A combination of dynastic disputes, feudal quibbles, trade disagreements and historical antagonism resulted in the opening of the Hundred Years War in 1337. The first major English land victory in this conflict was the Battle of Crecy (1346). This pitted the French army, then considered the best in Europe, against the English under King Edward III. The battle established the longbow as one of the most feared weapons of the medieval period, a reputation reinforced at the bloody Battle of Poitiers (1356) where much of the French nobility was slaughtered and their king captured by the English...

On 28 September 1066 William of Normandy landed near Hastings and prepared to meet the Anglo-Saxon army of King Harold Godwinson. On 10 October 1066 the two armies met; and after six hours of fighting what became known as the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon army was crushed and their king slain. The Normans set up castles to control the native population, and four-fifths of all England's land changed ownership. However, despite initial Norman success, it was fully two centuries before the Anglo-Norman kings managed to penetrate the wild interiors of Wales and Scotland, and many more...