Ten Minute English and British History #15 - The Hundred Years' War

13:37 a net with the third has just had his French lands confiscated normally such a conflict would be resolved by an English king acknowledging that they held these lands as a subject of the French King well not this time Edward the third would try the different tactic of declaring himself to be the rightful king of France instead his claim came via his mother Isabella which the French dismissed because inheritance wasn't matrilineal naturally Edwards claim at the beginning of a war the Hundred Years War couple of quick facts first the war actually lasted for 116 years and second the war wasn't continuous and there were many years of peace between the three main phases of the war so at first Edwards struggled to raise the money for an invasion so had to delay any military action until 1340 the year he formally declared himself the King of France this year saw the first major battle of the Hundred Years War the Battle of sloughs this battle involved the English requisitioning merchant ships an outfitting them for war these ships then sailed for the French Navy stationed its Loy's the result was the destruction of the French fleet in England securing the channel after they said word landed in France but nothing much really happened on either side because war is expensive and no one could afford it the truce was declared but it didn't last you to the death of the Duke of Brittany in 1341 Brittany was semi-independent to France and both sides back rival claimants to the Duchy Edward landed there in 1342 and took this land before another truce was signed the next year negotiations towards a permanent peace between England and France broke down mostly because Edward didn't want peace in 1345 the war resumed but the English weren't very successful barring some victories in Gascony the next year so the main english thrust when Edward took a large army and landed here in Normandy Edwards advance was not meant to capture and hold land but was instead what is called a chef or chez which is when an invading army essentially set everything on fire Edward moved north before King Philippe's much larger army caught up to him and the two sides clashed at the Battle of Crecy cress he was not only a surprising English victory but it was a decisive one seeing many French Nobles in the king of bohemia killed inhaler ferrous from english and welsh longbowmen after this victory Edward marched north and laid siege to Calais capturing it the next year Calais was an extremely important gain for Edward because it provided a gateway into France at the shortest crossing point from England making future campaigns cheaper English good fortune wasn't limited to France as the king of Scotland who had been at war with England since 1332 was captured by the Archbishop of York at the Battle of Neville's crossed just outside of Durham the feeling of celebration would be cut short by the introduction of the Black Death and 13:48 which was kind of terrible the destruction wrought by the plague meant that no major military campaigns could be undertaken by either side for many years in 1350 King Philippe died and was succeeded by his son King John the second there was some skirmishing and piracy over the coming years and both sides tried to sue for peace but neither could agree on Edward owing homage in 1355 Edward the Prince of Wales better known as the Black Prince due to the armor he wore launched a devastating Chevrolet and decimated French lands he was confronted by King John who had a much larger army of poitiers in 1356 the battle here is one of the most famous English victories in history mostly because the French King was captured thus continuing the long streak of Kings who were caught John being terrible capturing King John was a huge bonus for the English and the ransom demanded was huge French luck worsened when the country descended into civil war and rioting meant the King John's ransom couldn't be paid thus invasion in the end the French agreed to the Treaty of Bretton in 1360 which ended the first phase of the war could the Edwardian phase this treaty gave Edward all of this land in return for Edward dropping his claim to the throne and lowering John's ransom King John would never be released since in 1364 he died in London and was succeeded by his son Charles v peace between England and France would be broken in 1369 when King Charles called the Black Prince now the Prince of Aquitaine to Paris the prince refused and so war under Charles the French did much better with an early victory in 1370 at Pantheon shortly after this the Black Prince became unwell and returned to England in 1372 this second phase of the war called the Caroline face or the English territories reduced from this to this by 1376 this year also saw the Black Prince die in the next one Edward the third died as well the throne passed to Wed Woods grandson who was crowned Richard the second at the age of 10 3 is after this Charles to fit the France died and was succeeded by Charles the sixth who was only 11 so having two children ruling two kingdoms at war was not a recipe for stability many know who's vied for dominance over the new monarchs but in England Richard Uncle John of Gaunt acted as a stabilizing force gaunt was an accomplished general and was also married to the daughter of the king of Castile through whom he claimed its throne he attempted to take up his claim in 1381 with the help of the Portuguese whom England had made an alliance with in 1373 which was confirmed by the Treaty of Windsor incidentally this treaty is still in effect today making it the oldest active Alliance in the world ultimately John of Gaunt was unsuccessful in taking the still Ian's thrown him by 1389 he was back in England political divisions along with the financial pressures of Worman the richard ii made peace with the french which would last for the rest of his reign richest reign was consistently played with issues surrounding his nobility who had stripped him of significant power france also had issues with king charles the sixth who was prone to bouts of madness because of Charles's condition a Regency was established which led to a power struggle between the duke of burgundy who controlled these lands and the duke of all yan who controlled these back in England it was regaining some of his lost powers and ended up exiling John of Gaunt son Henry Bolingbroke in 1398 the next year gaunt died and Richard disinherited Henry which was a bad