Aquitaine

Overview

Aquitaine appears as the broader French duchy whose reduced English-held remnant, Gascony, remains the legal and territorial pressure point that helps open the Hundred Years’ War.

Current Profile

The episode treats Aquitaine as both inheritance residue and war threshold. Earlier English kings had once held much larger continental lands under the Angevin system, but by the early 14th century their surviving French position is narrowed to Gascony and Bordeaux.

French pressure on Aquitaine intensifies under Edward II, when French forces invade in 1324 and overrun most of the duchy except Bordeaux. In May 1337, Philip VI declares the confiscation of the duchy, a move the hosts treat as effectively a declaration of war against Edward III.

Key Characteristics

• Larger duchy behind the English-held Gascony remnant.
• Symbol of England’s diminished but persistent continental position.
• Exposed to French investigation, invasion, homage demands, and forfeiture threats.
• Invaded by France in 1324 during Edward II’s weakness.
• Confiscated by Philip VI in 1337.
• War-threshold object in the episode’s origin narrative.

Evidence

• Angevin residue: 318: Hundred Years’ War: A Game of Thrones (Part 1) contrasts earlier English continental holdings with the reduced position left in Gascony/Aquitaine.
• Edward II crisis: 318: Hundred Years’ War: A Game of Thrones (Part 1) says France invades Aquitaine in 1324 and overruns most of it except Bordeaux.
• Homage pressure: 318: Hundred Years’ War: A Game of Thrones (Part 1) says Edward II is told the duchy will be forfeited unless he performs homage.
• Confiscation: 318: Hundred Years’ War: A Game of Thrones (Part 1) says Philip VI declares Aquitaine confiscated in May 1337.
• War meaning: 318: Hundred Years’ War: A Game of Thrones (Part 1) interprets the confiscation as effectively war.

Qualifications

The page is limited to Aquitaine’s role in this origin episode. It does not yet cover the earlier Angevin inheritance in detail or the later military geography of the Hundred Years’ War.

What Changed

• Created Aquitaine as the duchy whose legal vulnerability becomes the opening-war threshold.

Relationships

• Gascony - reduced English-held remnant and practical focus of the episode.
• England - kingdom whose rulers retain continental claims through Aquitaine/Gascony.
• France - kingdom asserting overlordship and forfeiture power.
• Edward II of England - ruler under whom the 1324 Aquitaine crisis sharpens.
• Edward III of England - ruler facing the 1337 confiscation.
• Philip VI of France - ruler whose confiscation opens war in the source.
• Feudal Homage Sovereignty Conflict - concept explaining the legal tension around the duchy.
• Hundred Years’ War - conflict made open by Aquitaine’s confiscation.