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I. More Problems
- a. Famine, plague, economic turmoil, social upheaval and violence were not only problems
- i. War and political instability as wellà Hundred Years’ War
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I. Causes of the Hundred Years War
1259
- a. 1259: English King Henry III relinquished claims to French territories previously held by English monarchy except for the duchy of Gascony
- i. As duke of Gascony, he pledged loyalty as a vassal to the French king, but this territory led to disputes between the two
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Causes of the Hundred Years War
13th century
- a. 13th century: Capetian monarchs increased power over more important vassals, the great lords of France
- i. Royal officials interfered regularly, esp. in matter of justice
- 1. Greatly annoyed king of England
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Causes of the Hundred Years War
Succession
- 1. 1328: last son of King Philip IV died without heir
- a. Closest male: King Edward III of England, whose mother was Isabella
- i. Isabella led revolt against husband King Edward II, overthrew him, and ruled England until son, Edward III, took throne
- 1. As son of daughter of King Philip IV, Edward III had claim to French throne, but was opposed by French nobles
- a. No female lineage
- b. Instead, they chose cousin Philip, as King Philip VI
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Causes of the Hundred Years War
Immediate Cause
- a. Immediate Cause: another Gascony quarrel
- i. 1337: Edward III, king of England and duke of Gascony, refused to do homage to Philip VI, Philip seized the duchy, prompting Edward to declare war on Philip
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Personalities of Edward III and PHilip VI
- i. Personalities played part
- 1. Both too willing to use nation’s resources to satisfy own desires
- 2. Promise of plunder and territorial gain was incentive to follow disruptive path
- 3. Loved luxury and shared a desire for glory and prestige that came from military engagements
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I. Conduct and Course of the War
- a. Began in burst of knightly enthusiasn
- i. Knights view battle as chance to show fighting ability
- 1. Still, outcomes of battles determined by peasant foot soldiers, not knights
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I. Conduct and Course of the War
French Army
- i. Heavily armed noble cavalry
- ii. Noble cavalrymen= fighting elite who looked down on foot soldiers and crossbowmen
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I. Conduct and Course of the War
English Army
- i. Peasants as paid foot soldiers armed with pikes and longbows
- 1. Longbow more rapid at firing than crossbow
- ii. Relied on large numbers of foot soldiers
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I. Conduct and Course of the War
Phases of War Edward III's early campaigns
- i. Edward III’s early campaigns in France achieved little
- 1. Invasion in Normandy led to Philip raising large force to crush English army
- a. Met Edward’s forces at Crecy
- i. No plan, just attack of Frenchà English archers devastating French cavlry= English victoy
- 1. Edward then captured French Calais to serve as staging ground for future invasions
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I. Conduct and Course of the War
Battle of Crecy
- i. Battle of Crecy not decisive
- 1. English didn’t have resources to defeat all of France
- a. Truces, small-scale hostilities, some operations part of incessant struggle
- i. English campaigns waged by Edward III and son Edward, prince of Wales, called the Black Prince
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i. Black Prince Campaigns
- 1. Devastating
- a. Forces ravaged French land, burned crops and entire villages and towns, stealing anything valuable= profitable
- b. French: hunger, deprivation, death
- 2. Battle
- a. Army against French under King John II led to English victory and capture of French King
- i. Battle of Poitiers ended first phase of war
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Peace of Bretigny
- 1. French paid large ransom for King John
- 2. English territories in Gascony enlarged
- Edward renounced claims to French throne in return for John’s promise to give up control over English lands in France in return for John’s promise to give up control over English lands in France
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The First Phase of The Hundreds Year War analysis
and Negatives
- 1. Made clear that despite their victories, English were not really strong enough to subdue all of France and make Edward III’s claim to the French monarcy a reality
- 1. Treaty never really enforced
- 2. In the next pahse of the war, in the hands of John’s son Charles V, the French recovered their losses, while the English returned to pluders and avoiding pitched battles
- ii. 1374: French recovered lost lands, although France itself plagued by “free companies” of mercenaries who, no longer paid by English, lived off the land by plunder and ransom
- 1. War seemed over, especially after 20 year truce in 1396
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Renewal of Hundred Years War
1415
- 1. English King Henry V renewed war when French enduring civil war against dukes and French king Charles VI
- a. Paris filled with bloody encounters
- 2. Henry V invaded France in 1415
- a. Battle of Agincourt led to French defeat and 1500 French nobles death after French knights tried to attack across a muddy field from rain (6000 French dead; 300 English)
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Renewal of Hundred Years War
After Henry's victory at Agincourt
- 1. Henry reconquered Normandy and forged alliance with duke of Burgundy, leading Charles VI to agree to the Treaty of Troyes in 1420
- a. Henry V married Catherine, his daughter, and was recognized as heir to the French throne
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Charles hte Dauphin
- i. French cause in hands of Charles the dauphin, son of Charles VI
- 1. Governed southern 2/3 of French lands from Bourges
- 2. Weak and timid and unable to rally French against English, who in 1428 turned south and besieged Orleans to gain access to the valley of Loire
- a. French monarch saved by peasant woman
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Jan of Arc
- i. 1412 from Domremy in Champagne
- ii. Religious and believed her saints wanted her to free France and have the daugphin crowned as king
- iii. 1429: went to his court and persuaded Charles to let her accompany a French army to Orleans
- 1. Her faith inspired French armies and led to Orleans liberation= turning point
- a. After a few weeks, entire Loire valley freed of the English
- 2. July: dauphin crowned king of France and became Charles VII
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Joan's death
- i. Died before war’s end; captured by Burgundian allies of English and turned her over on charges of witchcraft
- 1. Believed to be in league with prince of darknessà condemned to death as heretic and burned at the stake in 1431 (19)
- a. 25 years later, the church exonerated her of the charges and was made a saint in 1920
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End of Hundred Years War
