French armor caused knights to sink knee-deep in the sodden field. They became so exhausted trying to walk that the lightly armored English archers easily killed or captured them.
Cannon and gunpowder finally ended the war. While the longbow dominated the early years, the French development of superior field artillery helped them win the final battles. The Battle of Castillon in 1453 stands as the first major battle in European history that cannons decided.
The war started because of a dispute over wine and wool. The English controlled Gascony, a region in France famous for wine, and Flanders relied on English wool for its cloth industry. Economic tension over these lucrative trades fueled the political fire.
Contemporaries likely never called him the “Black Prince” during his lifetime. Edward of Woodstock, the son of Edward III, remains one of the war’s most famous commanders. However, no records show anyone using the nickname until centuries later, possibly due to his black armor or his brutal reputation.
England owned more of France than the French king did at one point. Through marriage and conquest, the English crown controlled vast territories including Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony. By the end of the war, they had lost everything except the single port city of Calais.
Soldiers used “scorched earth” tactics called chevauchées. Instead of capturing towns, the English rode through the French countryside burning villages and destroying crops. Commanders designed this strategy to destroy the French economy and prove that the French King could not protect his people.
Finally, the war made English the official language of England. Before the war, the English nobility spoke French and the peasants spoke English. The long conflict with France created a surge of nationalism that led the aristocracy to adopt English, eventually leading to the language we speak today.
