Chronological list of events in the Hundred Years War, military and civil
Year Month Day Event
1331
Mar. An agreement is reached between Philippe VI and Edward III that releases Edward from having to perform liege homage for the Aquitaine by saying, in writing, that the homage at Amiens was liege homage.
1332
Princess Isabella Plantagenet is born.
Jul. Pope John XXII calls for Philippe VI to lead a crusade against the Seljuk Turks, to sail from the ports of Languedoc on 1 May, 1335
Aug. Edward Balloil lands at Kinghorn, in Fife, and marches towards Dunfermlin.
10 Battle of Dupplin Moor. Balloil's army, attacked by a larger Scottish force, is victorious, mostly through the use of the longbow.
17 Edward Balloil crowned King of Scotland at Perth. His grip on the kingdom is so questionable that at his coronation feast his knights are in full armor.
Edward III marches an army north to York to support Edward Balloil
Dec. Edward Balloil is deposed as King of Scotland. He goes to York and does homage to Edward III for the Earldom of Huntingdon.
1333
Spring Edward III, on behalf of Edward Balloil, lays siege to Berwick-on-Tweed.
Summer Archibald, Earl of Douglas, brings an army to relieve the siege of Berwick-on-Tweed.
Jul. 19 Archibald, Earl of Douglas finds the English army drawn up on Halidon Hill. Dismounting his knights he charges the English position, and his army is destroyed under a hail of arrows. He, and the new regent of Scotland, the Earl of Mar are slain.
20 Berwick-on-Tweed surrenders to Edward III.
1334
Death of Pope John XXII. His successor, Benedict XII, equally eager for a crusade, renews the call to Philippe VI.
Summer Philippe VI, deciding that he cannot abandon his allies, the Scots, derails the Anglo-French peace negotiations by declaring that any treaty between France and England must include a peace between the English and the Scots, and that if Edward went ahead with the invasion of Scotland Philippe would confiscate the Aquitaine.
1335
Nov. Legates of Pope Benedict XII conclude a six month truce between David II and Edward III.
1336
Edward III forbids the export of English wool to Flanders, selling it instead to the Duchy of Brabant, destabalizing the economy of the County of Flanders, and discommoding the Count, Louis de la Male, and the burghers.
Edward III gains a loan on every sack of wool produced, which he hopes will bring in 70,000 pounds per year. He also sells a monopoly on exporting wool to a group of English merchants in a dubious scheme expected to raise 200,000 pounds, but which was a costly failure.
Mar. Benedict XII summons Philippe VI to Avignon, and informs him that the Crusade is cancelled. Philippe is shocked, and furious, and blames Edward III. He threatens to send more arms and men to Scotland, and transfers many of the ships that were bound for the crusade to ports in Normandy. Edward builds up the defenses of the south coast seaports, and relations between France and England deteriorate with alarming speed.
Sep. A Parliament at Nottingham, noting the actions of the French King in the Aquitaine, grants Edward III a subsidy, most of which is spent bribing German nobles over to his side.
1337
William Merlee of Oxford attempts first scientific weather forecasts.
Philip declares Edward's fiefs forfeit and begins harassing the frontiers of Aquitaine.
Spring Edward III sends the Earls of Salisbury and Huntingdon, and the Bishop of Lincoln, along with 60 knights, as envoys to Hainault. There they secure the alliance of the Counts of Guelders, Juliers and Limbourg, and, at the staggering cost of 60,000 pounds, the Duke of Brabant
May. Philippe formally confiscates the Aquitaine, sending his troops over the border to seize Edward III's castles, while French ships raid Jersey and the Cinque Port towns.
Parliament raises a tax of a tenth on all 'Moveables' i.e. cash, and a fifteenth on all lands, both clerical and secular, to pay for the French and Scottish wars.
Oct. Edward III formally revokes his allegiance for the Aquitaine, and repudiates the homage he swore at Amiens.
Sep. A French fleet attempts to capture Henry Bergersh, the Bishop of London, but fail. The take shelter afterwards on the island of Cadsand, in the Scheldt.
