The Hundred Years’ War was a compilation of skirmishes that were fought between the English and French which involved feudal and mercenary armies for command of the Kingdom of France, over the period of 1337 to 1453. The War began in 1337 due to genealogical issues arising from the English claim to the French throne and the territorial conflicts that ensued. The War ended in 1453 due to the English losing many possessions while retaining their last territory in France, Calais. It was a turning point in Western history as it changed the face of England and France socially, politically, economically, and territorially.
This paper will demonstrate the unreliability of the mercenary armies employed during the course of the Hundred Years’ War, …show more content…
The use of mercenary armies led to a breakdown in the English economy such as trade disruptions with emphasis on the wool trade, excessive borrowing, and a raise in taxes by Parliament (Seward, 1999, p. 2). The collapse of the feudal system in France and England occurred due to a failure of the rural economy, arising from the urbanization of the noble and middle classes. Consequently, the relationships between the traditional classes of society were undergoing a metamorphosis with the rise of citizen-armies. (Perroy, trans., 1965, p. 324) Therefore, the English economy was in trouble and under an enormous amount of …show more content…
In comparison to France, England was an “underpopulated land, rather like Norway […] a poor little country whose wealth was its wool” (Seward, 1999, p. 25). However, the end of the War had greatly affected the wool trade with the Low Countries and had become shaky which posed a major threat to the English economy (Perroy, trans., 1965, p. 334). These trade restrictions made the export of wool drop drastically by one-third of its original exporting capacity. This induced an increased debt due to the military expenses of the War, which amounted to 370 000 pounds (Postan, 1964, pp. 41-42). According to Curry (1993), “it can be argued that rulers could not afford to damage their country’s trading interests for too long” (p. 130), but England never realized the consequences of its trade policies until the end, by which it time it was too late to change its policies. Therefore, the English economy was at a precarious stage after the War due to its trade restrictions with the Low Countries, which is in contrast to its huge military debt that it incurred made for an economic breakdown that was to unravel itself with other economic factors, such as excessive borrowing that Edward III
This paper will demonstrate the unreliability of the mercenary armies employed during the course of the Hundred Years’ War, …show more content…
The use of mercenary armies led to a breakdown in the English economy such as trade disruptions with emphasis on the wool trade, excessive borrowing, and a raise in taxes by Parliament (Seward, 1999, p. 2). The collapse of the feudal system in France and England occurred due to a failure of the rural economy, arising from the urbanization of the noble and middle classes. Consequently, the relationships between the traditional classes of society were undergoing a metamorphosis with the rise of citizen-armies. (Perroy, trans., 1965, p. 324) Therefore, the English economy was in trouble and under an enormous amount of …show more content…
In comparison to France, England was an “underpopulated land, rather like Norway […] a poor little country whose wealth was its wool” (Seward, 1999, p. 25). However, the end of the War had greatly affected the wool trade with the Low Countries and had become shaky which posed a major threat to the English economy (Perroy, trans., 1965, p. 334). These trade restrictions made the export of wool drop drastically by one-third of its original exporting capacity. This induced an increased debt due to the military expenses of the War, which amounted to 370 000 pounds (Postan, 1964, pp. 41-42). According to Curry (1993), “it can be argued that rulers could not afford to damage their country’s trading interests for too long” (p. 130), but England never realized the consequences of its trade policies until the end, by which it time it was too late to change its policies. Therefore, the English economy was at a precarious stage after the War due to its trade restrictions with the Low Countries, which is in contrast to its huge military debt that it incurred made for an economic breakdown that was to unravel itself with other economic factors, such as excessive borrowing that Edward III