The Two Hundred Years War

The Bloody Crowns of England and France, 1292–1492

By: Dr Michael Livingston

Narrated by: Rupert Farley

Bloomsbury presents The Two Hundred Years War by Michael Livingston, read by Rupert Farley.

A new and radically original account of the longest military conflict in European history, which challenges the conventional periodisation of the ‘Hundred Years War’ to consider a much longer period of Anglo-French conflict.

Michael Livingston argues that the English lens through which the war has been viewed has led historians to define it in terms of English interests (most famously, the claim of the English Plantagenet king Edward III to be the rightful king of France), and that the events collectively labelled the ‘Hundred Years War’ are best seen as a sequence of steps in France’s struggle to define itself as a nation. For much of the period, France’s primary rival was indeed England. But it was by no means the only combatant. Burgundy stood in its way, too, as did Brittany, Flanders, Navarre and other rival powers.

Viewing France as the primary engine driving the war leads Livingston to consider a much longer timespan, starting with the Anglo-French ‘Pirate War’ of 1292 (which swiftly escalated into a fight over England’s feudal possessions in Gascony) and ending with the marriage of Charles VIII of France to Anne of Brittany by which Brittany was subsumed into the French realm.

©2025 Dr Michael Livingston (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Excellent narration of an excellent history book

This is a well-written and informative book for readers with any to no knowledge of the Hundred Years War. I highly recommend it for history enthusiasts!

I believe this is a great work of modern scholarship for the Hundred Years War.
Its two primary virtues are that it is an informative overview of the conflict, and it challenges the limited and Anglo-centric context most English speakers have been exposed to about the Hundred Years War.

Of the second, Dr. Michael Livingston expands the popular framing of the period that emphasizes England's claim to the crown of France - that it was equally, if not more importantly, a movement concurrent with France's push for unification and self-identity.
Livingston's book is careful to explain the wider geopolitics of the Hundred Years War, that beyond a warring England was France - strengthening its central monarchy; working through civil wars and factional disputes; developing systems of taxation and administration; and asserting control over previously autonomous(ish) regions like Brittany, Gascony, and Burgundy, to ultimately form a French border closer to what we know today.

This and Livingston's expansion of the period into the "Two Hundred Years War", create a historical narrative clearer than the traditional One Hundred Years War.
The expansion logically includes the conflicts surrounding Gascony that led to Edward III's declaration of war in 1337, and continue past the Battle of Castillon in 1453, which was not an official end to England's prosecution for the French crown.
Although I must point out that I myself am barely an amateur enthusiast of this period, I do find his arguments convincing and am now subscribed to this school of thought.

As an overview of the entire period, it's really good! Livingston walks through these two hundred years without slipping into dry recitation. He injects his extensive military knowledge with the political and cultural goings-on relevant with these events.
Of course, two hundred years cannot be entirely covered in this one book (as Livingston himself admits, see Sumption!), but it truly is a comprehensive review that adds additional information not included in other works of its kind.

I highly recommend this as a primer for anyone interested in learning about this period for the first time!
For those who already have knowledge of the Hundred Years War, I still recommend it - Livingston challenges and adds so much to the traditional, Anglo-centric knowledge you may have.

P.S. Regarding the alternate international title, Bloody Crowns is a bloody bland title.

Fantastic history

Livingston makes medieval history come alive in this book. Read this if you want to better understand how two of humanity's iconic nations emerged from a very different world.

I have learned about the Hundred Years War several times, and I finally feel like it makes sense to me. The period has such dramatic changes of fortune between England and France, and Livingston contextualizes them in a way that feels much less random or driven solely by the actions of big men.

My biggest complaints are that it is hard to visualize the campaigns and battles in audio form and it can be pretty tough to keep track of the cast of characters. But I think he does a pretty good job given the limitations of the audiobook format. Also, the pacing of the passage of time is uneven, with the last few decades of the period flying by.

But on the whole, this was fantastic.