Oct. An English force of 500 men-at-arms and 2,000 archers, lead by Sir Walter Manny, attacks and defeats the French fleet under the command of Sir Guy of Flanders, at Cadsand.
Nov. 1 King Philippe VI of France declared the duchy of Guyenne forfeited by the Edward III for the latter's harboring Robert d'Artois ? a troublsome criminal in the eyes of he French crown. Edward III sent letter of defiance to 'Pilip of Valois, who calls himself king of France'.
These incidents are usually cited as the Beginning of the Hundred Years' War.
1338
French raid burns Portsmouth. Edward III formally claims the French crown.
Jacob Van Artevelde is elected as the hootman of Ghent, and rapidly also establishes control over Bruges and Ypres.
Jul. 16 Edward III's ambitions were supported by the newly appointed leader of the Flemish townsmen seeking independence from France. Jacob van Artevelde formed a commerical treaty with Edward III and encouraged Edward to claim the French crown.
Autumn A French squadron intercepts the English ship carrying the profits from the wool sales back to England, capturing the 300 ton ship Christopher, her sister ship the Edward, and several others, which are added to the French fleet.
1339
Grenoble University founded.
Feb. The wool towns of Flanders, angered by the embargo, rise up against the Count of Flanders. Their militia, under the leadership of Jacob van Artevelde, forces the Count to flee, and joins the English. At their urging Edward quarters his arms with the lilies of France, and claims the crown.
Spring Having spent most of his money, Edward III pledges the years wool crop, and pawns the remaining crown jewels to pay his troops.
Spring Edward III receives fresh troops from England.
Summer French and Castillian ships raid the south coast towns of England.
Autumn Edward III marches across Artois, seizes Cambrai and pillages the towns of the Thierache.
Autumn At Buironfosse Edward III offers battle to Philippe VI. Philippe refuses, according to Friossart at the advice from Robert, King of Scicily and astrologer, from whom he receved a letter predicting disaster. Philippe withdraws from the field, leaving Edward in a foul humor.
1340
French occupy Guyenne. French invasion fleet destroyed at Sluys.
Jan. 26 Edward III assumed the title of "king of England and France", and concluded a military alliance with the Flemish.
Late Feb. Edward III, in debt for over 300,000 pounds, seeks permission from his creditors to return to England to raise money.
The creditors agree, on condition that his wife and two children, Edward and Lionel, remain in Ghent. His third son, John of Gaunt (Ghent) is born here early in the year.
Edward III summons Parliament, which grants him a subsidy, but only on the conditions that he never raise a poll tax or a general tax without the full consent of Parliament, and that, should Edward become King of France that the English would not be subject to the rule of France.
Jun. 22 Edward III sails for Bruges with a fresh army, and a fleet of 250 ships.
Jul. 23 Edward III sends two knights ashore, Sir Reginald Cobham and Sir John Chandos to make contact with the Flemish, and who return with a report of the French-Castillian fleet of 400 vessels tightly packed in the entrance of the Zwin channel.
Jul. 24 Battle of Sluys: Capture or destruction of the French Fleet. The Christopher is retaken by the English. Only thirty Genoese ships survive, by fleeing the battle.
Jul. 25 Edward III attends a triumphal mass, and goes on a pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Ardenberg, a few miles from Bruges, to give thanks for his victory.
Late summer Edward III campaigns along the Scheldt, laying siege to Tournai. The town holds out for months, and Philippe VI refuses to give Edward battle.
Sep. Emissaries from the Pope conclude a truce at Espléchin, to last from September 1340 to June 1341.
Nov. 7 Edward III sails from Ghent for England.
Nov. 10 Edward III arrives in London. landing at the water gate of the Tower at dawn with only eight followers. He finds that the Governor, Sir Nicolas de la Beche, absent from his post. This, coupled with the fruitless campaign, sends him into a fury. Over the next few months he dismisses the Bishops of Chichester and Coventry, all the Justices and many of the Magistrates of the Kings Bench, and locks up William de la Pole and Walter Putney, merchants who Edward III felt had not gotten enough for the previous years wool crop. He also locks up de la Beche in one of his own dungeons, and dismisses his Chancellor, John Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, charging him with treason.