idea Henry returned to England to reclaim his seized lands most of the English nobility sided with him and Richard was overthrown there was some debate over who would succeed Richard but ultimately Henry succeeded him as Henry the fourth the first monarch of the House of Lancaster but as far as the Hundred Years War was concerned Henry wasn't very important suffice to say that there was some fighting but it was sparse and also the English kept losing despite the civil war in France Henry the fourth died in 1413 and was succeeded by his son Henry the fifth who is one of England's most famous kings Henry was willing to make peace with the French providing they gave him this land shockingly they said no and so war it was in 1415 Henry landed in Normandy and seized Harfleur before moving north to Calais before he got there Henry was cut off by the French army and they clashed this battle the Battle of Agincourt is known for being one of England's greatest military victories the English were heavily outnumbered but Henry's army was 80% longbowman the French casualties were massive in the French nobility was devastated by the deaths and imprisonment of many of France leading officers Henry ding continued his campaign afterwards and sail back to England with his hostages Henry returned to France in 1417 this time setting out to conquer France entirely and have himself crowned king because France was still undergoing civil strife the English were able to capture most of Normandy except for rwan which fell in 1419 1419 was an important year in the war because it's what the Duke of Burgundy assassinated on the orders of the French aired the dolphine of France the Duke successor Philippe sided with the English in declared his support for Henry as the King of France along with many other French Nobles this was the final nail in the coffin for the French and resulted in the 1420 Treaty of tois this stated that Henry was to be the region and heir to the French throne that Charles's children were to be disinherited and that Henry would marry Charles's daughter whom he had one son with in 1421 also called Henry not all of the French accepted Henry is resistance to him continued with both the English and French winning victories Henry was not just a conqueror managed to overcome many challenges at home once that challenge was the Southampton plot this saw several nobles attempt to overthrow Henry and replace him with Edmund Mortimer a cousin of Richard the second this plot was forward before it could begin in earnest although they would have had trouble anyway since Mortimer didn't want to be king Henry also made great efforts to increase the use of the English language in government another issue which any the fits had to deal with was the continuing rise of lollardy a religious movement which just like the church is an institution Henry saw holidays a threat to stability and so found a clever way of stopping Lala's from continuing their protests burning them alive John Oldcastle is the most notable of those burns since he was an old friend of Henry's Henry returned to France to strengthen his position in 1421 and it was there that he suddenly died of disease the following year two months later Charles the sick died and so the infant Henry the sick was supposed to be crowned the King of France as well in 1428 in an attempt to crush dissenters the english laid siege to ollie on but the defenders were relieved the next year by an army which was special for one simple reason it was partially led by a woman this woman was Joan of Arc commonly known as the maid the English was soon after crushed at the Battle of patay many French Nobles switched allegiance to the Dauphin who was soon after crowned King Charles the seventh in 1430 Joan of Arc was captured by the burgundians and handed over to the English since she'd claimed to receive visions from God she was tried as a heretic and in 1431 she was burned at the stake in 1435 the Pope attempted to bring the war to an end but both sides refused what did happen during the negotiations was that the Duke of Burgundy made amends with Charles the seventh thus England's most important ally had deserted making the French significantly more powerful after this the French recovered the initiative and recaptured large waves of land in 1444 truce was signed which was supposed to last until 1450 however the English broke the truce in 1449 by launching a military action in Brittany this gave the French the excuse they needed in the next year they retook Normandy and shortly afterwards crushed the last English army at the Battle of forming Yi or the remain now was Gascony in Calais in the former would not last much longer the killing blow came in 1453 when an English army was destroyed at the Battle of Casti on this was mostly due to the advancements in the use of gunpowder weapons and superior French tactics for many historians Castillo marks the end of the Hundred Years but be aware no treaty was signed in its immediate aftermath England's territories had gone from this to this and back to this in 116 years or the remain was Calais in the Channel Islands the reason why this is often considered the end of the war was that there was no longer any realistic chance of England retaking France the ambition to do so would however remain until the 19th century the Hundred Years War has many important legacies it fostered a sense of English identity one centred on the English language which began to replace French is the language of the ruling class whilst the French victory did not kill off any English ambitions to the lands in France it does mark the point in which England starts to be viewed as an island nation the Hundred Years War also marks a period of immense restraint by the French he managed to go this entire period without naming a single King Louis but much like the piece this wouldn't last I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching there are some books in the description below if you'd like to learn more you

Channel: History Matters

Views: 2,228,217

Keywords: Ten, Minute, History, 10, English, British, French, Animated, documentary, France, Britain, England, Hundred Years War, 100 Years War, Edward III, The Black Prince, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Charles VI, Crecy, Potiers, Agincourt, Sluys, Orleans, Castillon, Joan of Arc, John of Gaunt, Castille, Portugal, Burgundy, Philip, Charles VII, John II

Id: d6CrOGoXtMI

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 06 2018