The Hundred Years War (in French, La Guerre de Cent Ans) was a 116-year period of conflict (of which 79 were active periods of war) in The Late Middle Ages between The House of Plantagenet who ruled England, Ireland, Wales and a significant chunk of French territory, and France's House of Valois, who owned what was the remainder of the lands. Traditionally set between 1337 and 1453, although the peace was really acknowledged only with the Treaty of Picquigny (1475), in which Louis XI bought off the Yorkist king Edward IV to abstain from his plans to renew the war in France.
The conflict was a large-scale Succession Crisis, which came about after the death of the last French Capetian king, Charles IV the Fair. Originally Edward III grudgingly accepted the succession of Philippe VI of Valois, paying homage to him in 1329 and 1331 as feudal overlord for Aquitaine (Guyenne), England's main source of salt and Bordeaux wine. (The English have always loved their claret.) However, when Philippe confiscated Guyenne in 1337, Edward reacted by claiming the French throne for himself (by descent through the female line he was more closely related to Charles IV than Philippe VI was - conveniently forgetting that his mother's older brother Philip V had grandsons through his daughters) and adding the arms of the Kingdom of France to those of England. (This claim and its heraldic manifestation were not renounced until the treaty of Amiens in 1802, a decade after France ceased being a kingdom). Because in the early phase of the war the duchy of Guyenne was the main bone of contention, some historians say that it actually began in 1294, when Philippe IV the Fair of France confiscated the duchy for the first time (he had to give it back to Edward I in 1297), leading to an uneasy peace, during which the English burned and razed a newly erected French fortress in 1323.
The war was split into multiple periods and offshoots, and saw knights from both sides make a name for themselves, including England's Prince Edward, aka The Black Prince, and later France's Joan of Arc, as well as many major battles, including Crécy, Sluys, Agincourt, Orléans, Patay and Castillon. The conflict also saw multiple awesome moments (some usually involving the aforementioned Black Prince or Jeanne d'Arc).
As feudal levies were being replaced by professional soldiers and advances in military technology (the increasing coverage of plate armor, more and bigger cannons, etc.) necessitated ever larger expenses for the monarchs, the Hundred Years' War was probably the first European war in which financiers, such as Jacques Coeur on the French side, played a crucial part. In 1340 the debts incurred by Edward III caused the bankruptcy of a number of important banks in Florence. While the French gradually developed a more efficient system of regular taxation, the English throughout the war tended to run short of cash despite windfalls such as the three million écus paid out as ransom for King Jean II of France, captured in the battle of Poitiers, mostly because the English had got it into their heads that taxation required the consent of Parliament, and any attempt by the King to do otherwise would be political suicide.
In turn, the increasing necessity for armies representing/encompassing the whole of the English kingdom—i.e. the foundations of the idea of a 'national' army—also increased pressures and tensions between kings (who would want armies loyal personally to them, and not to their barons) as well as the barons/nobility (who would prefer the status quo—and the soft power/leverage this gives them over their king). This tension would eventually give rise to what is called bastard feudalism
. Furthermore, the English Kings' increasing desire to see tax revenues as good as their French counterpart became quite important about 200 years after the end of the war.
The war ended with the majority of the English being forced out of France. However, over 100 years of war, pillaging, epidemics and famine had reduced France to a third of its pre-war population. Meanwhile, England lost half of its pre-war population and all its holdings on the continent save for Calais, becoming an island nation again for the first time since before the Norman Invasion, which affected its outlook and development for the rest of the millennium. But first, it had to deal with the Wars of the Roses; the English defeats on the continent contributed in many ways to the outbreak of this civil war.
The war also had a cultural impact on the development of The Renaissance, because France went into decline after the war, giving way to the rise of Italy and Flanders. Technically, the peace treaty signed after the Agincourt campaign in 1415 was the kickstarter, because the English and Burgundian courts all brought their musicians with them - and many interesting new ideas were discussed. Some influential composers of the century were also present there at a young and formative age.
Philip VI (1328 — 1350)
- The Chains of Commanding: Despite his epithet, Philip had a lot on his plate. He had to deal with a succession crisis, a completely destroyed French navy, an invasion of the English, and the rise of the bubonic plague.
