Age of Chaucer- Hundred Years War

 

Hundred Years War :-

We need to take a look at the Hundred Years War which qualifies to be one of the major sources of heavy taxation, it also heavily drained the resources of England. This makes it important for us to understand the trajectory of this war which was spread over 116 years, a little more than 100 years though for convenience, historians have chosen to name it as a Hundred Years War.

 

Norman Conquest:

The origins of this contest with France; it dates back to 1066 AD, if you remember that was when the Norman Conquest happened.

 William the Conqueror:

The William the Conqueror who led the Norman Conquest against the English, against the Anglo-Saxons and won over them, he ended up ruling England and Normandy in France together. There was the island of England on one hand and Normandy in France on the other. So all the subsequent kings of England, they, all the successors continued to rule England and Normandy simultaneously and it was seen as quite a rightful claim as well.

Henry II:

Also, we notice that from the time of Henry II, this - a lot of territorial disputes which emerge and it also becomes a little difficult to control the land which is situated in a distance land, in a distant land. And around the same period, this difficulty in controlling the land leads to a lot of territorial disputes between England and France leading to a lot of hostile emotions as well. And if you remember, it is around the same period, in the 14th and 15th century that England also in England, the French also begins to lose its prominence and loses out to the English language. So a lot of factors contribute to this hostility and this becomes a triggering factor to contribute towards a war-like situation as well.

The Reign of Edward the III:

And what happens by the reign of Edward the III is quite significant, we find that by 1327, compared to the entire land of Normandy, there are only two provinces left in France under the control of England. This is a major source of concern as the source of revenue was also getting limited and also the English kings begin to take it as a matter of prestige, as a matter of honor. And around the same time we find that in France, another turn of events are happening. So in 1328 in France, King Charles IV, he dies and there is no heir and Edward III is the king of England during this period. And Edward III’s mother who is Isabella, Isabella happened to be Charles IV's sister. So Edward III’s mother, Isabella assumes that since Charles IV has died leaving no heir as a successor, they assume that there is a rightful claim for Edward III that we also should remember that he was only 15 years old then, yeah. So Edward III and his mother, they assume that there is a rightful claim for Edward III to the crown for France, so they lay a claim to the English king Edward III who happens to be the nephew of the deceased king, Charles IV. He lays a claim to the crown of France which is not taken very kindly by the French people because they had other plans in hand. And they also . . . there is this rule which prevails in France that one can become king only through their father’s line and not through their mother’s line. But in England, one can become king through either way, through the father's line or through the mother's line. So because of this, the French people are very unhappy with Edward III accessing the crown of France. And with this, a kind of dispute emerges and France in general was against this and they bring in a new king and the Hundred Years War, we find, it breaks out. And it was at this point of time that the Hundred Years War breaks out between England and France. And to be noted, this was not a single series of war happening, it was not a single war which happened between England and France; in fact, it was a series of wars, a series of battles which happened. And there was in the initial period, victory was mostly on the English side, but eventually it happens so that France wins over. And even the two provinces which were held by Britain, they lose out on those two provinces by 1453, by the end of the war. We shall not be getting into further details of the Hundred Years War, but some of the details we shall be taking a look at again when we engage with the 15th century because a war is spread over such a long time that it continued to inform the ways in which social, political history of Britain was formed. So coming back to our original point, due to the various things happening especially as the age was dominated by war, the general mood of 14th century, it was not very favorable for the common man. But in spite of that, we do find that Chaucer continues to write and he gets qualified as the Father of English literature itself. So this is how we sum up the challenging period of 13th and 14th century. There was famine, there was death, anarchy, tyranny, wars, heavy taxation and you name it and you have it. It was such a challenging period for Britain.

So we look forward to seeing you in the next session, thank you.