Original subtitles

The world we live in was shaped by war.

For hundreds of years, power -hungry families fought for the right to rule,

and Europe transformed.

For the glory of England!

I, Philip de Valois, am the only king of France.

These rivalries shifted borders.

Curse be the French king!

...destroyed cities and brought populations to their knees.

A war of thrones. Don't touch me! A tale of murder, sex, and betrayal.

Greatness, madam, that is what France needs.

Those not crowned in glory were brutally slaughtered or condemned to rot in the

shadows.

The heretic must perish in the flames.

Guards! Guards!

In the merciless game of war and ambition, anything goes.

In the 14th century, Philip VI, King of France, saw a great new rival emerge.

the Plantagenet king of England, Edward III.

He intended to seize the crown from his Valois cousin.

Forward, charge!

The rivalry between the two monarchs and their lust for power was to break the

bond between France and England for generations.

It started the longest and bloodiest war in European history.

This became known as the Hundred Years' War.

On February the 1st, 1328, the 34 -year -old Capetian king of France, Charles

IV, lay dying.

Charles had failed to produce a son and heir, so on his death, the throne of

France would be up for grabs.

Power -hungry rivals started to circle.

The Capetian dynasty's only hope lay in the belly of the French king's third

wife, Jeanne d 'Evreux.

She was seven months pregnant.

Charles prayed that Jeanne would give him a son.

But until then, he entrusted his first cousin, Philip de Valois, as regent.

Philip was thirty -five years old, a tall and handsome knight with a

for courage both in tournament and on the battlefield.

If the queen gave birth to a son, that child would become king.

But if it was a girl, Then Philip would become the first Valois king of France.

In the spring of 1328, the queen went into labor.

Breathe, breathe,

breathe. The whole court held their breath.

At 10 a .m. on April 1st, the much -awaited baby was born.

It was a girl. They christened her Blanche.

Philip de Valois was immediately summoned to Paris and officially

Philip VI, King of France.

Stand up, my lord.

Philip now reigned over 16 million subjects.

and the largest kingdom in Europe.

It was the end of the Capetian dynasty and the start of the Valois.

To you, my people, I promise three things.

To keep the peace, to stop all pillaging, and to judge fairly.

While Philip VI was enjoying his moment of glory, in England, events were

unfolding. that would have a dramatic effect on the new King of France.

For three years, Isabel, the Queen of England, and her lover, Roger Mortimer,

Earl of March, had ruled England.

Isabel had overthrown her husband, Edward II, and crowned her son, Edward

King. But Mortimer was really in charge.

That changed one dark night in October 1330.

Who are you?

What do you want?

Edward. Edward hated his mother's lover.

He was a cruel and vengeful usurper. He had ordered the murder of Edward's

father and was also responsible for the death of his brother.

Edward wanted revenge.

Take him.

No! No!

Isabel was an accomplice to all her lover's crimes, but Edward showed her

and let her live.

Mortimer wasn't so fortunate.

On November 30, 1330, he was executed in the most humiliating way.

Not beheaded, as was usual for a nobility, but hanged like a commoner.

Edward III was now the undisputed sovereign of England.

But he wanted more.

The 18 -year -old king had his sights set on the crown of France as well.

Edward's ambition was founded on the fact that his mother, Isabel, was a

of the French royal family.

She was the sister of the late Capetian king Charles IV.

Like him, she was a descendant of the illustrious king St. Louis IX.

So Philip VI, the Valois king of France, was her first cousin.

But Philip was a member of a younger branch of the Capetian dynasty.

Isabelle was a direct descendant.

When Isabelle's brother died in 1328, she sent two English diplomats to Paris

demand that the French crown be handed over to her.

But the assembly refused.

It had long been believed that Isabelle wasn't allowed to inherit the French

crown because of the Salic law.

This law barred inheritance by women in favor of a firstborn male. But no one

knew of the law's existence at the time.

and it wasn't invoked until much later.

The decision to proclaim Philip de Valois king was probably based on

Philip was a member of the royal court, and everyone knew him.

Isabelle was a foreigner, and she was hated in court.

Edward thought this was an injustice, and he was determined to put it right,

especially as the many territories he already held in France were no longer

sufficient.

Since the 12th century, English kings had held many valuable territories in

very heart of France, the county of Pontieu in the north and the duchy of

Aquitaine in the southwest.

But the kings of England governed these territories merely as dukes and not as

monarchs.

