• Course begins February 17, 2026

  • This 10-week survey includes live sessions with the instructor each week from 2:00 to 3:30pm Eastern U.S. time

  • All sessions are recorded so you can watch them at your convenience

Session 1

Western Europe before 1337

We begin by exploring the longue-durée causes of the Hundred Years’ War, focusing on the feudal system, chivalry, and the crusading legacy. We’ll examine earlier English and French conflicts to understand how centuries of rivalry, ambition, and shifting power set the stage for one of Europe’s most transformative wars.

Session 2

The Usual Squabbles

This lecture covers the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War, from its outbreak in 1337 to the Treaty of Espléchin in 1340. We’ll see how early campaigns mirrored the familiar Anglo-French disputes of earlier centuries rather than the full-scale war yet to come.

Session 3

Diwall Breizh!

“Diwall Breizh!” (“Watch out, Brittany!”), examines how the Breton War of Succession reignited hostilities between France and England. We’ll explore how competing claims, local loyalties, and foreign intervention turned Brittany into a crucial battleground and a preview of the larger, more destructive phases of the Hundred Years’ War to come.

Session 4

Not Mere Sheep

We’ll explore the economic dimensions of the Hundred Years’ War, focusing on how England’s kings leveraged the wool trade to finance campaigns and exert political pressure. By tracing trade networks, taxation, and shifting markets, we’ll see how economic power shaped military strategy and ultimately influenced the war’s long and complex outcome.

Session 5

De Charny and the Black Prince

This time we explore the growing crisis of chivalry during the mid–Hundred Years’ War. As Edward the Black Prince pursued swift, pragmatic victories to counter economic strain and inferior numbers, figures like Geoffroi de Charny defended the ideals of honor and knightly conduct that sustained their social power, revealing a world on the brink of transformation.

Session 6

A Pale Horse

We examine how the Black Death reshaped the war and the societies fighting it. We’ll look at how England and France experienced the pandemic differently—England emerging more unified, France descending into chaos—and how demographic collapse, labor shortages, and shifting morale transformed warfare, economy, and faith, altering the course of medieval Europe forever.

Session 7

La Jacquerie and the Collapse of the French Kingdom

Between 1356 and the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, France was ravaged by defeat, the Jacquerie rebellion, and ransom. We’ll explore how social unrest, political fragmentation, and economic strain brought the Edwardian phase of the war to a turbulent close.

Session 8

The Great French Comeback

The Caroline War signified the remarkable “Great French Comeback” that followed the Treaty of Brétigny. We’ll explore how France, under Charles V and Bertrand du Guesclin, rebuilt its armies, reclaimed lost territories, and restored royal authority. Through strategy, diplomacy, and endurance, the French transformed near-defeat into resurgence, reshaping the balance of power in the Hundred Years’ War.

Session 9

The Second English Invasion

We’ll examine how Henry V’s renewed ambitions reignited the conflict with the outbreak of the Lancastrian War, the “second English invasion,” which led to the conquest of Normandy. This phase marks a turning point in military history, as we begin to see new technological innovations and evolving tactics that reshape the nature and scale of warfare.

Session 10

Birth of a New Nation

Our final session brings the Hundred Years’ War to a close in 1453 and sees with it the rise of a new French identity. We’ll follow the story of Joan of Arc and her divine mission, tracing how her legacy and the war’s end transformed France from a patchwork of feudal loyalties into a more unified kingdom. By examining shifting notions of kingship, sovereignty, and belonging, we’ll see how the first stirrings of nationalism set the stage for the modern nation-state, and for Europe’s coming Age of Empire.

  • Start Learning

    First live session February 17, 2026 at 2:00pm Eastern U.S. time

  • Access

    Course materials are available for 30 days after the last course session.

Meet your Instructor

C.J. Adrien

C.J. Adrien is a French-American history teacher and award-winning author of historical fiction, currently based in France. His academic and literary work focuses primarily on the Viking Age and early medieval Brittany. His interest in that area developed out of an earlier and continued fascination with chivalry and the evolution of the knightly class, themes that continue to inform his research and writing. His novels, grounded in historical sources, aim to bridge the gap between scholarly insight and accessible narrative. In addition to his fiction, he has contributed to public history through lectures, courses, conferences, and as co-host of the podcast Vikingology.