The Hundred Years War Essay Research Paper

The Hundred Years. War Essay, Research Paper

The Hundred Years. War was a war between England and France in which France

defended its. crown against British rule. This war had many effects on the people of each

country.

The origin of the war goes back to the conquest of William for England. In 1066

William, the Duke of Normandy, led an army into England. He won this battle and

became the king of England. This was possible under feudalism. Feudalism is a form of

social classification in which the members of an upper class are granted fifes, or pieces

of land, by higher ranking noblemen return for their military service. The vassal, the

person receiving the land, had to go through ceremony in which they would say that they

would be faithful to their overlord and fight for them if needed. In return the overlord

would protect the vassal (Lace 12).

Many years later Isabella, the wife of King Edward II of England, plotted to kill

Edward II making her son Edward III king (Lace 12). Because Edward III was very

young she would be able to rule the country through him. Edward II sent his son and

Isabella to pay homage to Charles IV in 1325 for French land that Edward II owned.

Isabella took her lover, Roger de Mortimer, with them and while there they began to

make their plans. After homage is paid to Charles IV the three went to Hainault. While

there Isabella and Mortimer convinced the Count of Hainault, William, to help them

overthrow the king. In 1327, with the help of William.s troops, Isabella and Mortimer

successfully overthrew Edward II and made Edward III king. During their overthrow,

King Charles IV of France, Isabella.s brother, died. When he died he had no children to

leave the throne to, but his wife Jeanne was pregnant. When she gave birth though she

had a stillborn daughter. This enabled Charles. cousin, Philip of Valois, king. Some of

the people objected. Some thought that since Isabella was his sister she was closer to the

throne than Philip and that she should be queen. Others thought that since Edward was

his nephew he should be king, but the majority of the French were against Edward

becoming their king (14). Philip was favored for many reasons: He was older: Philip was

35 and Edward was 15, Edward was under the control of his mother and Mortimer;

Edward was a well known warrior, and Edward was considered a foreigner (14). Edward

then decided that he was tired of being controlled. On October 19, 1330, Edward

gathered a small army together and burst into Isabella and Mortimer.s bedroom. He

seized Mortimer and hung him the next morning. He left Mortimer.s body hanging for 2

days and nights. Isabella was treated more carefully. She was imprisoned and confined to

several castles for life (16). In 1337 Edward III would return to France to claim what he

felt what was rightfully his. (Time Life 17).

On October 19, 1337, Edward III drafted a document to Philip of Valois that said

that Edward was the rightful king of France and that Edward would no longer pay

homage to Philip of the French lands that he owned. This letter was given to him by

Henry Burghersh, the bishop of England. Philip just sat back and smiled and prepared for

war (Time Life 17). Edward drafted this document because he disagreed with the way

that Philip was ruling the land that he owned. There were dukes and lords appointed by

Philip to rule over the lands of Edward III. Edward wanted to rule them himself. The two

tried to work out their differences, but failed. This situation was made more awkward

because of other economic problems between the 2 countries. England and France

depended on each other. France was England.s main supplier of salt and France

depended on England for wool. English also held the port at Bordeaux in France enabling

them to control transportation along the English Channel. Philip of Valois wanted to

control the sea traffic so he began to form links with Scotland, England.s hostile

neighbor. England and Scotland were not on good terms with one another and had been

fighting since the 1290.s (19).

In 1314 the English, under Edward II lost to the Scottish at Bannockburn. Edward

III made a treaty with the Scottish in 1328 but intervened in 1329 when their leader

Robert Bruce, died. The English then deposed David II, Bruce.s son and the new king.

To help form a bond with the Scottish the Philip gave David shelter in France (Lace 18).

Edward III got his revenge on the Scottish in 1332. He got a small group of

Scottish rebels together and after winning a series of major battles named Edward Baliol

their leader. Baliol acknowledged Edward III as his overlord. The Scottish chased Baliol

over the Scottish border in December. Edward marched north and surrounded them at

Berwick. The Scottish sent an army, but Edward defeated them at Halidon Hill in

July,1334 (Lace 18).

Philip of Valois then moved some of his ships from

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