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In
1337, the 25-year-old King Edward III (1327-77), who was
already lord of the Duchy of Guyenne in southwest France,
laid claim to the French Crown. Edward's contention was
based on a claim that ran through his mother, Isabel, the
sister of the three previous Valois kings of France, and
who had been wrongly disinherited by her cousin, French
King Philip VI. For the next hundred years this family conflict
was fought out with a mixture of chivalry and savagery.
French and English lords fought one another with honor and
civility ... and their subjects were butchered unmercifully
...
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