The Hundred Years War

The last Capetian, Charles the Fair, who died childless, was inherited in 1328 by a cousin from the House of Valois (Philipp VI.). However, King Edward III found himself. of England with this French succession and insisted on his own relationship with the extinct royal family. From 1339 he tried to enforce his claim to the throne by military means. These battles, which lasted over a hundred years with several interruptions, are known in history as the "Hundred Years` War" (1339 - 1453).

In 1346 Edward III landed. with a thousand ships, four thousand knights and ten thousand soldiers in Normanie and defeated the twice as large French knight force in the forest of Crecy-en-Ponthieu. Ten years later, at Poitiers, the French were again defeated by English forces, half their strength, and the French King John the Good, who fought doggedly to the end, was captured. For his release, he had to pay his English opponent an immense ransom and also cede a quarter of his territory to him (Treaty of Brétigny, 1360).

Charles the Wise, who ruled France from 1364 to 1380, reconquered the lost territories with a few exceptions. When it turned out that his son and heir Charles VI. mentally ill, a new power struggle broke out over the question of who should lead the regency - this time between the Dukes of Orléans and Burgundy.

After Louis von was assassinated on October 27, 1407, the Burgundian Duke John readily admitted that he had hidden the crime. The feud escalated into war in 1411.

Also Henry V. of England, who allied himself with John without fruit, demanded from Charles VI. the return of the French crown. On August 13, 1415, he landed with his force near the mouth of the Seine. About two months later, on October 25, thirteen thousand Englishmen routed the French army of knights, which was more than three times as large, at Azincourt. Duke Charles of Orléans, who was at first thought dead and also left to be slaughtered, was captured by the English and only released twenty-five years later for a considerable ransom

The city of Paris fell to the enemy through treason. A citizen opened on the night of May 1418 secretly a city gate. The invading Burgundians killed the French king`s supporters within hours and took the capital. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Paris merchant community brought the fifteen-year-old (Tanguay de Châtel), the fifteen-year-old heir to the throne Charles VII, to safety in Vincennes.

In September 1419, when the Dauphin negotiated with John fearlessly to end the war, men from his entourage murdered the Burgundian duke. This assassination resulted in the Burgundians finally allying with the English against the French.