Conclusion

When my son was at primary school, he used to ask me who won the Hundred Years War. To him the question seemed both sensible and valid, for all wars surely have winners and losers. When time was short I usually told him that the French won. After all, they did overcome English armies at Formigny in 1450 and Castillon in 1453, defeats that the English were never able to redeem. As a result Normandy and Gascony were lost. Never again were the English to hold lands on such a scale in France; the tenure of Calais in 1558 and briefly-held Tudor conquests provided but a pale reflection of former glories.