Anglo-French War (1294–1298)

Anglo-French War (1294–1298)

PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: England vs. France and Scotland

PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): Gascony, in southwestern France

DECLARATION: England’s Edward I declared war in June
1294 when Philip IV the Fair of France occupied Gascony.

MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: England attempted to
regain its lands in Gascony.

OUTCOME: England’s forces were defeated, and a treaty
was arranged for royal marriages between France and
England to secure peace between the two countries.

APPROXIMATE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEN UNDER ARMS:
Unknown

CASUALTIES: Unknown

TREATIES: Signed at Tournai, January 31, 1298

The war between Edward I (1239–1307) of England and
Philip IV the Fair (1268–1314) of France broke out when
Philip’s troops moved on English holdings in Gascony. In
response Edward declared war on France in June 1294 but
was faced with an alliance between the French and the
ever-rebellious Scots. Edward managed to quell a Scottish
revolt at home early in 1295, but doing so weakened his
position in France, and Philip’s forces penetrated farther
into Gascony.
It was 1297 before Edward could mount an offensive
designed to divert Franco-Scottish aggression from Gascony
by taking the Norman territory of Furnes. This strategy
failed when Edward was defeated by superior French
cavalry, and the English monarch sued for peace. The
truce, concluded in April 1297 at Vyve-Saint-Bavon, left
Gascony in the hands of the French. The following year
the war officially ended with a treaty signed on January
31, 1298, at Tournai. The agreement arranged for two
intermarriages between the royal families of France and
England in order to seal the peace. The marriage deprived
Scotland’s William Wallace (c. 1270–1305) of his most
important ally, greatly weakening the Scottish cause.

See also ANGLO-FRENCH WAR (1242–1243); ANGLOFRENCH
WAR (1300–1303).

Further reading: Michael Prestwick, Edward I (New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997); Fiona J. Watson,
Under the Hammer: Edward I and Scotland, 1286–1306
(East Linton, U.K.: Tuckwell Press, 1998).