Hundred Years’ War, an intermittent struggle between England and France in the 14th–15th century over a series of disputes, including the question of the legitimate succession to the French crown. The struggle involved several generations of English and French claimants to the crown and actually occupied a period of more than 100 years. By convention it is said to have started in 1337 and ended in 1453, but there had been periodic fighting over the question of English fiefs in France going back to the 12th century.

Historians have long considered the Hundred Years’ War a milestone in the development of national consciousness in western Europe. The English, after their many successes and frustrations, were finally cured of their taste for continental intervention, and the English monarchs turned increasingly to the problems of internal development. The hard-fought success of the house of Valois in securing the French crown helped insure that France would not become a realm in name only, partitioned among numerous independent princes.

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