In May 1369, King Charles V of France declared war on England, formally renewing hostilities after the breakdown of the Treaty of Brétigny. The English Black Prince refused a summons to Paris, and Charles seized the opportunity to reclaim territories lost in the earlier treaty, beginning a new phase of the Hundred Years' War that would favor the French. This renewal of conflict set the stage for decades of further warfare and fundamentally shaped the political and cultural landscape of both kingdoms.

The resumption of the Hundred Years' War provided the backdrop for the major works of the period's most important poets, including Geoffrey Chaucer, whose life and literary career were shaped by the ongoing conflict. The war's themes of honor, loyalty, and the transience of earthly glory pervade the poetry of the age, from the chivalric romances of the English court to the starkly realistic war poetry of France. The conflict also fostered a sense of national identity that would find expression in the patriotic verse of later poets, including the works of the 16th-century Pléiade in France and the Elizabethan poets in England.