So when it came to swearing loyalty to Philip, the new king of France, Edward

refused.

He would recognize him as a lord, but not as his sovereign.

Philip was incensed by Edward's disrespect.

As payback, in 1337 he decided to seize Aquitaine.

Philip VI was a great military leader.

Enter.

He led one of the strongest and most aggressive armies on the continent.

We have enough mentors around them.

I want them posted here and here.

On the other side, England was a depopulated island with a disastrous

reputation. The English are weak. Victory is ours. Give the order.

Yes, sir.

For years, the English had been fighting a furious border war with the Scots.

Welcome, my son.

Philip VI chose to support Scotland and its 14 -year -old King David II.

Let's talk about the future.

When Edward III heard that Philip VI had offered protection to the King of

Scotland and planned to take Aquitaine, he was furious.

This was treachery.

Edward sent a letter to the King of France.

It was delivered by the Bishop of Lincoln wearing full canonical dress.

Faced with such a ceremony, the King of France, who didn't lack a sense of

humor, laughed out loud.

But when Philip read the letter, the laughter soon stopped.

Edward had the audacity to write, Lord Philip de Valois, who claims to be King

of France.

Edward was challenging Philip's right to rule.

Tell that to your king from me.

I, Philip de Valois, am the only king of France.

Edward declared himself the legitimate heir to the French throne.

This was nothing short of a declaration of war.

In April 1339, the King of France sent an army to attack the English

stronghold of Aquitaine.

They seized several towns, such as Samacare and Bly, but Bordeaux stood

Edward III was at war with the Scots when he found out Philip's offensive in

Aquitaine.

He swore to retaliate, but the English treasury were empty. He searched for an

ally to finance the war.

Citizen Flanders answered his call.

In January 1340, in Gaume, Belgium, Edward unfurled his new coat of arms to

baron.

The traditional English lions were now quartered with gold fleur -de -lis on a

blue background.

the symbol of the French royal family.

With this act, Edward was proclaiming himself both King of England and France.

Edward's actions were met with an immediate and ferocious response from

Philip.

In the former royal abbey of Saint -Denis, Philip summoned his knights

and raised the sacred oriflame, the standard of the King of France.

The message was clear.

It was a symbol of French military power and pride, and made it clear that the

fight for France would be a fight to the death.

War was now on.

But it would take five years to prepare.

July 12, 1346, 750 English ships made landfall at Saint -Vast -la

-Hougue in Normandy.

The ships transported 15 ,000 men ready for battle.

But before attacking, Edward knighted his 16 -year -old son, Prince of Wales.

He would later become known as the Black Prince because of the color of his

armor.

Edward's army then plundered their way through Normandy in an orgy of violence.

They left a trail of devastation in their wake.

Edward's intention was to show that Philip VI was not capable of protecting

own kingdom.

On July 26, 1346, Edward and his men attacked the city of Cologne. Over three

days, 5 ,000 men, women, and children were massacred. The English stole

clothes, vessels of gold and silver.

The English pursued their lust for blood towards the capital, Paris.

Two weeks after the English invasion, Philip gathered a vast army at St.

Faced with this threat, Edward turned and ran. He headed north to the coastal

city of Calais.

Despite having the French army at his heels, on August 26th, the weary English

stopped here, nearer to the village of Crecy -en -Pontieu, in the north of

France.

Philip and some of his army arrived at Crecy during the night.

He immediately sent scouts to judge the strength of the English army.

The next morning, they reported that the English appeared to have no more than

11 ,000 men in total.

11 ,000. Thank you, my lords.

Victory is certain. They are 11 ,000. We are three times as many. Careful, sire.

The English are very well organized.

One of Philip's counselors,

Henri Lemoine de Bal, was less confident than his sovereign.

He believed that the English had the better position.

He advised Philip to wait until morning when the rest of his army had arrived in

camp.

You are right. But in the Middle Ages, controlling an army was a real

Halt!

Refold the lines!

The men in the front received the king's order to stop.

Halt!

Halt!

But the men at the back, who couldn't hear the order, continued to march,

forcing the front forward until, inevitably, the front line came within

the English.

Philip had lost all hope of holding back his men.

He ordered the attack.

Forward! Launch the assault!

The first battle of the Hundred Years' War began.

6 ,000 Genoese crossbowmen hired by Philip led the attack.

But their bolts fell short of the English line.

The English archers advanced and fired.

A good archer could shoot 20 arrows a minute with a range of at least 180

meters.

