England, France and Christendom, 1377–99

First published in 1972, England, France and Christendom, 1377–99 is the study of the most fiercely fought portion of the Hundred Years’ War and describes the nature of the wars that took place during the reigns of Charles VI of France and Richard II of England.

The author deals with the great efforts that were made by rulers of England and France to achieve a lasting peace by conferring the bulk of the English possessions in France on a new ducal dynasty in Aquitaine, thereby separating them from the English crown and eliminating the root cause of Anglo-French hostility since 1066. He examines the plan made by the two kings to combine their forces to end the Schism in the Catholic Church, to drive the Turks out of Europe, and eventually to recover the Holy Land. He considers the factors which wrecked this ‘Grand Design’, in particular the revolt of the Gascons themselves, who refused to accept their separation from the English Crown.

The book also explores the interaction of foreign policies and domestic politics in England and France, analysing the part played by rival foreign policies in the English civil war of 1386 to 1388, and the contribution of English foreign policy to the Lancastrian revolution of 1399.