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Home / Historical Periods / Late Medieval / Hundred Years’ War

War

Hundred Years’ War

1337–1453 CE

The Hundred Years’ War was a series of wars, truces, invasions, and political crises between the English and French crowns from 1337 to 1453. It involved claims to the French throne, control of territories, noble alliances, mercenary companies, and shifting military methods. Famous phases include English victories at Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, followed by French recovery under Charles VII and Joan of Arc.

The war matters because it reshaped both England and France. It strengthened ideas of royal identity, taxation, professional warfare, and national memory, while devastating large parts of France. It also weakened English continental ambitions and helped set the stage for later English internal conflict.

Bernard Cornwell’s Grail Quest series, Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings as a prelude, and novels about Joan of Arc by authors such as Katherine J. Chen and Kimberly Cutter connect strongly to this war. The setting supports longbowmen, mercenaries, ruined villages, court factions, sieges, saints, kings, and soldiers ageing through decades of conflict.

Related people for Hundred Years’ War

Bernabò Visconti1323–1385 Bertrand du Guesclinc. 1320s–1380 Blanche of Lancaster1342–1368 Catherine of Valois1401–1437 Charles II of Navarre1332–1387 Charles IV of France1294–1328 Charles VI of France1368–1422 Charles V of France1338–1380 Edward, the Black Prince1330–1376 Edward III of England1312–1377 Edward IV1442–1483 Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester1400–1452 Elizabeth Mortimer1371–1417 Elizabeth Woodville1437–1492 Galeazzo II Visconti1320–1378 Geoffrey Chaucer1343–1400 Henry Beaufort1375–1447 Henry II of Castile1334–1379 Henry IV of England1367–1413 Henry Percy (Hotspur)1364–1403 Henry VI1421–1471 Henry V of England1386–1422 Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester1390–1447 Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord1301–1364 Isabella of France1295–1358 Jacquetta of Luxembourg1415–1472 Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland1379–1440 Joan of Arc1412–1431 Joan of Kent1328–1385 John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset1373–1410 John II of France1319–1364 John of Gaunt1340–1399 John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford1389–1435 John XXIII1370–1419 Katherine Swynford1350–1403 Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence1338–1368 Mahaut, Countess of Artois1269–1329 Margaret of Anjou1430–1482 Owen Tudor1400–1461 Peter of Castile1334–1369 Philippa Roet1346–1387 Philip VI of France1293–1350 Richard II1367–c. 1400 Richard Whittington1354–1423 Robert III of Artois1287–1342 Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March1287–1330 Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor1368–1437 Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter1377–1426 Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kentc. 1314–1360 Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence1387–1421 William Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury1328–1397 Étienne Marcel1315–1358

Series

Series about Hundred Years’ War (4 series)

Arrows of Albion in Order

by Jonathan Lunn 8 books 4.3

Arrows of Albion follows Martin Kemp, an English archer and sometime mercenary, through the campaigns and border wars of the mid-fourteenth century. Beginning with Edward III’s invasion of France and the Battle of Crécy, the series moves through the siege of Calais, warfare in Brittany and Scotland, Gascon…

Master of War in Order

by David Gilman 9 books 4.6

The Master of War series follows Thomas Blackstone, an English archer and later knight, through the Hundred Years’ War. Beginning with the Crécy campaign in 1346, the sequence expands across France, Aquitaine, Brittany, Castile and northern Italy, using Blackstone’s career to show how medieval war was fought through…

The Grail Quest in Order

by Bernard Cornwell 4 books 4.3

The Grail Quest follows Thomas of Hookton, an English archer whose search for the truth about his family becomes entangled with the opening decades of the Hundred Years’ War. The novels move through the capture of La Roche-Derrien, the assault on Caen, the Battle of Crécy, Neville’s Cross,…

Books

30 Best Novels About the Hundred Years’ War

Bestselling authors first, then star rating.

Non Fiction

4 Non-Fiction Books About the Hundred Years’ War

Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.