When the last male Capetian and French king Charles IV died in 1328, leaving no direct descendants, the question of succession was initially unresolved. According to the asserted Salic law of succession, which excluded claims to the throne via female descendants, his cousin Philip of Valois claimed the throne as Philip VI from the next collateral line of the Capetians, the House of Valois. Due to his lineage - his mother Isabella was the daughter of Philip IV - King Edward III of England also laid claim to the crown. This claim was initially rejected again, as the English king, who was only 15 years old, was under the guardianship of his mother as well as her lover Roger Mortimer, both of whom enjoyed a bad reputation in France. Edward was thus unable to gain any significant support among the French Pairs for his succession to the throne and remained hopeless as a candidate.

After Edward had shaken off the regency of his mother and Mortimer in 1330 and ruled independently, he initially sought a diplomatic settlement with France regarding the disputes in Gascony. Among other things, there were also considerations of English participation in a French crusade to Outremer planned in the coming years to recapture Jerusalem. This course of détente was abruptly interrupted in 1332, however, when Edward Balliol landed in Scotland with a private army and crushed the supporters of the minor King David II at the Battle of Dupplin Moor. Balliol crowned himself Scottish king, Edward recognised him and over the next four years led several armed expeditions with varying success into fractious Scotland to secure Balliol's rule and his own territorial gains there. The young David II was able to escape with the help of Philip VI and found refuge in Château Gaillard in France.

Due to the so-called Auld Alliance, a military assistance agreement between France and Scotland, Philip VI felt obliged to intervene. After a number of diplomatic offers had failed to meet with Edward's approval, Philip equipped a fleet and landing troops in 1336 in order to be able to intervene directly in Scotland. Due to a lack of money, the lofty plans could not be realised and so, from 1337 onwards, the ships already fitted out were used instead for sporadic raids on English merchant ships and coastal towns. By this time, the firm conviction was gaining ground in England that France was soon planning an invasion of southern England. Edward left Scotland, began to build up an English navy and made initial plans for an invasion of France.

Alongside these realpolitik disputes, a diplomatic affair took on increasing importance. Robert of Artois, formerly a close advisor to the French king, had fallen out with Philip and the House of Burgundy over the fact that he had been passed over for the succession to the county of Artois. He was forced into emigration and finally arrived at the English court in 1334, where he was received. From 1336, against a background of increasing tension between France and England, Philip demanded Robert's extradition. Finally, in December, an order was issued to the seneschal of Gascony to hand Robert over to the French king. When Edward, who was addressed by the French king as his vassal in this matter, did not comply with the demand, orders were issued to confiscate his French estates by force of arms, for which purpose the Arrière-ban, i.e. the mobilisation of France for war, was proclaimed on 30 April 1337. About a year later, probably in May 1338, Bishop Henry Burghersh, on Edward's behalf, delivered a letter to the French king declaring his claim to the French throne against Philip. The public proclamation of Edward as "King of France" did not take place until 26 January 1340.

This outlined the political guidelines of both parties in the emerging war: The French king, according to his understanding, proceeded against an insubordinate vassal, while the English king proclaimed to merely assert his legitimate claim to the French throne against an illegitimate usurper. Both views were to confront each other seemingly irreconcilably in the ensuing Hundred Years' War.