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Hundred Years' War, 1337–1360

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140-411: [REDACTED] Kingdom of England [REDACTED] Duchy of Brittany [REDACTED] County of Flanders [REDACTED] Kingdom of France [REDACTED] Kingdom of Scotland [REDACTED] Republic of Genoa [REDACTED] Kingdom of Bohemia [REDACTED] Duchy of Lorraine [REDACTED] Kingdom of Majorca [REDACTED] Kingdom of Navarre The first phase of

280-632: A Council of the North was set up for the northern counties of England. After falling into disuse, it was re-established in 1537 and abolished in 1641. A very short-lived Council of the West also existed for the West Country between 1537 and 1540. In the Anglo-Saxon period, the geld or property tax was first levied in response to Danish invasions but later became a regular tax. The majority of

420-506: A peerage on such basis, meaning a right to sit in the House of Lords , were not to be revived, nor any right of succession based on them. The Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 followed the conquest of Wales by Edward I of England . It assumed the lands held by the Princes of Gwynedd under the title " Prince of Wales " as legally part of the lands of England, and established shire counties on

560-545: A "remarkable improviser". As the English strategy was to invade France from the north Ingham received neither troops nor funds from England, but had to rely entirely on local resources. These were very scarce, so ultimately his strategy was for the English to wall themselves up in their castles and hold on as best they could. He was able to persuade the lord of Albret to switch sides from the French in 1339 and with his help conduct

700-447: A French army under Charles of Blois near Morlaix on 30 September 1342. Robert de Artois sailed to England where he died of wounds received at the taking of Vannes. Worse still for Edward III, Vannes was retaken by a French force under the command of Olivier IV de Clisson . In late October 1342, Edward III arrived with his main army at Brest, and retook Vannes. He then moved east to besiege Rennes. A French army marched to engage him, but

840-454: A combined fleet at Orwell, in Kent and set up his headquarters on the cog Thomas . Although he knew that the French fleet was a far superior force to his own he sailed with his fleet on 22 June to confront the French fleet a day later. The French fleet assumed a defensive formation off the port of Sluys , possibly trying to prevent Edward from landing his army. The English fleet apparently tricked

980-400: A few notable exceptions, such as unwalled Hastings , which was burnt to the ground, the English coastal defenses had been fairly successful against the French raiding. However, with many English going to France at the beginning of the war and others being used to defend the coast against the French, the available troops in the north and Scotland was diminished. With the English presence reduced,

1120-519: A freak hailstorm that devastated the English army and forced Edward III into peace talks. This peace lasted nine years before a second phase of hostilities known as the Caroline War began. When Charles IV of France died in 1328, the nearest male in line to the throne was Edward III of England. Edward had inherited his right through his mother Isabella , the sister of the dead king; but the question arose of whether she should be able to transmit

1260-571: A large army to oppose him, and Edward chose to march northward toward the Low Countries, pillaging as he went, rather than attempt to take and hold territory. During this time, he fought two successful actions, the Storming of Caen and the Battle of Blanchetaque . Eventually finding himself unable to outmanoeuvre Philip, Edward positioned his forces for battle, and Philip's army attacked him at

1400-543: A local noble or bishop. The last such, the County Palatine of Durham , did not lose this special status until the 19th century. Although all of England was divided into shires by the time of the Norman Conquest, some counties were formed considerably later, up to the 16th century. Because of their differing origins the counties varied considerably in size . The county boundaries were fairly static between

1540-503: A major European war. A Treaty of Union was agreed on 22 July 1706, and following the Acts of Union of 1707 , which created the Kingdom of Great Britain , the independence of the kingdoms of England and Scotland came to an end on 1 May 1707. The Acts of Union created a customs union and monetary union and provided that any "laws and statutes" that were "contrary to or inconsistent with

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1680-618: A major battle was averted when two cardinals arrived from Avignon in January 1343 and enforced a general truce, the Truce of Malestroit. Even with the truce in place, the war continued in Brittany until May 1345 when Edward eventually succeeded in taking control. The official reason for such a long truce was to allow time for a peace conference and the negotiation of a lasting peace, but both countries also suffered from war exhaustion. In England,

1820-504: A mere duke, William owed allegiance to Philip I of France , whereas in the independent Kingdom of England he could rule without interference. He was crowned on 25 December 1066 in Westminster Abbey , London. In 1092, William II led an invasion of Strathclyde , a Celtic kingdom in what is now southwest Scotland and Cumbria. In doing so, he annexed what is now the county of Cumbria to England. In 1124, Henry I ceded what

1960-550: A raid into French territory. The English parliament, in February 1339, had called up ships from the various ports around the English coast to provide for two naval fleets. This had not happened so the French who had hired galleys and crews from Genoa were able to strike almost at will upon the English coast. Portsmouth was raided, Southampton sacked, and Guernsey captured. The French campaign at sea continued in July 1339 when

2100-458: A right that she, as a woman, did not possess as only men could be monarch. An assembly of the French aristocracy decided that the nearest heir through male ancestry was Charles IV's first cousin, Philip, Count of Valois, and that he should be crowned Philip VI. The establishment of a legal succession to the French crown was central to the war and Edward III and succeeding generations of English monarchs laid claim to it. After some initial reluctance,

2240-461: A series of civil wars over possession of the throne between the House of Lancaster (whose heraldic symbol was the red rose) and the House of York (whose symbol was the white rose), each led by different branches of the descendants of Edward III. The end of these wars found the throne held by the descendant of an initially illegitimate member of the House of Lancaster, married to the eldest daughter of

2380-432: A truce with Edward III, and in his absence much of the government began to collapse . John's ransom was set to two million, but John believed he was worth more than that and insisted that his ransom be raised to four million écus . The First Treaty of London was signed in 1358 and, essentially, was an agreement setting the ransom for John at four million écus. The first instalment was to be paid by 1 November 1358, however,

2520-676: A unitary legislative chamber with a new body, the Council of State becoming the executive. However the Army remained the dominant institution in the new republic and the most prominent general was Oliver Cromwell . The Commonwealth fought wars in Ireland and Scotland which were subdued and placed under Commonwealth military occupation. Meanwhile, relations with the Dutch Republic had deteriorated. Despite initial English support during

