ABSTRACT
Regarding the causes of the Hundred Years’ War, the usual interpretation of the English textbook writers is decidedly different from that of the French. The French writers emphasize the ambitions of Edward III of England, stressing his aggressive aims, pointing out that his claim to the French throne was a mere pretext for conquest. Professor Prothero gives four principal causes of the war: The French encroachments on Gascony; the alliance between France and Scotland, resulting in French aid to the Scots; the desire of the English king to secure alliance with the Flemings, “who, being great weavers of cloth, were good customers of the English wool merchants”; and the rivalry between England and France for the command of the Channel. In dealing with the causes of the Seven Years’ War, a certain difference of opinion between some of the French and English writers of textbooks again appears.
