Succession Crises and the Hundred Years War, 1300-1389

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Gaveston was a Gascon favourite given enormous wealth and power by Edward II. His monopoly of royal patronage infuriated the earls, who captured and executed him in 1312. His death did not end the crisis - Edward II then favoured the Despensers - but it showed how royal favouritism could directly threaten baronial interests.

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Edward II's army was decisively defeated by Robert Bruce of Scotland at Bannockburn in 1314, ending effective English attempts to control Scotland. The defeat destroyed Edward's military credibility - a king who could not win wars lost the respect of his nobles. It strengthened baronial opposition and the Lords Ordainers who demanded restrictions on royal power.

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The Lords Ordainers were a group of barons who seized control of government in 1311. They demanded that Edward II dismiss Gaveston, consult barons on major decisions, and accept restrictions on royal spending. They represent the baronage asserting its right to limit royal power - a precedent that Richard II would also face through the Lords Appellant.

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When Henry Bolingbroke's father John of Gaunt died, Richard II confiscated the entire Lancastrian estate rather than letting Henry inherit it. This threatened the property rights of every noble in England - if a king could seize the largest estate in the country for no legal reason, no baron's lands were safe. It united the nobility behind Bolingbroke's invasion and made Richard's deposition almost inevitable.

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Three interlocking causes: (1) Edward III's dynastic claim to the French throne through his mother Isabella; (2) the dispute over Gascony, which France declared forfeit in 1337; (3) France's support for Scotland (the Auld Alliance), threatening England from two sides. Commercial rivalry over Flemish wool trade also played a role. No single cause; all three reinforced each other.

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The chevauchee was a mounted raid through enemy territory, burning crops, looting towns and terrorising peasants. England used it deliberately to demonstrate that the French king could not protect his own subjects - undermining his legitimacy and authority. It was a political weapon as much as a military one, not just random plundering.

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Crecy (1346): Edward III's longbowmen defeated French cavalry, demonstrating the tactical revolution in English warfare. Poitiers (1356): the Black Prince defeated and captured the French king John II, bringing enormous ransom and humiliating France. Both victories came from the same English tactical formula: disciplined archers on defensive ground breaking French cavalry charges.

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Bretigny gave England sovereignty over an enlarged Gascony (Aquitaine) and confirmed English possession of Calais; in return Edward III renounced his claim to the French throne. It did not last because France resented the territorial losses, English rule over Gascony was unpopular, and both sides saw it as a pause rather than a permanent settlement. War resumed in 1369.

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Charles V (reigned 1364-1380) reformed French royal finances to fund a more professional army, instructed his commander du Guesclin to use Fabian tactics (avoiding pitched battle, using sieges and raids), and formed a naval alliance with Castile to challenge English control of the sea. By his death in 1380, France had recovered nearly all territory lost at Bretigny.

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Parliament introduced a flat-rate poll tax to fund the Hundred Years War. The tax fell equally on rich and poor, which was deeply unfair and provoked massive resistance. Led by Wat Tyler, the revolt briefly occupied London and was only crushed with difficulty. It shows how the costs of the war were being transferred from the nobility to ordinary people, creating social tension inside England.

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All three crises show that late medieval states depended on the consent of the powerful. Kings who failed to maintain baronial support - whether through weakness (Edward II), tyranny (Richard II), or financial overreach (poll tax 1381) - faced serious breakdown. External war (Hundred Years War) could strengthen rulers who succeeded (Edward III) but fatally weaken those who were already under pressure.

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The Truce of Leulinghem (1389) formally paused the second phase of the Hundred Years War. It came after Charles V's death left France governed by regents who prioritised internal power struggles over war with England, while England was also paralysed by Richard II's political crisis. The truce showed that both kingdoms were exhausted and politically unstable - setting the stage for the third and final phase under Henry V from 1415.