2660-424: Is but an evil sign for us." Then the king answered quickly and said: "Wherefore? [Why?] This is a good token for me, for the land desireth to have me.' Of the which answer all his men were right joyful. So that day and night the king lodged on the sands, and in the meantime discharged the ships of their horses and other baggages: there the king made two marshals of his host, the one the lord Geoffroy de Harcourt and

2800-540: Is now southeast Scotland (called Lothian ) to the Kingdom of Scotland , in return for the King of Scotland's loyalty. This final cession established what would become the traditional borders of England which have remained largely unchanged since then (except for occasional and temporary changes). This area of land had previously been a part of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria . Lothian contained what later became

2940-450: Is one of the ways to determine hereditary succession based on genealogy . In effect, the application of this rule is a refusal to recognize the right of representation , a component of primogeniture . In some feudal entities, proximity of blood was a generally accepted principle. For example, according to the "ancient custom" ( French : ancienne coutume ) in the Duchy of Burgundy ,

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3080-671: The 1801 union between the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The counties of England were established for administration by the Normans , in most cases based on earlier shires established by

3220-486: The Anglo-Saxons . They ceased to be used for administration only with the creation of the administrative counties in 1889. Unlike the partly self-governing boroughs that covered urban areas, the counties of medieval England existed primarily as a means of enforcing central government power, enabling monarchs to exercise control over local areas through their chosen representatives – originally sheriffs and later

3360-525: The Battle of Neville's Cross led to the capture of David II and greatly reduced the threat from Scotland. In 1348, the Black Death began to sweep across Europe and in both England and France it would have huge consequences. This prevented England from financing and launching any major offensives. In France, Philip VI died in 1350 and was replaced by his son John II ("John the Good"). At that time there

3500-590: The Bretwalda . Soon after the Norman Conquest of England , however, some Norman lords began to attack Wales. They conquered and ruled parts of it, acknowledging the overlordship of the Norman kings of England but with considerable local independence. Over many years these " Marcher Lords " conquered more and more of Wales, against considerable resistance led by various Welsh princes, who also often acknowledged

3640-580: The Cotentin peninsula of Normandy . Jean Froissart wrote in his Chronicles that: When the king of England arrived in the Hogue Saint-Vaast, the king issued out of his ship, and the first foot that he set on the ground, he fell so rudely, that the blood brast (burst) out of his nose [a nosebleed ]. The knights that were about him took him up and said: "Sir, for God's sake enter again into your ship, and come not aland this day, for this

3780-603: The English Civil War (1641–45), in which the king was defeated, and to the abolition of the monarchy under Oliver Cromwell during the Interregnum of 1649–1660. After the trial and execution of Charles I in January 1649, the Rump Parliament passed an act declaring England to be a Commonwealth on 19 May 1649. The monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished, and so the House of Commons became

3920-799: The English Renaissance and again extended English monarchical power beyond England proper, achieving the full union of England and the Principality of Wales under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 . Henry VIII oversaw the English Reformation , and his daughter Elizabeth I (reigned 1558–1603) the Elizabethan Religious Settlement , meanwhile establishing England as a great power and laying

4060-507: The House of Stuart claimed descent from Henry VII via Margaret Tudor . The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown. Edward III (reigned 1327–1377) transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe; his reign also saw vital developments in legislation and government—in particular

4200-656: The Hundred Years' War between England and France lasted from 1337 to 1360. It is sometimes referred to as the Edwardian War because it was initiated by King Edward III of England , who claimed the French throne in defiance of King Philip VI of France . The dynastic conflict was caused by disputes over the French feudal sovereignty over Aquitaine and the English claims over the French royal title . The Kingdom of England and its allies dominated this phase of

4340-614: The Interregnum of 1649–1660). All English monarchs after 1066 ultimately descend from the Normans , and the distinction of the Plantagenets is conventional—beginning with Henry II (reigned 1154–1189) as from that time, the Angevin kings became "more English in nature"; the houses of Lancaster and York are both Plantagenet cadet branches, the Tudor dynasty claimed descent from Edward III via John Beaufort and James VI and I of

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4480-461: The Jacquerie took place. It was caused by the deprivations suffered by the country people during the war and their treatment at the hands of the free companies and the French nobility, in particular, after the Battle of Poitiers . Led by Guillaume Kale (Carle or Cale), they joined forces with other villages, and beginning in the area of Beauvais , north of Paris , committed atrocities against

4620-575: The Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 ). Wales was incorporated into the Kingdom of England, and henceforth was represented in the Parliament of England . During the 1530s, Henry VIII overthrew the power of the Catholic Church within the kingdom, replacing the pope as head of his own English Church and seizing the Catholic Church's lands, thereby facilitating the creation of a variation of Catholicism that became more Protestant over time. This had

4760-487: The Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with occasional use of Rex Anglie ("King of England"). From John's reign onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie . In 1604 James I , who had inherited the English throne the previous year, adopted the title (now usually rendered in English rather than Latin) King of Great Britain . The Kingdom of England emerged from

4900-413: The Parliament of Ireland , with the aim of restoring such central authority as had been lost throughout the country during the previous two centuries. Calais , the last remaining continental possession of the Kingdom, was lost in 1558, during the reign of Philip and Mary I . Their successor, Elizabeth I , consolidated the new and increasingly Protestant Church of England . She also began to build up

5040-683: The United Kingdom . The Kingdom of England was among the most powerful states in Europe during the medieval and early modern periods. Beginning in the year 886 Alfred the Great reoccupied London from the Danish Vikings and after this event he declared himself King of the Anglo-Saxons , until his death in 899. During the course of the early tenth century, the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united by Alfred's descendants Edward

5180-402: The lord-lieutenants – and their subordinate justices of the peace . Counties were used initially for the administration of justice , collection of taxes and organisation of the military, and later for local government and electing parliamentary representation. Some outlying counties were from time to time accorded palatine status with some military and central government functions vested in

