02x04 - Hundred Years War

Hundred Years War

17/07/2007 11:10:00

Hundred Years War [1337 – 1453] • Causes o French king Philip VI ceases the provinces of Aquitaine and makes a French land  Until this time Aquitaine was under the English king o In 1337 Philip VI ceases the providence for itself o Competing English and French interests in Flanders  Flanders  Vital economic center for Europe  Primarily for its textile industry  England had a collection of kingdoms in Flanders  Wool became the only export of England because of Flanders o During 1336 and 1340 Edward III tries to get the city of Ghent into its fold by embargoing it  He embargoes wool until the artisans and the townspeople force the nobility and appoint an ally to England in its place  Not just an ally, essential a vassal o Edward III declares himself king of Ghent o He also declares himself king of France  Edward III needs a reason to declare himself king  This comes with after the death of Charles IV  By lineage he declares that he is the king of France o French nobles do not like this for a second

They get a cousin and make Philip VI as the king of France o Almost 10 years pass before Edward III makes an issue of this o Edward III states that he is the king of France and is going to send his army to take over France Belligerents o France  most powerful combatant  largest pop. Of the three with 16 million  great economic potential  major producer of grain, vineyards are the center of wine industry  potential for the king to draw a great amount of resources for the war  Philip VI  new king elected by nobles  he does not have the same kind of sway that his predecessors do  he gives the nobles a lot of autonomy and he does not have a lot of power o England only has 5 million  only one major export (wool)  not as much economic potential  much more central authority  the royal court and the parliament he is able to efficiently collect taxes and finance the war  the army is much better experienced  they learned very quickly how to organize effective armies against the Scots and the welsh 

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o Burgundy (the wild card)  a duchy of France  the duke of burgundy in name follows the king of France  in reality he does not and the ‘country’ is independent  in the war they ally with France to defeat the British New Forms of warfare o unprecedented with the mobility of armies, technologies, and its effects on the people o Knights, Mercenaries and Yeoman  they don’t hold as much land so warfare becomes a profession for knights  they become mercenaries, hired soldiers  France hires Scots, Spanish, Italians  British hires their own mercenaries  mercenaries  bad reputation of violence and greed  the development of standing armies  paid military armies called yeomen for the British  nobles and kings, and clergy begin debating on how war should be fought  as they built their armies the kings look at ways of maintaining discipline  better at following orders, organized o Adaptation of Heralds, Constables and Marshals  heralds counted how many died, helped decide who should get promoted and who should get reprimanded

constables and marshals are the military courts  to maintain discipline in the soldiers o Longbows, Crossbows and Cannons  longbows have greater range and easier to aim  crossbows are slow to load but are very effective weapon  cannons are used both as offensive and defensive weapons  these bring warfare to a new level of violence  they render the knights almost obsolete  chivalry changes from family lineage to how wars should be fought o Total War?  similar to WWI and WWII  large amounts of moving armies  violence to the civilian populations  the British specifically attack the French people to show the king of France has no power to defend them  unlike WWI and WWII mobilization of societies was not huge  but it became a precedent for global warfare Courses of the war o the war can be divided into three phases o the first 65 years of the war the British are triumphant  they are able to defeat the French when they battle them  in crecy [1346], poitiers [1356], and Agincourt [1415] 

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 they are able to defeat them with longbows  the French is set on keeping knights o France begins to adapt and slowly turns the tide  Joan of Arc is in the battle of Orleans [1429]  the French are able to stop the British from going south of there  Burgundy allies with France in 1453 (they were with England before)  this is strange because for the first half of the war they were fighting burgundy as well o England defeated  The French and burgundy push the British from Aquitaine and formigny  by 1453 the British are only in power of Calais  they hold it until 1558 when they finally leave o Impact  France  Despite terrible suffering France comes out ahead  the war strengthens the monarchy  they have greater centralized power and organization  economically harsh war for all the nations involved  England is worse off economically  Smaller, taxation led to unrest in the population  they were forced to borrow a great deal of money from banks in Italy which they were now unable to pay  Burgundy becomes much more powerful

They never gained complete sovereignty but they had greater liberty England also has a 30 year point of civil war Europe as a whole  England precipitates a world financial crisis by defaulting on their loans  Italian banks collapse because England is unable to pay their debts  conflict between England and France prolong the great schism  historians have argued that it was the war between the English and French that prevented much of Europe to negotiating a way out of the schism 

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Joan of Arc • important role in turning the tide in the 100 year war • the emergence of national identity over that of kingdoms o we see the end of feudalism as a decisive institution • peasant girl from Dom Remy o born in a farm in 1413 – 1414 o in the location where England and France separate o one half of the kingdom was ruled by the holy roman empire and other by France • she had a normal childhood until the age of 13 when she started hearing voices and seeing things o voices were accompanied with a light o she believed it was voices of the divine o angels, gods, and other divine o she did not tell anybody because she feared of being burned at the stake (she later said)

