Treaty of Guînes
Unratified treaty of the Hundred Years' War / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Treaty of Guînes ([ɡin], gheen) was a draft settlement to end the Hundred Years' War, negotiated between England and France and signed at Guînes on 6 April 1354. The war had broken out in 1337 and was further aggravated in 1340 when the English king, Edward III, claimed the French throne. The war went badly for France: the French army was heavily defeated at the Battle of Crécy, and the French town of Calais was besieged and captured. With both sides exhausted, a truce was agreed that, despite being only fitfully observed, was repeatedly renewed.
Type | Treaty of perpetual peace |
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Context | Hundred Years' War |
Drafted | March 1353 – April 1354 |
Signed | 6 April 1354 (1354-04-06) |
Location | Guînes, France |
Effective | Not ratified |
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When English adventurers seized the strategically located town of Guînes in 1352, full-scale fighting broke out again. This did not go well for the French, as money and enthusiasm for the war ran out and state institutions ceased to function. Encouraged by the new pope, Innocent VI, negotiations for a permanent peace treaty opened at Guînes in early March 1353. These broke down, although a truce was again agreed and again not fully observed by either side. In early 1354 a faction in favour of peace with England gained influence in the French king's council. Negotiations were reopened and the English emissaries suggested that Edward would abandon his claim to the French throne in exchange for French territory. This was rapidly agreed and a draft treaty was formally signed on 6 April.
The treaty was supposed to be ratified by each country and announced by Innocent in October at the papal palace in Avignon. By then the French king, John II, had a new council that turned entirely against the treaty and John had decided that another round of warfare might leave him in a better negotiating position. The draft treaty was acrimoniously repudiated and war broke out again in June 1355. In 1356, the French royal army was defeated at the Battle of Poitiers and John was captured. In 1360, both sides agreed to the Treaty of Brétigny, which largely replicated the Treaty of Guînes, but was slightly less generous towards the English. War again flared up in 1369 and the Hundred Years' War finally ended in 1453, 99 years after the Treaty of Guînes was signed.