Papro's monologue
Editor|Papro's monologue
England achieved its third major victory since the Hundred Years' War, and the defeat in the Argencourt War almost destroyed the will of the French to continue the struggle, and the French army was defeated step by step, and the British army continued to win since then. After the conquest of all of Normandy, England finally signed the Treaty of Troyes with France in 1420. Under the terms of the Treaty of Troyes, King Henry V of England married Catherine, daughter of Charles VI of France, and had the right to inherit the French throne.
King Henry V of England became regent of France, after which France became part of the United Kingdom of England and France. The territory of France was divided into three parts, controlled by the British and Briandian and the Dauphin of Charles VI. Britain ruled northern France centered on Paris, and Charles VI's Dauphin controlled southern France, leading to a north-south confrontation on French territory. France is experiencing an unprecedented crisis at home.
In the face of the invasion, patriots continued to appear, most notably Joan of Arc, known as "Joan of Arc", and she was portrayed as "a warrior who swept through the British army and restored the morale of the French people". Joan of Arc was influenced by Catholicism, and at a young age she had devout religious beliefs and a high spirit of justice. In 1429 Joan of Arc traveled alone to the south of France , hoping that the King of France would allow her to lead her army into battle against England.
At that time, France was losing the battle with England, and the capital Paris was also doomed and occupied by the English army. The only remaining important town in the south of France, the city of Orléans, was also surrounded by English troops and was in danger of falling at any time, and France's national crisis was unprecedented. After meeting Charles, Joan of Arc expressed her determination to serve the country and expel the English invaders.
She appealed to Prince Charles and said, "Brave land, I have delivered Orléans according to God's will, and God also wants you to go to Reims to be crowned, to show that you are the true king, and the two kingdoms of France belong to you. The historian Stephen explains Joan of Arc as to why he was appointed: "After year of shameful defeat on the battlefield, the French government has become demoralized and discredited in the leadership of the army and the people.
Only when she has reached the last moment of survival will she desperately believe a rural literary girl who claims to have been instructed by the Great Lord to command the country's army"~. During the battle, Joan of Arc showed great military skill, and from October 1428 to May 1429, the city of Orléans, which had been trapped for seven months, was finally liberated. The victory in the defense of Orléans was the first major French victory since the Hundred Years' War, preserving the last French territory.
It defused the doom of the complete occupation of France, prevented the progress of the British army to the south, boosted the morale of the French army and the masses, and strengthened the confidence of the people to recover all the territory, the defense of Orléans was a turning point in the Hundred Years' War, reversed the situation of France's defeat, the balance of victory began to tilt in favor of the French side, historian Stephen said: "She continued to lead the army to a series of incredible victories, turning the whole war around".
But in the end, Joan of Arc was arrested, and the English, in order to punish Joan of Arc, slandered Joan as a "witch" and decided to impose the death penalty. On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on the square of Rouen, giving his precious life for the liberation and unification of France. Winston Churchill also spoke highly of Joan of Arc in his History of the English-speaking Countries: "Joan died on May 29, 1431. From then on, the situation in the war was extremely unfavorable for the British. ”
Joan of Arc's leadership to relieve the crisis in Orleans was a turning point in the Hundred Years' War, and after that, with Joan's encouragement and influence, the French people became more united and continued to join the struggle against the British army. Joan's death is a further motivator to complete her unfinished business. The war situation between Britain and France was also reversed, and France gradually moved away from the passive situation of beating and began to turn to strategic offensive. In the English-occupied French region, resistance intensified.
"In fact, the French under British rule have formed such a perception ... The English rarely talk about the welfare of this France, and care little about the tranquility of their ruled... Not to mention, out of deep-seated, even instinctive, hatred for the French, they tried to overthrow France and bring it to extinction in the face of deep disaster. ”
Charles VII began to show remorse, and while pleading for forgiveness, he also had to make a series of atonement gestures: a memorial mass for the fearless, the establishment of a Charte monastery in Montero, etc. Since then, France, from the king to the nobility, from the nobility to the commoners, has formed an unprecedented common understanding, that is: to expel the English, recover the lost lands, and realize the unification of France. Under this unanimous situation, the French army was in full swing and continued to achieve victories.
