The Hundred Years’ War: Historical Context and Game Adaptations

The Hundred Years’ War ran from 1337 to 1453 as a series of conflicts between England and France. English kings pressed claims to the French throne while both sides fought over territory and feudal rights in Gascony and Flanders. Players today meet the same tensions in strategy titles that model supply lines, noble loyalties, and siege mechanics drawn from those decades.

Roots of the Dynastic Claim

Edward III of England argued that he held the stronger right to the French crown after Charles IV died without a male heir in 1328. French nobles instead crowned Philip VI under Salic law that barred inheritance through the female line. The dispute sat on top of older problems: English control of Gascony and French efforts to pull the duchy back into royal hands.

• English wool trade routes through Flanders gave Edward III local allies when French influence threatened those markets.
• Philip VI confiscated Gascony in 1337, giving Edward the immediate reason to declare war.
• Both kingdoms relied on contracted companies of archers and men-at-arms rather than standing armies.

Three Main Phases of Fighting

The war did not run as one continuous campaign. It broke into distinct stretches separated by truces and shifts in royal leadership.

1. Edwardian Phase (1337-1360): English longbow victories at Crécy and Poitiers, followed by the Treaty of Brétigny that ceded large territories to England.
2. Caroline Phase (1369-1389): French recovery under Charles V, with Bertrand du Guesclin using raids and avoiding pitched battles.
3. Lancastrian Phase (1415-1453): Henry V’s landing and victory at Agincourt, the later French rebound led by Joan of Arc, and final expulsion of English forces from all but Calais.

Game Adaptations That Use the Record

Several strategy games place players inside the same constraints that commanders faced. In Crusader Kings III you start with Edward III’s court and manage succession laws, alliances, and the risk of French confiscation of English holdings. Total War: Medieval II mods recreate the longbow and plate-armor matchups at specific battles, forcing you to protect your flanks against cavalry charges.

Europa Universalis IV lets you pick the 1337 start and steer either kingdom through the full length of the war. Supply limits and war exhaustion numbers reflect the historical reality that neither side could sustain constant field armies. These systems reward players who time truces and switch between raiding and holding ground, the same choices that determined who kept Aquitaine or Normandy at each stage.