Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the French House of Valois, over the right to rule the Kingdom of France. Each side drew many allies into the war. It was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages, in which five generations of kings from two rival dynasties fought for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe. The war marked both the height of chivalry and its subsequent decline, and the development of strong national identities in both countries.
Hundred Years' War (1337–1360)
The Black Death had reached England in 1348. The widespread effects of the plague had effectively put the war on hold. However, by the mid-1350s the disease had receded sufficiently to allow the country to start rebuilding its finances. So in 1355 Edward's son, Edward the Black Prince, resumed the war and invaded France from English-held Gascony and by August of that year he had begun a brutal campaign of raids known as "chevauchée". This campaign was designed to terrorise and demoralise the people, discredit their leaders and drain the French king's financial resources. Anything that was portable was looted and anything that could not be taken away was broken or burnt. An observer at the time said, of the Black Prince, that "as he rode to Toulouse there was no town that he did not lay waste."