Did the ‘Hundred Years War’ last a hundred years?

France and England, eternal enemies in the Middle Ages, starred in the confrontation called the “Hundred Years War”, but the war lasted not 100 years but 116 years (1337-1453).

And the expression “Hundred Years War”, with which this long war period was coined, was not used until the mid-19th century when historians of the time introduced it for educational purposes in textbooks in France.

The armed conflict was a period in which truces were also carried out, often for economic reasons, and even peace treaties between the kings of France and England. Other kingdoms such as Castile or Portugal participated in the disputes, which chose to ally themselves on one side or the other according to their convenience. It has come to be considered the first great European war, since it dragged other western kingdoms into the fight.

During this hectic war period, the terrible black plague was suffered, an epidemic that caused the loss of more than a third of the European population during the Middle Ages.

And the end of the warfare resulted in the withdrawal of the English army from French lands. It also meant the end of the feudal states and the Middle Ages, the end of an era that gave way to the entry into the Modern Age.