5320-531: The 16th century Laws in Wales acts and the Local Government Act 1888 . Each shire was responsible for gathering taxes for the central government; for local defence; and for justice, through assize courts . The power of the feudal barons to control their landholding was considerably weakened in 1290 by the statute of Quia Emptores . Feudal baronies became perhaps obsolete (but not extinct) on

5460-622: The Angles (called Angulus by Bede ). The name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period ( Engle-land , Engelond ). The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra , the Old French and Anglo-Norman one Engleterre . The standard title for monarchs from Æthelstan until John was Rex Anglorum ("King of the English"). Cnut , a Dane, was the first to call himself "King of England". During

5600-461: The Black Prince , led their armies on a largely successful campaign across France with notable victories at Auberoche (1345), Crécy (1346), Calais (1347), and La Roche-Derrien (1347). Hostilities were paused until the mid-1350s for the deprivations of the Black Death . Then war continued, and the English were victorious at the Battle of Poitiers (1356) where the French king, John II ,

5740-427: The Black Prince , resumed the war and invaded France from English-held Gascony and by August of that year he had begun a brutal campaign of raids known as chevauchée . This campaign was designed to terrorise and demoralise the people, discredit their leaders and drain the French king's financial resources. Anything that was portable was looted and anything that could not be taken away was broken or burnt. An observer at

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5880-457: The Breton capital, and summoned the knight-service of Brittany to recognize him as Duke of Montfort. The French-speaking magnates and bishops refused to recognize John of Montfort although the minor clergy, the knights and the Breton peasantry did, the result was a civil war. After capturing Nantes , John of Montfort went on to seize the ducal treasury at Limoges and, by the middle of August, he

6020-612: The Castilian Pero Niño . Though the English won numerous victories, they were unable to overcome the numerical superiority of the French and their strategic use of gunpowder weapons. England was defeated at the Battle of Formigny in 1450 and finally at the Battle of Castillon in 1453, retaining only a single town in France, Calais . During the Hundred Years' War an English identity began to develop in place of

6160-635: The Dutch Republic in its wars against Louis XIV of France. In the Scottish case, the attractions were partly financial and partly to do with removing English trade sanctions put in place through the Alien Act 1705 . The English were more anxious about the royal succession. The death of William III in 1702 had led to the accession of his sister-in-law Anne to the thrones of England and Scotland, but her only surviving child had died in 1700, and

6300-526: The Dutch War of Independence against the Spanish, tensions arose as the Dutch Republic emerged as England's principal commercial and naval rival. By the mid-17th century, it had become the foremost trading nation. In response the English, alarmed by their waning competitiveness, implemented stricter trading policies to curb Dutch dominance. The First Anglo-Dutch War which followed, however, failed to resolve

6440-528: The Elder (reigned 899–924) and Æthelstan (reigned 924–939) to form the Kingdom of the English. In 927, Æthelstan conquered the last remaining Viking kingdom, York , making him the first Anglo-Saxon ruler of the whole of England. In 1016, the kingdom became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great , a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway . The Norman Conquest in 1066 led to

6580-873: The English Act of Settlement 1701 had given the succession to the English crown to the Protestant House of Hanover . Securing the same succession in Scotland became the primary object of English strategic thinking towards Scotland. By 1704, the Union of the Crowns was in crisis, with the Scottish Act of Security allowing for the Scottish Parliament to choose a different monarch, which could in turn lead to an independent foreign policy during

6720-756: The English Parliament. Meanwhile, Philip VI sent a large army to Brittany in support of Charles of Blois and by November they had trapped John of Montfort in Nantes. With the possibility of a long siege, the citizens of Nantes decided to surrender John of Montfort to the French army. He was then imprisoned in Paris. It now fell upon John's wife, Joanna of Flanders , to lead the Montfortist cause. She set up headquarters at Hennebont in southern Brittany, and defended it against Charles de Blois' army throughout

6860-627: The English and French crowns. Albret financed Edward's campaign in Gascony and also with his family connections was able to find much-needed additional manpower for Edward's army. In 1340, the French put together an invasion fleet containing French, Castillian and Genoese ships. The 400 or so ships were squeezed into the Zwyn estuary . The English had no purpose-built warships, so had to make do with deep-draught, round-hulled merchant ships, known as cogs , that were converted for naval duties. Edward assembled

7000-466: The English king with a lot of revenue. The Gascons preferred their relationship with a distant English king who left them alone, to a French king who might interfere in their affairs. Despite Edward's homage to Philip the French continued to interfere in Gascony. There had been a series of skirmishes at some of the walled towns along the Gascon border. Agenais was an area of Gascony in French hands, and

7140-630: The English model over those areas. The Marcher Lords were progressively tied to the English kings by the grants of lands and lordships in England. The Council of Wales and the Marches , administered from Ludlow Castle , was initially established by Edward IV of England to govern the lands held under the Principality of Wales in 1472. At the same time the Council of Wales was created in 1472,

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7280-477: The French army and battle appeared imminent. Edward moved away again plundering more territory. The French continued to shadow the English. Ultimately battle lines were drawn in the province of Picardy between La Capelle and La Flamengrie , both now in the Vervins arrondissement just inside northern France. With both sides facing each other a battle was expected to take place on 23 October, but nothing happened. At nightfall Edward marched his troops out of France,

7420-415: The French crown. In return, he obtained full sovereign rights over an expanded Aquitaine and Calais. Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the early tenth century, when it was unified from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms , until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain , which would later become

7560-421: The French defaulted on the agreement. The Second Treaty of London was signed on 12 March 1359 and this time the treaty allowed for hostages to be held in place of John. The hostages included two of his sons, several princes and nobles, four inhabitants of Paris, and two citizens from each of the nineteen principal towns of France. While these hostages were held, John returned to France to try and raise funds to pay

7700-418: The French did not pursue Edward, this resulted in the campaign coming to an abrupt end. The Flemish ruler had remained loyal to the French king, consequently, Edward placed an embargo on all English goods to Flanders. In 1337, this precipitated a revolt in Flanders, because of the lack of English wool and food supplies. The leader of the revolt Jacob van Artevelde arranged for Flemish neutrality, in return for

