| 1341 | ||
| 1341 | Edward III, frustrated with his failure on the continent, begins a purge of the English government, taking all the government into his own hands, ordering all unpaid taxes from the assessment of 1340 to be collected, and imposing collection illegally on the clergy as well. This begins a crisis in the government, and much distress through the realm. | |
| 1341 | Godfrey de Harcourt and Robert Bertrand, who have for some time been at odds over the marriage of a local heiress, begin summoning their vassals, to make war on each other. King Philippe VI forbids them to fight. | |
| 1341 | Surveys done for the Chancellor of the Exchequer find land going out of cultivation all over England. War taxation, military service and fierce purveyance of supplies for the war are principal culprits for this phenomenon. | |
| 1341 | February | King Edward III begins preparations for another expedition onto the continent, on a very ambitious scale. It is to consist of some 13,500 troops, two thirds of which are to be archers. |
| 1341 | King Edward III holds a great tournament at Langley, which is heavily attended by Gascon noblemen | |
| 1341 | March | The Holy Roman Emperor makes peace with the King of France. |
| 1341 | King Jaime III of Majorca holds a tournament in defiance of the French royal ordinance, where one of his squires dresses in the arms of England and shouts 'Guyenne' as he rides through the lists. Soon after this, James repudiates the sovereignty of France. | |
| 1341 | April | Jean de Marigny, Bishop of Beauvais, and Louis de Poitiers, Count of Valentinois, King Philippe VI's lieutenants in the south of France, begin summoning troops to Toulouse. |
| 1341 | Troops under the command of William Douglas make a surprise attack on Edinburgh, taking the city from the English. | |
| 1341 | A large fleet begins patrolling between La Rochelle and the Biscay ports, to ward off an English landing in Gascony, all ships between Calais and the Gironde are surveyed for their readiness for war service, and relations patched up with the Genoese in order to hire rowers and crossbowmen for the galley fleet. In the south of France the royal lieutenants increase the number of men under their command. | |
| 1341 | 23 April | Parliament assembles in England, and Edward III spends a good deal of time backpedaling from his behavior of the beginning of the year. He abandons the judicial commissions, renounces the attempts to collect the 1340 tax, agrees to his officers and household being answerable to Parliament, and submits the government's use of taxes to an audit. In return he receives a new grant of 30,000 sacks of wool and, from the House of Lords, permission for another continental expedition. He also mends his quarrel with Archbishop Stratford, restoring him to most of his previous influence. |
| 1341 | 30 April | Death of Jean III, Duke de Bretagne, beginning of the civil war in Brittany between his younger half-brother, Jean Count de Montfort and Jeanne de Penthièvre, daughter of his brother Guy for the title. Despite the will left by Jean III in favor of his niece, Jean de Montfort assumes the title, and calls on the nobles of Brittany to support him, with mixed result. Jeanne de Penthièvre and her husband Charles de Blois appeal to Philippe VI for aid. |
| 1341 | May | Jean III, duke of Brittany, is laid to rest in the Carmelite monastery of Ploermel. Jean de Montfort, one of the claimants to the duchy, takes possession of the city of Nantes, seizes the treasury, and takes the fealty of it's citizen. |
| 1341 | mid May | Jean de Montfort seizes Limoges, taking the fealty of its citizens and seizing the treasury. |
| 1341 | End of May | Jean de Montfort returns to Nantes, and awaits the Breton nobility to arrive to do homage. There is no response from anyone of consequence, except Herve de Leon, Lord of Finistere. |
| 1341 | Parliament dissolves. After a few months King Edward III feels secure enough to rescind most of the more unpleasant statutes by royal warrant, claiming they were 'contrary to law and reason' and imposed on him under duress. | |
| 1341 | Summer | The Breton succession problem is referred to the parlement of Paris. |
| 1341 | June | The Holy Roman Emperor revokes King Edward III's authority as Imperial Vicar, causing most of the German princes to desert the English side completely. |
| 1341 | David II of Scotland returns to his kingdom, landing at Inverbervie, ending his seven year exile. | |
| 1341 | Jean de Marigny and Louis de Poitiers seize the city of Montpelier by force. | |
| 1341 | 'The English Party', an otherwise unidentified body of men, occupy Belcayre, in Rouergue. | |
| 1341 | First week of June | Members of the La Motte family, with the approval of Oliver Ingham, seneschal of Gascony, and in clear violation of the truce, assault the town of Bourg, entering by a window in the abbey of St, Vincent and raising the townsmen. The garrison retreats to the citadel. |
| 1341 | 9 June | Three princes of the French Council and the leaders of the Anglo-German coalition meet and agree an extension of the truce until 29 August. This is in theory to allow time for serious negotiations to begin, but is in fact to allow more time for King Edward III to gather his troops to renew the war. |
| 1341 | End of June | The garrison of Bourg surrenders to the besiegers. The captain of the garrison is later accused of treason by King Philippe VI, and the castellany is eventually conferred on Amanieu de la Motte. This set off a wave of unofficial warfare and pillaging by both sides across southern France. |
| 1341 | In response to the general lawlessness and military activity Oliver Ingham raises troops and takes to the field, and the French lieutenants proclaim the arrier-ban across the southern provinces. In a letter to King Philippe VI one of them informs him that 'the truce counts for nothing down here.' | |
| 1341 | July | Jean de Montfort arrives in England, to give his fealty for the county of Richmond, and to offer his fealty for Brittany, in return for English support for his claim to the Duchy. No final decision was reached, but negotiations continue. |
| 1341 | 1 July | Gavin Corder, on of his household knights, sails from Dartmouth, with a chancery clerk and an armed escort, to Brittany to make contact with Jean de Montfort. |
| 1341 | 7 July | Gavin Corder and his escort lands at Guerande. |
| 1341 | 10 July | Gavin Corder meets with Jean de Montfort in Nantes in private, and while Jean is willing to consider changing his allegiance and recognizing Edward III as king of France, he will not commit himself yet, and so he keeps them waiting. |
| 1341 | 1 August | A peace conference convenes between the French and English at Antoing, on the border of Hainault and Flanders. |
| 1341 | 6 August | The English delegation, headed by the Earl of Huntingdon, arrives at the peace conference at Antoing |
| 1341 | Early August | Rumors begin to spread that Jean de Montfort is planning to go over to the English. |
| 1341 | 10 August | The peace conference at Antoing agrees to extend the truce for two weeks, from 29 August to 14 September, 1341, and begins discussions for a further extension. |
| 1341 | 13 August | In response to the perceived threat of de Montfort's change of side, the arrier-ban is proclaimed throughout France, plans are made to invade Brittany from the east, and the remaining ships of the fleets of Doria and Grimaldi are put to sea to cruise off the Breton coast. |
| 1341 | 15 August | Edward III's ships are to be ready in their ports for the expedition to the continent, with the troops to be ready within a week. |
| 1341 | 18 August | News of the two week extension of the truce reaches England, and Edward III issues orders for the army to be ready to embark the day after it expires. |
| 1341 | 19 August | The Earl of Huntingdon abruptly departs the peace conference at Antoing, claiming he needs to seek further instructions from England. In his absence the conference is suspended. |
| 1341 | 20 August | Jean de Montfort, in response to a royal summons, departs for Paris. |
| 1341 | 21 August | Having received no substantive response from Jean de Montfort before his departure for Paris, the English delegation returns to England. |
| 1341 | 25 August | The Count of Valetinois takes the city of Bourg, though probably not the citadel. |
