50 free The Hundred Years' War trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Hundred Years' War trivia quiz covers the 116-year struggle between England and France that ran from 1337 to 1453 and reshaped both kingdoms. The easy questions handle the basics: how long it really lasted, which king's claim to the French throne started it, the peasant girl who lifted the siege of Orléans, the weapon that won Crécy and Agincourt, and the last English foothold in France. From there it moves through the three phases, Edwardian, Caroline and Lancastrian, and the great set pieces: the naval slaughter at Sluys, the capture of King John at Poitiers, the six burghers of Calais with nooses round their necks, Henry V on St Crispin's Day and the Treaty of Troyes that made him heir to France. The harder half is for medieval history buffs: the Salic-law succession crisis of 1328, Robert of Artois, the Auld Alliance, the hailstorm of Black Monday, John II's three-million-crown ransom and his return to captivity, du Guesclin the Eagle of Brittany, Charles VI's belief that he was made of glass, the Duke of Clarence's death at Baugé, Philip the Good's desertion at Arras, and the field artillery of Jean Bureau at Castillon. If you enjoyed our medieval England, Joan of Arc or Wars of the Roses quizzes, this is the deep dive on the longest war in European history. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entries for the Hundred Years' War, its battles, treaties and the rulers and commanders named before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Despite its name, how many years did the Hundred Years' War actually span, from 1337 to 1453?
116
It was an intermittent conflict, repeatedly interrupted by truces and by the Black Death.
Q 02Edward III claimed the French throne in 1328 through which relative, a sister of the last Capetian king?
His mother Isabella
The French barons ruled that Isabella could not transmit a right she did not herself possess, and chose Philip of Valois instead.
Q 03The war is usually divided into three phases. Which is NOT one of their names?
The Plantagenet War
They ran 1337–1360, 1369–1389 and 1415–1453, separated by truces.
Q 04Which French dynasty ultimately kept the throne of France at the war's end?
The House of Valois
Philip, Count of Valois, had been crowned Philip VI in 1328 after the main Capetian male line died out.
Q 05Until which year did the monarchs of England and Great Britain continue to style themselves sovereigns of France?
1802
The title was dropped in deference to the exiled Louis XVIII, then living in England after the Revolution.
Q 06Which 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 take it back into French hands, prompting Edward to renew his claim by force of arms.
Q 07Which exiled French nobleman, an adviser to Edward III, urged him to make war and supplied intelligence on the French court?
Robert III of Artois
Sheltering the king's 'mortal enemy' was one of the reasons Philip gave for confiscating the English king's French duchy.
Q 08What was the name of the 1295 treaty between France and Scotland that meant Edward could not fight in France without a threat at his back?
The Auld Alliance
Charles IV renewed it in 1326, promising French support if England invaded Scotland.
Q 09The English navy won a crushing victory in June 1340 off which port, giving England command of the Channel for the rest of the war?
Sluys
The French had chained their ships into three lines as floating platforms and lost 16,000 to 20,000 men.
Q 10Which 1346 battle was 'a complete disaster for the French', credited to English longbowmen and a king who attacked before his army was ready?
Crécy
Weeks later Scotland's David II, invading to help France, was defeated and captured at Neville's Cross.
Q 11How long did Edward III's siege of Calais last before starvation forced the city to surrender in 1347?
Eleven months
Philip VI had ordered the city to hold out at all costs but failed to lift the siege.
Q 12According 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
She argued their deaths would be a bad omen for her unborn child; Rodin's famous sculpture captures the moment of their surrender.
Q 13Which sculptor's 1889 work commemorates the surrender of the burghers of Calais?
Auguste Rodin
Q 21In which Spanish kingdom's civil war did Edward of Woodstock and du Guesclin fight on opposite sides in the 1360s?
Castile
The Prince restored Peter of Castile at Nájera in 1367, but the unpaid campaign wrecked his health and finances.
Q 22Roughly what share of France's population died in the Black Death of 1347-51, which interrupted the war?
30–60%
Six to twelve million French people died; England lost roughly two to three million.
Q 23In which year did Charles VI suddenly descend into madness, forcing France into a regency under his uncles and brother?
1392
The struggle to control that regency between Burgundy and Orléans grew into the Armagnac-Burgundian civil war.
Twelve original castings exist; the city had been trying to erect a statue of Eustache de Saint Pierre since 1845.
Q 14Which French king was captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356?
John II
A concealed Gascon force under Jean de Grailly, the Captal de Buch, cut off the French retreat and took him.
Q 15How large was the ransom set for King John II by the Treaty of Brétigny?
3 million crowns
That was roughly two or three years of French crown revenue, the largest national budget in Europe.
Q 16Why did John II voluntarily return to captivity in England in 1363?
His son, a hostage in his place, had escaped from Calais
He felt honour-bound to go back after Louis of Anjou broke parole, and died in London the following year.
Q 17What freak event at Easter 1360, known as Black Monday, killed over 1,000 English soldiers and pushed Edward III to negotiate?
A hailstorm
Weeks later the Treaty of Brétigny gave Edward more land in the south-west in exchange for renouncing his claim to the crown.
Q 18Which cathedral city, the traditional coronation site, did Edward III besiege for five weeks in 1359-60 in the hope of being crowned there?
Reims
The citizens had strengthened the walls in advance; the defences held and there was no coronation.
Q 19By what nickname is Edward of Woodstock, victor of Poitiers and eldest son of Edward III, best known?
The Black Prince
The name is first recorded about 165 years after his death, and may refer to his black shield or his brutal reputation in the south of France.
Q 20Which Breton knight, nicknamed the Eagle of Brittany, led the French recovery under Charles V and became Constable of France in 1370?
Bertrand du Guesclin
He rose from minor nobility to lead the small professional army that pushed the English back to a few ports by 1380.
Q 24According to Pope Pius II, what did the mad Charles VI sometimes believe he was made of?
Glass
He was nicknamed 'the Beloved' in his lifetime and only 'the Mad' in the 19th century.
Q 25Which Duke of Burgundy ordered the 1407 assassination of Louis, Duke of Orléans, igniting the Armagnac-Burgundian civil war?
John the Fearless
He was himself murdered in 1419, pushing Burgundy into a formal alliance with Henry V.
Q 26On which feast day was the Battle of Agincourt fought in 1415?
Saint Crispin's Day
That is 25 October; Shakespeare's Henry V turned the date into one of the most famous speeches in English.
Q 27Roughly what proportion of Henry V's army at Agincourt were English and Welsh archers?
Nearly 80 percent
He deployed some 1,500 men-at-arms and 7,000 longbowmen across a 750-yard front.
Q 28Which town had Henry V besieged for longer than expected in 1415, eating up his campaign season before Agincourt?
Harfleur
It surrendered on 22 September, and Henry then chose a raid towards Calais rather than a march on Paris.
Q 29Roughly what share of the French nobility is said to have been killed at Agincourt?
About 40%
Many of the Armagnac leaders died, and Henry, fearing his prisoners outnumbered his men, ordered many of them killed.
Q 30By the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, Henry V married which daughter of Charles VI and became heir to the French throne?
Catherine of Valois
The Dauphin was declared illegitimate, and the Estates-General ratified the deal after Henry entered Paris.