47 Fun Facts About The Hundred Years' War

Despite its name, the Hundred Years' War between England and France, broken up by truces and plague, actually spanned how many years?

116 years, from 1337 to 1453; the conflict was intermittent, repeatedly interrupted by truces and by the Black Death.

Edward III claimed the French throne in 1328 through which relative, a sister of the last Capetian king?

The French barons ruled that Isabella could not transmit a right she did not herself possess, and chose Philip of Valois instead.

Which of these is NOT the name of one of the war's three phases?

The Plantagenet War is not a phase: historians name the Edwardian War (1337–1360), the Caroline War (1369–1389) and the Lancastrian War (1415–1453), separated by truces.

Which French dynasty ultimately kept the throne of France at the war's end?

Philip, Count of Valois, had been crowned Philip VI in 1328 after the main Capetian male line died out.

At which 1364 battle, ending the Breton War of Succession, was Charles of Blois killed?

Auray, fought on 29 September 1364, ended the Breton War of Succession: Charles of Blois was killed and Bertrand du Guesclin captured by the Anglo-Breton army led by John Chandos.

Which duchy in south-west France, held by the English king as a vassal, was the war's most important territorial dispute?

Aquitaine: Philip VI's council agreed in May 1337 to confiscate the duchy, which Edward III held as his vassal, prompting Edward to press his claim to France by force of arms.

Which exiled French nobleman, an adviser to Edward III, urged him to make war and supplied intelligence on the French court?

Robert III of Artois, banished from France in 1332 after forging documents in a land dispute, was sheltered by Edward III; Philip VI cited harbouring this 'mortal enemy' when confiscating Guyenne in 1337.

Which 1295 treaty between France and Scotland left Edward III exposed whenever he campaigned in France?

The Auld Alliance, first sealed in 1295 under John Balliol, was renewed by Charles IV in the 1326 Treaty of Corbeil, promising French support if England attacked Scotland.

Off which port did the English navy win a crushing victory in June 1340?

Sluys, on 24 June 1340: the French had chained their ships into three lines as floating platforms and lost some 16,000 to 20,000 men, giving England command of the Channel for years.

Which 1346 battle, 'a complete disaster for the French', was credited to English longbowmen and a French king who attacked too soon?

Crécy was followed weeks later by the defeat and capture of Scotland's David II, invading to help France, at Neville's Cross.

How long did Edward III's siege of Calais last before starvation forced the city to surrender in 1347?

Eleven months: the siege ran from September 1346 until Calais surrendered in early August 1347; Philip VI had ordered the city to hold out at all costs but failed to lift the siege.

According to Froissart, who persuaded Edward III to spare the six burghers of Calais who came out with nooses round their necks?

Queen Philippa of Hainault, pregnant at the time, knelt before Edward and argued that executing the six burghers would be a bad omen for her unborn child; Froissart says Edward relented.

Which sculptor's 1889 work commemorates the surrender of the burghers of Calais?

Auguste Rodin's The Burghers of Calais, completed in 1889, shows the six men in their nooses; twelve original castings exist, and Calais had sought a statue of Eustache de Saint Pierre since 1845.

Which French king was captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356?

John II, 'the Good', was taken at Poitiers on 19 September 1356 after a concealed Gascon force under Jean de Grailly, the Captal de Buch, cut off the French retreat.

How large was the ransom set for King John II by the Treaty of Brétigny?

That was roughly two or three years of French crown revenue, the largest national budget in Europe.

What freak event at Easter 1360, known as Black Monday, killed over 1,000 English soldiers and pushed Edward III to negotiate?

A hailstorm on Easter Monday, 13 April 1360, outside Chartres: hail and lightning killed about 1,000 men and many horses, and within weeks Edward agreed the Treaty of Brétigny.

Which cathedral city, the traditional coronation site, did Edward III besiege for five weeks in 1359-60, hoping to be crowned there?

Reims had strengthened its walls in advance; the defences held and there was no coronation.

By what nickname is Edward of Woodstock, victor of Poitiers and eldest son of Edward III, best known?

The Black Prince is first recorded as a name about 165 years after his death, and may refer to his black shield or his brutal reputation in the south of France.

Which Breton knight, nicknamed the Eagle of Brittany, led the French recovery under Charles V and became Constable of France in 1370?

Bertrand du Guesclin, made Constable of France in October 1370, rose from minor Breton nobility and, avoiding pitched battles, pushed the English back to a few coastal ports by 1380.

In which Spanish kingdom's civil war did Edward of Woodstock and du Guesclin fight on opposite sides in the 1360s?

The Prince restored Peter of Castile at Nájera in 1367, but the unpaid campaign wrecked his health and finances.

Roughly what share of France's population died in the Black Death of 1347-51, which interrupted the war?

30–60%: roughly a third to a half of France's people died, perhaps six to twelve million; the Truce of Calais was repeatedly extended while the plague ran its course.

In which year did Charles VI suddenly descend into madness, forcing France into a regency under his uncles and brother?

1392: in August that year, riding through the forest near Le Mans, Charles VI attacked his own escort; the fight between Burgundy and Orléans to control the resulting regency became the Armagnac-Burgundian civil war.

According to Pope Pius II, what did the mad Charles VI sometimes believe he was made of?

Glass: Pius II wrote that Charles VI believed he was made of glass and had iron rods sewn into his clothes so he would not shatter; 'the Mad' was only attached to him in the 19th century.

Which Duke of Burgundy ordered the 1407 assassination of Louis, Duke of Orléans, igniting the Armagnac-Burgundian civil war?

John the Fearless had Louis of Orléans cut down in a Paris street on 23 November 1407; he was himself murdered at Montereau in 1419, pushing Burgundy into a formal alliance with Henry V.