- i. Two decades after Joan, defeats of English in Normandy and Aquitaineà French victory
- 1. Use of cannon was part of success; made possible by invention of gunpowder by Chinese
- a. Mongols improved by developing accurate cannons and cannonballs
- ii. Death of England’s best commanders and instability of English government under King Henry VI contributed to England’s defeat
- iii. 1453: England only held Calais French land
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Political Instability
- a. 14th century: period of adversity for the internal political stability of European governments
- i. Gov’t bureaucracies larger, but question of who should control led to internal conflict and instability
- 1. Lord-vassal relationship based on land and military service replaced by contract based on money
- a. After Black death, money payments called scutage substituted for military service
- i. Monarchs liked this because they could now hire professional soldiers
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Political Instability
Transformation of lord-vassal relationship
- a. Became less personal and less important, new relationships on political advantage began to form, creating new avenues for political influence and corruption
- i. Declining rents and social uncertainties of landed aristocrats with new relationshipsà factions of nobles who sought power and wealth advancement at the expense of other noble factions and of their monarchs too
- 1. Other nobles served kings in royal courts
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Political Instability
King Problems
- i. Mid-15th centuries: reigning monarchs not direct descendants of the rulers of 1300
- 1. The founders struggled for position as factions of nobles vied to gain material advantages for themselves
- ii. Two claimants to French throne, two aristocratic factions fighting for control of England, three German princes trying to be recognized as Holy Roman emperor
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14th century monarch problems
- a. 14th Century monarchs faced financial problems too
- i. Shift to mercenary soldiers left monarchs short of cash
- ii. Traditional revenues proved insufficient to meet needs
- 1. Monarchs tried to generate new sources of revenues, especially through taxes, which meant going through parliament
- a. Opened door for parliamentary bodies to gain more power by asking for favors first
- iii. Parliament added another element of uncertainty
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I. The Growth of England’s Political Institutions
- a. Fifty year reign of Edward III was important for evolution of English political institutions
- i. Parliament increased in prominence and developed basic structure and function
- 1. Due to financial need for Hundred Years’ War, Edward relied on Parliament to levy new taxes
- a. In return for regular grants, he mde several concessions
- i. Commitment to levy no direct tax without Parliament’s consent and to allow Parliament to examine government accounts to ensure that the money was being spent properly
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I. The Growth of England’s Political Institutions
Parliament's Organization
- 1. began to assume organizational structure that present today
- a. Great Council of barons became House of Lords
- i. Evolved into body composed of the chief bishops and abbots of the realm and aristocratic peers whose position in Parliament was hereditary
- ii. Representatives of the shires and boroughs held meetings and were House of Commons
- 1. Approved measures proposed by loreds and began drawing up peititions which, if accepted, became law
- b. House of Commons and House of Lords= Parliament
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Edward III's death and Grandson Richard II
- i. Edward III’s deathà internal instability of aristocratic factionalism that was racking other European countries
- 1. Grandson: Richard II’s reign
- a. Began with peasant revolt that ended after king made concessions
- b. Troubled by competing groups of nobles who sought to pursue their own interests
- i. One faction, led by Henry of Lancaster, defeated the king’s forces and deposed and killed him
- 1. Became King Henry IVà civil wars known as War of the Roses
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I. Problems of the French King
Beginning
End
- a. Beginning of 14th century: France was the most prosperous monarchy
- b. End: wealth dissipated and rival factions of aristocrats made effective monarchical rule impossible
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I. Problems of the French King
French Monarchical State
i. Weakness: although Capetian monarchs found ways to enlarge royal domain and extend control by developing a large and effective bureaucracy, the various territories that made up France still had own princse, customs, and laws
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I. Problems of the French King
French Monarchical State
Example of weakness
- 1. Example: parliamentary institutions
- a. Known as Estates-General and composed of representatives of the clergy, nobility and the Third Estate (everyone else)
- i. Usually only represented north of France, not the entire kingdom
- ii. Southern provinces had own estates and local estates existed iin other French parts
- iii. French Estates-General was simply one of many such institutions
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I. Problems of the French King
Philip VI
- 1. When involved in Hundred Years War, he devised new sources of revenue, including a tax on salt known as the gabelle and a hearth tax eventually called the taille
- a. Taxes weighed heavily on peasantry and middle class
- 2. However, when additional taxes were needed for John II’s ransom, middle-class inhabitants tried to use Estates General to reform French gov’t and tax structure
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I. Problems of the French King
i. Meeting of the Estates-General in 1357
- 1. Under Etienne Marcel
- a. Representatives of the Third Estate granted taxes in exchange for promise from Charles the dauphin (John’s son) not to tax without Estate-General’s permission and allow the Estates-General to meet on a regular basis and participate in important political decisions
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I. Problems of the French King i. Meeting of the Estates-General in 135
After Marcel's movement
- a. After his movement was crushed in 1358, the attmempt collapsed
- i. Charles V and recovered much land lost to English
- 1. Military successes underscored efforts to reestablish strong monarchical powers
- a. Undermined Estates-General by getting it to grant him taxes with no fixed time limit
- 2. Death in 1380ànew trouble
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I. Problems of the French King \Charles VI
- i. Insanity of Charles VIà rival factions
- 1. Dukes of Burgundy and Orleans competed to control monarchy, creating chaos for French government and people
- a. Many nobles supported Orleanist faction, while Paris and other towns favored Burgundians
- 2. France mired in a civil war
- a. With renewal of Hundred Years’ War in 1415à Burgundians supporting English cause and claim to throne
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