| 1341 | 26 August | Hugh of Geneva surprises a French force at the Benedictine abbey of Guitres, and pursues them north for a number of miles. This forces a French withdrawal up the Dordogne valley. |
| 1341 | 27 August | A commission of two bishops begins to hear evidence from both sides of the Breton succession issue. |
| 1341 | Late August | Jean de Montfort arrives in Paris, and has a chilly interview with King Philippe VI, in which the king confronts de Montfort with the rumors of his changing allegiance, which he denies. Philippe orders de Montfort to remain in Paris until the commission had delivered its verdict. |
| 1341 | The Earl of Huntingdon returns to England, reporting to King Edward III that the German allies, in particular the Duke of Brabant, would not support another campaign based in their territories, and that they insisted on an extension of the truce. | |
| 1341 | Early September | The French withdrawal up the Dordogne makes the position of the garrison of Bourg untenable, and they withdraw. |
| 1341 | 2 September | At meeting of the English royal council, given the bad news from the conference at Antoing, and no good news from Brittany, King Edward III decides to agree to an extension of the truce of Esplechin for another year. The ships of the invasion fleet are released, and the troops sent home. |
| 1341 | Jean de Montfort secretly flees Paris and returns to Nantes, issuing orders to all his garrisons to put them on a war footing and sending two confidants to England with official proposals for changing allegiance. The commission on the Breton succession is suspended. | |
| 1341 | 7 September | At Conflans the commission on the Breton reconvenes, and Philippe VI and his court of peers announce that Charles de Blois and Jeanne de Penthièvre are the rightful inheritors to the Duchy of Brittany. Philippe VI orders the confiscation of Jean's county of Montfort l'Amuary, and summons the army to muster at Angers on 26 September. |
| 1341 | 12 September | Gavin Corder and the English delegation to Brittany return to England, reporting to Edward III the results, or lack thereof, of their mission. Their arrival is almost immediately followed by information of the flight from Paris of de Montfort, and the decree of the commission at Conflans. |
| 1341 | The ambassadors at the peace conference at Antoing agree to an extension of the truce until 24 June 1342. | |
| 1341 | End of September | The French army gathers at Angers, under the command of Prince Jean, Duke of Normandy, under the supervision of the king's councillor Mile de Noyers and the king's brother-in-law the Duke of Burgundy. |
| 1341 | Beginning of October | King Edward III seals a military alliance with the agents of Jean de Montfort, setting aside £10, 000 to pay for the troops. |
| 1341 | 3 October | Orders are issued to seize merchant shipping from London to Bristol and assemble them at Portsmouth to carry the troops to Brittany. The fleet is placed under the command of Robert Morley, and the troops under the command of Walter Mauny and Robert d'Artois. |
| 1341 | 10 October | The advance guard of the French army, under the command of Charles de Blois, lays siege to Champtoceaux. |
| 1341 | 14 October | The Duke of Normandy arrives at Champtoceaux with the remainder of the French army. |
| 1341 | 26 October | Despite a valiant, if doomed, attempt by Jean de Montfort to relieve it, Champtoceaux falls to the French. Jean de Montfort retires hurriedly back to Nantes, closely pursued by the French army. |
| 1341 | Late October | The French army arrives outside Nantes, overwhelming the outlying defenses and beheading their captives outside the city. Jean de Montfort is reminded by the citizens of Nantes of the reservations they had placed on their fealty, and refuse to fight. An agreement is eventually made that they would hold out for a month, at which time Jean would have to leave the city and take his chances. |
| 1341 | Early November | Desperate and short on time, Jean de Montfort leads a series of sorties outside Nantes. These are not successful military ventures, the last of them ending in the flight of de Montfort's mercenaries, the death of many of townsmen, and an argument with Herve de Leon. As a result of this the townsmen of Nantes, despite their previous agreement, tell Jean that if he doesn't begin negotiations, they would. |
| 1341 | 2 November | Jean de Montfort goes to the Duke of Normandy's camp to surrender the city to him. Jean is offered the possibility of negotiations with King Philippe VI, in return for surrendering all his garrisons in Brittany, and given a safe conduct to Paris and back. Charles de Blois enters the city to the rejoicing of the people. |
| 1341 | Mid November | Eighty seven ships are requisitioned for the Brittany fleet, and begin arriving at Portsmouth. Given the events in Brittany, the expedition is cancelled. |
| 1342 | December | Bernard-Aiz d'Albret attends a council meeting in England devoted to the situation in Gascony. He paints a grim picture of the affairs there, and promises to to many things to rectify it, if he is given enough money. |
| 1341 | End of December | Jean de Montfort accompanies the Duke of Normandy to Paris. On his arrival he is offered a treaty to renouncing his claim to Brittany in return for a pension and a grant of land in France. He refuses, and Philippe VI rescinds his safe conduct and imprisons him in the Louvre. |
| 1341 | Winter | Jeanne de Montfort, wife of Jean de Montfort, continues her husbands claim for the Duchy of Brittany. She dispatches the treasury to Brest and, leaving a garrison in Rennes, she joins with the main army of the de Montfort faction under Geoffrey de Malestroit, which had been at Saint Renen awaiting English troops. Once combined she fights her way south, storming and capturing the city of Redon, occupying the Guerande peninsula and establishing her headquarters at Hennebon. There she proclaims her son Jean as heir apparent should Jean de Montfort be executed, and appoints Amaury de Clisson as he principal advisor. |
| 1342 | ||
| 1342 | Oliver Ingham visits England for an official review of affairs in Gascony. | |
| 1342 | 15 January | At Pointose a fourth son is born to Prince Jean and his wife Bonne. He is named Philippe, and is the future Philippe le Hardi (the Bold), Duke de Bourgogne. |
| 1342 | February | Charles de Blois controls all of the French speaking parts of eastern Brittany except Rennes, all of de Montfort's supporters having melted away, led by Herve de Leon, who became a principal advisor to de Blois. |
| 1342 | Amaury de Clisson arrives in England with sweeping powers to negotiate an alliance between Jeanne de Montfort and King Edward III, and loaded down with chest of money to encourage diplomacy. | |
| 1342 | Jeanne de Montfort moves from Hennenbont to Brest. | |
| 1342 | David II of Scotland raids across the border into Northumberland. | |
| 1342 | 11-12 February | Edward III holds a magnificent tournament in Dunstable, fighting in the lists as a simple knight. |
| 1342 | Third week February | A gathering of nobles in London plan how to prosecute the Breton war, amounting to an English takeover of the Breton government in the name of the Countess and young Jean de Montfort. Walter Mauny is given command of an advance guard, with a larger force under William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton and Robert d'Artois to follow, and eventually, when the general truce of Esplechin has expired, King Edward III himself intended to command. Amaury de Clisson commits the whole of the ducal treasury, as a loan to King Edward III, to finance this effort, handing over £1,000 immediately, and promising £13,600 when the first forces land, and the remainder when Edward III comes in Brittany. Troops are told to be ready by the beginning of May to go to the ports to embark. |
| 1341 | 21 February | Breton representatives agree to and seal the treaty to bring English involvement in the Breton civil war. |
| 1342 | 24 February | Henri de Malestroit, an emissary of King Philippe VI, arrives at Brest, demanding the submission of de Montfort's supporters and the surrender of Brest. |