7840-436: The French fleet set sail for the south coast of England where they intended a great raid on the Cinque Ports . Their first objective was Sandwich, in Kent. However, the Kent levies were waiting for them in force along the coast so the fleet continued onto Rye where they landed some men and proceeded to raid the area. However, the English had finally put together two fleets and both of them under Robert Morley arrived to confront

7980-401: The French into believing they were withdrawing. However, when the wind turned in the late afternoon, the English attacked with the wind and sun behind them. Edward sent his ships against the French fleet in units of three, two ships crammed with archers and one full of men-at-arms. Because the ships of the French fleet were so close together it limited their maneuverability. The English ships with

8120-437: The French. The French, with their Italian mercenaries believing that the English fleet was larger than it actually was, re-embarked in their ships and headed for the French coast. They escaped into the harbors without there being a naval engagement. In August the French naval campaign came to an abrupt end when, after quarrelling over pay the Genoese crews mutinied and taking over their galleys they returned to Italy . Apart from

8260-454: The Grandees in the Army, through the Council of State imposed a new constitutional arrangement under a written constitution called the Instrument of Government . Under the Instrument of Government executive power lay with a Lord Protector (an office to be held for the life of the incumbent) and there were to be triennial Parliaments, with each sitting for at least five months. Article 23 of the Instrument of Government stated that Oliver Cromwell

8400-442: The Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda , a high king over the other kings. The decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful, absorbing the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825. The kings of Wessex increasingly dominated the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore , briefly making Egbert

8540-406: The House of York: Henry VII and Elizabeth of York . Wales retained a separate legal and administrative system, which had been established by Edward I in the late 13th century. The country was divided between the Marcher Lords , who gave feudal allegiance to the crown, and the Principality of Wales . Under the Tudor monarchy, Henry VIII replaced the laws of Wales with those of England (under

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8680-430: The King underwent a religious period where he vowed to God to make peace with France. When the Dauphin offered negotiations he was ready to agree. Representatives of the two crowns met at Brétigny and within a week they had agreed to a draft treaty. The Treaty of Brétigny was later ratified by the two Kings John and Edward as the Treaty of Calais on 24 October 1360. Under the terms of the treaty, Edward agreed to renounce

8820-405: The Kingdom by the name of Great Britain', forming the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Parliament of Great Britain . The Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn , originally names of the Angles . They called their land Engla land , meaning "land of the English", by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia , from an original Anglia vetus , the purported homeland of

8960-399: The Kingdom of Scotland. Despite the Union of the Crowns , the kingdoms remained separate and independent states: a state of affairs which lasted for more than a century. The Stuart kings overestimated the power of the English monarchy, and were cast down by Parliament in 1645 and 1688. In the first instance, Charles I 's introduction of new forms of taxation in defiance of Parliament led to

9100-404: The Low Countries, who charged extortionate rates of interest and demanded more solid guarantees of repayment. In 1340 the Earls of Derby and Northampton were held as surety for the repayment of loans. In the summer of 1339, Edward had asked the Commons for a grant of £300,000. In early 1340 they offered the grant in return for concessions from the king. Edward, delayed by his money-raising efforts,

9240-420: The Normans continued collecting the geld regularly. They also introduced new sources of revenue based on concepts of feudalism . The king was entitled to collect a feudal aid when his eldest son was knighted, his eldest daughter married, or if the king needed to pay his own ransom. The heir to a fief was also required to pay the king a feudal relief before he could take possession of his inheritance. The king

9380-447: The Scots were able to recapture many strong points, such as Perth in 1339 and Edinburgh in 1341. Threatened with the immediate collapse of his plans, Edward desperately needed some positive military results. In September, Edward assembled an army consisting of about 12,000 men in the Low Countries. His army included elements from his various allies. Cambrai was an ally of the king of France, so, on 20 September, Edward's army marched into

9520-404: The Scottish capital, Edinburgh . This arrangement was later finalized in 1237 by the Treaty of York . The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the Kingdom of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanctioned by the Papal bull Laudabiliter . At

9660-655: The Truce of Malestroit in the duchy as best he could. No major campaigns were fought, between February 1343 and June 1345 but he failed to restore the civil peace and he went about himself with an escort of forty men at arms, his predecessor only had half that number. When there was a treaty or truce in place it left many a soldier unemployed, so rather than go back to a life of poverty they would band together in free companies or routiers . The routier companies consisted of men who principally came from Gascony but also from Brittany and other parts of France, Spain, Germany, and England. They would use their military training to live off

9800-512: The abolition of feudal tenure during the Civil War , as confirmed by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660 passed under the Restoration which took away knight-service and other legal rights. Tenure by knight-service was abolished and discharged and the lands covered by such tenures, including once-feudal baronies, were henceforth held by socage ( i.e. , in exchange for monetary rents). The English Fitzwalter Case in 1670 ruled that barony by tenure had been discontinued for many years and any claims to

9940-416: The actions of his son he felt duty-bound to return to captivity. He left Paris and gave himself up to the Captain of Calais, who returned him to his honourable captivity in England. He spent the rest of his reign there and died in London on 8 April 1364. John's funeral, in England, was a great chivalrous affair and he was honoured as a great man by the Plantagenets. In 1358, a peasant revolt in France called

10080-479: The afternoon of 29 August 1350. The battle lasted until dusk and was a small-scale repeat of Sluys, with the archers slaughtering the Spanish seamen before the men-at-arms boarded their vessels. Nearly half the Spanish ships were captured, the rest escaping under cover of darkness. Sporadic conflicts in Brittany continued, including notable incidents of chivalry such as the Battle of the Thirty in 1351. The battle

10220-460: The ancient feudal customs, most of them refused to pay taxes while there was a truce. Instead, Philip VI had to resort to manipulation of the coinage and he introduced two vastly unpopular taxes, first the ' fouage ', or hearth tax, and then the ' gabelle ', a tax on salt. In 1343, the Seneschal of Gascony Oliver Ingham was recalled to England and replaced with Nicholas de la Beche . Beche upheld

