I will like to talk about the The Hundred Years' War, in abut 1337 to about 1453 between France and England. What changed over the 116 years worth of wars that had been fought?

Thanks!


Oh and what is up with archers having closed helmets on?
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Extremely much changed during the 100 years war. Equipment, tactics, politics, usual way of raising armed forces... You should either do some research yourself and see what exactly are you interested in, or research one aspect after another...

Yeah, you're asking a lot. The very short version is that from the beginning, armies where the main power rested in knights wearing mail reinforced by plate, the technology and ways of waging war changed swiftly to where knights wore mostly plate armour of high quality but were no longer the primary force of an army, being rather a tactical strike force. There is so much beyond this that cannot be encapsulated in few words. I strongly suggest arming yourself with a number of books, although unfortunately I can't name any off the top of my head.

You could write a book about that, possible three. ;)

What do you want to know about it? The geopolitical position of the countries involved before and after the war? The internal changes in administration and military matters in the countries involved? The arms and armor technology?

Gerald, it is quite likely that the illustration of archers in closed helms is from a much later chronicle, and was done by an artist with limited knowledge of arms and armour.

Jonathan Sumption's works have been nitpicked by equally fine historians, Clifford Rogers, notably. Works by both authors are highly useful to students of the HYW. Neither are particularly useful for detail on armour transition through the period. Find a copy of Arms & Armour of the Medieval Knight by Edge & Paddock for an overview. Find Claude Blair's European Armour for a quality read on the development of Western armour. Ignore Ewart Oakeshott's various works on armour and knights regardless he was a good reference for weapons. Those books were intended for a youthful audience and aren't helpful for this topic.

Good hunting!

Pieter B. wrote:

Raman A wrote: Pieter B. wrote: You could write a book about that, possible three. ;) I'm assuming that's a sly reference to Sumption's books. I just wanted to overtly recommend his series as the best starting place for learning about the HYW. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=...s=sumption There's no shortcuts in history, if you really want some knowledge you just have to buckle down and do some heavy reading. If you want to get your hands dirty with the primary material, then go read Froissart's Chronicles. http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/onlinefroissart/ I never heard of those books before but I just had a look at the first few pages on google books and I think I found a few errors already. It talks about various noblemen and lists the count of Brittany who I believe has always been a duke. Then he goes on to say survival was hard and comfort rare. I wonder with who or when he is comparing city life. Furthermore he describes the Notre dame as dark, perhaps describing a funerary rite of curtains in the church when a king was laid there but otherwise quite inaccurate. He also describes Paris as having one planned street but I believe the grand rue was already around in Roman times. Or maybe I'm just arrogant in thinking I could point out mistakes in his work.