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The Hundred Years' War, 1337 to 1453, was a series of punctuated, separate conflicts waged between the kingdoms of England and France and their various allies for control of the French throne. It was started by Edward III of England's ambition to maintain his sovereignty in Aquitaine and assert his claim as the rightful king of France by unseating his rival Philip VI of France. Edward had inherited the duchy of Aquitaine, and as duke of Aquitaine he was a vassal to Philip VI of France. He refused, however, to acknowledge his fealty to Philip, who responded by confiscating the duchy of Aquitaine in 1337; this precipitated war, and soon, in 1340, Edward declared himself king of France. Edward III and his son, the Black Prince, led their armies on a largely successful campaign across France with notable victories at Auberoche (1345), Crecy (1346), Calais (1347) and La Roche-Derrien (1347). Hostilities were paused in 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, 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 peace lasted nine years; but then began a second phase of hostilities known as the Caroline War. ==Background== When Charles IV of France died in 1328, the nearest male in line to the throne was Edward III of England.〔Orton. The shorter Cambridge Medieval History 2. p. 872〕 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 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, the seventeen-year-old Edward III (in his capacity as duke of Aquitaine) paid homage to Philip VI in 1329.〔Prestwich. Plantagenet England. p. 304〕 Gascony formed the ancestral core of English, which had been incorporated into Aquitaine. It 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 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.〔Lacey. Great tales from English History. p. 122〕 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 the officials there put pressure on the English administration. A chain of religious houses, although in Edwards 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.〔〔Omrod. Edward III. p. 27〕 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 the towns were dependent on supplies of English wool, whereas the aristocracy supported the French king.〔Prestwich. Plantagenet England. p. 305〕 Another element was that of naval power. Philip had intended to go on a crusade and had assembled a fleet off Marseilles. 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.〔Prestwich. Plantagenet England. pp. 306-307〕 One of Edward's influential advisers 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 .〔Prestwich. Plantagenet England p. 306〕〔Omrod. Edward III. p. 191〕 When Philip confiscated the English king's lands in Gascony and the county of Ponthieu the following year, he laid emphasis on the case of Robert of Artois as one of the contributing causes.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hundred Years' War (1337–60)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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