| 1342 | Spring | Oliver Stretford, and Englishman appointed as the 'Duke's Lieutenant' in Brittany, recruits captains from the Cinque Ports, the west country and Bayonne to act as privateers in the Channel and prey on French shipping, in return for a third of the take. While they are for a short time very active, they are not very particular in their choice of targets, nor in their accounting. |
| 1342 | March | The advance guard of the Brittany forces, under Walter Mauny, gathers in Portsmouth, but the expedition is delayed by difficulty in requisitioning ships. |
| 1342 | 1 March | Jeanne de Montfort and Henri de Malestroit agree to a truce, to last until 15 April. This effectively freezes the current military situation, and leaves her in control of western Brittany. |
| 1342 | end of March | Of the sixty ships needed for Walter Mauny's expedition only forty-four are found. Many arrive late, some laden with cargos that need to be unloaded, and several lay outside the port and refuse to enter until they have been paid. |
| 1342 | Scottish forces take Roxburgh castle, laying ladders against the walls and taking the garrison by surprise. Sterling castle, long under siege, surrenders to the Scots two days later. | |
| 1342 | King Edward III, his Breton invasion plans stalled by the poor reaction of his German allies to a plan which involves breaking a truce they are party to, is persuaded to send a representative to a peace conference between the French Crown and the German princes due to begin at Conde on 14 April. | |
| 1342 | 1 April | Requisitioning of ships begins in the ports between Portsmouth and Bristol begins, to provide the fleet for the secondary army for the Brittany expedition. |
| 1342 | 11 April | King Philippe IV summons his army to meet at Arras on 24 June, the day the truce of Esplechin is due to expire. |
| 1342 | 15 April | The local truce between Jeanne de Montfort and Henri de Malestroit having expired, Charles de Blois attacks Rennes with troops made up of some Breton vassals, and a large number of Italian and Spanish sailors. The citizens, feeling that resistance is useless, request the garrison commander to surrender. When he refuses they arrest him and open the gates to Charles de Blois. |
| 1342 | Mid April | Walter Mauny lands at Brest with a woefully small force, some 34 men at arms, and 200 archers. He uses this to make a quick plundering raid against Herve de Leon's manor at Tregarantee, attacking at dawn and taking the place almost bloodlessly. They capture Herve de Leon and six other nobles, as well as a number of lesser men. |
| 1342 | Charles de Blois, ignoring Walter de Mauny's raid, sends his brother with part of the army to lay siege to Vannes, while he himself proceeds to Hennebont, where Jeanne de Montfort has once again made her headquarters. | |
| 1342 | King Edward III, still stalled in his preparations, entertains the Count of Hainault at Eltham. He also sends the Bishop of London and the Earl of Warwick to a conference of the German allies in Mechelen, to explain matters. | |
| 1342 | 24 April | Pope Benedict XII dies at Avignon. |
| 1342 | 7 May | Cardinal Pierre Roger, formerly Bishop of Rouen, is elected Pope. |
| 1342 | 19 May | Cardinal Pierre Roger is enthroned and crowned as Pope Clement VI in the church of the Franciscans in Avignon in amongst a crowd including the dukes of Burgundy, Bourbon and Normandy, who was given the honour of holding the reins of his horse, and of sitting on his right hand at dinner. |
| 1342 | 20 May | The troops for the Breton invasion receive orders to proceed to their embarkation places. |
| 1342 | 25 May | The ship masters for the Breton invasion receive their orders. |
| 1342 | late May | Charles de Blois and his army arrive outside Hennebont, and encounter stiff resistance from a devoted and well supplied garrison. Their first assault is turned into a confused rout, with Jeanne de Montfort herself leading troops, and most of the attackers tents being burned. |
| 1342 | Pope Clement VI appoints two cardinals to mediate between King Philippe VI and King Edward III. They travel to the court of France, where they are well received. | |
| 1342 | early June | Several assaults having failed, Charles de Blois and his army invest Hennebont for siege. |
| 1342 | 12 June | Pope Clement VI, in response to appeals from Philippe VI, lifts the interdict on Flanders, and sends an emissary to Flanders to discuss terms for their return to Papal favour. |
| 1342 | mid June | Edward III receives the news that the Pope has appointed two cardinals to mediate between himself and Philippe VI |
| 1342 | 24 June | The French army gathers at Arras. A small force is created, commanded by the Count d'Eu and the Duke de Bourbon, and kept as a covering force, and the remainder is sent towards Brittany, to reinforce Charles de Blois. |
| 1342 | late June | Charles de Blois raises the siege of Hennebont, and retires to lay siege to Auray. His men spread out over the countryside, looting and killing. |
| 1342 | date | The sailors of Carlo Grimaldi and Ayton Doria are returned to their ships, and sent to cruise offshore in support of the land army. |
| 1342 | 8 July | The English army to be commanded by William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton gathers at Portsmouth, but find no ships to transport them to France. |
| 1342 | first half of July | The French army arrives in Brittany to reinforce Charles de Blois, and they begin to drive back the Montfortist troops. The garrison of Auray abandons the place, and Vannes surrenders on terms after a nominal assault. |
| 1342 | second half of July | Oliver Ingham, with a small force under the command of Hugh Despencer, sails for Gascony from Dartmouth. At Brest Despencer stays behind, alarmed by the weakness of Jeanne de Montfort position. Ingham continues on alone to Gascony. |
| 1342 | August | William de Bohun, Constable of England, along with Robert of Artois, lands in Brest, advances across Brittany and captures Vannes. |
| 1342 | The cardinals appointed to mediate between England and France apply for permission to travel to England for discussions, but are told that Edward III would soon be visiting his kingdom of France, and they could save themselves the trouble and visit him there. | |
| 1342 | Robert de Marigny and the Bishop of Beauvais retake the towns in southern France that had thrown out their English garrisons, moving through the Agenais and Bazadais, most of which surrender after only a nominal siege. | |
| 1342 | The French army besieges Jeanne de Montfort in Brest, where she had fled from Hennebont, with the Genoese galley fleet blockading it from the sea. | |
| 1342 | 14-15 August | After further delays to gather ships, and for bad weather, William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton sails. The French galley fleet patrolling the Channel fails to block his passage, but sack and burn Southampton in his absence. |
| 1342 | 18 August | William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton's fleet appears off Brest, taking the galley fleet by surprise. The galleys flee, and are beached in the mud, where they are burned. The French army there immediately lifts the siege, Charles de Blois marching towards Penthievre, and Louis of Spain towards the bay of Bourgneuf. |
| 1342 | third week of August | The Duke of Brabant and the Count of Hainault meet with the papal representatives at Antoing and conclude undertake an independent peace with France, promising that unless Philippe VI invaded Flanders they would not make war on him without at least one month's notice being given. |
| 1342 | 21 August | The arrier-ban is proclaimed in Languedoc, bringing the Bishop of Beauvais troops up to 10,000 men, with which he lays siege to Sainte Bazeille. |
| 1342 | 22 August | The fleet that had transported William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton's troops to Brittany returns to England to transport King Edward III. On the return trip many of the ships, including forty-five ships from Dartmouth and the entire fleet from Hull desert, their masters fed up with having been under requisition for more then three months. |
| 1342 | William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton is reinforced at Brest by Robert d'Artois and some 800 men. | |
| 1342 | Autumn | Damazan expels its French garrison and receives an English one. |
