97 Fun Facts About The Hundred Years' War

Despite its name, the Hundred Years' War between England and France, broken up by truces and plague, actually spanned how many years?

116 years, from 1337 to 1453; the conflict was intermittent, repeatedly interrupted by truces and by the Black Death.

Edward III claimed the French throne in 1328 through which relative, a sister of the last Capetian king?

The French barons ruled that Isabella could not transmit a right she did not herself possess, and chose Philip of Valois instead.

Which of these is NOT the name of one of the war's three phases?

The Plantagenet War is not a phase: historians name the Edwardian War (1337–1360), the Caroline War (1369–1389) and the Lancastrian War (1415–1453), separated by truces.

Which French dynasty ultimately kept the throne of France at the war's end?

Philip, Count of Valois, had been crowned Philip VI in 1328 after the main Capetian male line died out.

At which 1364 battle, ending the Breton War of Succession, was Charles of Blois killed?

Auray, fought on 29 September 1364, ended the Breton War of Succession: Charles of Blois was killed and Bertrand du Guesclin captured by the Anglo-Breton army led by John Chandos.

Which duchy in south-west France, held by the English king as a vassal, was the war's most important territorial dispute?

Aquitaine: Philip VI's council agreed in May 1337 to confiscate the duchy, which Edward III held as his vassal, prompting Edward to press his claim to France by force of arms.

Which exiled French nobleman, an adviser to Edward III, urged him to make war and supplied intelligence on the French court?

Robert III of Artois, banished from France in 1332 after forging documents in a land dispute, was sheltered by Edward III; Philip VI cited harbouring this 'mortal enemy' when confiscating Guyenne in 1337.

Which 1295 treaty between France and Scotland left Edward III exposed whenever he campaigned in France?

The Auld Alliance, first sealed in 1295 under John Balliol, was renewed by Charles IV in the 1326 Treaty of Corbeil, promising French support if England attacked Scotland.

Off which port did the English navy win a crushing victory in June 1340?

Sluys, on 24 June 1340: the French had chained their ships into three lines as floating platforms and lost some 16,000 to 20,000 men, giving England command of the Channel for years.

Which 1346 battle, 'a complete disaster for the French', was credited to English longbowmen and a French king who attacked too soon?

Crécy was followed weeks later by the defeat and capture of Scotland's David II, invading to help France, at Neville's Cross.

How long did Edward III's siege of Calais last before starvation forced the city to surrender in 1347?

Eleven months: the siege ran from September 1346 until Calais surrendered in early August 1347; Philip VI had ordered the city to hold out at all costs but failed to lift the siege.

According to Froissart, who persuaded Edward III to spare the six burghers of Calais who came out with nooses round their necks?

Queen Philippa of Hainault, pregnant at the time, knelt before Edward and argued that executing the six burghers would be a bad omen for her unborn child; Froissart says Edward relented.

Which sculptor's 1889 work commemorates the surrender of the burghers of Calais?

Auguste Rodin's The Burghers of Calais, completed in 1889, shows the six men in their nooses; twelve original castings exist, and Calais had sought a statue of Eustache de Saint Pierre since 1845.

Which French king was captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356?

John II, 'the Good', was taken at Poitiers on 19 September 1356 after a concealed Gascon force under Jean de Grailly, the Captal de Buch, cut off the French retreat.

How large was the ransom set for King John II by the Treaty of Brétigny?

That was roughly two or three years of French crown revenue, the largest national budget in Europe.

What freak event at Easter 1360, known as Black Monday, killed over 1,000 English soldiers and pushed Edward III to negotiate?

A hailstorm on Easter Monday, 13 April 1360, outside Chartres: hail and lightning killed about 1,000 men and many horses, and within weeks Edward agreed the Treaty of Brétigny.

Which cathedral city, the traditional coronation site, did Edward III besiege for five weeks in 1359-60, hoping to be crowned there?

Reims had strengthened its walls in advance; the defences held and there was no coronation.

By what nickname is Edward of Woodstock, victor of Poitiers and eldest son of Edward III, best known?

The Black Prince is first recorded as a name about 165 years after his death, and may refer to his black shield or his brutal reputation in the south of France.

Which Breton knight, nicknamed the Eagle of Brittany, led the French recovery under Charles V and became Constable of France in 1370?

Bertrand du Guesclin, made Constable of France in October 1370, rose from minor Breton nobility and, avoiding pitched battles, pushed the English back to a few coastal ports by 1380.

In which Spanish kingdom's civil war did Edward of Woodstock and du Guesclin fight on opposite sides in the 1360s?