In the end, the French army, inspired by the spirit of Joan of Arc, recaptured Paris in 1436, and in 1453, the French army defeated the English army in Bordeaux, finally driving the English out of France, achieving the final victory in the Hundred Years' War, and France recovered all the territory except for the port of Canna. It was not until 1558, when France recaptured Calais, that England lost its last city on the continent.
Britain, France and Scotland after the Hundred Years' War
After the Hundred Years' War, great changes took place in Britain and France, and the royal power of France was further strengthened and embarked on the road of feudal monarchy; Britain also embarked on the path of a parliamentary monarchy after the post-war turmoil. After the war, Scotland maintained considerable independence, maintaining an alliance with France, and in the face of England's attack, France still supported Scotland as an ally of Scotland, which allowed Scotland to retain its independent character to a large extent.
After the Hundred Years' War, England did not give up its attack on Scotland, and Scotland did not succumb to its powerful offensive, but became more independent. In order to contain France, England had to adjust its policy towards Scotland and find a new way to merge Scotland with it.
Scotland and France after the Hundred Years' War
The end of the Hundred Years' War did not mean the end of the alliance between Scotland and France, and England did not let Joe fight for Scotland, which meant that Scotland's allies would appear between England and Scotland at any time. French society changed dramatically after the war, and it is important to first notice these changes to better understand why France continued to support Scotland.
The war brought heavy disasters to the French people, the burden of rural taxation and military service was heavy, people were homeless, urban handicraftsmen went bankrupt, industry and commerce were in ruins, and post-war France was in ruins. However, we should take a comprehensive view of the Hundred Years' War from a dialectical point of view, in addition to the damage caused by the war, we should also note that it is precisely because of the destruction of the war that the original political system and social order of France have been broken.
A new system of domination and social order was slowly taking shape, and despite the disasters of war, French historians believe that "conquest and occupation played a positive role in affirming the common French way of perceiving, thinking, and acting." "This is undoubtedly --- great asset for France." Before and during the Hundred Years' War, the king of France was only nominal—a title, and the king's power over the various feudal territories was extremely limited.
The territory of the royal family is not even as good as the territory owned by the lords of Anjou. For the feudal lords everywhere, the French king was only a nominal supreme ruler, and the region still maintained considerable autonomy, which was the main reason why there were frequent feudal betrayals in France during the war. In many cases, it was not easy to get all the dukes in France to recognize the supremacy of the French king, because the principalities enjoyed all the rights of a sovereign state in their own territories.
In particular, Bryandi, a territory that had been at odds with France since the Hundred Years' War. When Charles succeeded to the throne, half of the territory he held did not belong to the French king, and since he was less controlled by France, Charles the Man tried to connect all the areas he controlled into a single single area as his own rule. In order to achieve his ultimate goal of becoming king of France, he allied with Henry VI of England, eventually extending his sphere of influence into France.
At the end of the Hundred Years' War, the situation in France gradually improved, and the power of the king increased, and the adage "France has only one king" was re-established. During this period, "France had only one monarch, the king, and soon there was only one state, the Kingdom of France." When Louis XI ascended the throne, the power of the kingdom was completely concentrated in the hands of the king, and it can be said that the feudal autocratic royal power was formed. After the Hundred Years' War, the French domain was further expanded.
The Hundred Years' War arose as a result of the struggle between England and France for the right to the throne, and because of kinship, the king of England always had a place in France. After the end of the Hundred Years' War, in order to prevent the same situation from happening again, the French king adopted a series of methods, expanding the royal domain through inheritance marriage, confiscation, purchase, inheritance, etc., while reducing the territory of the nobility. Until the second half of the 15th century, the natural boundaries of the French region became clearer, and the royal domain was expanding, even beyond the ancient borders of the kingdom. “
The acquisition of royal territory by inheritance and marriage was typified by the regaining of jurisdiction over Burgundy, Brittany and Anjou. During the reign of Louis XII, the territory of Orleans was also incorporated into the royal domain of France, and the royal territory at this time reached its maximum, which was not much different from the French border at that time.
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