It began with personal clashes between sailors in the English Channel in the early 1290s but became a widespread conflict over control of Edward I's Continental holdings after he refused a summons from Philip IV and renounced his state of vassalage.

At some point during Lent (20 February –3 April) in 1292, Norman and Bayonnais sailors quarreled over who would first draw water from a cistern on the Breton island of Quémènès.

[4][5] Other Norman and French sailors then began to massacre and sink Aquitainian & English vessels, including pilgrim passengers, while both Edward and Philip and their officials gave numerous unheeded commands to keep the peace.

[7] These clashes caused Philip IV of France to formally complain in the autumn of 1293 that Edward I, king of England and duke of Aquitaine, had not ended the continued violence nor made restitution to its victims.

[11] The attack on La Rochelle was the primary complaint since it had formed part of the French royal demesne since 1271 and was thus a direct assault on Philip's property, but initial attempts of royal agents to extradite the known raiders were rebuffed and additional assaults and murders of Normans and French customs agents occurred in Aquitaine.

Facing resistance from the English nobility who considered the continuing unrest in Wales and growing "Scottish problem" more pressing, Edward's expedition to Flanders was reduced in size and much delayed from his original plans.

From his base in Ghent and commanding an army largely composed of restive Welsh and Scots pressed into service, Edward was only able to support Henry III's putative raids of northern France before accepting a truce under papal auspices in October 1297.

Pope Boniface VIII was particularly anxious to end the dispute between Philip and Edward because both kings had begun independently taxing the clergy and his initial response, the papal bull Clericis Laicos, had only led to the outlawing of English clerics and a French embargo on any export of precious metals or jewels from the country, damaging Boniface's own finances.

Heavily indebted and at war in Scotland, Edward was still able to use Philip's precarious situation to finally recover control of Aquitaine in the status quo ante 1303 Treaty of Paris.