Hundred Years' War

Argument

I have chosen this subject because of its impact on the worldwide history. Many events happened during it such as famine, farmlands being laid waste, population decimation by the war and the Black Death. The following English and French leaders and the rest of the world at that time learnt from this experience.

In addition, after the end of the conflict, both France and England were determined to avoid the revival of a struggle, in which the sides had to use their manpower and resources without any benefit. The monarchies of both kingdoms shifted and evolved to reflect a constitutional monarchy for England and an absolute monarchy for France.

Furthermore, the depopulation caused by the war meant that the power of the landlords diminished, wages increased while prices fell, and a redistribution of wealth and blurring of social boundaries developed. It should be pointed out that this depopulation and the subsequent societal changes had other contributing factors, including natural disasters, climate change, and disease such as the Black Plague.

On the whole, the Hundred Years’ war led to a growing national consciousness among the populations of England and France that continued to grow after the war’s conclusion and shape the two nations into the entities that would be seen in the early modern period following the end of the Middle Ages and this is the reason it had such a massive effect on the world.

Introduction

The Hundred Years War was a series of connected conflicts between England, the Valois kings of France, factions of French nobles and other allies over both claims to the French throne and control of land in France. It ran from 1337 to 1453, that means that it was in reality longer than one hundred years, one hundred and sixteen years.

Tensions between the English and French thrones over continental land dated to 1066 when William, Duke of Normandy, conquered England. His descendants in England had gained further lands in France by the reign of Henry II, who inherited the County of Anjou from his father and control of the Dukedom of Aquitaine through his wife. Tensions simmered between the growing power of the French kings and the great power of their most powerful, and in some eyes equal, English royal vassal, occasionally leading to armed conflict.

King John of England lost Normandy, Anjou, and other lands in France in 1204, and his son was forced to sign the Treaty of Paris ceding this land. In return, he received Aquitaine and other territories to be held as a vassal of France. This was one king bowing to another, and there were further wars in 1294 and 1324 when Aquitaine was confiscated by France and won back by the English crown. As the profits from Aquitaine alone rivaled those of England, the region was important and retained many differences from the rest of France.