The Hundred Years War: The English in France, 1337-1453

by Desmond Seward

Book Overview

From 1337 to 1453 England repeatedly invaded France on the pretext that her kings had a right to the French throne. Though it was a small, poor country, England for most of those "hundred years" won... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689109199
• ISBN13: 9780689109195
• Release Date: September 1978
• Publisher: Atheneum Books
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent overall view of the conflicts

This series of conflicts really starts with the ascendency of the plantegenet line at the time of Henry II. This was an inevitable conflict due to a sovereign King of England also having a Lordship over Gascony, a title held when King Henry II married Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine. With Edward III having a legitimate claim to the throne of France through his mother Isabella, Seward's book tells the story of the off and on conflicts that occured from 1337-1453. Early in the conflict, with victories at Slurs, Crecy and Poitiers, the French became aware of the fact that they could not defeat the English forces in the field. However, though the English were capable of conquering territories, they never possessed the strength to hold them indefinately. Seward does a good job of putting the reader in the shoes of the main characters, from the proud but unlucky Philip VI, to the crazy mental patient known as Charles VI. He also gives a good biographical sketch of English monarchs and princes during this period, from Edward "the Black Prince", to John of Gaunt's militarily incompentent bastard granchildren, the Beaufort brothers John and Edmund. Seward gives a historically accurate portrayal of English hero Henry V that is a far cry from the anglo-centric version we all know through Shakespeare. A man with a tenuous claim to the throne of England invaded France and nearly became the King of France. The atrocities he committed are repugnant, even by the standards of the day and should include him with other evil despots who have ruled through terror and murder. After Henry V's death, despite the competence of his brother the Duke of Bedford, England was doomed to a protracted conflict when the young religious fanatic Joan of Arc decided she was called by God to evict the English from France. Seward does a good job of viewing the conflict from the perspective of the French peasant, who suffered mightily under the oppression of English rule and the anarchy that existed in the conquered lands. He also details how the loss of the alliance with Burgundy, coupled with the ending of the minority of the incompetent Henry VI doomed England and precipitated the Wars of the Roses. This is a fascinating period of time in English history that impacted greatly the history of the world. One of the most significant conflicts that shaped the modern world, I highly recommend this book as an overview of the period.

Great overall view of this important time in history

Seward does a great job in illustrating what the Hundred Years War was and how it affected the French and the English. For someone looking for a concise overview of this important time, I would recommend this book. It does not go into too much depth within the actual battles and how they were fought, focusing only on who fought and the general formation taken, so if you are looking for the military approach this book should only be used as a reference. Seward is a great historian and one that I will gladly turn to when I have a question.

Excellent reading--but difficult

This is an excellent, if rapid, retelling of the hundred years war, which was not one war, but a series of bloody conflicts, started by the English refusal to recognize the French salic law which denied inheritance through the female line. Edward III' s mother Queen Isabella was the daughter of king Phillip the Fair, and as such many, including Edward, felt that he,NOT King Phillip's nephew ought to inherit the throne.Meanwhile in France, dependence of salic law had only recently been revived and was, of course being used for political reasons, including specifically that of keeping an Englishman off the throne. Alas, nothing is even so simple and there were many pretenders and schisms, including the Great schism between the Popes of Avignon and Rome as well as between French factions during this period. Seward covers the motivations for conflict, on different class levels, as well as the effects of various conflicts and gives us some great characters. There are several genealogical charts which explain the dynastic imperatives, as well as a real attention to military detail, the descriptions of different kinds of weaponry, particularly English bow and arrow versus French crossbow are impressive. And several battles are accompanied by military diagrams, so that those who are military minded can have a real grasp of the actions at Crecy and Agincourt, for example, as well as of the military intelligence of Edward III, John of Gaunt, Henry V and Joan of Arc. Seward relies on many primary sources, but in particular on Froissart and the Bourgeois of Paris (whom I had not heard of.) He quotes Shakespeare and ancient songs appropriately at the beginning of each chapter, and provides an excellent appendix of maps showing the vicissitudes of French territories and English occupations, as well as an appendix explaining the meaning of the currencies in the economics of the time. This is a straightforward, exceedingly comprehensive, delineation of one of the most confusing occasions in Western European history. One is still left confused at the end about how and why the dynastic, commercial, political and military factors interacted as they did however. And it becomes very difficult to sort one French King and political pretender from another. I never did quite figure out what Phillip of Burgundy was up to. One has the sense that Seward might have better served his purpose by writing a book a hundred pages longer with attentions to the less heady but equally important details of character, personality and relationship. Maurice Druon's fictional series "The Cursed Kings" (1-6) makes a good introduction to the Political events that led up to the start of the Hundred Years war.

Concise, Clear, Interesting

I was largely ignorant of this period of European history, but after playing "Age of Empires 2" I became interested in medieval warfare. This book does an excellent job of describing the events, battles, and characters that shaped this period in history. An excellent introduction to those who know nothing about the Hundred Years War. Perhaps those who want a real in-depth study of the war should look elsewhere. All others should be pleased with one of the most readable history books ever written.

From a different perspective

Desmond Seward has written a great, short (270-text pages) book about a conflict that, incredibly, has shaped the relations between France and England ever since, and has influenced the course of history. The English claim to the throne of France started with the Norman Invasion and the crowning of Duke William as King of England in 1066. Ethnically, the Normans were Vikings, but they had become French in a cultural way. William was followed by his descendants, and they formed the Plantagenet Line, to which some of the most famous and illustrious of English kings belong. Seward sees the conflict as what it was: the invasion of France by English troops in a time where loyalties were given to the feudal lord (duke, prince, king) more than to the country. By the time the war finally ended in 1453, the concept of "nationalism" was firmly entrenched in both England and France. Between the years 1337 and 1453, England had won an amazing string of victories against a bigger, richer enemy, but one that had been wretchedly led, only to be driven away from France towards the end of the war. The English despoiled the rich French countryside; they burned fields; destroyed towns; and, finally, were hated even by those who, a few decades earlier, had been loyal subjects of their English lords. Seward focuses this narrative from a perspective to which we are not used: the French perspective that, honestly, has never received a fair hearing in the English-speaking world. Of particular interest to me was Seward's description of King Henry V, the hero of Shakespeare, the hero of Agincourt, the symbol of nobility..., and a murderer who burned prisoners alive, who destroyed towns for no reason, who applied a religious fanaticism to his campaigns and who, instead of being the ideal of a Prince, was a paranoid, greedy psychopath. Is this an accurate portrayal of Henry? I don't know. But Seward does provide us with a different look at a much written-about hero of the English. Perhaps he is biased, but the glamorized biographies I have read through the years do tend to pale next to this work. Still, as with many historical figures, Henry will keep on being controversial. (And authors do not have to please us every time: I really did not agree with Seward's biography of Richard III.) So, as for the Hundred Years War, the author puts us right there at Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt (all extraordinary English victories), and at the counterattack with Joan of Arc, the betrayal of the French (maybe they did deserve the English after all), the final push, and the English being sent back to England, while the French retained France. The French went on to lick their wounds after 116 years of rape, pillage, and destruction. The English went on to fight their own conflict, later known as The Wars of the Roses (but not during the Wars between Lancaster and York), and managed to escape major retaliation from the wounded French. This conflict, immen