Hundred Years War Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Hundred Years War - Assignment Example Under their rule, they united England and a part of continent in the Northern France. In 12th century the possessions of English kings in France were significantly increased due to the marriage connections in Central and Western France. After a long and difficult struggle, the French monarchy managed to regain all these lands in the early 13th century. Together with the traditional possessions of French kings these lands formed the core of the modern France. However, there were left the territories between the Pyrenees and the Loire Valley under the English rule. In England these territories were called the Gascony (Duiker, and Spielvogel 378). The latter became one the main causes of the Hundred Years War. Further preservation of the English rule in the South Western part of France made the condition of the Capetian Dynasty insecure. It prevented the political centralization of the country. For England, instead, these possessions could serve a platform for an effort to restore the p revious vast ownership on the continent. Another object of sharp contradictions was Scotland. Its independence was threatened by England’s invasions. In search of political support in Europe, Scottish kings sought to alliance with France, the main opponents of the English crown (Allmand 9). With the worsening of Anglo-French conflict, both monarchies also tried to strengthen their positions in the Iberian Peninsula. Pyrenean countries were of the particular interest for English kings, because they bordered with the English Gascony. All these resulted in the military-political alliances: the Franco-Castilian, the Franco-Scottish, and the alliance between the British Crown and the towns of Flanders (Netherlands) (Allmand 23). The history of Hundred Years War is relatively divided into four stages, between which there were period of relatively long calm. The first stage began with the declaration