Have you ever wondered why one of Ruan Cathedral's towers is called the Tower of Butter, or what

animals have faced trials in courts for, or even how the black country got its name?

Well, you can find the answers to questions like these and hundreds more in our new book,

The History Hit Misscellanie. It's the perfect present for any history fan.

It's available to buy now from your favourite bookshop or by visiting historyhit.com forward slash

book. Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval from History Hit. I'm Matt Lewis.

I don't have a guest joining me today. I thought instead we could talk a bit about the

Hundred Years War. It was a prolonged series of offensives, battles and political maneuverings

in a war between England and France. A struggle for the French Crown that began in 1337

and lasted for roughly a hundred years depending on when you consider it to have ended precisely.

It saw sporadic warfare that for a long time left France in tatters, financially ruined

and militarily embarrassed. I thought I'd take a look at some of the most important moments

in this period, mainly from a military perspective. There are so many different ways to cut the

Hundred Years War, so many people and moments that we could discuss that this will necessarily

not be an exhaustive tour of the conflict we do have lives to get back to,

but rather a way to anchor it in the history of the medieval period and understand its key moments.

The Hundred Years War was, to some extent, a problem France brought upon itself.

Tension between the two neighbouring kingdoms had been steadily building since the Norman

Conquest. That seismic moment had seen a vassal of the French Crown, the Duke of Normandy,

become a king, complicating the relationship between them. Matters got worse when Henry II and

Eleanor of Aquitaine came to the throne of England. Henry was Duke of Normandy, but he was also

Count of On Jew, Count of Maine, and thanks to Eleanor, Duke of Aquitaine. He actually owned

...