History isn't a neat package. Honestly, the biggest lie about the "five fighting 100 years" is the name itself. It wasn't one war. It wasn't exactly 100 years. It was a messy, multi-generational catastrophe that basically shaped how Western Europe looks today. People often search for the "five fighting 100 years" thinking they’ll find five neat, tidy battles or maybe five specific kings who duked it out until everyone got tired.
The reality? It's much weirder.
It lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453. It involved dynasties like the Plantagenets and the Valois screaming at each other over who got to sit on the French throne. If you’re looking for the core of the conflict, you have to look at the massive shifts in technology, social class, and the sheer psychological toll of living in a world that felt like it was constantly on fire.
The Five Fighting 100 Years: Breaking Down the Phases
Most historians don't use the term "five fighting 100 years" in a formal sense, but they do break the conflict into distinct phases. Understanding these isn't just about dates; it's about seeing how warfare evolved from "knights in shiny armor" to "everyone getting blasted by early gunpowder."
1. The Edwardian Era (1337–1360)
This is where Edward III of England basically told Philip VI of France, "Actually, that's my crown." It wasn't just ego. It was about land in Aquitaine and the wool trade in Flanders. Money. It’s always about money. This phase gave us the Battle of Crécy in 1346.
English longbowmen absolutely wrecked the French cavalry. Imagine being a French knight, spent years training, wearing the most expensive gear possible, only to be taken out by a peasant with a yew bow from 200 yards away. It changed everything. The social hierarchy started to crack right there.
2. The Caroline War (1369–1389)
After a brief pause called the Treaty of Brétigny, things kicked off again. This time, Charles V of France—often called "The Wise"—decided he wasn't going to play by the English rules. He avoided big, flashy pitched battles. Instead, he used scorched-earth tactics. He wore the English down. It was a war of attrition. By the end of this stretch, England had lost almost everything they’d gained in the first round.
3. The Lancastrian War (1415–1453)
This is the big one. This is Shakespeare territory. Henry V. Agincourt. 1415. The English were outnumbered, sick with dysentery, and trapped. Yet, they won.
It’s one of those "how did that happen" moments in history. But Henry's success was temporary. This phase is also where we see the rise of the "five fighting 100 years" most intense period of French nationalism. Before this, you were loyal to a Lord. After this, people started feeling "French."
4. The Intervention of Joan of Arc
You can't talk about this century of violence without the teenager who claimed she heard saints in her head. In 1429, Joan of Arc turned the tide at the Siege of Orléans.
It sounds like a movie script. A peasant girl convinces the Dauphin to let her lead an army? Crazy. But it worked. She provided the psychological spark the French needed. Even after the English burned her at the stake in 1431, the momentum didn't stop. The English were basically just holding on by their fingernails at that point.
5. The Rise of Artillery and the End at Castillon
The final "fighting" phase saw the French embrace gunpowder. At the Battle of Castillon in 1453, the English were decimated by French cannons. The age of the longbow was over. The age of the knight was over. The Middle Ages were, for all intents and purposes, dead.
Why We Misunderstand the Timeline
People want history to be simple. They want to believe there were just "five fighting 100 years" events that define the era. But what about the Black Death?
In the middle of all this fighting, the Plague showed up in 1348 and killed roughly a third to half of the population. Imagine trying to run a war when half your tax base and half your soldiers are dying of a mysterious disease. The war actually paused because there weren't enough healthy people left to kill each other. That’s a level of chaos we struggle to wrap our heads around today.
The "five fighting" concept often ignores the "Chevauchées." These weren't grand battles. They were terror raids. English troops would march through the French countryside, burning crops, stealing livestock, and destroying villages. The goal wasn't to capture territory; it was to break the morale of the French people and prove their King couldn't protect them. It was brutal, dirty, and definitely not "chivalrous."
The Longbow vs. The Cannon: A Tech Race
If you’re looking at the actual mechanics of the five fighting 100 years, you’re looking at a massive technological pivot.
The Longbow:
- Range: Effective up to 250-300 yards.
- Rate of Fire: A skilled archer could loose 10-12 arrows a minute.
- Skill Level: Required years of physical training. Skeletal remains of medieval archers show deformed spine and arm bones from the sheer tension of the bows.
The Cannon:
- Initial Impact: Mostly psychological. They were loud and scary but broke often.
- Evolution: By 1450, Jean Bureau had turned French artillery into a professional, mobile force.
- The Result: Stone castle walls, which had protected nobles for centuries, were suddenly useless. If you can knock down a wall in an afternoon, the whole feudal system of "sitting in a castle" falls apart.
What Most People Get Wrong About the "Winner"
Who won? Technically, France. They kicked the English out of everywhere except Calais.
But England "won" in a different way. Being kicked out of France forced England to stop trying to be a continental power and start looking toward the sea. It sparked the development of the English Parliament, because kings had to keep asking for money to fund the war, and the people started saying, "Okay, but what do we get in return?"
It's weirdly poetic. France got the land, but England got a unified national identity and the beginnings of a modern government.
Expert Perspective: The Myth of Constant War
Historians like Jonathan Sumption, who has written massive volumes on this period, emphasize that for most people, the Hundred Years' War was a series of long silences interrupted by extreme violence. You could live your whole life in a French village and never see a battle, but you’d definitely feel the taxes. You'd feel the "routiers"—unemployed mercenary bands who turned into bandits whenever a truce was signed.
The "fighting" wasn't just between kings. It was a struggle for survival against "free companies" of soldiers who had no loyalty to anyone but the highest bidder.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
If you're trying to truly grasp the scale of the five fighting 100 years, don't just read a list of kings. Look at the maps. Watch how the borders pulse like a heartbeat over a century.
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- Visit the Sites: If you’re ever in France, go to Agincourt or Crécy. They aren't huge monuments; they are mostly quiet fields. Standing there makes you realize how small the "world-changing" spaces actually were.
- Check the Primary Sources: Read Jean Froissart’s Chronicles. He’s biased, he loves the nobility, and he gets things wrong, but he captures the vibe of the 14th century better than any modern textbook.
- Follow the Money: Look up the "Great Slump" of the 15th century. Economic historians argue that the war ended partly because both sides were just completely broke.
- Study the Armor: Visit the Royal Armouries in Leeds or the Musée de l'Armée in Paris. You can see the transition from chainmail to full plate, which was a direct response to the longbow.
The Hundred Years' War ended not with a grand treaty, but with a whimper. England got distracted by their own civil war (the Wars of the Roses), and France finally had a standing army. The world had moved on. The "five fighting 100 years" weren't just a series of dates; they were the birth pains of the modern world.
To understand the conflict today, focus on the shift from feudal loyalty to national identity. That transition is the real story hidden behind the battles and the dates. Explore the impact of the Black Death on labor wages following the mid-century fighting, as the shortage of workers gave survivors more leverage than they had ever possessed in the medieval hierarchy. Investigate the diplomatic records of the Congress of Arras (1435), which is arguably one of the most important diplomatic gatherings in European history, signaling the beginning of the end for English ambitions in France. Use these specific historical anchors to move beyond the "names and dates" approach to history.