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Edward declared his claim to the French throne, as his mother had been the sister of Charles IV, king of
France, who left no male heir when he died in 1338. This was a respectable enough reason for the war to return
the lost English lands in France. The results of the first stage of the war were not as successful as the English
had expected them to be. But several victories were won at sea (1340 at Sluys), and in the field– Gascony was
recaptured, at Crecy the English archers made the King of France flee from the battle field, Calais after a long
siege surrendered in the face of starvation. King Edward's eldest son,– Edward, the Black Prince, a warrior of a
high reputation, in 1356 won a victory as Poitiers. In 1348 the outbreak of plague, "the Black death" dealt a
terrible blow at the people of Europe and England. It was a terrible disaster, more than 1/3 of the English
population died.
The economy and trade of England suffered and the social unrest was spreading due to the results of the