The Prince restored Peter of Castile at Nájera in 1367, but the unpaid campaign wrecked his health and finances.

Roughly what share of France's population died in the Black Death of 1347-51, which interrupted the war?

30–60%: roughly a third to a half of France's people died, perhaps six to twelve million; the Truce of Calais was repeatedly extended while the plague ran its course.

In which year did Charles VI suddenly descend into madness, forcing France into a regency under his uncles and brother?

1392: in August that year, riding through the forest near Le Mans, Charles VI attacked his own escort; the fight between Burgundy and Orléans to control the resulting regency became the Armagnac-Burgundian civil war.

According to Pope Pius II, what did the mad Charles VI sometimes believe he was made of?

Glass: Pius II wrote that Charles VI believed he was made of glass and had iron rods sewn into his clothes so he would not shatter; 'the Mad' was only attached to him in the 19th century.

Which Duke of Burgundy ordered the 1407 assassination of Louis, Duke of Orléans, igniting the Armagnac-Burgundian civil war?

John the Fearless had Louis of Orléans cut down in a Paris street on 23 November 1407; he was himself murdered at Montereau in 1419, pushing Burgundy into a formal alliance with Henry V.

On which feast day was the Battle of Agincourt fought in 1415?

Saint Crispin's Day is 25 October; Shakespeare's Henry V turned the date into one of the most famous speeches in English.

Roughly what proportion of Henry V's army at Agincourt were English and Welsh archers?

Nearly 80 percent: Henry fielded roughly 1,500 men-at-arms and 7,000 longbowmen across a 750-yard front, so archers made up about five-sixths of his army.

Which town had Henry V besieged for longer than expected in 1415, eating up his campaign season before Agincourt?

Harfleur surrendered on 22 September 1415 after a five-week siege in which dysentery ravaged the English army; Henry then chose a raid towards Calais rather than a march on Paris.

Which Constable of France was killed at Agincourt in 1415?

Charles d'Albret, Constable of France, shared command of the French army at Agincourt on 25 October 1415 and died on the field; Marshal Boucicaut and the Dukes of Orléans and Bourbon were captured.

By the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, Henry V married which daughter of Charles VI and became heir to the French throne?

Catherine of Valois married Henry at Troyes on 2 June 1420; the treaty disinherited her brother the Dauphin Charles, and the Estates-General ratified it after Henry entered Paris.

Henry V's brother and heir presumptive, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, was killed in 1421 at which battle after charging without his archers?

Baugé, 22 March 1421: Clarence attacked a Franco-Scottish army with barely 1,500 men-at-arms, leaving his archers behind, and was killed in the mêlée; Henry V had to return from England to restore the position.

Henry V and Charles VI both died in which year, leaving a nine-month-old Henry VI as heir to both crowns?

1422: Henry V died at Vincennes on 31 August, probably of dysentery, and Charles VI followed on 21 October, leaving Henry VI, born the previous December, heir to both crowns.

Which English commander won the 'emphatic' victory of Verneuil in 1424, destroying the Dauphin's field army?

John, Duke of Bedford, whom Henry V had named on his deathbed to govern English France, won Verneuil on 17 August 1424; the battle also destroyed the Scottish army serving the Dauphin.

How many days after Joan of Arc arrived at Orléans in April 1429 did the English abandon the siege?

Nine: Joan entered Orléans on 29 April 1429, the Tourelles fort fell on 7 May, and the English marched away on 8 May, ending a siege begun the previous October.

In which village in north-east France was Joan of Arc born to a propertied peasant family?

Domrémy, now Domrémy-la-Pucelle, in the Meuse valley on the border of Lorraine: her parents were Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée, peasants who owned about 50 acres.

At which 1429 battle did French cavalry smash the retreating English and capture their commander John Talbot, opening the road to Reims?

Patay, 18 June 1429: French cavalry caught the English before their archers could plant stakes, killing some 2,000 and capturing Talbot; Charles VII was crowned at Reims on 17 July with Joan beside him.

Who captured Joan of Arc at the siege of Compiègne in May 1430 before handing her to the English?

The Burgundians: men of Jean de Luxembourg, a Burgundian captain, pulled her from her horse outside Compiègne on 23 May 1430 and sold her to the English; she was burned at Rouen on 30 May 1431.

How many years after her execution was Joan of Arc's verdict overturned by an inquisitorial court?

25 years: burned in 1431, she was cleared on 7 July 1456 when the retrial authorised by Pope Callixtus III found the original proceedings tainted by deceit and procedural errors.

