FactSentinel

The Hundred Years' War is conventionally dated from 1337 to 1453, which adds up to 116 years. The starting point is usually set at 1337, when King Philip VI of France confiscated the Duchy of Aquitaine from England's Edward III, who responded by pressing his own claim to the French crown. The end is usually marked by the French victory at the Battle of Castillon in July 1453 and the fall of Bordeaux that October, which ended English rule in southwestern France. Most historians and major reference works use these dates.

The name is the main source of confusion. "Hundred Years' War" is a later label, popularized by historians in the nineteenth century, and it is a convenient round number rather than a precise measurement. The conflict was also not continuous fighting. It consisted of several phases separated by truces and periods of relative calm, including the Edwardian phase, the Caroline phase, and the Lancastrian phase that included Henry V's victory at Agincourt and the later revival led by Joan of Arc.

Some uncertainty remains because no single peace treaty ended the war. England also kept Calais until 1558, and a formal agreement, the Treaty of Picquigny, did not come until 1475. Even so, the accepted span of 1337 to 1453 makes 116 years the standard answer.