The Hundred Years War: Conflicts Of The Middle Ages

The Hundred Years’ War was a sequence of conflicts between the Kings and Kingdoms of England and France from 1337-1453. It was a seemingly endless war over control of the throne that ultimately led to England’s expulsion from all land in France except Calais. The Hundred Years’ War is known in history as one of the most significant conflicts of the Middle Ages. Over the course of several generations, the kings of the two opposing houses, Plantagenet and Valois, campaigned over the largest kingdom in Western Europe in pursuit of the throne. The Hundred Years’ War had a distinctly significant influence upon medieval Europe, and though it transpired over a hundred years, it caused major changes within their society and its people. Historians often separate the war into three distinct phases distinguished by truce; The Edwardian Era War, The Caroline War, and The Lancastrian War. After a series of victories for the English, the war began to fluctuate back and forth between victors’ for many years. Toward the end of the war, a
As a result, The Black Prince gave up his claim to the French throne “in return for the Angevin empire, the lands in which his ancestors had held in France” (6). This event is not only noted in history as having marked the height of English command but is also the conclusion of the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War and the end of the Edwardian Era. Ironically, The Hundred Years’ War may have ended right then and there, if only Jean II had not died in English custody and the French government had ratified the Treaty of Brétigny. Over time, “the French sought out to reclaim their losses” (7) and chose not to ratify the treaty, which caused the next phase of the war to erupt in