10360-409: The anti-French alliance, only the burghers of Flanders remained. In England; opinion was turning against Edward, his gains on the continent had been at a large cost and most of Scotland had been lost. Essentially bankrupt, Edward was forced to cut his losses. Those whose support he could not afford to lose were repaid, others were not. The contemporary Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani suggested that

10500-609: The archers would come alongside a French ship and rain arrows down on its decks, the men-at-arms would then just mop up. The French fleet was almost completely destroyed in what became known as the Battle of Sluys . England dominated the English Channel for the rest of the war, preventing French invasions . In spring of 1340, Philip VI had planned to smash the anti-French coalition by attacking Edward III's allies. French forces invaded Hainaut in May. But when news reached him about

10640-567: The banks of Bardi and Peruzzi failed because Edward III defaulted on the loans. Villani was not an independent source, his brother was a member of the Peruzzi company. Villani said that Edward owed the Bardi 900,000 gold florins (£135,000) and the Peruzzi 600,000 (£90,000). But the Peruzzis' records show that they never had that much capital to lend Edward III. In reality the English crown had forced

10780-470: The battle with the Norwegians. The armies of Harold and William faced each other at the Battle of Hastings (14 October 1066), in which the English army, or Fyrd , was defeated, Harold and his two brothers were slain, and William emerged as victor. William was then able to conquer England with little further opposition. He was not, however, planning to absorb the Kingdom into the Duchy of Normandy . As

10920-565: The bishopric. A two-week siege of Cambrai ensued. The whole area was laid waste but Cambrai was not taken, then on the evening of 9 October, Edward's army gave up and advanced into France proper. While Edward had been besieging Cambrai the French king had time to call up his army. On Edward's invasion, the French army advanced to Péronne, close to the border. While Edward's army laid waste to a twenty-mile-wide strip of French countryside, plundering and burning hundreds of villages, Philip's army shadowed Edward's army. On 14 October, Edward advanced toward

11060-521: The commercial issues. In April 1653 Cromwell and the other Grandees of the New Model Army , frustrated with the members of the Rump Parliament who would not pass legislation to dissolve the Rump and to allow a new more representative parliament to be elected, stopped the Rump's session and declared the Rump dissolved. After an experiment with a Nominated Assembly ( Barebone's Parliament ),

11200-510: The companies to accept a smaller amount of debt and repaid some with cash and others with royal grants of wool , a principal export of the English economy at the time. Further, at the same time Florence was going through a period of internal disputes and the third largest financial company, the Acciaiuoli , also went bankrupt, and they did not lend any money to Edward. What loans Edward III did default on are likely only to have contributed to

11340-672: The continental possessions of the Duchy to Philip II of France in 1204 and decisively after the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. A few remnants of Normandy , including the Channel Islands , remained in John's possession, together with most of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Up until the Norman Conquest of England, Wales had remained for the most part independent of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms , although some Welsh kings did sometimes acknowledge

11480-609: The countryside robbing, looting, killing or torturing as they went to get supplies. With the Malestroit truce in force, bands of routiers became an increasing problem. They were well-organised and would sometimes act as mercenaries for one or both sides. One tactic would be to seize a town or castle of local strategic importance. From this base, they would plunder the surrounding areas until nothing of value remained, and then move on to places more ripe. Often they would hold towns to ransom who would pay them to go away. The routier problem

11620-704: The death of Harthacnut in June 1042. He was the son of Canute and Emma of Normandy (the widow of Æthelred the Unready) and had no heirs of his own; he was succeeded by his half-brother, Æþelræd's son, Edward the Confessor . The peace lasted until the death of the childless Edward in January 1066. His brother-in-law was crowned King Harold , but his cousin William the Conqueror , Duke of Normandy, immediately claimed

11760-476: The disaster at Sluys, he turned his attention to counter the new threat. Edward III split his army in two. The first, led by Robert of Artois invaded the province of Artois . But in a battle with the garrison of Saint-Omer 26 June, most of this army was destroyed, and Robert was forced to retreat. On the same day Edward III appeared before the walls of Tournai . (Although these days it is in Belgium , then it

11900-678: The disastrous Raid on the Medway and forced the humiliated Charles in to an unfavourable peace treaty . The treaty eliminated a number of long-standing issues, and in the long-term made it possible for the two countries to unite against the expansionist policies pursued by Louis XIV of France . In the short-term however, Charles' desire to avenge this setback led to the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672. Despite attaining French support this time, Dutch naval successes made Parliament unwilling to support Charles' war effort any further, and he

12040-499: The effect of aligning England with Scotland, which also gradually adopted a Protestant religion, whereas the most important continental powers, France and Spain, remained Roman Catholic. The "Tudor conquest" (or reconquest ) of Ireland' took place under the Tudor dynasty. Following a failed rebellion against the crown by Silken Thomas , the Earl of Kildare , in the 1530s, Henry VIII was declared King of Ireland in 1542 by statute of

12180-693: The evolution of the English Parliament . From the 1340s, English claims to the French throne were held in pretense, but after the Hundred Years' War and the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in 1455, the English were no longer in any position to pursue their French claims and lost all their land on the continent, except for Calais . After the turmoils of the Wars of the Roses, the Tudor dynasty ruled during

12320-510: The famous Battle of Crécy. The much larger French army made a series of piecemeal attacks against the expert English and Welsh longbowmen , and all of the attacks were dispersed with heavy losses until the French were forced to retreat. Crécy was a crushing defeat for the French. Edward proceeded north unopposed and besieged the coastal city of Calais on the English Channel , capturing it in 1347. An English victory against Scotland in

12460-437: The fees promised to his allies, Edward was also forced to borrow heavily from the great banking houses of Bardi and Peruzzi . Late in 1338, when he had exhausted the funds from the banking houses, William de la Pole , a wealthy merchant, came to the king's rescue by advancing him £110,000. Much of the money that William de la Pole lent the king was raised from other English merchants. Edward also borrowed money from merchants in

