LECTURE 3 HST 111 9 5 12 CLASS NOTES 100 Years War France v England How you became a successful king country was by going to war with other territories and expanding your borders and power Nobility honor leadership the King was often on the battlefield 100 Years War lasted from 1337 until 1453 In England and France the King his family and his court were the center of government The kings were not absolutists in fact they had limited power How well the country did had to do with how well the king got along with the nation s most influential people relationship between king and merchants relationship between king and church relationship between king and gentry middle class land owners A harmonious relationship with these groups political stability Hereditary kinship was the system of succession used The hereditary system may not work because a baby could be left to the throne a person unfit to lead could take the throne mentally ill incapacitated or just plain stupid Precursor to 100 Years War Between 1307 and 1327 England was ruled by Edward II weak and gullible widely regarded as one of the most incompetent reigns ever filled with failures and violence Imposed harsh taxes and lost battles and part of England to Scotland His wife Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer removed Edward II and placed his son Edward III on the throne age 14 In 1330 Edward III took action he saw that Isabella and Mortimer were corrupt and removed both of them Mortimer was executed Isabella imprisoned In France there was a succession crisis Philip IV reigns from 1285 1314 and then dies Philip IV had 4 children upon his death Louis X became king lasted 2 years until he died Louis X s son John I became king and died Phillip IV s other son Phillip V became king and died Essentially the only person left to the heir of the French throne was Edward III of England because he is the son of Isabella Philip IV s daughter Problem that makes Edward III the king of England and France Salic Law no female could be part of the line of succession the French applied this law and removed Isabella and his children from the line of succession Charles of Valois s son Phillip VI Phillip IV s brother became king in reality this law was not real Edward II claimed the throne to France and promised to take it by force War at this time was not total war Wars only lasted a few months of the year like baseball season As the war season neared an end a truce is negotiated that the lines would remain where they were then they resumed the war when it was war season Truces could last for years there was no 100 Years War during the plague It was much better to capture someone than it was to kill them due to financial reasons Edward III captured John II the king of France in 1356 It cost France quite a bit of money and territory to get the king back Henry V of England s price for negotiating with France was two fold He would be named the next King of France he died before it happened He would marry the French King s daughter Catherine The French then refused to acknowledge the agreement after he died because Henry V s son was still an infant The person that did the most to save the French from English rule was Joan of Arc Joan was an illiterate peasant who dressed in men s clothing and claimed to hear the voices of dead saints in her head in 1428 the voices in her head became so overcoming she set off for the French court and somehow managed to persuade the King and his Advisors that she should lead the French army into battle At the Siege of Orleans Joan defeated the English army and stopped the English advance through France gave the French the ability to keep fighting and the political will to see that they were in the right Joan was captured in 1430 and tried as a heretic wearing men s clothes showed she was in league with the devil The Catholic church agreed with the punishment because she was allegedly hearing voices from the dead saints Countries did not have standing armies at this time because it was too expensive but the length of this war played a big role in creating the job of a professional soldier Violence became a part of everyday life in Europe following the war War famine ect brought along peasant uprising Constant war meant the constant need for taxation this meant that some sort of structure had to be put in place by monarchies to get money but they needed the consent of the people As a result representative assemblies and parliaments developed This war brought about the realization that leaders can t just impose taxation by themselves they must get consent from the people The idea that you re fighting for your country came about as a result of this war KEY POINTS War helped develop ideas of nationalism Famine pestilence halted war At one point England controlled most of France at the end only the port of Calais Rise of mercenary soldiers Kings nobles ect fought