A crossbowman could only fire five bolts a minute.

and their average range was less than 150 meters.

In the second line, the king had the cream of French society, eager to fight.

In the third line, the French foot soldiers who managed to survive the

arrows threw themselves into the fray, desperate to spill enemy blood.

The battle continued until nightfall.

The French army began to fall apart.

Under a rain of arrows, the French soldiers dropped like

flies.

One of the few to break through the English line was the blind king of

He was so determined to fight, he tied himself to one of his men.

Courageous or mad, John of Bohemia died on the field of Crecy.

After 16 furious cavalry charges, the French retreated. They had been totally

routed.

King Philip, who was wounded in the throat by an English arrow, watched his

troops run.

Sire, for God's sake, please, all is lost.

Today it's difficult to imagine the scale of the disaster that took place at

Crecy. In August 1346, 1 ,542 French lords and

knights were killed, and more than 10 ,000 soldiers were massacred by English

arrows.

The English only lost two knights and 80 men.

Edward's victory was total.

After Crecy, cavalry would never dominate the field of battle as they

The era of the archer had arrived.

Against all odds, Edward had destroyed Philip's army.

But the 100 -year war was far from over, and Edward was still a long way from

snatching the crown of France.

In 1347, Pope Clement VI condemned Edward for his barbarity in battle.

A good Christian, the English king listened, and in September he agreed to

truce. The people of France would no longer live in fear of the marauding

English.

But little did they know, a far greater killer was on the horizon.

In 1348, a plague known as the Black Death swept across France.

and a third of the population died.

In August, it jumped across the Channel and ravaged Dorset for the next 16

months.

When the disease reached London, it killed 40 ,000 people.

Overall, the plague killed around 25 million people across the whole of

nearly half the population.

As the plague tightened its grip across Europe, whole villages were abandoned,

farmland deserted, and taxes were unpaid.

The sudden shortage of money, men, and food made further war impossible.

Then, suddenly, on August 22, 1350, Philip VI, the first

Valois king of France, died.

He was fifty -seven years old.

The following Thursday, Philip's body was brought here to the Basilica of

-Denis, the necropolis of the kings of France.

Today, He lies next to his son, King John II.

Philip VI died leaving France devastated by war and plague.

Historians blame him for having weakened the French monarchy by granting too

many privileges in order to finance the war.

It's true that Philip made a strategic error at Crecy.

But he was a conqueror king who left France far larger than it had ever been.

The frontiers of the country now stretched from the foot of the Alps to

powerful city of Montpellier on the Mediterranean.

In Paris, Philip also left behind the impressive keep of Vincennes.

It was finally completed by his grandson, Charles V.

Philip also provided France with a much -needed sun and air, stability in

uncertain times.

In 1350, Philip's son was crowned King John II.

He was 31 years old when he inherited the throne.

He was a stubborn but courageous warrior and was nicknamed John the Good.

In 1351, he created an order of chivalry called the Order of the Star.

By St. Denis and St. Michael, I do thee knight.

John was convinced that chivalry was the only way to beat the English and seek

revenge for his father's failure at Cassis.

Show yourself.

On the other side of the channel, the Plantagenet Edward III was growing weary

and ill.

But he still hoped to wear the crown of France one day.

He refused to give up, even if at the

moment he did not have the strength to lead his own army.

He entrusted all military operations to his son, Edward.

the Black Prince.

The Black Prince was cruel and ambitious.

He also shared his father's appetite for the French crown.

In October 1355, the Black Prince, who landed at Bordeaux, left his Aquitaine

fiefdom. For the next two months, he swept through Languedoc, killing and

burning.

The Black Prince's tactics were exactly the same as his father's.

He wanted to terrorize the population and destabilize the new king.

It was a strategy that worked brilliantly.

Regions of France, pillaged and devastated by the English, took decades

recover from the brutal attack.

In the summer of 1356, the Black Prince and a small band of knights launched a

raid towards the center of France.

King John quickly secured the bridges over the Loire to stop the English.

The Black Prince turned back, with King John in hot pursuit.

On September 17th, he caught up with the English army at the gates of Poitiers.

Ten years after Crecy, the second great battle of the One Hundred Years' War was

about to begin.

The Black Prince was cornered and outnumbered.

Desperate to avoid a fight, he promised not to raise an army against the French

for seven years in exchange for a total pardon.

But John refused.

He wanted to make an example of his English enemy and finished what his

had failed to do.