| 1342 | September | The French government, concluding from its intelligence reports that the target of the English preparations is a landing in the Pas de Calais, and withdraws many of the troops from the army in Brittany to reinforce the area around Boulogne and Calais, leaving Charles de Blois with a greatly reduced army. |
| 1342 | Godfrey de Harcourt and Robert Bertrand meet at court, and swords are drawn in the presence of King Philippe VI, and both brawlers end up summoned before the parlement of Paris. Godfrey refuses to appear, instead returning to his lands and makes preparations for war. | |
| 1342 | Beginning of September | William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton marches on Morlaix in an attempt to seize a north coast port in Brittany |
| 1342 | 1 September | The English army, due to depart for Brittany, finds itself with only about half the necessary ships, and more deserting daily. Officers of the crown scramble frantically to find more ships, and some troops are transferred to the Duke of Gloucester at Plymouth for want of shipping to take them to Brittany. |
| 1342 | 3 September | William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton's troops make an assault on Morlaix, which is repulsed with heavy casualties, and then settles down to lay siege to the city. |
| 1342 | last week of September | Charles de Blois marches out of Guingamp and marches towards Morlaix, with the intention of relieving the siege. |
| 1342 | 29 September | Charles de Blois and his army reach Lanmeur, where his presence is reported to William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton, who marches most of his men at Morlaix towards de Blois, digging in across the French line of advance in the night. |
| 1342 | 30 September | Battle of Morlaix. Charles de Blois attacks the English position with two unsuccessful cavalry charges, suffering heavy casualties and loosing many as prisoners (including Geoffrey de Charny), before the Earl of Northampton, William de Bohun, withdraws his troops into the woods, where he is kept under siege for several days. |
| 1342 | October | Oliver Ingham begins a campaign in the Aquitaine with a small force. His plan is apparently to capture Blaye, who's citizens had agreed to expel the French garrison when Ingham appeared, but the plot was revealed to the garrison by one of the conspirators, and the leaders arrested. Ingham passed on to Angouleme, doing great damage, but only capturing the castle of Blanzac. |
| 1342 | Vannes is retaken for the French by Olivier III de Clisson. | |
| 1342 | 4 October | Edward III boards the George, his flagship, at Sandwich and sails for Brittany. |
| 1342 | 26 October | After an uncomfortable journey plagued by gales, Edward III lands in Brittany, and marches to Brest to meet with the Montfortists and the English commanders already in Brittany. A decision is made to attempt to take Vannes. Walter Mauny and two other knights are dispatched to scout the city, and Edward III passes his time in hunting. |
| 1342 | date | item |
| 1342 | early October | Sainte Bazeille surrenders to the Bishop of Beauvais. |
| 1342 | November | The Flemings assemble at Damme and reaffirm their loyalty to Edward III. |
| 1342 | early November | Walter Mauny reports back to Edward III that there are weaknesses in the defenses of Brest that should allow it to be readily taken by storm. |
| 1342 | News of Edward III's landing in Brittany reaches the French court, and preparations are made to raise an army to confront him. | |
| 1342 | Olivier de Clisson makes a secret alliance with Edward III, bringing with him a large group of supporters. | |
| 1342 | 3 November | A fleet under the earls of Gloucester and Pembroke leaves England with troops to reinforce the English army in Brittany. Due to the usual problem of finding ships this force has only 600 men, and 800 men are left behind to wait. This fleet does not even make it to Brittany, most of the ships being driven ashore on the Scilly Isles by gales. Only the Earls and their personal retinues reach Brittany. |
| 1342 | 7 November | The English army outside Brest begins to move out of it's encampments around Brest, marching for Vannes. The fleet is ordered to follow along the coast, though when the time comes to sail it is found that half the fleet had deserted. The rest is put under the command of Robert d'Artois. |
| 1342 | second week of November | Robert d'Artois and his fleet reach the Bay of Bourgneuf and attacks the Castillian galley fleet there. He fails to surprise the galleys, which sail out and attack him, inflicting heavy casualties and capturing several large ships from the English. They also prevent Robert d'Artois from making a landing. |
| 1342 | Robert d'Artois sails up the coast to the Gulf of Morbihan, and lands his troops for an assault on Vannes, in advance of the main army. The garrison marches out to meet him, and was very nearly defeated when the English seize the gate the garrison had marched out from. The next day the garrison, reinforced by some of the citizens, including a mob of enraged women, drive them off. | |
| 1342 | Robert d'Artois, wounded in the assault on Vannes, dies of dysentery contracted in his camp while recovering. | |
| 1342 | 22 November | Edward III and his army camp at Grand Champ, 12 miles north of Vannes, while siege engines are constructed for the siege of Vannes. After the assault by Robert d'Artois the garrison of Vannes was reinforced, and placed under the command of Louis de Poitiers, Count of Valentinois. |
| 1342 | 29 November | Edward III and his army arrive outside Vannes and make an immediate assault, which is defeated. He settles in for a siege, dispatching parts of the army to attack other targets in eastern Brittany. |
| 1342 | end of November | Casseneuil invites the English in as a garrison, receiving 60 cavalry and 500 infantry. |
| 1342 | English forces detached from the siege of Vannes take Redon, Malestroit and Ploermel. William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton invades the lands of the Viscount of Rohan, taking Pontivy and burning Rohan to the ground. | |
| 1342 | December | The earls of Northampton and Warwick attack Nantes, breaking the Loire bridge, investing the north side of the city, and terrorizing the region around. |
| 1342 | Olivier de Clisson, under suspicion and criticism from the French for failing to hold Vannes against the English, defects to the English. | |
| 1342 | 14 December | A meeting is held in London by the Great Lords still in England. It is decided that sending reinforcements to Brittany over the winter, and so the earls of Arundel and Huntingdon undertake to lead a force, to consist of 6,000 men, to Brittany at the earliest possible date, which they fix as 1 March 1343. |
| 1342 | A French army under Prince Jean marches from Normandy to engage the English. | |
| 1342 | 17 December | Four hundred Welsh soldiers, contracted only for a limited term, withdraw from the English army. |
| 1342 | mid December | The Earl of Salisbury burns the suburbs of Dinant, and the villages around Dol, and threatens Ponterson and Mont Saint Michel. |
| 1342 | late December | Prince Jean and his army reach Nantes, which is on the verge of surrendering to the English. His arrival prevents this, forcing Earl of Warwick to withdraw back to the main army at Vannes. Eighteen men of Nantes are executed as an example. |
| 1343 | ||
| 1343 | The Peruzzi bank fails, probably due in part to the loans it had made to King Edward III of England. | |
| 1343 | Pope Clement makes a loan of 50,000 florins to King Philippe VI. | |
| 1343 | A French army of some 5,000 troops lays siege to Casseneuil. | |
| 1343 | Pope Clement VI issues the bull 'Unigentius', which grants the city of Rome the right to hold a jubilee every 50 years, as opposed to every 100. He declines however, their invitation to return the papacy to Rome. | |
| 1343 | Prince Jean and the French army march further into Brittany, recapturing Redon, Malestroit and Ploermel. | |
| 1343 | The cardinals appointed by the Pope to mediate between Edward III and Philippe IV are invited to Malestroit, to make an attempt at a truce. They are never allowed to come within view of Edward III's army, to hide his weakness. | |
| 1343 | January | Raoul d'Eu, Constable of France, receives compensation from the French government for the loss of his extensive Irish estates. |
