186 Hundred Years’ War Edward picked an easily defended spot that forced the French to attack him uphill He also deployed his archers to have a clear field of fire against the advancing French The French arrived on the battlefield late in the day, yet chose to attack instead of waiting until the next day The French also did not attempt to organize a massed attack against the English; instead, they attacked as they arrived on the battlefield, thus leading to approximately 15 independent assaults on the English position The English archers cut down each assault with few of the French knights actually reaching the English men at arms French casualties were estimated at over 1,500 knights and nobles and up to 20,000 infantry and crossbowmen English casualties were about 200 men With his victory, Edward moved against Calais, which he laid siege to in September 1346 and captured in August 1347 The next several years would see only minor fighting, and even a truce for a short time Philip VI died in August 1350 and John II became the new French king Under the new king, the French and English engaged in peace negotiations, but these were broken off in 1355 by the French TREATIES AND RAIDS The English responded to the break in negotiations by launching raids into France The most successful raid was in 1356, led by Edward’s son, Edward the Black Prince (so named because he wore black armor) Launching from Bordeaux, he marched his army toward the Loire River but turned back before crossing the river As he moved back to Bordeaux, he was blocked by a French army led by King John at Poitiers On September 19, using the terrain to his advantage, the Black Prince was able to defeat the French using the terrain and his archers to cut down the attacking French More important was the capture of the French king by the English With his capture, the French found themselves in a civil war between the dauphin and Charles of Navarre over who should control France In 1359 Edward brought an army to France in an attempt to capture Reims When he was unable to capture the city, he considered marching on several other cities, including Paris, but in the end decided to return to England The English and French signed a treaty on May 8, 1360, that released King John from English captivity and recognized English sovereignty over Calais, Ponthieu, Poitoum, and Aquitaine Also part of the treaty was a clause where Edward agreed to stop calling himself the king of France It looked as if the English had won the war Even with the peace treaty in place, the French and English continued fighting on a low level This included the French civil war, which did not end until May 1364 with the defeat of Charles of Navarre The French and English also found themselves on opposite sides of the fighting in Castile where the English, under the command of the Black Prince, prevailed Unfortunately the fighting forced the Black Prince to raise taxes in Aquitaine The people of Aquitaine then appealed to the French king, Charles V (who had become king in 1364 when his father, John, had died) Therefore in November 1368 Charles V declared the English land confiscated again Edward tried to negotiate a settlement with Charles, but when that failed Edward again declared himself king of France and the two countries were at war with each other again The French made significant gains in recovering territory they had given up in 1360 They were even able to launch raids on the English coast, whose defenses had been neglected after the peace treaty in 1360 This raised concerns that the French might actually invade England In response, the English launched raids on cities they thought the French might use to stage their invasion By the end of 1369 English actions had eliminated the possibility of a French invasion Over the next several years the English would continue to launch raids into the French-controlled territory, but they also lost territory to the French Both sides continued to raid each other’s territory and avoid a set piece battle In 1376 Edward the Black Prince died; in the following year, 1377, Edward III also died This left the Black Prince’s son, 10-year-old Richard II, as king of England Small scale fighting continued through the 1380s until both sides agreed upon a truce in June 1389 The truce would last, with the usual intermittent raiding, until 1415 HENRY V AND CHARLES VI Starting in the early 1400s the French gave support to Scotland and Wales in their struggle against the English They also launched several raids against English ports However the French king, Charles VI, who came to power in 1380, suffered from insanity Because of this, he was unable to keep his nobles controlled and in 1407, a civil war broke out between the Orléanists and Burgundians Both sides asked the English for aid In 1413 Henry V was crowned king of England While his father, Henry IV, had provided some support to the Burgundians, Henry V determined to take full advantage of the chaos in France Thus in 1415 an English army of 12,000 men invaded France