Routiers
The Hundred Years' War, which lasted from 1337 to 1453, was the backdrop to their pillaging. The Hundred Years' War was fought between two royal families over control of the French throne: the Plantagenets from England, and the House of Valois from France. The War, which is divided into three stages - the Edwardian War (1337-1360), the Caroline War (1369-1389), and the Lancastrian War (1415-1429) - saw the development of new tactics and weaponry that revolutionised warfare during that time period.
Hundred Years' War
King John of England inherited the Angevin domains from his brother Richard I. However, Philip II of France acted decisively to exploit the weaknesses of John, both legally and militarily, and by 1204 had succeeded in taking control of much of the Angevin continental possessions. Following John's reign, the Battle of Bouvines (1214), the Saintonge War (1242), and finally the War of Saint-Sardos (1324), the English king's holdings on the continent, as Duke of Aquitaine (Guyenne), were limited roughly to provinces in Gascony.