| 1343 | A rebellion in Ghent nearly overturns the government of Jacob van Artevelde. | |
| 1343 | third week of January | The cardinals appointed by the Pope to mediate between Edward III and Philippe IV carry proposals back and forth between the two kings, Philippe and his court having moved to Redon. |
| 1343 | 19 January | The truce of Malestroit is signed between Edward III and Philippe VI, to last until 29 September 1346. Both sides are allowed to keep their gains in terms of territory and allegiances, in Brittany as well as the other theatres of the war, and Jean de Montfort is to be released from his prison in the Louvre. Vannes is placed under the protection of the Papacy for the duration of the truce, to be given to Philippe VI when it expired. Both parties are supposed to send embassies to Avignon to negotiate a permanent peace. |
| 1343 | late January | The French army besieging Casseneuil disperses as a result of the truce signed at Malestroit. |
| 1343 | Godfrey de Harcourt begins a campaign against the Bishop of Bayeux, the brother of his enemy Robert Bertrand, attacking two of his manors, and one demolishing one. In response the French government lays siege to Godfrey's castle of Saint Saveur le Vicomte, capture it and burn it to the ground. | |
| 1343 | Bertrand du Guesclin, with a group of companions disguised as woodcutters, takes the city of Fougeray, earning the attention of Charles of Blois, and the nickname of 'the Black Dog of Brocéliande' from the English. Within a few months he has sold it back to the English, probably to Robert Knowles. | |
| 1343 | February | The 800 men left behind at Portsmouth from the Earl of Gloucester's failed expedition are sent home. |
| 1343 | Spring | John Hardeshull is appointed as Edward III's lieutenant in Brittany, and a clerk named Coupegorge, formerly employed as Duke Jean III's agent in England, is made receiver general. |
| 1343 | March | Godfrey de Harcourt's rebellion is put down, and Godfrey flees to Brabant. He is convicted in absentia of lese majeste and sentenced to banishment and the loss of all his property. |
| 1342 | Philippe IV invests his son Jean, Duke de Normandy, with all the lands that had been taken from the English in the south west, but reserves to himself the actual administration. | |
| 1343 | April | Oliver Ingham is summoned back to England to answer for his management of the duchy. |
| 1345 | The Count of Hainault is reconciled with King Philippe VI. | |
| 1343 | Parliament tells King Edward III that if he cannot obtain an honourable peace that they would 'aid him in his cause with all their strength', and votes him an additional tax on wool of £2 per sack, on top of the usual 6s. 8d., for the next three years. | |
| 1343 | May | Edward III appoints a magnificent embassy to attend the peace conference at Avignon, to be led by Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, but declines to send any but the most junior members to the actual talks. |
| 1344 | Edward III invests Edward of Woodstock as Prince of Wales, with all the lands and rights of the Crown. | |
| 1343 | July | Olivier de Clisson, while attending a tourney in French territory, is arrested and brought to trial for treason. |
| 1343 | The treasurer of the Gascon army, named Weston, arrives in England, with one of Oliver Ingham's clerks, to explain the dismal state of the finances of the duchy. | |
| 1343 | 20 July | Oliver Ingham is removed from his post as Seneschal of Gascony. He is replaced by Nicholas Beche, an official from the household of the Prince of Wales. |
| 1343 | mid Summer | Edward III holds a magnificent tournament at Smithfield. |
| 1343 | August | The Estates General of France meets in Paris to consider the grave financial problems of the kingdom. The government offers to cease the devaluations of the currency, and restore it to the legendary value of the time of St. Louis if the Estates will allow the government to continue levying the sales taxes of 1340 and 1342, and extend their collection to the south. This is agreed by the Estates, conditional on the agreement of the local communities. |
| 1343 | Due to Edward III's refusal to send any but the most junior members of the appointed embassy to Avignon the French delegates, including the Duke de Bourbon and the Dauphin de Vienne, find themselves sitting to talks with a clerk of the Chancery. Edward III is requested to send someone of royal blood, a nobleman with whom the Duke and Dauphin can honourably negotiate. | |
| 1343 | 2 August | Olivier de Clisson is beheaded for treason, and his head is displayed at Nantes, as a warning to others. His wife is banished from the realm, and de Clisson's lands and property are confiscated by the king. |
| 1343 | September | Louis of Bavaria writes to the pope, acknowledging his unlawful succession to the imperial title, and declaring his willingness to annul all his imperial actions and submit to papal penalties. His only condition was that he be named king of the Romans. Pope Clement VI responded say that in addition no law would be passed in the empire without papal sanction, that any of Louis' decrees would be invalid unless and until the pope had confirmed them, that Louis deposed all those bishops and abbots that he had appointed without proper authority, and further that Louis waive all sovereignty over the Papal States, Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica. |
| 1343 | John Grey, a little known baron with a distant relation to the Crown arrives in Avignon in response to the request for a nobleman of royal blood to attend the peace talks in Avignon. His instructions do not extend any further than presenting Edward III's claim to the French crown. | |
| 1343 | 1 September | Jean de Montfort is released from his prison in the Louvre, having promised that he would not return to Brittany, but live quietly on his French estates, and that he would appear in the French court immediately on any summons. He is also required to provide, as surety of his good behavior, a bond of £60,000 l.p. |
| 1343 | Autumn | The town of Vannes expels the papal governor and his small garrison, and the city of Redon also expels its garrison. |
| 1343 | A group of Montfortist partisans attempt to capture Charles de Blois, ambushing him the road from Nantes to Angers, but he and his escort defeat them. The prisoners taken in the attack, including Geoffrey de Malestroit and his son, are brought back to Paris and executed. | |
| 1343 | October | Jeanne de Montfort is confined is confined to Tickhill Castle. Some say she had a mental collapse, others that Edward III wanted full control of Breton affairs, and she was removed as an obstacle. Her children are moved to the Tower of London, with a small household. |
| 1343 | In keeping with the decision of the Estates in August the coinage is revalued. This results in a severe deflation, and ends up making the revaluation as unpopular as the previous deflations had been. | |
| 1343 | December | John Gatesden is appointed as the first Captain of Brest by Edward III, given authority over Brest, Saint Mathieu, the viscounty of Leon and the offshore islands. |
| 1347 | Edward III orders the striking of the first English gold coin since the reign of Henry III, the Florin, valued at 6 shillings. | |
| 1343 | late December | Amaury de Clisson arrives in England to plead for reinforcements and supplies. The admiral of the West is ordered to have twenty-four ships ready within two weeks, and Gavin Corder and two other knights are sent out to recruit 25 men to fill them. |
| 1343 | Having received no further orders from England, John Grey leaves the peace conference at Avignon and returns home. | |
| 1344 | ||
| 1344 | Foundation of the English Order of the Garter. Edward hosts a week of tournaments and feasting at Windsor castle | |
| 1344 | Philippe VI creates the duchy of Orleans for his son, Philippe de Valois. | |
| 1344 | Philippe declares an amnesty in regard to civil war, and Charles de Blois gains the loyalty of several important Breton lords. | |
| 1344 | March | Charles de Blois marches through Brittany and lays siege to Quimper. |
| 1344 | The peace talks re-open at Avignon. The French embassy once again find only low ranking members of the English delegation in attendance, who speak of King Edward III's outrage at the violations of the truce, and say that he is reconsidering his position. The talks are put off until June. | |
