Hundred years war

[ShadesWolf]

'The Wars of the Roses, lasting from 1455 to 1487, were a dynastic struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster, and involved only the aristocratic families of these houses and their followers. Rather than a civil war, these campaigns represented a prolonged struggle for power between two political parties, both of which accepted the unity of the kingdom and the existing system of government by King, Council and Parliament. Thus the wars were fought by the great barons with the aid of their private armies'

This conflict took place after the hundred years war Do you believe this had an effect on the outcome of the Hundred years war. In 1453 england lost all its French lands with the exception of Calais, Did this internal conflict - The War of the Rose - help to final destruction of the English holdings in France.......

Any comments ?

[Leodegar]

it´s a very interesting question... i´d rather say the hundred years war, espacially after it went bad, helped to cause the The Wars of the Roses.



first phase 1327-77: Eduard III

the war in france goes well (1346 Crecy, 1347 Calais, 1356 the black price wins battle at Maupertuis). but the english king needs a lot of money to lead this war, additionally the black death in 1349/50 leads to severe economic crisis. in order to get the needed funds the king has to make concessions to the parliament, improving their power and decreasing his own.



second phase 1377-1399: Richard II

Richard II loses most of the land in france and the english get pushed back to a few operation bases. Richard intoduces a "head tax" to raise funds. increasing corruption.
the hatred of the poor people (high taxes, corruption) combines with the frustration of the lords (bad going war). in 1399 Richard gets deposed by the parliament.
the war in france cools down since the 1380s.



third phase 1399-1453: Henry IV-VI (house of lancaster)

in 1399 Henry IV (house of Lancaster) gets enthroned by the parliament.
1403/05 uprisings of nobles. the king gets help from the clerus.
in 1413 Henry V gets king. to distract the nobles from his domestically problems he restarts the war in france in 1415. it ends disastrous, the french gain paris and the normandy (battle of Azincourt). Henry V allies with burgundy and evades total defeat, the war again cools down.
in 1422 Henry VI gets enthroned. like his father he restarts the war to distract from his domestically problems. he regains paris, but fails to finish the demoralised french off (Jeanne d´Árc).
in 1435 france makes peace with burgundy (Treaty of Arras)and the war once again shifts. 1436: loss of paris, 1449-53 loss of normandy and guyenne, 1453 french victory of Castillon. this urges the unhappiness at home. the parliament loses influence due to corruption.



1455-85: The Wars of the Roses

after the defeat in france, the homecoming soldiers get hired by the lords. these former "french companies" provide the soldiers in The Wars of the Roses.


so i think, the high taxes and the defeat in france lead to increasing unhappiness. it undermined the king´s authority. than, after the soldiers in france had returned to england and were available as "party followers". the smouldering conflict errupted. i´d say espacially the military defeat in france and the sudden access to numerous soldiers let to the escalation of the english throne contentions.

on the other side the continuous domestically conflict in england can aswell be seen as cause for the defeat in france.
the main problem of the english kings (and of the lords) were the infighting in england. the french campaign was just kind of distraction and surely not carried out with the focus of all power and concentration.

so my conclusion is, the defeat in the hundred years war and the wars of the roses caused each other.