Hundred Years’ War until 1204), the French conquered Normandy, Maine, and Anjou from the English With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1259 the English had been reduced to control of just Aquitaine The English king also reconfirmed his status as a vassal of the French king with respect to his lands in France The French trumped up charges again in 1294 against Edward I and again declared his lands confiscated and launched an invasion of those lands The war lasted until 1298 This war also saw the Scots allied with the French against the English in 1295 A new peace treaty, the Treaty of Paris, was signed, returning the lands lost by the English during the war to them Isabella, the daughter of the French king Philip IV, was married to the English heir, Edward II At the time this seemed to be a way to create lasting peace between the two kingdoms but ended up causing more problems by later giving the English king a claim to the French throne during the Hundred Years’ War In 1324 the French again provoked the English and summoned the English king to the French court When the king did not show up, the French again declared the province of Aquitaine confiscated from the English and the two countries went to war again The war did not last long and in 1325 Edward II’s son, Edward III, and his mother went to France so Edward III could pay homage to the French king, Charles IV Returning to England in 1327, Queen Isabella had Edward II deposed and Edward III, only 14 years old, crowned king With such a young king, the English ended up agreeing to a peace treaty that favored the French, allowing them to keep the land they had conquered In 1328 the English were forced to make peace with the Scots and Charles IV, third son of Philip IV, died None of Philip’s three sons had a male heir Succession ended up going to the cousin of Charles IV, Philip of Valois While neither Edward nor his mother made any claim to the French throne at this time, Edward had himself crowned king of France in 1340 In French law, Edward had no claim to the Crown since French law did not recognize any claim by a female, or her offspring, to the throne of France The early years of Edward’s reign saw him pay homage to the French king, since he could not afford a war with France Focusing on Scotland with the death of the Scottish king, Robert I, Edward was able to gain the upper hand there and bring Scotland back under England’s control However, being an ally of the Scots, Philip had an interest in what was happening there and tried to link negotiations for continued peace between France and England with the war in Scotland In 1336 France had put together a fleet that was to take a French 185 crusade to the Holy Land However, Pope Benedict XII canceled the crusade because of the problems of the French, English, and Scots Instead it seemed to the English that the fleet would be used to invade England While there was no invasion of England, the fleet did conduct raids on parts of the English coast and convinced the English that war with the French was coming Using the same ploy they had before, the French king summoned the English king, as the duke of Aquitaine, to turn over the French king’s brother, who had taken refuge in England In 1337 when Edward did not comply with Philip’s order, Philip declared Edward’s land confiscated again and the Hundred Years’ War began BEGINNINGS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR The war began with the French invading Aquitaine in 1337 The French fleet continued raiding the English coast The English were finally able to defeat the French fleet at Sluys in 1340, which gave the English control of the English Channel, making it easier for them to move troops to France During this time Edward made alliances with the Low Countries and the German emperor and arranged to have his soldiers join theirs for a campaign against the French However the date for the campaign kept being delayed until 1340 The Flemish joined with Edward, who had himself crowned king of France on January 26, 1340 While the English laid siege to the town of Tournai, the French moved against the allied army but did not engage it The war shifted to Brittany in 1341 with the death of the French duke Succession to the title was disputed and the English took the chance to support the side the French king opposed Neither side was able to gain the upper hand and control of the entire province The fighting continued for several years to come In 1343 a truce was called, lasting until 1346 Edward decided to conduct the campaign in 1346 with an English army and not rely on his allies for soldiers Edward’s army landed in Normandy hoping to draw the French army away from Aquitaine, which it did Marching first to the Seine River and then along it toward Paris, the English army raided the countryside and towns as it marched The French had destroyed most of the bridges across the Seine River and had a chance to trap the English army but instead allowed the English to cross the river and march away The French would have the same chance again when the English army reached the Somme River and again the French allowed the English to cross the river and escape Edward finally stopped retreating and chose the area around Crécy to give battle to the French on August 26, 1346