The century of war, plague and disorder

War with Scotland and France

After Edward I's attempt to take over Scotland in 1295, the Scots turned to the obvious ally, the king of France - "Auld Alliance". Scotland supported France during the Hundred Years War, the English repeatedly invaded the Scottish. England's wish to control Scotland had suffered a major setback at Bannockburn in 1314. After other unsuccessful attempts England gave up its claim to overlordship of Scotland in 1328. But in 1482 Edward IV's army occupied Edinburgh.

England's troubles with France resulted from the French king's determination to control all his nobles, such as the duke of Burgundy and the English king (the king of France's vassal as duke of Aquitaine). The king of France began to interfere with England's trade in Gascony (part of Aquitaine that traded its wines and woollen cloth) and Burgundy/Flanders (almost all England's wool export). This was a threat to England's wealth. England threatened Burgundy with economic collapse by stopping wool exports to Burgundy. This forced Burgundy to make an alliance with England against France.

Edward III declared war on France in 1337. He had re-established control over these areas by the English Crown. The French recognised his ownership of all Aquitaine; parts of Normandy and Brittany, and the newly captured port of Calais. But all this land, except for the valuable coastal ports of Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux and Bayonne, was taken back by French forces during the next fifteen years. Winning battles was easier than winning wars.

The age of chivalry

Edward III and his eldest son, the Black Prince, became symbols of the "code of chivalry". During the reign of Edward interest grew in the legendary King Arthur, a Celtic ruler who fought the Anglo-Saxons. The legend included both the imagined magic and mystery of the Celts, and also the knightly values of the court of Edward III.

The perfect knight fought for his good name if insulted, served God and the king, and defended any lady in need. Chivalry was a useful way of persuading men to fight by creating the idea that war was a noble and glorious thing. But in fact cruelty, death, destruction and theft were the reality of war, as they are today.

Once, a lady at court accidentally dropped her garter and Edward III noticed some of his courtiers laughing at her. He picked up the garter and tied it to his own leg, saying in French "Let him be ashamed who sees wrong in it." The Order of the Garter was founded in 1348. The twenty-tour knights met once a year on St George's Day at Windsor Castle, as it was supposed to have been in legend.

The century of plagues

Plagues had killed sheep and other animals. Land was over-used. An agricultural crisis resulted from the growth in population and the need to produce more food. The year 1348 brought the terrible plague, known as the Black Death. More than one-third of the British died, and fewer than one person in ten who caught the plague could survive. It took until the seventeenth century before the population reached four million again. After the Black Death there were other plagues.

At the end of the thirteenth century the sharp rise in prices had led an increasing number of landlords and going back to serf labour. After the Black Death the remaining workers found that they could demand more money and did so. To avoid losses landlords returned to the twelfth-century practice of letting out their land to energetic freeman farmers who bit by bit added to their own land. By the mid-fifteenth century few landlords had home farms at all. These smaller farmers who rented the manorial lands slowly became a new class, known as the "yeomen".

One of the most important economic changes during the fourteenth century was the replacement of wool by finished cloth as England's main export. Merchants decided they could increase their profits by buying wool in England at half the price for which it was sold in Flanders, and produce finished cloth for export.

The poor in revolt

Edward's grandson, Richard II inherited the problems of discontent but had neither the diplomatic skill of his grandfather, nor the popularity of his father. Added to this he became king when he was only eleven, and so others governed for him.

In the year he became king, these advisers introduced a tax payment for every person over the age of fifteen. Two years later, this tax was enforced again. But in 1381 this tax was enforced for a third time and also increased to three times the previous amount. There was an immediate revolt in East Anglia and in Kent, two of the richer parts of the country. The poorer parts of the country, the north and northwest, did not rebel, they were less aware and confident.

There were also other reasons for discontent. The landlords had been trying for some time to force the peasants back into serfdom, because serf labour was cheaper than paid labour. The leader of the revolt, Wat Tyler claimed: "We are men formed in Christ's likeness," he, "and we are kept like animals." The idea that God had created all people equal called for an end to feudalism and respect for honest labour. The Peasants' Revolt lasted for four weeks. In fact the revolt was not only by peasants from the countryside: a number of poorer townspeople also revolted. When Wat Tyler was killed, Richard II promised to meet all the people's demands, including an end to serfdom, and the people peacefully went home. As soon as they had gone, Richard's position changed: "Serfs you are and serfs you shall remain." His officers hunted down other leading rebels and hanged them.

Heresy and orthodoxy

Discontent with the Church also grew because of the greed and cruelty of the Church to peasants and townspeople. There was another reason why the people of England disliked paying taxes to the pope - their "Englishness" and the pope was a foreigner. To make matters worse the pope was living in Avignon in France that means the pope was on the French side, and the taxes they paid to the Church were actually helping France against England.

Another threat to authority of the Church during the fourteenth century was the increase of religious writings, which were for use in private prayer. These writings allowed to pray and think independently of Church control.

At the end of the fourteenth century new religious ideas appeared in England which were called as heresy or "Lollardy". One of the leaders of Lollardy John Wycliffe believed that everyone should be able to read the Bible in Eng­lish to save their soul. He translated it from Latin in 1396. Lollards were admired by nobles and scholars who were critical of the Church. But Henry IV in 1401 introduced into England the idea of executing the Lollards by burning. Lollardy was driven underground.