Hundred Years' War (1369-1389)

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Hundred Years' War
Edwardian – Breton Succession – Castilian – Caroline – Lancastrian

Hundred Years' War (1369-1389)
Nájera (Navarette) – Montiel – La Rochelle

The Caroline War was the second phase of the Hundred Years' War between France and England, following the Edwardian War. It was so-named after Charles V of France, who resumed the war after the Treaty of Brétigny (signed 1360). In May 1369, the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England, refused an illegal summons from the French king demanding he come to Paris and Charles responded by declaring war. He immediately set out to reverse the territorial losses imposed at Brétigny and he was largely successful in his lifetime. His less capable successor, Charles VI, made peace with the less capable son of the Black Prince, Richard II, in 1389. This truce was extended many times until the war was resumed in 1415.

The reign of Charles V saw the English steadily pushed back. Although the English-backed claimant to the Duchy of Brittany, John of Montfort, defeated and killed the French claimant, Charles of Blois, at the Battle of Auray in 1364, John and his heirs eventually reconciled with the French kings. The War of the Breton Succession ended in favour of the English, but gave them no great advantage. In fact, the French received the benefit of improved generalship in the person of the Breton commander Bertrand du Guesclin, who, leaving Brittany, entered the service of Charles and became one of his most successful generals.

At about the same time, a war in Spain occupied the Black Prince's efforts from 1366. The Castilian Civil War pitted Pedro the Cruel, whose daughters Constance and Isabella were married to the Black Prince's brothers John of Gaunt and Edmund of Langley, against Henry of Trastámara. In 1369, with the support of Du Guesclin, Henry deposed Pedro to become Henry II of Castile. He then went to war with England and allied Portugal.

Just before New Year's Day 1370, the English seneschal of Poitou, John Chandos, was killed at the bridge at Château Lussac. The loss of this commander was a significant blow to the English. Jean III de Grailly, the captal de Buch, was also captured and locked up by Charles, who did not feel bound by "outdated" chivalry. Du Guesclin continued a series of careful campaigns, avoiding major English field forces, but capturing town after town, including Poitiers in 1372 and Bergerac in 1377. Du Guesclin, who according to chronicler Jean Froissart, had advised the French king not to engage the English in the field, was successful in these Fabian tactics, though in the only two major battles in which he fought, Auray and Battle of Nájera (Navarette) (1367), he was on the losing side and was captured. The English response to Du Guesclin was to launch a series of destructive military expeditions, called chevauchées, in an effort at total war to destroy the countryside and the productivity of the land. But Du Guesclin refused to be drawn into open battle. He continued his successful command of the French armies until his death in 1380.

In 1372, English dominance at sea, which had been upheld since the Battle of Sluys, was reversed, at least in the Bay of Biscay, by the disastrous defeat by a joint Franco-Castilian fleet at the Battle of La Rochelle. This defeat undermined English seaborne trade and supplies and threatened their Gascon possessions.

In 1376, the Black Prince died, and in 1377, Edward III. The underaged Richard of Bordeaux succeeded to the throne of England. It was not until Richard had been deposed by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke that the English, under the House of Lancaster, could forcefully revive their claim to the French throne. The war nonetheless continued until the first of a series of truces was signed in 1389.

Despite the tactical reforms of Bertrand Du Guesclin and the victory of La Rochelle, the French success during this phase of the war is easily explained by internal English actions. The Black Prince was probably superior to Bertrand du Guesclin in most aspects, possessed of a revolutionary mind in warfare (by medieval standards). He was the original commander charged with the defence of Aquitaine, but was dismissed after only two years of conflict with Charles in France. Partly this was due his illness, but partly his brutality (particularly at the Siege of Limoges in 1370), and partly his financial problems which had brought England into major debt. The Black Prince's early absence left Du Guesclin with little significant competition in his sustained attack on Aquitaine, Edward III being too old to personally lead troops against Bertrand. The replacement commanders for the Black Prince were easily distracted from the war in France: John of Gaunt was more interested in making himself king of Castile and Richard II was not interested in war, which leading to a lack of will among his generals.