| 1344 | 25 March | An order for the requisition of all ships of 30 tons is sent out through England, and plans are made for an invasion in Brittany at the beginning of summer, under the command of Edward III. |
| 1344 | April | An assembly of nobles and bishops meet at Westminster to discuss the army to be raised for Brittany. There is no money to be found for such an expedition, and so nothing can be done without Parliament, which cannot be summoned before June. |
| 1344 | 1 May | Quimper falls to the forces of Charles de Blois. An estimated 1,400 townsmen are massacred. The English garrison is held for ransom, but the Bretons and Normans are sent to Paris to be tried for treason. Though they claimed the benefit of truce they are executed |
| 1344 | 12 May | Edward III informs the Pope that his delegation will be ready to appear in Avignon for the talks in June. |
| 1344 | Summer | The English forces in Brittany, lacking any effective leadership, devolves into a series of roving bands, marauding across the countryside. Many of the Montfortist supporters submit to Charles de Blois, making the best terms they could. |
| 1344 | June | Parliament meets, and votes a generous grant to finance the expedition to Brittany. It is too late to be of any use in this year, as the first installment isn't payable until November. It runs for two years, with the second year being conditional on the King himself leading the army. At the same time a meeting of the clergy at St. Paul's votes him a tenth of their income for three years. |
| 1344 | Peace talks open once again at Avignon, and Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby is in attendance. He has come, he says, only as a private person, for devotional reasons, and the French delegation, consisting of the dukes of Normandy and Burgundy and Guillaume Flote, Chancellor of France. They once again are presented with low ranking officials, who say they have no instructions. The dukes leave soon thereafter. The Earl of Derby has several private meetings with the Pope, in which the Pope cajoles and threatens to get the English to make a realistic representation at the peace conference. | |
| 1344 | Pope Clement allows Philippe VI to forgo repaying the money collected for the now defunct Crusade. | |
| 1344 | July | Edward III's Council, in response to the threats and pleadings of the Pope, appoint a new embassy to Avignon. It's nominal leader is William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich. He is accompanied by John Offord, the king's private secretary, and his brother Andrew, Nicolino Fieschi, and a knight named Hugh Neville. |
| 1344 | August | Realizing the financial situation is not right, Edward III stops issuing orders for the Brittany expedition. |
| 1344 | Guillaume Flote, Chancellor of France, departs the fruitless peace talks at Avignon. | |
| 1344 | September | Prince Jean visits Agen during a three month tour of the southern provinces, to receive the fealty of his new lands. He then removes to the shrine at Rocamadour. |
| 1344 | The remains of the Montfortist party in Brittany make a last appeal to England, sending a distinguished Breton knight and two Dominican friars to Edward III to plead for assistance. Edward agrees to send 250 men from the planned expedition, and place them under the command of Amaury de Clisson. | |
| 1344 | October | Due to the lack of funding, the plans for the Brittany expedition are formally cancelled. |
| 1344 | Amaury de Clisson and his force arrive at Vannes, and reinforce it. | |
| 1344 | John Offord writes to Edward III, attempting to make him take the conference more seriously, feeling that the Pope is sympathetic, and that a chance was being missed. He asks the Edward III not send troops to Brittany over the winter, and that he expand the powers of the ambassadors. | |
| 1344 | 22 October | Despite Pope Clement's opinion that the English embassy is still inadequate, the peace conference at Avignon opens. The French are represented by the Bishop of Clermont as nominal leader, along with Louis of Spain, Louis of Poitiers, count of Valentinois, Simon Bucy the First President of Parlement and Pierre de Cugnieres, President of the Chambre des Comptes. The French are empowered to make territorial concessions on the borders of Aquitaine, but only on the understanding that the Duchy is to be held as a fief of the French Crown. They are not in any way to discuss Edward III's claim to the French throne, which is actually the only thing the English embassy is empowered to discuss at all. |
| 1344 | late October | Keeping the English and French embassies as apart as possible Pope Clement moves between them, negotiating. Their positions are so far apart, and the English so intransigent, that the Pope withdraws from the mediation, leaving it the hands of some of his cardinals. The cardinals come up with a proposal that Edward II should renounce his claims to the Duchy in return for the grant of all the lands of the Hospitallers in England, and all the lands of foreign priories in England. This is refused, and the cardinals then propose that the King of Scotland should be persuaded to relinquish his kingdom to Edward. The English reply that the kingdom of Scotland is Edward III's by right anyway. The cardinals then propose a large cash settlement, and are told that the King of England is not a shopkeeper, and that the throne of France is beyond price. The English are invited to return in three days with a more considered answer. |
| 1344 | Edward III and his Council and resolve to send further embassies to Avignon, initially a low grade group, to leave at once with the news that Edward had abandoned his plans to send troops to Brittany that winter, and expanding the ambassadors powers to enable them to discuss enforcement of the truce of Malestroit. This would be followed up by more impressive one, with Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby and Northampton at its head, with undefined powers. | |
| 1344 | November | Tanneguy de Chatel, one of Edward III's three lieutenants in Brittany, and the only actual Breton, submits to Charles de Blois in return for the promise of a royal pardon. His action is followed by most of the leading Montfortists in western Brittany. |
| 1344 | 7 November | The English at the Avignon talks return with an answer to the cardinals third proposal. The answer is still no. |
| 1344 | 8 November | The cardinals at the Avignon peace talks present another proposal, this one that Edward III should acknowledge the Duchy of Aquitaine as a fief of France, but grant it to one of his sons. This is also rejected. The talks then devolve into fruitless arguments about the validity of Edward III's claim to the French throne. |
| 1344 | 10 November | The English ambassadors to the peace conference at Avignon confirm that they cannot accept any compensation outside of France for the loss of the duchy of Aquitaine, at which the french confirm that it is unacceptable that the duchy should be alienated from the French crown. The English reply that the conference is clearly at a stalemate, and that they do not think that they will remain much longer at Avignon. |
| 1344 | 15 November | Pope Clement invests Louis of Spain as Prince of the Canary Islands. |
| 1344 | 20 & 21 November | The Pope meets with the English ambassadors, attempting to convince them that all is not lost, and that they should remain in Avignon. |
| 1344 | last week of November | Hugh Neville leaves Avignon, returning to England. Bishop Bateman is not long behind him, and Nicholas Fieschi departs to pursue other of Edwards III's interests in Italy. John Offord is retained by the Pope to maintain the fiction that the conference is still in session. |
| 1344 | end of December | Amaury de Clisson submits to Charles de Blois and makes his peace with the French. The English retire to a few strong walled towns such as Brest, Hennebont and Vannes and take to the defensive. |
| 1345 | ||
| 1345 | The English government carries out a census of landowners, classifying them for assessment in defense of the realm. £5 a year is serve as a mounted archer, £10 a year as a hobelar, £25 as a man at arms, £1,000 a year as a leader of 40 men at arms, and so on up the scale. | |