Where was the boy Henry VI crowned King of France in December 1431?

Notre-Dame de Paris, on 16 December 1431, with Cardinal Beaufort officiating; Henry had been crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on 6 November 1429, a month short of his eighth birthday.

Which 1435 congress saw Philip the Good of Burgundy make peace with Charles VII?

Arras: the English delegation walked out on 6 September 1435 and the Duke of Bedford died on 14 September; Philip the Good signed with Charles VII on 21 September, and Paris fell to the French in April 1436.

Which 1453 battle, the last of the war, was the first major European battle won through the extensive use of field artillery?

Castillon, 17 July 1453: John Talbot, believing the French were retreating, charged a fortified camp ringed with some 300 guns and died with his son; Bordeaux fell three months later.

Which was the last French province held by the English, its capital Bordeaux falling for good on 19 October 1453?

Gascony, English since Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II in 1152: Bordeaux's pro-English citizens had let Talbot retake the city in October 1452, but after Castillon it surrendered for good on 19 October 1453.

Which 1475 agreement, in which Edward IV was bought off by Louis XI with cash and a pension, formally ended the war?

The Treaty of Picquigny, 29 August 1475: Louis XI paid Edward IV 75,000 crowns and a 50,000-crown yearly pension to take his army home, formally ending a war that had technically continued for two decades after Castillon.

Which English conflict, beginning in 1455, was partly caused by nobles' anger at losing their French lands?

The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487) followed a war that left England insolvent and holding nothing on the continent but Calais.

In which year did the Statute of Pleading make English the language of England's law courts?

1362: the Statute of Pleading ordered that court proceedings be conducted in English rather than French, and the Chancellor opened Parliament in English that year; French was dropped from schoolrooms by 1385.

Charles VII re-established a permanent standing army in 1445 with what name?

The compagnies d'ordonnance, created by Charles VII's ordinance of 1445 as fifteen paid companies of 100 lances each, were the first standing army in western Europe since Rome.

Which chivalric brotherhood did Edward III found around 1348, shaped by his experiences on the Crécy campaign?

The Order of the Garter, founded by Edward III in 1348 with 26 knights, grew out of his 1344 plan for an Arthurian Round Table; its motto is 'Honi soit qui mal y pense'.

Which Norman city surrendered to Henry V in January 1419 after a six-month siege?

Rouen, the capital of Normandy, surrendered on 19 January 1419 after a siege begun in July 1418, during which the starving city expelled thousands of its poor, who died in the ditches outside.

Which British king gave up the title King of France in 1801, centuries after the Hundred Years' War?

George III dropped the style as the Act of Union took effect. Revolutionary France, by then a republic, had objected to a title English monarchs had used for centuries.

Which future poet was captured in France in 1360 and ransomed with £16 from Edward III?

Geoffrey Chaucer was a young soldier in Edward's invasion army when the French took him, decades before he became the best-known English poet of the Middle Ages.

Which French currency began as a gold coin minted in 1360 to pay a captured king's ransom?

The franc first showed the king on a richly decorated horse and was struck to buy his freedom from the English. The name outlived the coin by centuries, until the euro arrived in 2002.

Geoffroi de Charny, killed at Poitiers in 1356, is widely linked to the first showings of which relic?

The Shroud of Turin is tied to Lirey, the tiny fief where Charny founded a church three years before his death. Whether the knight ever displayed the relic himself is now doubted.

Which fish gave its name to a 1429 battle in which an English supply convoy beat off a French attack?

Herring filled the convoy's barrels because the meatless days of Lent were close. The outnumbered English drew their supply wagons into a makeshift fort and shot down the attackers from behind it.

Which American humorist ranked a novel about Joan of Arc as the best of all the books he wrote?

Mark Twain asked for the story to be serialised anonymously, worried that his fame as a comic writer would stop readers taking it seriously.

Which English playwright made the 1415 victory at Agincourt a national legend in a 1599 history play?

William Shakespeare's play reached cinemas in 1944, when Laurence Olivier filmed it as a patriotic rallying cry around the Allied invasion of Normandy.

Which English monarch was on the throne when Calais, England's last foothold in France, fell in 1558?

Mary I felt the loss so keenly that, as the story goes, she said on her deathbed that Calais would be found inscribed on her heart.

Which wood was preferred for English longbows, with demand so heavy it depleted stocks over a huge area?

Yew staves were being imported to England by 1294, and by 1472 every ship entering an English port had to bring four bowstaves for each tun of cargo.