12600-562: The financial problems in Florence, not caused them. On 30 April 1341, John III, Duke of Brittany died without heirs precipitating the Breton war of succession . Although John III died childless, he did leave two candidates for the dukedom; his younger half-brother John, Count of Montfort and his niece Jeanne of Penthièvre , daughter of his brother Guy. Jeanne of Penthièvre's was more closely related to John III than John of Montfort however,

12740-546: The first king to reign over a united England. In 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that "all of the English people ( all Angelcyn ) not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred." Asser added that "Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly ... and made it habitable once more." Alfred's restoration entailed reoccupying and refurbishing

12880-459: The first three assaults of the French cavalry. At the point when the English archers were running out of arrows and many were wounded or exhausted, the French king deployed his reserves, an elite force of men. It seemed that the French would win the day, however, the Gascon noble Captal de Buch managed to thwart the French by leading a flanking movement, with a small group of men, that succeeded in capturing John II, and many of his nobles. John signed

13020-484: The following year, he laid emphasis on the case of Robert of Artois as one of the contributing causes. The confiscation of Gascony by Philip VI precipitated the war in 1337. In response, Edward's strategy was for the English in Gascony to hold their position while his army would invade France from the north. The English forces would be supplemented by a grand alliance of continental supporters whom he promised payment of over £200,000, valued at £65,000,000 in 2018. To pay for

13160-701: The foundations of the British Empire via colonization of the Americas . The accession of James VI and I in 1603 resulted in the Union of the Crowns , with the Stuart dynasty ruling the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland . Under the Stuarts, England plunged into civil war , which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established

13300-483: The gradual unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy : East Anglia , Mercia , Northumbria , Kent , Essex , Sussex , and Wessex . The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general. The English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927. During

13440-474: The king's income derived from the royal demesne and the annual " farm " from each shire (the fixed sum paid by sheriffs for the privilege of administering and profiting from royal lands). Kings also made income from judicial fines and regulation of trade. People owed the king service in the form of the trinoda necessitas — fyrd service, burh building, and bridge building. After the Conquest of 1066,

13580-559: The kingdom's naval strength, on the foundations Henry VIII had laid down. By 1588, her new navy was strong enough to defeat the Spanish Armada , which had sought to invade England to halt English support for the Dutch rebels and to put a Catholic monarch on the throne in her place. The House of Tudor ended with the death of Elizabeth I on 24 March 1603. James I ascended the throne of England and brought it into personal union with

13720-723: The lifting of the English embargo. By December, the Flemings were ready to formally join the anti-French coalition. The civic authorities of Ghent, Ypres and Bruges proclaimed Edward King of France. Edward's purpose was to strengthen his alliances with the Low Countries . His supporters would be able to claim that they were loyal to the "true" king of France and not rebels against Philip. In February 1340, Edward returned to England to try and raise more funds and also deal with political difficulties. English defenses in Gascony had been severely strained for some time, relief came when two of

13860-516: The mercenaries, archers and crossbowmen who were willing to serve them for pay. When Edward heard of these warlike preparations, he said angrily: We have had long experience of Spanish ways. They have done us many wrongs and, far from making amends, they go on arming themselves against us. They must be intercepted on their way back. The Spaniard's fleet followed a course along the south coast of England, hoping to descend on some unsuspecting town. They were interrupted by Edward's fleet off Winchelsea on

14000-541: The nearly deserted Roman walled city, building quays along the Thames , and laying a new city street plan. During the following years Northumbria repeatedly changed hands between the English kings and the Norwegian invaders, but was definitively brought under English control by Eadred in 954, completing the unification of England. At about this time, Lothian , a portion of the northern half of Northumbria ( Bernicia ),

14140-543: The new fortifications held out. He lifted the siege and moved his army on to Paris in the Spring of 1360. The suburbs of Paris were sacked but the city held out. His army was weakened from being harassed by the French companies and also disease, so after a few skirmishes Edward moved his army to the town of Chartres . At Chartres, disaster struck when a freak hailstorm devastated Edward's army, killing an estimated 1,000 English soldiers and 6,000 horses. Following this phenomenon,

14280-422: The new rules on female inheritance, that had excluded Edward III to the throne of France, seemed to imply that women could not succeed to powerful titles. Jeanne of Penthièvre's husband was the King's nephew, Charles of Blois. According to feudal law, it was the king of France's responsibility to decide who should inherit. Unwilling to rely on the King's impartiality, John of Montfort assumed the title, seized Nantes,

14420-468: The nobles and destroyed many chateaux in the area. All the rebellious groups were defeated later that summer at the battle of Mello and reprisals followed. Capitalising on the discontent in France, Edward assembled his army at Calais in the late summer of 1359. His first objective was to take the city of Rheims. However, the citizens of Reims built and reinforced the city's defences before Edward and his army arrived. Edward besieged Rheims for five weeks but

14560-587: The nobles who supported the French king pursued a family feud against each other rather than fighting the English. The two nobles involved were the Count of Armagnac and the Count of Foix . Also, further assistance was provided by the Albret family, with Bernard-Aiz, Lord of Albret declaring for Edward in 1339. The Albrets held one of the most important lordships in English Gascony and had been courted by both

14700-492: The number of hides they owned. After the Norman Conquest, the king's household troops remained central to any royal army. The Anglo-Saxon fyrd also remained in use. But the Normans also introduced a new feudal element to the English military. The king's tenants-in-chief (his feudal barons ) were obligated to provide mounted knights for service in the royal army or to garrison royal castles . The total number of knights owed

14840-455: The numbers with German men-at-arms. The battle raged all day and ended with a French victory. In keeping with chivalric tradition, the French ransomed many of the defeated English. The Black Death had reached England in 1348. The widespread effects of the plague had effectively put the war on hold. However, by the mid-1350s the disease had receded sufficiently to allow the country to start rebuilding its finances. So in 1355 Edward's son, Edward

14980-492: The officials there put pressure on the English administration. A chain of religious houses, although in Edward's jurisdiction, had cases held by French officials. Philip also contracted with various lords within Gascony to provide troops in the event of war with England. Gascony was not the only issue; in the 1330s, France's support for Scotland caused problems for the English. Loyalties in the low countries were split. In Flanders,