- Founder of the Kingdom: Or simply the Valois dynasty.
John II (1350 — 1364)
- The Plague: John dealt with the final stages of the Black Death.
Charles V (1364 — 1380)
- Badass Bookworm: Had an extensive library in the expanded Louvre Palace. He also led France and helped reclaim a large amount of territory after the conquests of Edward III and the Black Prince's campaigns.
- Warrior Prince: Led a battalion in the Battle of Poitiers.
Bertrand du Guesclin
Breton knight and important French military commander.
- Hit-and-Run Tactics: Known for employing the "Fabian strategy", in which pitched battles and frontal assaults are avoided in favor of wearing down an opponent through a war of attrition and indirection.
Charles VI (1380 — 1422)
The first-born son of Charles V.
- Axe Craxy: He was prone to attacking his own courtier in his madness.
- Puppet King: For the majority of his reign, Charles VI was controlled by multiple regents due to his own insanity. The regents include his wife Isabeau, his younger brother Louis, the duke of Burgundy, the duke of Berry, and more. After Agincourt, he even agreed to give Henry V the title of "King of France", which led to a final stage of French nationalist fervor.
- Royally Screwed Up: Perhaps the most insane king in France's history. He was prone to bouts of madness, sometimes believing his body was made of glass. His ineffectual rule led to both the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War and Henry V's invasion.
Louis, Duke of Orléans
Younger brother to Charles VI.
- Really Gets Around: Known to have multiple mistresses and lovers, possibly even Queen Isabeau.
Charles VII (1422 — 1461)
The last king of France during the Hundred Years' War.
- The Chains of Commanding: Essentially became the unofficial figurehead for French royalists by the time he became dauphin. Due to England occupying almost half of France at the beginning of his reign, his overall victory was considered impossible by many.
- The Team Benefactor: Due to his young age and inexperience, Charles VII allowed his generals to lead his armies for the remainder of the war. He was also the king to have recruited Joan of Arc when she pledged herself to the French crown.
- Unexpected Successor: He was the eleventh child and fifth son of Charles VI, outliving his older brothers who each carried the title of dauphin at one point or another.
Joan of Arc
- "The Maid of Orléans."
French peasant girl who led the French army to their final round of victories. Read more on her page.
Jean de Dunois
- "The Bastard of Orléans."
Illegitimate son of Louis, Duke of Orléans and military leader alongside Joan of Arc.
- Heroic Bastard: He was an instrumental commander in France's final reconquests, notably at the Siege of Orléans and the recapture of Paris. His nickname was used in reverence to his noble standing.
Jacques Cœur (1395-1456)
A prominent French merchant who funded the reconquest of Normandy. Later exiled and had his assets seized on trumped up charges.
Edward III (1327 — 1377)
The first King of England during the Hundred Years' War and the one to instigate it.- The Conqueror: The man to first invade France. The initial victories under his reign took the French decades to reverse.
- Outliving One's Offspring: He outlived his firstborn son Edward, the Black Prince.
Edward, The Black Prince
Firstborn son of Edward III, Prince of Wales, and noted English commander.- Black Knight: Of course, though it should be noted that the title of "the Black Prince" did not come into use until long after his death. Historians speculate that it may refer to a black shield, darkened plate armor, and/or overall brutal personality, but it isn't known for certain.
- The Dreaded: To the French. Essentially all of his engagements left hundreds of French dead in his wake.
- Warrior Prince: One of history's classic examples.
Richard II (1377 — 1399)
The son of the Black Prince and grandson/successor of Edward III.- Decadent Court: Richard focused on art and culture at his court but also favored many unpopular courtiers.
Henry IV (1399 — 1413)
The younger first cousin of Richard II and grandson of Edward III.- The Usurper: To his cousin Richard. Alongside the Lords Appellent, Henry was tired of Richard's supposed tyrannical and capricious rule and snapped when Richard refused to release Henry's rightful inheritance.
Henry V (1413 — 1422)
The son and successor of Henry IV.- The Dreaded: France was already in the midst of a civil war once Henry invaded. His brutality towards the prisoners of Agincourt and the French citizens during the Siege of Rouen cemented this.
