The Hundred Years' War ended with Bordeaux's fall in 1453

The Hundred Years’ War between England and France effectively ended on 19 October 1453, when Bordeaux surrendered to Charles VII after a three-month siege. No peace treaty marked the moment. The city simply passed to France, ending English rule in a region the English crown had held since the mid-12th century. The war is dated from 1337, which makes it 116 years long, not 100.

What most summaries leave out is that Bordeaux fell twice. The English government’s own records, the Gascon rolls, show how London kept hoping until the end:

• 30 June 1451: Bordeaux surrenders to Charles VII for the first time.
• 23 October 1452: John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, arrives with an army and the city is recovered for England.
• 17 July 1453: Talbot is killed at Castillon, often called the first European battle to see massed field artillery. The rolls blame “the unfavourable fortune of war”. Even so, on 12 September London appoints a new lieutenant of the duchy, to serve “during royal pleasure”.
• 19 October 1453: Bordeaux surrenders a second time. By 20 November the rolls note the city is in enemy hands, ut dicitur (“so it is said”).
• 1558: France takes Calais, England’s last foothold on the mainland.
• 1801: George III drops the title “King of France”, and the fleurs-de-lis are removed from the royal arms.

The clerks kept writing Gascon rolls until 3 March 1468, almost 17 years after the first loss. Many of the entries made grants to Gascons who had fled to England, to persuade them to go back.

The defeat also mattered at home. English nobles who had lost French estates demanded compensation, and Henry VI’s government grew weaker. Within two years England was fighting the Wars of the Roses. England’s claim to the French crown outlived the last battle by 348 years.