15120-459: The other the Earl of Warwick , and the Earl of Arundel . And he ordained that the Earl of Huntingdon should keep the fleet of ships with a hundred men of arms and four hundred archers: and also he ordained three battles ( battalions ) , one to go on his right hand, closing to the sea-side, and the other on his left hand, and the king himself in the midst, and every night to lodge all in one field. The army marched through Normandy. Philip gathered

15260-404: The overlordship of the Norman kings of England. Edward I defeated Llywelyn ap Gruffudd , and so effectively conquered Wales, in 1282. He created the title Prince of Wales for his heir, the future Edward II , in 1301. Edward I's conquest was brutal and the subsequent repression considerable, as the magnificent Welsh castles such as Conwy , Harlech , and Caernarfon attest. Edward III

15400-589: The precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament. This concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its successor state the United Kingdom, functioned in effect as a constitutional monarchy . On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707 , the parliaments, and therefore Kingdoms, of both England and Scotland were mutually abolished. Their assets and estates united 'for ever, into

15540-410: The previous division between the Norman lords and their Anglo-Saxon subjects. This was a consequence of sustained hostility to the increasingly nationalist French, whose kings and other leaders (notably the charismatic Joan of Arc ) used a developing sense of French identity to help draw people to their cause. The kingdom had little time to recover before entering the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487),

15680-598: The ransom. Also, under the terms of the treaty England gained possession of Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine and all the coastline from Flanders to Spain, thus restoring the former Angevin Empire . The hostages were held in honourable captivity which under the chivalric code meant they were given free rein to move about. In 1362 John's son, Louis of Anjou , a hostage in English-held Calais, escaped his parole and refused to return. When John found out, ashamed at

15820-732: The reign of Æthelred the Unready (978–1016), a new wave of Danish invasions was orchestrated by Sweyn I of Denmark , culminating after a quarter-century of warfare in the Danish conquest of England in 1013. But Sweyn died on 2 February 1014, and Æþelræd was restored to the throne. In 1015, Sweyn's son Cnut (commonly known as Canute) launched a new invasion. The ensuing war ended with an agreement in 1016 between Canute and Æþelræd's successor, Edmund Ironside , to divide England between them, but Edmund's death on 30 November of that year left England united under Danish rule. This continued for 26 years until

15960-443: The relationship between the two kings soured in the 1330s when Philip allied with Edward's enemy, King David II of Scotland . Edward in turn provided refuge to Robert III of Artois , a French fugitive. When Edward refused to obey Philip's demands for the expulsion of Robert from England, Philip confiscated the Duchy of Aquitaine. This precipitated war and, in 1340, Edward declared himself king of France . Edward III and his son Edward

16100-474: The seventeen-year-old Edward III (in his capacity as Duke of Aquitaine) paid homage to Philip VI in 1329. Gascony , which had been incorporated into Aquitaine , was located in south west France just north of the Pyrenees. The Gascons had their own language and customs. A large proportion of the red wine (known as claret ) that they produced, was shipped in a profitable trade with the English. The trade provided

16240-458: The tax burden had been heavy and in addition the wool trade had been heavily manipulated. Edward III spent the next years slowly paying off his immense debt. In France, Philip VI had financial difficulties of his own. France had no central institution with the authority to grant taxes for the whole country. Instead, the Crown had to negotiate with the various provincial assemblies. In accordance with

16380-602: The terms" of the Acts would "cease and become void". The English and Scottish Parliaments were merged into the Parliament of Great Britain , located in Westminster , London. At this point England ceased to exist as a separate political entity, and since then has had no national government . The laws of England were unaffected, with the legal jurisdiction continuing to be that of England and Wales , while Scotland continued to have its own laws and law courts. This continued after

16520-586: The throne for himself. William launched an invasion of England and landed in Sussex on 28 September 1066. Harold and his army were in York following their victory against the Norwegians at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (25 September 1066) when the news reached him. He decided to set out without delay and confront the Norman army in Sussex so marched southwards at once, despite the army not being properly rested following

16660-428: The time said, of the Black Prince, that as he rode to Toulouse there was no town that he did not lay waste. In August 1356, the Black Prince was threatened by a larger army under John II. The English attempted to retreat but their way was blocked at Poitiers. The Black Prince tried to negotiate terms with the French, but John's army attacked the English on 19 September 1356. The English archers were able to bring down

16800-458: The time, Gaelic Ireland was made up of several kingdoms, with a High King claiming lordship over most of the other kings. The Duchy of Aquitaine came into personal union with the Kingdom of England upon the accession of Henry II , who had married Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine . The Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy remained in personal union until John Lackland , Henry II's son and fourth-generation descendant of William I, lost

16940-407: The towns were dependent on supplies of English wool, whereas the aristocracy supported the French king. Another element was that of naval power. Philip had intended to go on a crusade and had assembled a fleet off Marseille. These plans were abandoned in 1336 and the fleet moved to the English Channel off Normandy in an obvious act of provocation against the English. One of Edward's influential advisers

17080-539: The transfer of the English capital city and chief royal residence from the Anglo-Saxon one at Winchester to Westminster , and the City of London quickly established itself as England's largest and principal commercial centre. Histories of the Kingdom of England from the Norman Conquest of 1066 conventionally distinguish periods named after successive ruling dynasties: Norman/Angevin 1066–1216, Plantagenet 1216–1485, Tudor 1485–1603 and Stuart 1603–1707 (interrupted by

17220-444: The war Edward had to raise large amounts of money for his own forces and also his allies on the continent. It was unlikely that the English parliament could raise the requisite sums quickly, so, in the summer of 1337, a plan was developed to make virtually all of the nation's wool stock available to help finance the war. 30,000 sacks would be sold by the English merchants, and the sum (estimated at £200,000) would be lent to Edward. To pay

17360-461: The war, and Edward's sovereignty over Aquitaine was confirmed in the Treaty of Brétigny (1360), although he renounced his claim to the French throne. Edward had been granted the duchy of Aquitaine in 1325, and as Duke of Aquitaine he was a vassal to Philip VI of France. Due to political trouble in England during his early reign as a minor, Edward initially accepted Philip as King of France, but

