<Li> 1793--1802 </Li> <Li> 1803--14 </Li> <P> The Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the House of Valois, rulers of the Kingdom of France, over the succession to the French throne . Each side drew many allies into the war . It was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages, in which five generations of kings from two rival dynasties fought for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe . The war marked both the height of chivalry and its subsequent decline, and the development of strong national identities in both countries . </P> <P> Tensions between the French and English monarchies can be traced back to the 1066 Norman conquest of England, in which the English throne was seized by the Duke of Normandy, a vassal of the King of France . As a result, the crown of England was held by a succession of nobles who already owned lands in France, which put them among the most powerful subjects of the French king, as they could now draw upon the economic power of England to enforce their interests in the mainland . To the kings of France, the presence of such powerful vassals dangerously threatened their royal authority, and so they would constantly try to undermine English rule in France, while the English monarchs would struggle to protect and expand their lands . This clash of interests was the root cause of much of the conflict between the French and English monarchies throughout the medieval era . The extent of English lands in France varied much; the French kings had endeavored, over the centuries, to reduce these possessions, to the effect that only Gascony was left to the English . The confiscation or threat of confiscating this duchy had been part of French policy to check the growth of English power, particularly whenever the English were at war with the Kingdom of Scotland, an ally of France . </P>

The hundred years war between france and england grew out of a dispute over