!00 years war

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ered to be sacred and inviolable,
neither cousin would challenge Philip VI. However, they would exploit
the situation and King Edward III lost no time and invaded Normandy
with an army of 10,000
men. 6
This leads to another cause for The Hundred Years' War. The
land along the Channel and Atlantic coasts was England's first line of
defense against an invasion. England held claim to this territory
from the twelth century through the marriage of King Henry II and
Eleanor of Aquitaine. King Edward III was determined to gain control
of the French coastline while providing himself with a bridgehead for
future expeditions into France. 7
But the major cause of The Hundred Years' War was the economic
interest - the revenues to be gotten from this rich territory. Wine
was Gasgony's largest export product and major source of income to the
vassal. Wool was England's largest export product and the source of
its wealth. English pastures produced fleeces that were the envy of
Europe which Flanders depended on for its wool and linen market. 8
English sheep growers sold their long fine wool to weavers in
Flanders, across the English Channel. Flemish weavers as well as
English sheep growers depended on this trade for their business. In
1336, Philip VI arrested all the English merchants in Flanders and
took away all the privileges of the Flemish towns and the craft
guilds. Resulting in the Flemings revolting against the French
control and making an alliance with England. 9 Consequently, the
flourishing market of the industrial cities of Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp
and Ypres were naturally coveted by the Kings of France and England.
Moreover, the Bordeaux harbor was within the borders of
English Gascony and was the center of the shipping and trading
industry. Commodities such as grains, dairy products, dyes and salt
would be shipped into Bordeaux via the Dordogne and Garo...