At dawn on September 18th, at Poitiers, the battle lines were drawn.

The French outnumbered the English by nearly two to one.

And for once, even the formidable archers could do nothing to help.

All seemed lost when suddenly, behind the French lines,

an English banner appeared.

The Black Prince had ordered a few soldiers to skirt around the French

and surprise the enemy.

The French panicked, and the Black Prince breached the enemy lines.

On September 19th, against all odds, King John and his son Philip were

surrounded by enemy soldiers.

Look out on the right!

The English were eager to capture the King of France, better alive,

but dead if necessary.

In the end, King John had no choice but to surrender.

After his victory, the Black Prince went to see his prisoners.

John the Good and his son were on their gar.

But according to the rules of chivalry, the Black Prince, Edward, showed

generosity towards his conquered cousins.

After fine wine, He served them a meal himself, kneeling as a sign of respect.

The will of God is neither evil nor a cause for remorse.

You'll be treated with the greatest regard.

He congratulated John on his bravery. He told him he had fought better than any

man on the battlefield.

And even in defeat, you have honored your reputation and the House of France.

But the prince's fine words were of little consolation to the French king.

Losing what should have been an easy victory must have been utterly

The next morning, John and his son were taken to Bordeaux as prisoners.

They were surrounded by the booty stolen from the French towns and villages.

A few days later they were put aboard a ship bound for England.

May the 24th, 1357, John the Good made his entry into London.

He was imprisoned in the Savoy Palace.

In France, Charles, the 18 -year -old son of John the Good, was quickly named

regent. But the inexperienced boy was completely overwhelmed by the pressure

leadership.

Not only was his father in an English prison, but France was in the hands of

mercenaries, terrorizing and pillaging villages and towns across the kingdom.

You must

do something,

Charles. I know.

I need to think.

The responsibility was all too much for the Dauphin, Charles.

He desperately wanted to bring his father home and restore stability no

the cost. But to do that, he would have to negotiate with King Edward of

England.

The English king demanded a ransom of four million gold EQs and territories in

France.

He already held Pontieux and Calais in the north. He now demanded Saint -Ange,

the Limousin, Poitou, Rouergue, and Béarn.

the equivalent of a third of the Kingdom of France.

Charles agreed to pay the ransom, but refused to concede the

territories.

It would have terrifying consequences.

In October 1359, the Black Prince once again set foot on French soil.

And with him, 30 ,000 troops.

The prince's objective was to show his strength and prove how weak the French

monarchy was.

The ferocious attack would culminate in his coronation as king of France

at Reims Cathedral, the traditional place of consecration.

But Edward would never enter the cathedral, because the citizens of Reims

refused to open the gates of the city. So he changed course and set off for the

capital.

Forward!

But Edward's army was too weak to take Paris by force. So he laid siege in the

hope of forcing the Dauphin to surrender.

But Charles held firm, and Edward was forced to negotiate a peace agreement.

On May 1st, 1359, negotiations began in the little hamlet of Bretigny, near

Charcot.

You've got to understand, this is a very important cause.

After eight days of discussion, the King of England was handed the territories

he wanted and agreed to reduce the ransom for King John to three million

accused.

In return...

Edward renounced his claim to the French throne.

The treaty came into force in the fall of 1361.

After a first installment of 400 ,000 gold accused was paid, Edward III

released King John II.

But that was not the end of the story.

King John had to leave three of his sons in England until the final installment

of the ransom was paid God

bless you

my son

One of his sons, the 24 -year -old Louis, the Duke of Anjou, escaped and

back to France and the woman he loved.

So King John was forced to return to his imprisonment in London, three years

after being set free.

Three months later, on April 8, 1364, King John died in the Savoy Palace.

He was 45 years old.

After his ancestor, the sainted King Louis, John the Good was the second

in the history of France to have been made prisoner.

King John's remains were taken back to Paris.

and interred in the Abbey of Saint -Denis, the necropolis of the kings of

France.

John the Good never gave up the crown of France.

His eldest son, the dauphin Charles, succeeded him as Charles V.

Despite a difficult regency, he was to become a great king.

Edward had failed to snatch the French crown, but he was proud to have weakened

a kingdom as rich and powerful as France.

The Treaty of Bretigny deprived the kingdom of a quarter of its territory.

Population was decimated.

Whole villages were abandoned.

France was in ruins.

Its people starved and bled dry.

With the death of King John II, the first phase of the One Hundred Years'

was nearing its end, but France was preparing for her revenge.