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When Charles IV dies, for the first time in more than 400 years of the Capetian dynasty there is no son or brother to inherit the French crown
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A French cousin, Philip of Valois, is selected to succeed Charles IV - in preference to an English cousin, Edward III.
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Philip VI of France confiscates Guienne, a fief belonging to Edward III of England - whose response begins the Hundred Years' War
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Edward III, in Ghent, publicly assumes the title and the arms of the king of France.
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The more mobile English force, of longbows and infantry, defeats at Crécy the unwieldy crossbows and heavy cavalry of the French.
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The English siege of Calais ends when six burghers of the town, with ropes around their necks, offer their lives to save their fellow citizens
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The battle of Poitiers ends, on the third day, with victory for the English and the capture of the French king, John II.
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After four years of captivity in Bordeaux and London, the French king John II is released for a promised ransom of 3 million gold crowns.
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Charles VI, king of France, suffers the first of many violent fits of madness.
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Rivalry between factions of the French royal family results in the murder in Paris of the king's brother, Louis duke of Orléans, and the onset of civil war
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Henry V succeeds his father, Henry IV, as king of England.
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Henry V captures the French stronghold of Harfleur - where, in Shakespeare, he urges his dear friends 'once more unto the breach'
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Henry V wins a victory on St Crispin's day at Agincourt, against a much larger and more heavily armed French force
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After a six-month siege Henry V makes a triumphal entry into Rouen, the city of his Norman ancestors
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John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, is murdered by the Armagnac faction in the presence of the dauphin - escalating France's civil war
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The treaty of Troyes, between the English and the Burgundian faction, grants Henry V the status of heir to the French throne
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Henry V marries Catherine, daughter of the French king and sister of the rightful heir to the kingdom, the dauphin, who is on the opposing side
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The dauphin proclaims himself Charles VII of France, but with Paris in the hands of his enemies he is known as the king of Bourges
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Henry VI, son of Henry V and Catherine of France, is king of England and theoretically king of France before his first birthday
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A peasant girl, Joan of Arc, hears the voices of saints urging her to relieve the siege of Orléans
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Joan of Arc stands nearby while Charles VII is anointed at Reims, then kneels before him and for the first time calls him her king
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Joan of Arc wins her way into the presence of Charles VII at Chinon and persuades him, eventually, to trust her
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Joan of Arc leads French forces in the successful relief of Orléans
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Joan of Arc is captured in a skirmish with the Burgundians, who subsequently hand her over to the English
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Joan of Arc, tried by the Inquisition on behalf of the English in Rouen, is burned at the stake as a relapsed heretic
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Charles VII enters Paris, marking conclusively the end of the French civil war.
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The French bring two small cannon on to the battlefield at Formigny, where they have a significant effect in achieving the French victory.
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The French win a convincing victory at Castillon, recovering the last stronghold (except Calais) held by the English in France
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Charles VII's full recovery of Aquitaine and Normandy effectively brings to an end the Hundred Years' War
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Edward IV, landing at Calais with a large army, is bought off at Picquigny with a bribe - ending his attempt to revive the Hundred Years' War