- The Usurper: To the French. With the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, Charles VI named Henry both regent and heir apparent to the French crown. The rest of the kingdom was not happy.
- Warrior Prince: Fought with his father against the rebellions of both Owain Glyndŵr and the Percy family.
- Young Conqueror: Noted for a massive reconquest of French territory. He was 29 at Agincourt.
Henry VI (1422 — 1461)
The son and successor of Henry V.- Royally Screwed Up: Henry VI was known to have occasional mental breakdowns. His condition and passivity led to the French victory in the Hundred Years' War and the beginning of the War of the Roses.
- Sucksessor: Really failed to live up to his father's legacy.
Tropes as portrayed in fiction:
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The less than pleasant portrayal of Jeanne d'Arc in Shakespeare's Henry VI.
- Written by the Winners: Inverted. Save for Jeanne d'Arc's story, one may forget France actually won the war, given the only things people seem to remember are crippling French defeats at Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt and generally France's most demeaning and humiliating moments (you'll likely not hear about the Battle of Patay quite often — The Dreaded English archers got caught unprepared by French knights and were slaughtered. English forces never really recovered from this afterwards). Thank you, Mr. Shakespeare! On the other hand, one may also forget that English failures at the tail end helped bring about a disaster on their own soil: the Wars Of The Roses.
Works about the Hundred Years War include :
Anime and Manga
- Hetalia: Axis Powers has a brief moment showing Joan of Arc fighting alongside France against England. France cared about her and seemed to be filled with regret after her death (until he meets and befriends a young girl named Lisa... who is implied to be Joan's reincarnation).
- Maria the Virgin Witch shows the life of a witch who uses her powers and those of a succubus to "calm down" French and English soldiers because she doesn't want to see a battlefield near her home.
- The Puella Magi Madoka Magica spinoff Puella Magi Tart Magica: The Legend of "Jeanne D'Arc" has Joan as one of the magical girls. The series proper includes a cameo of Joan when she's about to be burned at the stake, implying that she's one of the girls that Madoka herself spirited away to a sort-of Heaven to save them from becoming Witches.
- Too many statues and paintings of Joan of Arc to mention.
- Auguste Rodin's "Burghers of Calais".
- Crécy, the 2007 graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Raulo Cáceres, in which the victors of "England's greatest battle" are the good guys, with a little social romanticism (plucky British working-class heroes laying low the snooty Frenchy aristocrats) thrown in.
- The 1944 and 1989 film adaptations of Shakespeare's Henry V (and by extension, the 2012 adaptation of Henry V in The Hollow Crown), all climaxing in the Battle of Agincourt
- Jeanne d'Arc (1900) by Georges Méliès - silent and coloured by hand. Not the first film on the subject of Joan of Arc, there was at least one earlier one.
- Jeanne la pucelle (1994), a two-part movie directed by Jacques Rivette and starring Sandrine Bonnaire.
- Joan the Woman (1917), directed by C. B. De Mille.
- Joan of Arc (1948), directed by Victor Fleming, starring Ingrid Bergman.
- Giovanna d'Arco al Rogo (Joan of Arc at the Stake, 1954), directed by Roberto Rossellini, also starring Ingrid Bergman.
- Das Mädchen Johanna (That Girl Joan, 1935), directed by Gustav Ucicky, starring the Austrian actress Angela Sallocker. Notable for being produced by Nazi Germany and including "heavily underlined" political parallels between the June 30 purge and that of Trémoille, and between the Reichstag fire and the execution of Joan in Rouen.
- The 1999 movie The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, directed by Luc Besson with Milla Jovovich in the role. Notable for being Darker and Edgier and leaning on Deconstruction at times. A fairly polarizing movie.
- The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) by Carl Dreyer: a film centered on Joan's trial and death, with Maria Falconetti as Joan. It's one of the better known works of the silent era of cinema, despite almost being lost after the original negative's destruction in a fire.
- A Knight's Tale is set with the Hundred Years' War as a background, and Prince Edward Plantagenet, the Black Prince, is a supporting character.
- The Last Duel is set between 1370 and 1386 and features a couple of skirmishes from the war. The plot is about a French knight accusing another of raping his wife, and the Trial by Combat which ensued.
