 Following a series of disagreements between Philip VI of France () and Edward III of England (), on 24 May 1337 Philip's Great Council agreed that the Duchy of Aquitaine, effectively Gascony, should be taken back into Philip's hands on the grounds that Edward was in breach of his obligations as a vassal.This marked the start of the Hundred Years' War, which was to last 116 years.Before the war commenced, well over 1,000 ships a year departed Gascony.