A war fought on French soil between England and France. Initiated by the clash between the English claim to the French throne and the French monarchy's expansionist policy, the war was fought off and on between the years 1337-1453 and resulted in the loss of the majority of the English territory in France.
The Hundred Years War was a conflict between France and England, lasting 116 years from 1337 to 1453. It was fought primarily over claims by the English kings to the French throne and was punctuated by several brief and two lengthy periods of peace before it finally ended in the expulsion of the English from France, with the exception of the Calais Pale. Thus, the war was in fact a series of conflicts and is commonly divided into three or four phases: the Edwardian War (1337-1360), the Caroline War (1369-1389), the Lancastrian War (1415-1429), and the slow decline of English fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc.
The Edwardian War was the first phase of the Hundred Years' War, lasting from 1337 to 1360, from the outbreak of hostilities until the signing of the Treaty of Brétigny. This 23-year period was marked by the startling victories of Edward III of England, for whom the war is named, and his son, the Black Prince, over the French at the Battles of Crécy and Poitiers. In the latter battle, John II of France was captured, and in the following years France came close to complete descent into anarchy and civil war.
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.
The Lancastrian War was the third of the phases of the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War. It lasted from 1415, when Henry V of England invaded Normandy, to 1429, when English successes were reversed by the arrival of Joan of Arc. It followed a long series of peaces lasting from 1389, when the Caroline War, characaterised by French victories, was closed and was so-named because it had its beginnings in the plans of Henry IV, the first of the House of Lancaster to sit on the English throne.