The Hundred Years’ War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France for control of the French throne. Many allies of both sides were also drawn into the conflict. The war had its roots in a dynastic disagreement dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, who became King of England in 1066 while retaining possession of the Duchy of Normandy in France. As the rulers of Normandy and other lands on the continent, the English kings owed feudal homage to the king of France. In 1337,Edward III of England refused to pay homage to Philip VI of France, leading the French king to claim confiscation of Edward’s lands in Aquitaine.
Edward responded by declaring that he, not Philip, was the rightful king of France, a claim dating to 1328, when Charles IV of France died without a male heir. Edward was the closest male relative of Charles IV as son of Isabella of France, daughter of Philip IV of France and sister of Charles IV. But instead, Philip VI, the son of Philip IV’s younger brother, Charles of Valois, was crowned king of France in accordance with Salic Law, which disqualified female succession and the succession of males descended through female lines. The question of legal succession to the French crown was central to the war over generations of English and French claimants.
The war is commonly divided into three phases separated by truces: the Edwardian Era War (1337–1360), the Caroline War (1369–1389) and the Lancastrian War (1415–1453), which saw the slow decline of English fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc in 1429. Contemporary European conflicts directly related to this conflict were the Breton War of Succession, theCastilian Civil War, the War of the Two Peters, and the 1383-1385 Crisis. The term “Hundred Years’ War” is a periodization invented later by historians to encompass all of these events.