| 1345 | The town of Nontron is siezed by a relative of the Count of Perigord, in alliance with the English, who uses it as a raiding base in the northern Perigord. This is the first of several raider castles in the area. | |
| 1345 | January | The French Parlement decides in favor of Charles de Blois and Jeanne de Penthièvre in the matter of the succession of Limoges, another part of the Brittany succession. |
| 1345 | The French government decides on a strategy of avoiding offensive warfare in the southwest, and of conducting a holding campaign there while the real efforts were made elsewhere. | |
| 1345 | Wales suffers a series of anti English outbreaks. The Prince of Wales' attorney in North Wales is murdered, the sheriff killed in his courtroom, and in some districts the roads are impassable. | |
| 1345 | Jean de Montfort is placed under a form of house arrest. | |
| 1345 | Jean de Montfort escapes, and goes to England. Philippe VI confiscates the enormous bond de Montfort had been required to give, and convicts him of treason. | |
| 1355 | William Edington, Bishop of Winchester, becomes Exchequer of England | |
| 1345 | 18 January | Philippe, Duke d'Orleans, marries Blanche of France. |
| 1345 | February | The proposed embassy of the earls of Derby and Northampton to Avignon is cancelled. |
| 1345 | Edward III begins planning a new invasion of France, giving an embarkation date of 5 June, with a smaller army to be dispatched to Aquitaine under Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby. Nicholas Beche is recalled as Seneschal, and replaced by Ralph, Lord Stafford. | |
| 1345 | March | Gavin Corder sails for Brittany. His force is only 190 men, which is all he could muster. |
| 1345 | News of the cancellation of the English embassy reaches Avignon. John Offord leaves the city without permission, and flees directly for England. | |
| 1345 | With the failure of the peace talks at Avignon, the French government begins negotiations with the communities of France for new taxes for the war. | |
| 1345 | Pierre Flote de Revel is made Admiral of France. | |
| 1345 | mid March | The French government becomes aware of the general trend of King Edward III's plans for his Gascony campaign. |
| 1345 | April | Edward III creates a third force out of the main expedition. William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton is reappointed as the king's lieutenant in Brittany, and given 500 men, plus an additional force under Sir Thomas Ferrers, destined to reconquer the Channel Islands. Jean de Montfort is to accompany the Earl of Northampton, and Godfrey de Harcourt is attached to Ferrers force. |
| 1345 | 1 April | Jean de Montfort arrives in England. |
| 1345 | early April | Paris grants a subsidy to the French government, allowing for the raising and maintenance of 500 troops for six months. The rest of the kingdom is encouraged to follow this example, but the results are mixed, and most only agree to it on the condition that collection would take place in September. |
| 1345 | 29 April | The arrier-ban is proclaimed in France, and the muster for the army is fixed a little later for 22 July at Arras. |
| 1345 | May | Godfrey de Harcourt arrives in England, bringing several other Norman lords. |
| 1345 | Fighting breaks out between the Weavers and Fullers of Ghent in the Friday Market. Several hundred men are killed. There are violent outbreaks in several other Flemish towns around this time. | |
| 1345 | Dendermonde, in northeastern Flanders, rebels against the government of Bruges and declares its loyalty for the Count, Louis de Nevers. | |
| 1345 | 20 May | Jean de Montfort acknowledges Edward III as king of France, and does liege homage for the duchy of Brittany at Lambeth Palace. Godfrey de Harcourt follows suit soon after. |
| 1345 | 22 May | Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby's fleet stands ready to sail, awaiting a favorable wind. |
| 1345 | end of May | King Philippe VI leaves Paris and spends the next few months in the Loire valley close to the Breton front. |
| 1345 | early June | William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton and his forces sail from Portsmouth. |
| 1345 | between 4 and 6 June | Gascon forces take the castle of Montravel, surprising it without warning. They take Monbreton, upstream, a few days later. |
| 1345 | 14-15 June | Edward III formally repudiates all the truces, and issues a denunciation of Philippe's aggressions. |
| 1345 | mid June | In the face of the English threat the Seneschal at Agen issues urgent calls for reinforcements for Tolouse, and issues the call to arms to the nobles of the district. |
| 1345 | Jean de Montfort and William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton land in Brittany, probably at Brest. | |
| 1345 | Ralph Stafford, Seneschal of the Aquitaine, lays siege to Blaye and Langon, while bands of independent adventurers make their way into French territory, attacking vulnerable targets. | |
| 1345 | late June | Edward III receives news of the situation in Flanders, with the warning that he is likely to loose his position there very quickly. |
| 1345 | 29 June | Edward III issues orders that his fleet will sail to the Hondt. |
| 1345 | July | The Count of Perigord and Bertrand de l'Isle begin raising troops in the southwest. |
| 1345 | 2 July | Sir Thomas Ferrers lays siege to Cornet Castle on Guernsey. |
| 1345 | 3 July | Edward III's fleet sails from England. |
| 1345 | 5 July | Edward III's fleet arrives off Sluys. |
| 1345 | 7 July | Jacob van Artevelde meets with Edward III aboard his ship. |
| 1345 | mid July | The magistrates of Ghent order the return of Jacob van Artevelde. |
| 1345 | 17 July | After a great deal of hesitation Jecob van Artevelde returns to Ghent. In the evening Gerard Denis, one of his enemies, gathers a mob at his house, demanding news of his meeting with King Edward III. Van Artevelde attempts to put them off, but the mob breaks into the house and captures van Artevelde as he was trying to escape, and he is battered to death. |
| 1345 | 19 July | Edward III signs an agreement with the three principal towns of Flanders, agreeing that they would not submit to the Count as long as he remained loyal to Philippe VI. |
| 1345 | Third week of July | Louis de Nevers is presented with a decision from the three principal Flemish towns, telling him they would not allow his return unless he accepted Edward III as his overlord. He refuses to change sides, and the situation in Flanders remains as it was. |
| 1345 | 22 July | Edward III and his fleet sail from Sluys, for an undisclosed destination. |
| 1345 | 26 July | The principal ships of Edwards III's fleet, battered by a violent storm, arrive in the Downs, where they had been driven by the waves. The remainder of the fleet is scattered over the north sea, and limp home over the next few days. The troops are disembarked, and Edward III travels down to Westminster to confer with his Council. |
| 1345 | Late July | After eight days of argument, the Council decides that it is too late at this point to mount an invasion of France in that year. the army was dismissed, and plans are made for two much smaller reinforcing armies to be collected for Brittany and Gascony. |
| 1345 | Informed of the English council's decision, King Philippe VI begins shifting troops from the north into Brittany, and to the southwest. | |
| 1345 | Jean de Montfort lays siege to Quimper. | |
| 1345 | August | Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, lands at Bordeaux. |
| 1345 | A small army under Robert Houdetot lays siege to Casseneuil. | |
| 1345 | The Count of Armagnac lays siege to Monchamp, outside Condom. | |
| 1345 | The Count of Perigord and Bertrand de l'Isle lay siege to Montcuq. | |
| 1345 | 8 August | King Philippe VI appoints the Duke de Bourbon as his lieutenant in the southwest. |
| 1345 | 9 August | Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, completes the disembarkation of his army at Bordeaux. Disagreeing with the current tactics, he lifts the siege of Blaye, making a local truce with the garrison commander, and recalling the troops. He then marched to Langon, where Ralph Stafford is maintaining the siege. He rebukes Stafford for wasting time laying siege to a place of no importance, and lifts that siege at well, deciding on an attack on Bergerac. |