Joan of Arc was condemned as a relapsed heretic in 1431 after she went back to doing what?

Wearing men's clothes was one of the things Joan had formally renounced at her trial. When she was found dressed as a man again, her judges voted unanimously that she had relapsed.

Which French royal emblem did Edward III quarter with England's lions to press his claim to the throne?

The fleur-de-lis stayed on the English royal arms long after the fighting stopped, a standing boast that the claim to France had never been withdrawn.

Which French king declared Edward III's lands in France forfeit in May 1337, opening the Hundred Years' War?

Philip VI had been chosen as king in 1328 over Edward, the late king's nephew, because the French nobility preferred a cousin on the father's side.

Which grandson of Edward III became king of England in 1377 because his father had died a year earlier?

Richard II was ten when he came to the throne. Less warlike than his father or grandfather, he tried to bring the long conflict with France to an end.

Which disease, probably caught at the siege of Meaux, do scholars think killed Henry V of England?

Dysentery thrived in the unsanitary English siege camp. Henry died aged thirty-five, weeks before the French king whose crown he had been promised.

At Agincourt in 1415, what did Henry V order his men to do when he feared the French were regrouping?

The order to kill their prisoners spared only the highest-ranked captives, who could fetch the richest ransoms. The captured men had come to outnumber the soldiers guarding them.

Which actor plays Henry V in the 2019 Netflix film The King, which climaxes in the mud of Agincourt?

Timothée Chalamet's king fights a Dauphin played by Robert Pattinson, although the real French heir was at neither the battle nor the siege before it.

Which blind king died charging the English in 1346, his reins reportedly tied to those of his knights?

John of Bohemia had been blind for a decade and asked his companions to lead him far enough forward to strike one blow. All of them were found dead the next day.

Which Italian trading city hired out the crossbowmen who were routed by English longbows in 1346?

Genoa's crossbowmen went into action without their big protective shields, which had been left with the baggage. French knights hacked at them as they fell back.

Which archangel did Joan of Arc say appeared to her in a garden when she was about thirteen?

Michael was a patron saint of Joan's home region and was seen as a defender of France. She said two female saints later joined him in guiding her.

How was Joan of Arc put to death in 1431, aged about nineteen, after a church court found her guilty?

Burned at the stake before a crowd, Joan was left no grave. Her remains were thrown into the Seine.

Which English export did the textile towns of Flanders rely on, tying them to Edward III's cause?

Wool mattered so much to England that Edward III had his chancellor sit on a woolsack in council. In 1340 the Flemish towns recognised Edward as sovereign of France.

Which export from English-held Bordeaux raised more for the Crown than all other customs duties combined?

Wine duties brought in more than anything else the English state collected, which helps explain why its kings fought so long to keep their lands in south-west France.

Which 1358 revolt in northern France took its name from the nobles' mocking nickname for peasants?

The Jacquerie was named for 'Jacques', the nobles' jeer at villagers and the padded jackets they wore.

Which rebel leader was killed at Smithfield in 1381 in an English rising fuelled by taxes for the French war?

Wat Tyler was cut down by London's mayor during talks with the young king. The high taxes that enraged his followers had been raised to pay for the conflict with France.

What name was given to the bands of discharged soldiers who plundered France after the peace of 1360?

The Free Companies were mostly men dismissed from Edward III's army. With no trade but war, they lived by pillaging the countryside until the fighting resumed.

What French word names the fast mounted raids that English armies drove across France to loot and lay waste?

A chevauchée aimed to wreck what a region could produce rather than to win a battle. One in 1355 bypassed Toulouse because the raiders were not equipped for a siege.

Which sacred French war banner, blood-red on a gilded lance, was kept at the Abbey of Saint-Denis?

The Oriflamme was taken by the king from the saint's tomb when war began. While it flew over a battlefield, no quarter was to be given.

Which English cathedral holds the tomb of Edward of Woodstock, the heir who died before Edward III?

Canterbury buried him in its Trinity Chapel, where he was later joined by Henry IV, the king who seized the crown from the dead man's own son.

At which castle town did Joan of Arc first meet the uncrowned Charles VII early in 1429?

Chinon was where the seventeen-year-old told the court she had been sent by God. Charles had her examined by a council of theologians before he trusted her with soldiers.

Which city did Charles VII's forces recover in 1436, ending an English occupation begun under Henry V?

Paris had been occupied since 1420. When Joan of Arc tried to storm it in 1429 she was wounded, and the city's merchant class sided with the English to keep her out.

