Feudalism and the Hundred Years War

Abstract

No-one   who makes a study of the Hundred Years War can for long remain ignorant of   the vastly different approaches to the subject pursued by French and by   English-speaking historians. Although the term "Hundred Years War"   was a mid-nineteenth century French invention, imported into England by   Edward Freeman,l and although the classic work on the subject was written,   nearly forty years ago, by a Sorbonne professor, Edouard Perroy (who had   spent many years teaching and researching in Britain),2 there is a sense in   which the Hundred Years War is now the preserve of English-speaking   historians. With very few exceptions, English3 historians have tended to   concentrate upon the political and military features of the relationship   between England and France during the late Middle Ages, and have made of them   the defining characteristics of the Hundred Years War.