| 1345 | 11 August | Jean de Montfort storms the walls of Quimper, but is driven back with heavy losses. |
| 1345 | mid August | Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, marches on Montcuq, surprising the French besieging forces and driving them off. They flee towards Bergerac, pursued by the English and Gascon forces all the way. The fleeing troops jam the bridge across the Dordogne at Bergerac, and the Anglo Gascons take the portcullis, force their way across, and take Bergerac, which they sack. |
| 1345 | The survivors of the battle at Bergerac split in two, one force under Bertrand de l'Isle, which retires to Le Reole, and one under the Count d'Armagnac, which withdraws to Perigueux. | |
| 1345 | Charles de Blois, newly reinforced by French troops, relieves the siege of Quimper. Jean de Montfort, taken by surprise, retires to a fortified manor, where, surrounded, he escapes by bribing a guard, then fleeing to Hennebont. | |
| 1345 | 24 August | English forces storm Cornet Castle, taking it and killing the entire French garrison. |
| 1345 | late August | Philippe VI raises a new army, to deal with the situation in Gascony. This front of the war is given priority over all others. |
| 1345 | The Duke de Bourbon takes up his lieutenancy in Languedoc, and begins hurriedly recruiting soldiers and consolidating forces, principally outside Angouleme. They are joined there by the army under Louis de Poitiers, as well as the troops under Bertrand de l'Isle. Overall command of this army is placed in the hands of Prince Jean, duke de Normandy. | |
| 1345 | Edward III orders all French merchants in England. The French government responds by ordering the arrest of every Englishman in the country, and the confiscation of property. | |
| 1345 | 10 September | Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby divides his forces, leaving 1,500 men in Bergerac under Bernard-Aiz d'Albret and his brother Berard. The rest, some 2,000 men at arms and some 4,000 to 6,000 foot soldiers and mounted archers, he takes north to the English garrison at Mussidan, and then towards Perigueux, which he puts under a loose siege. |
| 1345 | mid September | Prince Jean arrives at Angouleme, and takes the army there to Limoges, establishing his headquarters there. |
| 1345 | 22 September | Henry of Lancaster, Earl of Lancaster and father of Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, dies. |
| 1345 | 26 September | Jean de Montfort dies at Hennebont. |
| 1345 | October | William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton takes the fealty of the remains of the Montfortist party in the name of King Edward III and Jean's 5 year old son Jean, now Duke of Brittany. He then begins a winter campaign apparently designed to capture north shore ports for the English to land in. He does not meet with great success, failing to take either Carhaix or Guingamp, both of which he assaulted. |
| 1345 | King David II raids across the border into England for six days. | |
| 1345 | mid October | The English around Perigueux take control of a group of fortresses around the city, effectively cutting off the city from supplies. |
| 1345 | Prince Jean detaches 3,000 men at arms and a large body of foot soldiers from his army, and sends them to the relief of Perigueux, under Louis de Poitiers. This army manages somehow to drive off the besiegers around Perigueux, and begins to retake the other fortresses held by the English in the area. | |
| 1345 | French forces lay siege to Auberoche, one of the fortresses around Perigueux. | |
| 1345 | 16 October | The King's Council assembles in Westminster to overview the progress of the war. |
| 1345 | 21 October | Battle of Auberoche. Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby attacks the French forces laying siege to Auberoche. Despite early success, the French are defeated and driven off, with heavy casualties and many prisoners taken by the English. |
| 1345 | 22 October | The English reinforcement expeditions to Brittany and Gascony are cancelled, and plans begun for a new expedition to the continent early in the new year, its embarkation set for 1 March 1346. The shipmasters that had been collected were required to post bond that they would reappear by 17 February 1346. |
| 1345 | late October | After the news of the Battle of Auberoche reaches him, Prince Jean retires to Angouleme, despite being in command of a larger army than the one outside Auberoche. |
| 1345 | Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster since his father's death on 22 September, leaves several garrisons in the vicinity of Perigueux, and marches south into the Garonne valley, taking the bastide of Pellegrue by storm, and Montsegur by storm. | |
| 1345 | November | After the death of Aimeric de Durfort, probably at Auberoche, his family, prominent nobles in the northern Agenais, switches sides to support the English. They are well rewarded by Henry of Grosmont. they are followed by a succession of other noble families. |
| 1345 | Philippe VI attempts to recruit crossbowmen in Aragon. | |
| 1345 | Philippe VI's secretary, Robert de Lorris, begins arranging loans from the papacy to the King of France. this is done in great secrecy between November and March of 1346, and results in loans 330,000 florins from the Pope himself, and a further 42,000 florins from others at the papal court. Pope Clement also makes loans to others of Philippe's court, including Charles de Blois and the Duke de Bourbon. | |
| 1345 | early November | Henry of Grosmont arrives outside Le Reole. |
| 1345 | 4 November | Prince Jean disbands his army, and retires to Chatillion-sur-Indre to plan the next years campaign, leaving Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster, unopposed in the field. |
| 1345 | 8 November | Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster makes an attack on Le Reole, on one side of the town. This is a feint, and when the defenders respond to it, the citizens of the town open the gates at the other end of the town and let the English in. The garrison retreats into the citadel, to hold out against a siege. |
| 1345 | late November | William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton assaults Lannion, but fails to take it, capturing only a large shipment of Spanish wine. |
| 1345 | December | William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton establishes tenuous control over the long inlet of the river Jauny, taking the unfortified town of Treguier. He then takes Le Roche-Derrien, by a series of assaults over several days. He establishes a strong garrison there, under the command of Richard Totesham. |
| 1345 | John of Norwich, detached from the troops at the siege of La Reole, takes the city of Angouleme after a brief siege. | |
| 1345 | Pietro Barbavera leaves Paris for Genoa, to recruit galleys and crossbowmen. Marquis Scatisse, one of the King's financiers, follows him later in the month, accompanied by Floton de Revel, Admiral of France, and Jean de Boucicaut. | |
| 1345 | The city of Toulouse begins a program of fortifications, and Limoges begins to rebuild it's walls. | |
| 1345 | King Edward III receives an ambassador from the Pope, Niccolo Canali, Archbishop of Ravenna, asking for a safe conduct for two other cardinals, hoping to meditate peace, and reminding him that the truce of Malestroit still had nine months to go. Edward III responds with abuse against the king of France, and a refusal to appoint a time or place for permanent peace talks. | |
| 1345 | The French begin recruiting troops and ships in Genoa, Monaco and Nice. | |
| 1345 | early December | The English take Aiguillon, at the confluence of the Lot and the Garonne, in Gascony. In an action possibly arranged in advance with the English, at the appearance of Ralph Stafford the citizens rose up and attacked the garrison, killing some and imprisoning others, and then throwing their gates open to the English. |
| 1345 | After three weeks of English bombardment, and tunneling, the French commander of the citadel of La Reole arranges a truce of five weeks, and to surrender if no help comes in that time. Prince Jean is too far away, and sends no help. The Duke of Bourbon had no troops at his disposal to help. |