On which feast day was the Battle of Agincourt fought in 1415?

Saint Crispin's Day is 25 October; Shakespeare's Henry V turned the date into one of the most famous speeches in English.

Roughly what proportion of Henry V's army at Agincourt were English and Welsh archers?

Nearly 80 percent: Henry fielded roughly 1,500 men-at-arms and 7,000 longbowmen across a 750-yard front, so archers made up about five-sixths of his army.

Which town had Henry V besieged for longer than expected in 1415, eating up his campaign season before Agincourt?

Harfleur surrendered on 22 September 1415 after a five-week siege in which dysentery ravaged the English army; Henry then chose a raid towards Calais rather than a march on Paris.

Which Constable of France was killed at Agincourt in 1415?

Charles d'Albret, Constable of France, shared command of the French army at Agincourt on 25 October 1415 and died on the field; Marshal Boucicaut and the Dukes of Orléans and Bourbon were captured.

By the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, Henry V married which daughter of Charles VI and became heir to the French throne?

Catherine of Valois married Henry at Troyes on 2 June 1420; the treaty disinherited her brother the Dauphin Charles, and the Estates-General ratified it after Henry entered Paris.

Henry V's brother and heir presumptive, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, was killed in 1421 at which battle after charging without his archers?

Baugé, 22 March 1421: Clarence attacked a Franco-Scottish army with barely 1,500 men-at-arms, leaving his archers behind, and was killed in the mêlée; Henry V had to return from England to restore the position.

Henry V and Charles VI both died in which year, leaving a nine-month-old Henry VI as heir to both crowns?

1422: Henry V died at Vincennes on 31 August, probably of dysentery, and Charles VI followed on 21 October, leaving Henry VI, born the previous December, heir to both crowns.

Which English commander won the 'emphatic' victory of Verneuil in 1424, destroying the Dauphin's field army?

John, Duke of Bedford, whom Henry V had named on his deathbed to govern English France, won Verneuil on 17 August 1424; the battle also destroyed the Scottish army serving the Dauphin.

How many days after Joan of Arc arrived at Orléans in April 1429 did the English abandon the siege?

Nine: Joan entered Orléans on 29 April 1429, the Tourelles fort fell on 7 May, and the English marched away on 8 May, ending a siege begun the previous October.

In which village in north-east France was Joan of Arc born to a propertied peasant family?

Domrémy, now Domrémy-la-Pucelle, in the Meuse valley on the border of Lorraine: her parents were Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée, peasants who owned about 50 acres.

At which 1429 battle did French cavalry smash the retreating English and capture their commander John Talbot, opening the road to Reims?

Patay, 18 June 1429: French cavalry caught the English before their archers could plant stakes, killing some 2,000 and capturing Talbot; Charles VII was crowned at Reims on 17 July with Joan beside him.

Who captured Joan of Arc at the siege of Compiègne in May 1430 before handing her to the English?

The Burgundians: men of Jean de Luxembourg, a Burgundian captain, pulled her from her horse outside Compiègne on 23 May 1430 and sold her to the English; she was burned at Rouen on 30 May 1431.

How many years after her execution was Joan of Arc's verdict overturned by an inquisitorial court?

25 years: burned in 1431, she was cleared on 7 July 1456 when the retrial authorised by Pope Callixtus III found the original proceedings tainted by deceit and procedural errors.

Where was the boy Henry VI crowned King of France in December 1431?

Notre-Dame de Paris, on 16 December 1431, with Cardinal Beaufort officiating; Henry had been crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on 6 November 1429, a month short of his eighth birthday.

Which 1435 congress saw Philip the Good of Burgundy make peace with Charles VII?

Arras: the English delegation walked out on 6 September 1435 and the Duke of Bedford died on 14 September; Philip the Good signed with Charles VII on 21 September, and Paris fell to the French in April 1436.

Which 1453 battle, the last of the war, was the first major European battle won through the extensive use of field artillery?

Castillon, 17 July 1453: John Talbot, believing the French were retreating, charged a fortified camp ringed with some 300 guns and died with his son; Bordeaux fell three months later.

Which was the last French province held by the English, its capital Bordeaux falling for good on 19 October 1453?

Gascony, English since Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II in 1152: Bordeaux's pro-English citizens had let Talbot retake the city in October 1452, but after Castillon it surrendered for good on 19 October 1453.

Which 1475 agreement, in which Edward IV was bought off by Louis XI with cash and a pension, formally ended the war?

The Treaty of Picquigny, 29 August 1475: Louis XI paid Edward IV 75,000 crowns and a 50,000-crown yearly pension to take his army home, formally ending a war that had technically continued for two decades after Castillon.

Which English conflict, beginning in 1455, was partly caused by nobles' anger at losing their French lands?

The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487) followed a war that left England insolvent and holding nothing on the continent but Calais.

In which year did the Statute of Pleading make English the language of England's law courts?

1362: the Statute of Pleading ordered that court proceedings be conducted in English rather than French, and the Chancellor opened Parliament in English that year; French was dropped from schoolrooms by 1385.

Charles VII re-established a permanent standing army in 1445 with what name?

The compagnies d'ordonnance, created by Charles VII's ordinance of 1445 as fifteen paid companies of 100 lances each, were the first standing army in western Europe since Rome.

Which chivalric brotherhood did Edward III found around 1348, shaped by his experiences on the Crécy campaign?

The Order of the Garter, founded by Edward III in 1348 with 26 knights, grew out of his 1344 plan for an Arthurian Round Table; its motto is 'Honi soit qui mal y pense'.

Which Norman city surrendered to Henry V in January 1419 after a six-month siege?

Rouen, the capital of Normandy, surrendered on 19 January 1419 after a siege begun in July 1418, during which the starving city expelled thousands of its poor, who died in the ditches outside.