17500-527: The winter of 1341–42. Her forces managed to keep the road open between the port of Brest and Hennebont, which enabled a small English force to land at Brest and combine with her forces to drive the French army away and recapture territory in the west of Brittany. In August 1342, another English force under the command of the Earl of Northampton , arrived and landed at the port of Brest. The force advanced across Brittany and captured Vannes. The English forces with contingents commanded by Richard de Artois defeated

17640-407: Was Robert III of Artois . Robert was an exile from the French court, having fallen out with Philip VI over an inheritance claim. In November 1336, Philip issued an ultimatum to the seneschal of Gascony threatening that if Robert of Artois was not extradited to France then great peril and dissension would follow. When Philip confiscated the English king's lands in Gascony and the county of Ponthieu

17780-585: Was again forced to make peace. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, an attempt by James II to reintroduce Roman Catholicism—a century after its suppression by the Tudors—led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, in which he was exiled by the Dutch prince William of Orange . William and his wife Mary were subsequently crowned by Parliament. William reoriented England's foreign policy to support

17920-402: Was also entitled to his vassals military service, but vassals could pay scutage instead. In the Anglo-Saxon period, England had no standing army. The king and magnates retained professional household troops ( see housecarl ), and all free men were obligated to perform military service in the fyrd . In addition, holders of bookland were obligated to provide a certain number of men based on

18060-602: Was bitter feeling between the English and the Spanish on account of various acts of violence and plunder which the Spaniards had committed against English ships at sea. In 1350, while the Spanish were in Flanders for trading purposes, they were told that the English were intending to waylay them on their voyage back home. They equipped their ships, lying at Sluys, with all kinds of weapons and powerful artillery, and engaged all

18200-485: Was called the servitium debitum (Latin: "service owed"), and historian Richard Huscroft estimates this number was around 5,000. In reality, the servitium debitum was greater than any king would actually need in wartime. Its main purpose was for assessing how much scutage the king was owed. Scutage was used to pay for mercenaries , which were an important part of any Norman army. Proximity of blood Proximity of blood , or proximity by degree of kinship ,

18340-535: Was captured and held for ransom. The Truce of Bordeaux was signed in 1357 and was followed by two treaties in London in 1358 and 1359 . After the treaties of London failed, Edward launched the Rheims campaign, which, though largely unsuccessful, led to the Treaty of Brétigny , which settled certain lands in France on Edward for renouncing his claim to the French throne. This was in part caused by Black Monday (1360) ,

18480-543: Was ceded to the Kingdom of Scotland . On 12 July 927 the monarchs of Britain gathered at Eamont in Cumbria to recognise Æthelstan as king of the English. The title "King of the English" or Rex Anglorum in Latin, was first used to describe Æthelstan in one of his charters in 928. The standard title for monarchs from Æthelstan until John was "King of the English". England has remained in political unity ever since. During

18620-597: Was in fact a staged tournament. There had been a truce in place since 1347, so there was not supposed to be any fighting. Two of the opposing leaders, the Breton, Robert de Beaumanoir who held the garrison at Josselin , and the Englishman, Richmond Bambro who held the garrison at Ploërmel, agreed to stage a private fight with 30 knights from either side fighting with sharpened weapons. Among Bambro's knights were two famous men-at-arms, Robert Knolles and Hugh Calveley , but he could not find thirty Englishmen so had to make up

18760-476: Was in possession of most of the duchy, including the three principal cities, Nantes, Rennes and Vannes . Philip of France favoured Charles of Blois as the official candidate. So fearing that the French army would depose him, John of Montfort fled to England to seek the support of Edward III. Despite the Truce of Espléchin still being in place, Edward III agreed to provide help. John of Montfort returned to Brittany and waited for confirmation of this assistance from

18900-492: Was not solved until a system of taxation in the 15th century allowed for a regular army that employed the best of the routiers. On 5 July 1346, Edward set sail from Portsmouth with about 750 ships and 7,000–10,000 men, beginning a major invasion across the Channel. With him was his nearly 16-year-old son, Edward, the Black Prince (Edward of Woodstock), the recently created Prince of Wales . On 12 July, Edward landed at Hague in

19040-682: Was one of France's largest cities.) The siege dragged out, and in September, Philip VI arrived with the main French army. Philip VI again refused to meet the English in battle. Both sides running out of money led to a temporary truce ( Truce of Espléchin , 25 September 1340). The Truce of Espléchin marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War and resulted in a cessation of hostilities on all fronts for nine months. The cost both politically and financially had been immense. Grand alliances could no longer be afforded and some allies could no longer be relied on. The German princes all backed out of

19180-534: Was recalled and there was a second period where the executive power lay with the Council of state. But this restoration of Commonwealth rule, similar to that before the Protectorate, proved to be unstable, and the exiled claimant, Charles II , was restored to the throne in 1660. In 1665 the unresolved commercial issues with the Dutch led to the Second Anglo-Dutch War , which culminated in

19320-480: Was temporarily unable to proceed with his invasion plans. Meanwhile, the delay in invasion meant that the French government could use its resources elsewhere. In December 1338, Gascony was invaded by the French, who took Saint-Macaire and Blaye . The Englishman charged with the defense of Gascony was the seneschal of Gascony, one Oliver Ingham , who had been in and out of favour with Edward III and his father Edward II. He had proved himself to be an able soldier being

19460-470: Was the first English king to have a claim to the throne of France . His pursuit of the claim resulted in the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), which pitted five kings of England of the House of Plantagenet against five kings of France of the Capetian House of Valois . Extensive naval raiding was carried out by all sides during the war, often involving privateers such as John Hawley of Dartmouth or

19600-578: Was to be the first Lord Protector. The Instrument of Government was replaced by a second constitution (the Humble Petition and Advice ) under which the Lord Protector could nominate his successor. Cromwell nominated his son Richard who became Lord Protector on the death of Oliver on 3 September 1658. Richard proved to be ineffectual and was unable to maintain his rule. He resigned his title and retired into obscurity. The Rump Parliament

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