The Gascon campaign of 1345 was conducted by Henry, Earl of Derby, as part of the Hundred Years’ War. The campaign took place between August and November 1345 in Gascony, an English-controlled territory in south-west France. Derby oversaw the first successful English land campaign of the war. He twice defeated large French armies in battle, taking many noble and knightly prisoners.
About Gascon campaign of 1345 in brief
The Gascon campaign of 1345 was conducted by Henry, Earl of Derby, as part of the Hundred Years’ War. The whirlwind campaign took place between August and November 1345 in Gascony, an English-controlled territory in south-west France. Derby, commanding an Anglo-Gascon force, oversaw the first successful English land campaign of the war. He twice defeated large French armies in battle, taking many noble and knightly prisoners. They were ransomed by their captors, greatly enriching Derby and his soldiers in the process. Following this campaign, morale and prestige swung England’s way in the border region between English-occupied Gas Cony and French-ruled territory. As a result, France’s ability to raise tax money and troops from the region was much reduced. The French abandoned all of their ongoing sieges of other Anglo- Gascon garrisons and retreated to Angoulême, where John disbanded his army, possibly because the French had run out of money. By this time this time, England had become so truncated by French encroachments that it relied on imports of food, largely from England. Any French interruptions to regular shipping were liable to starve and cripple England financially; the French were possibly liable to financially cripple the English. Before the last cargoes were over 200,000 imperial pints of locally produced wine, the English Crown raised more money than all other countries combined by the combined customs duties and taxes on Bordeaux.
By the time of the Battle of Hastings, England was possibly richer than London’s, and Bordeau had a population of over 50,000, possibly greater than London’s, and was possibly wealthier than London. The battle was to last 116 years, which was to be to 116 years before the war commenced, with well over 1,000 ships a year departed. The status of the English king’s French fiefs was a major source of conflict between the two monarchies throughout the Middle Ages. The independent-minded Gascons had their own customs and claimed to have a separate language; they preferred their relationship with a distant English king who left them alone, to one with a French king who would interfere in their affairs. By 1337, English holdings in France had varied in size, but by 1337 only Gasconen and Ponthieu in northern France were left. On 24 May 1337 Philip’s Great Council agreed that the Duchy of Aquitaine should be taken back into Philip’s hands on the grounds that Edward was in breach of his obligations as a vassal. This marked the start of the hundred-year-old war. The Battle was to take place between 1345 and 1346, when the French and English were at odds over the control of Gasconan territory. The English were to be at odds for more than a decade, and the French would eventually win the war and take control of the region.
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