CHAPTER V 
THE BLACK DEATH AND THE PEASANTS’ REBELLION 
Economic Changes oe the Later Fourteenth and Early Fifteenth 
Centuries 
27. National Affairs from 1338 to 1461.—For the last century 
or more England had been standing with her back to the Con 
tinent. Deprived of most of their French possessions, engaged 
in the struggle to bring Wales, Scotland, and Ireland under the 
English crown, occupied with repeated conflicts with their bar 
ons or with the development of the internal organization of the 
country, John, Henry III, and the two Edwards had had less 
time and inclination to interest themselves in continental 
affairs than had Henry II and Richard. But after 1337 a new 
influence brought England for the next century into close con 
nection with the rest of Europe. This was the “ Plundred 
Years’ War ” between England and France. Several causes 
had for years combined to make this war unavoidable: the 
interference of France in the dispute with Scotland, the conflicts 
between the rising fishing and trading towns on the English 
and the French side of the Channel, the desire of the French 
king to drive the English kings from their remaining provinces 
in the south of France, and the reluctance of the English kings 
to accept their dependent position in France. Edward III 
commenced the war in 1338 with the invasion of France, and it 
w as continued with comparatively short intervals of peace until 
1 4S 2 - During its progress the English won three of the most 
brilliant military victories in their history, at Crecy, Poitiers, 
and Agincourt, in 1346, 1356, and 1415. But most of the 
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