The actual length of the Hundred Years War is wide open to negotiation.
One fact that is undisputed is when the war actually begin which was in 1337 ...
A number which some of you may recognize in some form.
The actual origin of the "l33t" speak however obviously doesn't have anything to
do with the middle ages ;)
The last battle in France was held in
1453 when the French had taken back the final stronghold of English-held French
Land at Bordeaux, although this wasn't the last stronghold; the last been at
Calais in Northern France, it was the end of their fighting.
The final treaty between England and France was later signed in 1475.
Now why
did the War begin however?
It all begin in 1328 .. Descendants of William the Conqueror who still spoke
French, wanted to rule France as well.
In 1328 the French King died without any children to take up the throne; Edward
III declared his desire to rule over all of France.
He had already owned a small portion to the south, although after the fighting
ended he only held onto Calais in the north..
Now Edward III actually had a claim to the throne through his French mother,
Eleanor, who was the dead French king's aunt.
In the middle ages such royal marriages were common place since they were always
looking to make alliances .. or avoid Wars.
The French Nobles had a choice to
make after the claim was made - Would they support a French King to rule from
the capital of Paris, who would give them power and independence in their own
lands who they would have helped into power;
Or an English King who would rule almost entirely from the English capital of
London, across the ocean?
This dispute led the nobles to split into two
factions - One determined for a French king, the other for the English King,
Edward.
One of the groups, the Counts of Flanders, allied themselves with the English
and agreed to take their side in any conflicts against the French, mostly
because of the important Wool Trade which had provided a rich economy over the
years.
Powerful lords in other outlying regions such as Brittany and Normandy
feared the ambitions of those who wanted a stronger centralised French kingdom,
and thus also allied themselves with the English to help keep their independence
during the conflicts.
Meanwhile the other side, with their new "king" matched down on Aquitaine, an
English held portion of France.
After hearing of the attack on his lands in
1337 Edward declared War on France, and began to assemble together an Army.
Edward was already battle seasoned after successful campaigns in Wales, where he
had learnt of the power of the Welsh Longbow,
which proved to be a very effective weapon for many conflicts in the war,
although later to be deemed obsolete...
In 1340 the French King made
preparations to attempt to crush the English allies in Flanders before they
could join forces with the English Army ready to invade - He assembled a large
fleet of ships to carry his soldiers to Flanders ...
Only to have the fleet intercepted by the English off the coast of Sluys in
modern Holland.
The ships anchored in the ocean, and the soldiers fought what
could be seen as a land battle across the decks of the ships using wooden planks
to across, or even ropes from the sails. In some cases some English ships would
also be anchored a short distance from others in battle and the men armed with
longbows to attack the French at distance.

The battle was over, the English had won - much of the French army was killed
and a couple of ships had sunk from both sides.
Some of the French retreated on the remaining ships while others were captured
to be used by the English.
This proved to be a huge victory for Edward III, as
this left him with total control over the English Channel which meant he was
free to invade and wage war at any parts of Coastal France, and also had a
stance to re-supply and send reinforcements to any fort.
The English Army
consisted of a mixture of Infantry, Long bowmen Archers, Pikemen and Light
Cavalry - all battle hardened after fighting the Welsh, and a few skirmishes in
Scotland. They were made up of well-trained and organised English mercenaries,
enthusiastic supporters of Edward's cause and eager to plunder from France.
In
those times the combination of attack meant it was a very effective force of
mixed offensive and defensive units,
the most effective army seen since the days of the Roman Empire. Pikemen and
Archers would easily fend off attacks from Cavalry and Infantry, while Light
Cavalry had the speed to move in quickly for pillaging. The Infantry would have
made up the bulk of an attack force with Archers on the high ground away from
the conflict for support..
In 1346 the English were weakened by sickness and
were trying to retreat back to the French ports for medicine and supplies,
although French Knights were following close behind, and were quickly catching
up ...
They took a final stand on a muddy hill at Crecy, a tactic which proved
devastating for the French following.
French Knights were traditionally very
heavily armoured - this was a strength for way of defence, but a severe weakness
as it scarified speed, and that only few horses were capable of carrying a fully
armoured person, plus armour on them too.
In comparison Light Cavalry as you
may expect, where very lightly armoured usually only with leather, or animal
hides.
This meant they had some defence for getting up close in an encounter but also
that they had the sheer speed needed for quick, speedy attacks against an enemy
army or village. Most horses could hold a simple rider as well, which meant they
were much more highly available then the strong hardened horses needed by the
French.
The light weight of the English army meant they could easily climb the
muddy hill at Crecy, however the French Knights struggled on the way up often
sliding down from the horses losing their footing in the mud, or in some cases
been slowed down from the weight of the rider and armour. Having seen this
weakness the English Long bowmen quickly tuned, and launched a volley of arrows
down the hillside, and due to the downward direction they easily pieced the
French Armour.
On that day the French lost much of their cavalry, and a large
portion of the Infantry that followed.
In normal circumstances you would assume they would learn from that mistake,
however, they did not.
Only a year later in 1347 Edward III's recovered army
marched on Calais, and besieged the town blocking anyone, or anything from
entering the town's walls. This tactic was common throughout the middle ages, as
by blocking incoming food, medicine and other supplies from entering the town
eventually everyone there would die from starvation - particularly since farms
were almost always located outside the walls where they would grow more easily
from fertile soil - only a small few grew plants in gardens.
Over a year had
passed when Calais surrendered from the lack of food available to them.
Under medieval tradition the inhabitants had expected to be killed because they
had fought back during the siege trying to get a window of sorts for them to get
supplies through, a failed tactic.
Six leading citizens of Calais offered
their own lives if Edward III would spare the rest of the townsfolk.
His Queen however took pity on those citizens, and asked if the town surrendered
if the brave burghers could also be spared.
Edward agreed to her request, and the citizens of Calais were permitted to leave
the town without further bloodshed.
Shortly afterwards their homes and fields
were given to new English settlers, who had converted Calais into an English
Stronghold,
which then served as a forward base for military expeditions into France for
over the next Two Centuries
There is additionally many more events to the
Hundred Years War, especially over the next few years after 1348 due to the
Black Death plague spreading out all across Europe, infecting both England and
France.
Details on events after the black death will be published in Edition
Nine of the journal, to be released on Sunday, April 6th 2008.