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she presented a challenge for historians when she is 17 or 18 she is told by the voices to go to The Dauphin o that she will see the king come from dauphin and she is to lead an army to drive the British out of France in 1422 the king of France and England both die o Charles VI and Henry V o both king receiving the new thrones are either crazy or infants England is rule by a 9 month old baby and his regents the voice she heard start to become true the dauphin start to build an army but they are not able to fight the British effectively Joan of Arc gets an audience with the Dauphin and says that she is to make him the king the France and to lead the army to drive the English out o she is just a 17 year old farmer girl at the time o the king believes her and gives her an army now Joan has an army, not in command of the army though she accompanies a relief force, she is given a prominent role she doesn't give orders or decides battles she is just a living banner, her presence inspires others they win the battle and drive the British out of Orleans she lives to accompany the Dauphin to the Rheims o traditional coronation place for the French kings o the dauphin is crowned king of France [1429] o he is being crowned king in a cathedral under ruling by an enemy

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the French believe that god is on their side the english believe that god is on THEIR side and say that Joan is a witch and spread propaganda Joan now goes to Paris to lift the English siege o however, she is now able to do so o the French army has a defeat and continues campaigning until she is captured by burgundy and sold to the English o she is taken to French city that is loyal to the English she is put in jail for sexual perversity, and for saying the saints spoke French (1430) o she is treated poorly by guards trial and execution (1431) o she confesses to heresy by force o four days later she takes back the confession o she is then burned at the stake Aftermath and Legend o Not a lot happens o war goes on, her power as a rallying figure was very brief o the Dauphin, now the king as its own power o by the time she is killed she just faded into history o 25 years after her execution French courts clear her name and overturn the verdict of her case o over time she becomes a symbol of national pride o Napoleon revives her as a nationalist figure to liberate Europe from tyranny o 1871 when they are defeated by the Prussians in Joan’s birthplace becomes part of the British empire

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o she is canonize and becomes a saint of France And the voices? o the source of the voices are up to the individual o there are claims that she was schizophrenic  the problem is that hearing voices is just one of the symptoms  she had a pretty even temperate o it is impossible to proof anything about the voices at all

Revolting Peasants and Eastern Hordes • * 100 year war was economically difficult for the people • o nobles and kings raised taxes • o there was a plague that made things worse • * Jacquerie [1358] o o First major uprising of peasants o o "peasant fury" • * the peasants complained they were not being defended from other natons attacking them • * they believed it was up to the nobility to protect them • * they also rejected the steep taxes for financing the war • * Etienne Marcel o o Him and others revolt against the nobility • o Nobility of France are together deciding what to do after the battle of portiere

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o Since they are all together it was an easy place to attack o o Lot of violence o The nobles organized and attack peasants * Revolt in England o o Several reasons o * Upset about the steep taxes to fianancing the war o o The uprising is lead by a preacher called John Ball o o In response to the uprising Richard II (England King at the time) abolishes serfdom, establishes a ceiling for taxes  * Once he meets the demands, he sends the army to suppress them and later takes back all the changes Ciompi [1378] o Italy o It spread among workers in Florence who have a rise in unemployment o Artisans and lower merchants who also want increased power sharing also join the revolt o “ciompi” little people o they start to burn down nobility’s houses o more violent than the artisans and merchants anticipated  they then side with the nobility and help suppress the workers (Dis)Order in Europe o increasing unemployment, famine, the war is making it worst o general sense among workers and peasants that the balance is being tipped too far against them and they need a recourse in order to survive o these uprisings were failures

workers and peasants did not get greater power, things did not improve, the result was the strengthening of the monarchies  they suppressed the uprisings and stayed in power Mongol invasions (12th and 13th century) o Genghis Khan o By the 14th century Byzantium is a vassal for the Mongols  They also take Russia and ruled for 200 years o The Mongol empire was called the “Golden Horde”  The tent of the ruler of the Khan that ruled the Mongols o Not a lot of direct impact of the Mongol take over in western Europe o Far eastern in the holy roman empire was more direct o The direct impact was a trade route to the east o Western merchants now have access to china o Italian merchant families capitalized on this  Marco Polo  Came form Venice  Spent two years traveling china and stimulated trade among the other merchants o Europe began to import goods form china like textiles and spices, ceramics, ginger, and copper Ottoman Turks o In 14th century o They also began to expand their power toward the west o They are unable to resist the Mongols and Byzantium 

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o They defeat Hungarian armies in Kosovo [1389] o They are able to rapidly expand by leaving powerful government structures o They make alliances with Christian kingdoms o Through this system and alliances they further their conquest The state of Byzantium look back into their more glorious days o The greater days of antiquity o Not just of the empire but also of the roman empire as a whole and the Greeks o They begin translating the works of antiquity o The scholars are unable to really maintain the same position of wealth and prestige that they once held within an empire that is essentially dead so they travel westward o They set up universities and other in Italy and France o This leads to the renaissance  They are not the only reason, but they are a major factor

17/07/2007 11:10:00

17/07/2007 11:10:00