The Hundred Years War Essays - House Of Capet, House Of Plantagenet

The Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War was a war between England and France in which France defended its' crown against British rule. This war had many effects on the people of each country. The origin of the war goes back to the conquest of William for England. In 1066 William, the Duke of Normandy, led an army into England. He won this battle and became the king of England. This was possible under feudalism. Feudalism is a form of social classification in which the members of an upper class are granted fifes, or pieces of land, by higher ranking noblemen return for their military service. The vassal, the person receiving the land, had to go through ceremony in which they would say that they would be faithful to their overlord and fight for them if needed. In return the overlord would protect the vassal (Lace 12). Many years later Isabella, the wife of King Edward II of England, plotted to kill Edward II making her son Edward III king (Lace 12). Because Edward III was very young she would be able to rule the country through him. Edward II sent his son and Isabella to pay homage to Charles IV in 1325 for French land that Edward II owned. Isabella took her lover, Roger de Mortimer, with them and while there they began to make their plans. After homage is paid to Charles IV the three went to Hainault. While there Isabella and Mortimer convinced the Count of Hainault, William, to help them overthrow the king. In 1327, with the help of William's troops, Isabella and Mortimer successfully overthrew Edward II and made Edward III king. During their overthrow, King Charles IV of France, Isabella's brother, died. When he died he had no children to leave the throne to, but his wife Jeanne was pregnant. When she gave birth though she had a stillborn daughter. This enabled Charles' cousin, Philip of Valois, king. Some of the people objected. Some thought that since Isabella was his sister she was closer to the throne than Philip and that she should be queen. Others thought that since Edward was his nephew he should be king, but the majority of the French were against Edward becoming their king (14). Philip was favored for many reasons: He was older: Philip was 35 and Edward was 15, Edward was under the control of his mother and Mortimer; Edward was a well known warrior, and Edward was considered a foreigner (14). Edward then decided that he was tired of being controlled. On October 19, 1330, Edward gathered a small army together and burst into Isabella and Mortimer's bedroom. He seized Mortimer and hung him the next morning. He left Mortimer's body hanging for 2 days and nights. Isabella was treated more carefully. She was imprisoned and confined to several castles for life (16). In 1337 Edward III would return to France to claim what he felt what was rightfully his. (Time Life 17). On October 19, 1337, Edward III drafted a document to Philip of Valois that said that Edward was the rightful king of France and that Edward would no longer pay homage to Philip of the French lands that he owned. This letter was given to him by Henry Burghersh, the bishop of England. Philip just sat back and smiled and prepared for war (Time Life 17). Edward drafted this document because he disagreed with the way that Philip was ruling the land that he owned. There were dukes and lords appointed by Philip to rule over the lands of Edward III. Edward wanted to rule them himself. The two tried to work out their differences, but failed. This situation was made more awkward because of other economic problems between the 2 countries. England and France depended on each other. France was England's main supplier of salt and France depended on England for wool. English also held the port at Bordeaux in France enabling them to control transportation along the English Channel. Philip of Valois wanted to control the sea traffic so he began to form links with Scotland, England's hostile neighbor. England and Scotland were not on good terms with one another and had been fighting since the 1290's (19). In 1314 the English, under Edward II lost to the Scottish at Bannockburn. Edward III made a treaty with the Scottish in 1328 but intervened in 1329 when their leader Robert Bruce, died. The English then deposed David II, Bruce's son and the new king. To help