Which French bishop, a partisan of the English, presided as judge at Joan of Arc's heresy trial in 1431?

Pierre Cauchon claimed the right to try her because she had been captured inside his diocese of Beauvais. The Church later overturned his verdict.

Which Marshal of France, who fought beside Joan of Arc in 1429, was hanged in 1440 for murdering children?

Gilles de Rais has been linked since the 19th century with the fairy-tale wife-killer Bluebeard, though the idea that his crimes inspired the story remains speculative.

Which French captain who fought beside Joan of Arc is traditionally the jack of hearts in French card decks?

La Hire lends his name to the knave of hearts in the traditional French pack, where the other three knaves are legendary heroes such as Hector and Lancelot.

Which pope made Joan of Arc a saint in 1920, nearly five centuries after her death?

Benedict XV canonised her in May 1920, completing a cause that the French bishops had opened with a petition back in 1869.

Which Irish playwright wrote Saint Joan in 1923, prompted by Joan of Arc's canonisation three years earlier?

George Bernard Shaw had considered a play about her as early as 1913. It opened in New York in December 1923 and reached London three months later.

Which son of Edward III led a great raid from Calais to Bordeaux in 1373 and lost most of his army?

John of Gaunt reached Bordeaux on Christmas Eve having lost at least a third of his men in action and another third to disease. He soon began to favour peace talks.

Which Scottish king was captured in 1346 after invading England at France's request and held for over a decade?

David II took two arrow wounds to the face before he was seized. His nephew governed Scotland while he sat in English captivity.

Which Welsh rebel leader won backing from France that put a French army ashore in Wales in 1405?

Owain Glyndŵr's allies landed in force at Milford Haven and set fire to Haverfordwest, but most of them soon withdrew as the French court turned toward peace.

Which Italian city's Bardi and Peruzzi banks lent Edward III vast sums and collapsed in the 1340s?

Florence's two houses were said to be owed 1.5 million florins. Edward's default was long blamed for their ruin, though historians now find that explanation too simple.

Which British Crown possession, invaded by France in 1338, is the last remnant of the Duchy of Normandy?

The Channel Islands stayed with England when its king gave up his claim to mainland Normandy in 1259. French forces held part of them from 1338 until 1345.

Which order of chivalry did Burgundy's duke, an English ally, found at Bruges in 1430 to celebrate his wedding?

The Golden Fleece celebrated the wealthy domains the duke had gathered, running from Flanders to Switzerland. Five years later he was reconciled with the French king, a turning point in the conflict.

Which French queen attended the 1420 signing at Troyes that cut her own son out of the succession?

Isabeau of Bavaria was married to the unstable Charles VI. The agreement she witnessed made the English king heir to France once her husband died.

Which French noblewoman married Henry VI in 1445, a match followed by England's surrender of Maine?

Margaret of Anjou was crowned at Westminster Abbey in May 1445. The loss of Maine was seen as a betrayal by an English public already inclined to mistrust a French-born consort.

Which Breton noblewoman turned privateer against France after its king beheaded her husband in 1343?

Jeanne de Clisson became known as the Lioness of Brittany for her campaign to avenge a husband executed for treason. Her flagship was apparently named My Revenge.

Which French city did Edward of Woodstock storm and sack in 1370 after it opened its gates to the Duke of Berry?

Limoges had been handed over by its bishop, once a trusted friend of Edward. Edward swore to make the town pay and, too ill to ride, was carried to the siege in a litter.

At which 1450 battle did the French destroy the last significant English field army in Normandy?

Formigny cleared the way for the French to retake every remaining English stronghold in the duchy, ending with Cherbourg four months later.

Which church split from 1378 had France backing a pope at Avignon while England backed his rival in Rome?

The Western Schism made the papacy another front in the fighting. In 1383 an English bishop led a crusade into Flanders against supporters of the Avignon claimant.

Charles VII's enemies mocked him as the king of which city, one of the few places left to him in the 1420s?

Bourges, south of the Loire, was where the disinherited heir kept his court. The jibe measured how little of France he controlled before Joan of Arc appeared.

Which British author set the adventure novels The White Company and Sir Nigel during the Hundred Years' War?

Arthur Conan Doyle rated his historical novels above the Sherlock Holmes stories, and in 1893 he killed off the detective to give them more of his time.

Which sport did Edward III ban because it distracted Englishmen from the archery practice his wars relied on?

Football was outlawed again by later kings for the same reason. One decree said the national defence depended on bowmen, so every able-bodied man should shoot instead.