The Hundred Years' War Trivia
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97 free The Hundred Years' War trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 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.
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Q 01Despite its name, the Hundred Years' War between England and France, broken up by truces and plague, actually spanned how many years?
116
116 years, from 1337 to 1453; the conflict was intermittent, 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 03Which of these is NOT the name of one of the war's three phases?
The Plantagenet War
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.
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 05At which 1364 battle, ending the Breton War of Succession, was Charles of Blois killed?
Auray
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.
Q 06Which duchy in south-west France, held by the English king as a vassal, was the war's most important territorial dispute?
Aquitaine
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.
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
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.
Q 08Which 1295 treaty between France and Scotland left Edward III exposed whenever he campaigned in France?
The Auld Alliance
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.
Q 09Off which port did the English navy win a crushing victory in June 1340?
Sluys
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.
Q 10Which 1346 battle, 'a complete disaster for the French', was credited to English longbowmen and a French king who attacked too soon?
Crécy
Crécy was followed weeks later by the defeat and capture of Scotland's David II, invading to help France, 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
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.
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
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.
Q 13Which sculptor's 1889 work commemorates the surrender of the burghers of Calais?
Q 21Roughly what share of France's population died in the Black Death of 1347-51, which interrupted the war?
30–60%
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.
Q 22In which year did Charles VI suddenly descend into madness, forcing France into a regency under his uncles and brother?
1392
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.
Q 23According to Pope Pius II, what did the mad Charles VI sometimes believe he was made of?
Glass
Auguste Rodin
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.
Q 14Which French king was captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356?
John II
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.
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 16What freak event at Easter 1360, known as Black Monday, killed over 1,000 English soldiers and pushed Edward III to negotiate?
A hailstorm
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.
Q 17Which cathedral city, the traditional coronation site, did Edward III besiege for five weeks in 1359-60, hoping to be crowned there?
Reims
Reims had strengthened its walls in advance; the defences held and there was no coronation.
Q 18By what nickname is Edward of Woodstock, victor of Poitiers and eldest son of Edward III, best known?
The Black Prince
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.
Q 19Which Breton knight, nicknamed the Eagle of Brittany, led the French recovery under Charles V and became Constable of France in 1370?
Bertrand du Guesclin
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.
Q 20In 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.
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.
Q 24Which Duke of Burgundy ordered the 1407 assassination of Louis, Duke of Orléans, igniting the Armagnac-Burgundian civil war?
John the Fearless
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.
Q 25On which feast day was the Battle of Agincourt fought in 1415?
Saint Crispin's Day
Saint Crispin's Day is 25 October; Shakespeare's Henry V turned the date into one of the most famous speeches in English.
Q 26Roughly what proportion of Henry V's army at Agincourt were English and Welsh archers?
Nearly 80 percent
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.
Q 27Which town had Henry V besieged for longer than expected in 1415, eating up his campaign season before Agincourt?
Harfleur
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.
Q 28Which Constable of France was killed at Agincourt in 1415?
Charles d'Albret
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.
Q 29By the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, Henry V married which daughter of Charles VI and became heir to the French throne?
Catherine of Valois
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.
Q 30Henry V's brother and heir presumptive, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, was killed in 1421 at which battle after charging without his archers?
Baugé
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.