Part One

• The Hundred Years War was not one long war, but a series of battles that lasted from 1337 to 1453
• There were many years of little or no fighting, when both sides made peace deals, and times when there were major, aggressive campaigns by one side or another
• The Hundred Years War gave both France and England some of their best-known heroes and greatest victories
• Battle of Agincourt


  A notable battle in the later phase of the Hundred Years War that occurred on 25 October 1415 near Agincourt, France
• The Battle of Agincourt was fought between the heavily outnumbered army of King Henry V of England and that of King Charles VI of France
• Battle of Agincourt


  • Approximately 11,000 exhausted English archers, knights and foot soldiers were there, and they were outnumbered three to one
  • The battle took place in a field that lay between two woods, and it had rained heavily before the battle, which impacted the outcome
• Longbows


  The archers that fought for Henry used large bows called longbows, which could fire around 12 arrows a minute and could kill a man nearly 200 metres away
• Crossbows


  The French tended to use crossbows, which were very powerful and accurate, but took longer to load
• The archers proved decisive at Agincourt, as they had done at the Battle of Crécy in 1346
• Estimates suggest that the French lost between 7000 and 10,000 men at Agincourt, while the English lost only a few hundred
• After the victory at Agincourt, Henry V went on to conquer Normandy and tighten his grip on France
• Many powerful French knights and nobles were killed at Agincourt, and the daughter of the French king became Henry's wife as part of the Treaty of Troyes, 1420
• The Treaty of Troyes made Henry V heir to the French throne, but he never lived to be king of a united England and France
• In 1422, aged just 35, Henry V died suddenly of dysentery, and soon after, French fortunes began to turn
• Inspired by a French peasant girl called Joan of Arc, the French gradually began to drive the English out, and the English caught Joan of Arc, accused her of witchcraft and burned her to death
• Over the next few decades, the French regained most of the territories occupied by the English
• Historical significance


  When historians see something as significant, it means more than just that it is important. It refers to the impact at the time and the long-term impact
• Historians have found it very difficult to precisely determine the amount of soldiers and civilians who died as a result of the Hundred Years War, with estimates ranging from 180,000 to over three million
• Some areas of France, such as Normandy, were devastated during the fighting, with armies on both sides seizing crops, animals, and riches, and sometimes burning buildings as they retreated
• The high cost of the war meant that both the French and English had to pay higher taxes more frequently to fund it, and by the end, England had lost wealthy French regions like Normandy and Aquitaine
• Some Englishmen got very rich from the stolen goods taken from France, and Bodiam Castle in Sussex was built from the proceeds made from the war
• Military impact of the Hundred Years War


  • It spelled the end of the dominance of the knight on horseback, and the power of missile fire from the longbow and later the handgun became the most effective military technique
  • It led to the increased use of gunpowder, cannons and handguns, which caused castles to begin a long decline in usefulness
• Impact on the French monarchy

  The war led to a surge in nationalist feelings among the French, and the high cost of paying for the war led the French to set up a better system of taxing the whole country, which was so successful that they were able to pay for the first full-time army in Europe
• Impact on English identity

  • The war caused England to forge its own identity, separate from France, with England stopping the use of French as its official court language and developing a much more unified country against the French, Scots and others
  • The war gave the English a sense of pride and a unique identity, with a common language and homeland, and kings starting to use the English language and people speaking of themselves as English
• After losing its territory in France, England became less involved in relations with the rest of Europe and began to see itself as 'apart from Europe', rather than a part of it
• England's outlook and aims changed too, with the country now looking to conquer lands outside Europe and develop an empire in newly found lands
• Vikings


  From Norway, Denmark and Sweden
• Viking raids


  1. Began c.790

  2. Attacked monasteries and villages on the East coast to start with

  3. Began to sail up rivers and attack further inland
• Vikings decided to settle in Britain

  Around the year 850
• Reasons why Vikings settled in Britain

  • Better land for farming
  • Overcrowding in Scandinavia
  • Opportunities for younger sons
  • The Anglo-Saxons had become wealthy
• Land in Denmark


  • Very hilly with sandy soil
• Scandinavia


  • Becoming overcrowded
  • Rich of spare land
• Younger sons


  • Left many looking for a new life abroad
  • Land was only passed to the oldest son, so the youngest joined military campaigns to make their own wealth
• First Viking raids


  • Raids on the coastal monasteries
• In settling in England, the Vikings took control over most of the east and as far north as Northumbria. They then turned towards Wessex in the south of England
• Alfred


  22 year old son of Aethered of Wessex, who would go on to become King Alfred the Great
• How Alfred prevented the Vikings from taking Wessex

  1. After being defeated by the Vikings in 876, Alfred hid with his armies on the Isle of Athenay in the Somerset marshes

  2. He trained a new force and beat the Vikings in the Battle of Edington, May 878
• After the Battle of Edington, the Viking leader (Guthrum) had to become Christian and settle on boundaries between territories (Vikings in east + north)
• Danelaw


  The area of England under Viking control
• Extent of success for Vikings / Anglo-Saxons

  • Mostly lived peacefully due to Alfred's strong defences
  • Vikings brought their own distinct laws, names, techniques
  • Other kingdoms in England acknowledged Alfred as their overlord - the Anglo-Saxons began to call themselves English
  • People travelled between Wessex and the Danelaw, there was intermarriage and trade
  • Alfred strengthened defences to make his land more secure
  • Alfred's descendants began to recapture parts of the Danelaw
  • By the reign of Edgar (Alfred's grandson) in 959, the country was settled