- The Accursed Kings tells how, on the course of several decades, France and England eventually went to war. The Hundred Years War itself begins in the end of the sixth book and is the setting of the seventh.
- Between Two Fires takes place two years after the Battle of Crécy. Thomas, one of the principle characters in the story, took part in the disastrous charge, where he lost his lord, watched as most of his comrades were slain, and took an arrow to the face that led to a painful recovery. While he survived it, the trauma of the experience sticks with him, and its aftermath results in Thomas losing everything, including his lands, family, and status.
- In A Dark Wood Wandering by Hella S. Haasse concerns the life of Charles d'Orléans. The Armagnac-Burgundian civil war and Lancastrian phase of the war are written as Grey-and-Gray Morality.
- Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte by Mark Twain: In which the French are the good guys, but just barely. Twain's favorite of his own works.
- La Pucelle ("The Maid") by Voltaire: An anti-clerical burlesque on Joan of Arc.
- World Without End is set in the middle of the 14th century and its plot include the war witnessed by English characters.
- In Die Pilgerin, set in the 1370s, several major characters fight in the war on the side of France and Castile.
- In the Gothic Horror novel Dove Keeper, one of the main characters is Joan of Arc, and she has been resurrected by her war companion, Gilles de Rais. There are flashbacks of the war.
- Bernard Cornwell wrote The Grail Quest series and Azincourt both following English archers at different points during the wars.
- Secret of the Knights, one of the stories in the Time Machine Series series of gamebooks, features your character traveling back in time to learn about the founding of the Order of the Garter by Edward III in 1348, especially tbe reason behind its motto. Along the way you can briefly squire for Edward "the Black Prince", befriend a young squire who will become a future member of the Order, and take part in the Battle of Crécy.
- In an season four episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow dresses up as Jeanne, stating "and just like her, I have a close relationship to God." (Oz reveals wearing a name-tag reading 'Hi, I'm 'God'').
- The 1999 TV miniseries about Joan of Arc.
- The 1960s French series Thierry la Fronde ("Thierry The Sling"), about the eponymous fictional outlaw and his gang of merry fighters. Yeah, it is a bit reminescent of a certain other character.
- Henry V and Henry VI by William Shakespeare: In which the English are the good guys and most of the French characters are portrayed as cowards, effete braggarts, or comic relief. Joan of Arc? In Henry VI Part 1, she is portrayed as an evil actual witch.
- Die Jungfrau von Orleans ("The Maid of Orléans") by Friedrich Schiller: In which the French are the good guys. This play was written as a rebuttal of Voltaire's La Pucelle and romanticises Joan to a large extent, even having her die in battle instead of being burned at the stake.
- Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw: In which the French are the good guys, or at least the protagonists. Many of the French are not portrayed that sympathetically (after all, the cast includes Gilles de Rais, the historical Bluebeard); perhaps it is true to say that Shaw adopted Joan's own position of not seeing the English as evil, but wanting English and French to stay in their own countries.
- Die Bürger von Calais (1913) and Gilles und Jeanne (1923) by German expressionist author Georg Kaiser. The latter play is about Joan of Arc's association with Gilles de Rais.
- L'Alouette by Jean Anouilh, a play heavily indebted to Shaw's Saint Joan.
- Some of the English missions in Empire Earth.
- The Joan of Arc campaign and the Battle of Agincourt single mission in Age of Empires II.
- Various games dealing specifically with the story of Joan of Arc. i.e, Jeanne d'Arc has her as a Magical Girl that isn't burned at the stake. Her best friend and Body Double, Lianne, is the one who gets executed instead.
- Medieval II: Total War features the war in several historical battles. A number of mods have it as a campaign.
- Various mods for Mount & Blade.
- Bladestorm The Hundred Years War has the PC as a mercenary involved in the war fighting for both sides.
- A Plague Tale: Innocence is set in the early stages of the Hundred Years War with the French countryside being devastated by the Black Death.
- An episode of The Simpsons had Lisa as Joan of Arc. The Hundred Years' War was originally called "Operation Speedy Resolution."
- Il Était Une Fois... dedicates its thirteenth episode to the Hundred Years War, and finishes with the regular characters mourning for the recently executed Joan of Arc.
