Though this dynastic feud was the main reason for the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War, there were, of course, other, mostly economical interests on both sides. In 1327, England imposed an woolembargo against the french Flandern. The background on this embargo was that Edward III. knew that the flemish wool merchants were in a greatly weak position, supported only by the French king. Edward III.'s clever move weakened both the flamish merchants and weavers equally, resulting in an coalition against France of the groups affected by Englands embargo. Not only helped this embargo to weaken France, it also supported Englands own wool economy, quadrupling it's export until the end of the century.
1.3. Progress
With Henry III. being king of England, there were two english campaigns, interrupted by the plague causing havoc around the middle of the century. While the first campaign was being victorious in Crecy, Normandy, and the conquest of Calais, the second was even more successful. It results in a peace treaty in 1360 where Edward III. divests himself of the French crown but obtains the governance of South-west France, also known as the old Aquitaine. Not only were the English successful because of their modern, well equipped army, Edward III. and his son, Edward, the Black Prince, were also experienced fighters and well aware of warfare. Edward III. is rumoured to have dominated the knights festivals of his time. He is even believed to have challenged the French king to a hand-to-hand fight for the crown. Moving further into the hundred-years war, the achieved successes could not be secured.
With the death of Edward, the Black Prince, in 1376, and his father Edward III., the French were able to fight back the English in Gascogne in a longstanding war, leaving the English only with a few bridgeheads. The two following English kings, namely Richard II. and Henry IV., made no attempt to win back the lost territories, domestically conflicts drawing their attention to their own country rather than fighting another.
The war is taken up again by Henry V. in 1413, lasting until 1422. Reasons for that came up as Henry V. wanted to marry Catherine, daughter of french king Charles VI., who refuses to give Henry V. his dowry, the territories of Normandy and Anjou. Surprisingly, Henry V. gained success in fighting the French, being victorious in Agincourt in 1415. Henry V. managed to control Northern France up to the Loire, which allowed him to claim for being the new French King. In 1420, he married Catherine, the agreement of Troyes allowing him to be the new king of France, with Charles VI. putting him in this position even before his own son as heir to the throne.
Due to Henry V.'s early death, unluckily two month before Charles VI. died, all of the before won territories were lost again. Among this setback, Jean d´Arc's appearence helped the French getting back to confidence and fighting the English. In 1429, she led the French army to the destruction of the English siege of Orléans, but was captured herself in 1430 by Burgundian soldiers, allies of the English. She was turned into the hands of the English were she was burned in 1431, accused of being a witch, in Rouen. Still, in 1436, the French conquered Paris and vast territories of Northern France back, ally with the Burgundians and recapture the last territories of the English in Normandy and the South-west coast during the last period of the war from 1449 to 1453.
The Hundred Years' War was fought by an army of mercenaries, at least on the English side. This left the English population to pay for the war, but because it was fought outside of England, the war had no other impact on them. As the war progressed, the English recruited mercanaries form their own population, making the english army a militia army.
1.4. Influence on the English Language
In the late 14th century, the English language replaced French in most of its territories in England. This can be underlined by the fact that even the king was speaking English again, which was not the case since the Norman Invasion in 1066 when French was becoming the language of the ruling class. Even in the parliament, one could hear a plea in English, which was being allowed again in 1362. Furthermore, English became the main language at school in 1385, and in 1423, all of the documents at Parliament were written in English. In 1489, French was abandoned as the official language at courthouses, reasons for this could be found in the events before: because of the English language becoming stronger and stronger, lawyers were not as familiar with French as they are with English. Therefore, they changed the official language at courthouses into English to avoid misunderstandings.
However, this doesn't mean that French was not spoken or respected at all. The ability of speaking French was still important, giving people the option of reading French authors. What had changed was that English was the main language of England, with French and Latin being defined clearly as foreign languages. This was achieved by the new sense of national identity not least emerged out of the Hundred Years' War.
