100 Years' War: Notes

Synopsis

The War
- First major battle: Sea battle at Sluys (Fr. vs E.)

The Names
Edward III
- b. 1313
- mother Queen Isabella (sister of K. Charles IV of France)
- father Roger Mortimer, Earl of March
- became K. of England

Philip VI
- K. of France

The Places
Sluys
- town in Flanders
- in Netherlands
Flanders
- "former county in the Low Countries, extending along the North Sea and W of the Scheldt (Escaut) River. It is divided among East Flanders and West Flanders provs., Belgium; Nord and Pas-de-Calais depts., France; and (to a small extent) Zeeland prov., the Netherlands. The name Flanders is also used for all the Dutch-speaking areas of Belgium. Flanders varied considerably in size in the course of its history and at one time also included Artois and parts of Picardy. In Belgian Flanders, Dutch is spoken by the majority of the inhabitants." {3}

The Battles
Sluys
- "As the sun and wind were both against Edward, he lowered his sails and moved round so that the sun [214] should be behind him. The French seeing this thought that he was afraid, and that he was running away. They had been waiting for the English in strong battle array. All their ships were fastened together with heavy chains so as to make it impossible for the English ships to break through their lines. Seeing the English flee, as they thought, the French unfastened the chains and made ready to pursue." {1}
- Cristopher retaken by E.
- Fr. defeated.
- "The first major battle of the hundred years war, Sluys was a dramatic naval victory for Edward III. The French ships were chained together, while the English remained mobile, and were able to destroy the French fleet - 200 French ships were lost, while only thirty escaped. Sluys began the process of recovering the reputation of English arms after the low-point of Bannockburn, and also saw the start of Edward III's successful military career." {2}
- "When the ships had anchored in a dense pack at Sluys in modern Netherlands, the English attacked and destroyed it with fire ships and victory in a battle fought across the anchored ships, almost like a land battle on a wooden battlefield..." {4}
Invasion of Northern France
- "Edward invaded northern France in 1345. The Black Death had arrived, and his army was weakened by sickness. As the English force tried to make its way safely to fortified Channel port, the French attempted to force them into a battle called..." {4}
Crécy
- "On August 26, 1346, [Edward] led his army in a great victory over the French at the Battle of Crécy..." {5}
- "The English were finally pinned against the coast by a much superior French army at a place called Crecy (pronounced "cressie"). Edward's army was a combined force: archers, pikemen, light infantry, and cavalry; the French, by contrast, clung to their old-fashioned feudal cavalry. The English had archers using the longbow, a weapon with great penetrating power that could sometimes kill armoured knights, and often the horses on which they rode. The battle was a disaster for the French. The English took up position on the crest of a hill, and the French cavalry tried to ride up the slope to get at their opponents. The long climb up soggy ground tired and slowed the French horses, giving the English archers and foot soldiers ample opportunity to wreak havoc in the French ranks. Those few French who reached the crest of the hill found themselves faced with rude, but effective, barriers, and, as they tried to withdraw, they were attacked by the small but fresh English force of mounted knights." {4}
Calais
- "Edward took the city of Calais after a siege..." {5}
Bordeaux
- "...the capture of Bordeaux in 1355 by Edward the Black Prince, son of Edward III. Using Bordeaux as a base, the English raided and plundered most of southern France..." {5}
Poiters
- "Nevertheless, facing much the same battlefield situation some ten years later, the French employed the same tactics they had used at Crecy, with the same dismal result, at the battle of Poiters (1356). The French king and many nobles were captured, and many, many others were killed." {4}
- "In September 1356 the English, led by the Black Prince, won their second great victory of the war, at Poitiers, in west­central France. In this battle they captured King John II of France, who had succeeded Philip VI in 1350." {5}


Sources:
1. The Baldwin Project
2. History of War
3. Encyclopedia.com
4. The Hundred Years' War (1336-1352)
5. Black Studies

100 Years' War: Background

EDWARD III 1327-77

Edward suspected the French to have designs on Flanders-vital to Englands trade
and her growing naval power, He formally claimed the French throne through right
of his mother [Isabella of France] and began what came to be known as the
Hundred Years War.The French fleet was utterly defeated in a naval battle at
Sluys in 1340 [see Battle at Sluys].Edward followed this up by a further land
victory over Phillip VI at Crecy in 1346. It was at Crecy that the kings eldest
son, the Black Prince, so named for the colour of his armour, famously won his
spurs. Edward then laid siege to the port of Calais, which eventually fell
into English hands. Queen Phillipa interceeded for the lives of the burghers of
the city. The war with Scotland, initiated in the reign of the king's
grandfather, Edward I resumed. Robert the Bruce was long dead, but his successor
siezed the chance to attack England while its king's attention was engaged
elsewhere. They were defeated at the Battle of Nevilles Cross. The Black Prince
vanquished the French yet again at Poiters in 1356. Peace was then negotiated
and by the Treaty of Bretigny of 1360 England retained the whole of Aquitaine,
Ponthieu and Calais, in return Edward relinquished his claim to the French
throne....Edward III's reign also witnessed the flowering of English literature
under Geoffrey Chaucer... Disaster was also to strike in Edward's reign,
in the form of bubonic plague, or the Black Death, which cut a scythe across
Europe in the fourteenth century, killing a third of it's population......As he
progressed in years he began to lean heavily on his grasping and avaricious
mistress, Alice Perrers. Her exercise of power as the king slipped into senility
was greatly resented by Parliament. Edward died of a stroke in 1377...

Summary:

1. Edward III
2. King of France?
   Battles
3. Defeated by English at Battle of Sluys (1340)
4. Defeated Phillip VI at Crecy (1346)
5. Siege of Calais (defeated by English)
6. Defeated (by Scottish?) at Battle of Neville’s Cross
7. ?? Poiters (1356)
8. Treaty of Bretigny (1360)
   Events
9. Geoffrey Chaucer writes Canterbury Tales
10. Bubonic Plague strikes Europe
11. d. of stroke 1377

Sources:
1. English Monarchs