Changes

In 1337 hostilities broke out in the feudally complex southwest of France between the English and French crowns. Initially generated by France’s desire to take advantage of the English focus on Scotland, and the age old competition for trade in Gascony and the Lowlands; this time the contest became “personal” when Edward claimed to be the rightful king of France after the extinction of the Capetian royal line a few years earlier. (Under English law his claim was valid, but was political and emotional anathema to the French nobility.) This was the start of what has become known as the [[Hundred Years War]], which dominated much of Edward’s reign.

In 1337 hostilities broke out in the feudally complex southwest of France between the English and French crowns. Initially generated by France’s desire to take advantage of the English focus on Scotland, and the age old competition for trade in Gascony and the Lowlands; this time the contest became “personal” when Edward claimed to be the rightful king of France after the extinction of the Capetian royal line a few years earlier. (Under English law his claim was valid, but was political and emotional anathema to the French nobility.) This was the start of what has become known as the [[Hundred Years War]], which dominated much of Edward’s reign.

The war in its various stages over the first twenty years was successful for the English. The sea battles off [[Sluys]] (1340) and [[Winchelsea]] (1350]) and the capture of [[Calais (1347) gave England command of the sea and the approximate French coast. The battles of Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1357) introduced to European conflicts the devastating power of the Anglo-Welsh longbow, and showed Edward and his eldest son Edward, the Black Prince to be able planners and commanders of men. The ransoms received for the return of the French nobility captured at these battles went some way towards alleviating the extreme costs of the war. In the Treaty of Calais (1360) England won recognition of sovereignty over Aquitaine and an area around Calais.

The war in its various stages over the first twenty years was successful for the English. The sea battles off [[Sluys]] (1340) and [[Winchelsea]] (1350]) and the capture of [[Calais]] (1347) gave England command of the sea and the approximate French coast. The battles of Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1357) introduced to European conflicts the devastating power of the Anglo-Welsh longbow, and showed Edward and his eldest son Edward, the Black Prince to be able planners and commanders of men. The ransoms received for the return of the French nobility captured at these battles went some way towards alleviating the extreme costs of the war. In the Treaty of Calais (1360) England won recognition of sovereignty over Aquitaine and an area around Calais.

In 1360 France restarted the war and within a few years all of Edward’s gains had been lost except for Calais and its surroundings.

In 1360 France restarted the war and within a few years all of Edward’s gains had been lost except for Calais and its surroundings.