Vivat imperator Edwardus

“All the Anglo-French conflicts, during the end of the 13th century, resulted from the Treaty of Paris as necessary consequences.”

- Charles Victor Langlois, biographer of Philippe le Hardi

The Hundred Years War is generally thought to have started in the reign of Edward III and ended in the collapse of Plantagenet Aquitaine in 1453. It could arguably be backdated to the aftermath of the Treaty of Paris in 1259, whereby Henry III of England resigned most of his dynastic claims in France. He was left with the duchy of Gascony and a handful of other territories, which the French were reluctant to concede.

Specifically, the treaty stated that Louis IX would:

“give us and our heirs and our successors all the right that he has and holds in these three bishoprics and in the cities, namely, of Limoges, Cathors and Périgueux, in fief and domain…”

In October 1271, the ailing Henry III sent envoys to Paris to “ask and receive” the above lands, as well as Quercy, the Agenais and Saintonge. He also complained that French agents were harassing the officers of his heir, the Lord Edward, about the homage of the city of Limoges.

The new French king, Philippe le Hardi, put off the English envoys with vague answers. He was probably hoping for Henry to die, which he did on 30 November 1272.

Henry’s successor was on his way back from the Holy Land. He landed in Italy in January 1273 and then passed through Lombardy; disturbingly (from a French point of view), the Italians and Lombards shouted “Long live the Emperor Edward!” The Milanese gave him gifts of horses, and on 25 June the Count of Savoy swore homage to the young English king. A lord of the kingdom of Arles, who had plundered the English army on its way to the Holy Land, was also brought before Edward and made to swear homage and fealty. 

Edward then descended from the mountains of Burgundy and took part in a chaotic tournament at Chalons, where he humiliated the Comte d’Auxerre in single combat and set fire to the town. His truimphal procession ended in Paris, where he knelt before Philip and swore homage for his lands in France. Like his father, Edward was perfectly aware that the French had not fulfilled their side of the Treaty of Paris. For that reason he couched the oath in ambiguous terms: he did homage for all the lands he held of Philip, as well as the lands he ought to hold:

“Dominus rex fado vobis homagium pro omnibus terris, quas debeo tenere de vobis.”