Michiel, now Venetian ambassador in France, informed the Doge and Senate on the 4th January, that on presenting himself before Calais, M. de Guise made himself master of Risbank, which Michiel describes as “that part of the town fronting the sea, and which, forming a bank, receives as it were into an arm or small gulf, the vessels which arrive there, and which for greater security, withdraw thither under the walls of the town; and he simultaneously took possession both of the ships and their crews, and of the hostels which are built there outside, for the accommodation of the mariners and wayfarers, so that when they embark or disembark by night, on account of the tides, they may not have to enter the town”.[662]
Notwithstanding the ease with which Risbank had been captured, the first attempt to storm the castle of Calais proved ineffectual, according to the French account, by reason of the fluctuation of the tide. The assault being made from the ships, which at high-tide, were on a level with the town, but at the ebb below it, the cannon struck at low tide six or seven paces below the wall, and the besiegers were at the mercy of the besieged, who from the ramparts made a convenient target of them. They also threw up earthworks, and barricades, and fortified the road between the castle and the town, by placing artillery there. The duke, therefore, returned to a site above his first position, “Boulogne in his rear supplying him with provisions,” and a wood not more than half a league distant affording him plenty of fuel.
From this position, he, two days later, began bombarding the castle with sixty pieces of artillery, and Michiel observes that “although the besieged defend themselves stoutly, it is nevertheless not authentically understood that the garrison is more numerous than usual, the governor, as said lately by the King, not having chosen to admit any one; and notwithstanding a public report, that the Duke of Savoy in person is coming to succour the place, with a strong body of cavalry and infantry, the hope of its capture does not in the least diminish”.[663]
Lord Grey and Lord Wentworth afterwards refuted this charge, and declared that they sent five messengers to Philip before the appearance of the French army under Calais, and never received any reply whatever, which totally disheartened them, in contradiction of what was said, as to their not having chosen to accept the garrisons offered to them.[664] Philip, however, cannot reasonably be blamed for the straits to which the place was reduced. He had never ceased recommending that Calais should be carefully guarded,[665] and when he heard that the French were preparing an attack, he insisted that nothing should be neglected to defeat their projects. His answer to the appeals of the Governors of Calais and Guisnes was to commission the Duke of Savoy to levy troops, and to proceed at once to their aid, but the latter arrived on the scene too late to avert disaster. Within a week of the assault a wide breach was made in the castle wall, and seeing that all was lost, Wentworth ordered the garrison to be withdrawn and the towers to be blown up, at the approach of the enemy. That same evening, when the tide was low, a company of French soldiers waded across the haven, but contrary to expectation, no explosion occurred, the engineer to whom the order had been given excusing himself, on the pretext that the water dropping from the clothes of the Frenchmen, as they passed over the train, had wetted the powder, rendering it useless.[666]
The town itself still remained untaken, but on the 8th January, news was brought to the French court, that while the Duke of Guise was preparing to storm it, “one of the inhabitants appeared on the ramparts with a flag of truce, praying the besiegers not to fire, nor to proceed to further hostilities, as the townspeople were willing to surrender; so whilst it was being treated to have them at discretion, according to the Duke’s resolve, as he knew that those who remained were very few and very weak, he having shortly before at the passes occupied by him, routed four companies of Spaniards on their march to succour them, they demanding safety for their properties and persons, he sent Robertet to assure the King that either at discretion or in some other way, the town could not fail to be his”.[667]
Eventually, the place surrendered, on condition that the citizens and garrison should be allowed to depart, with the exception of Wentworth and fifty others, all the ammunition and merchandise passing as booty into the hands of the French. Meanwhile, ample reinforcements of troops and stores lay waiting at Dover, detained there by stress of weather, none divining that a place, hitherto deemed impregnable, could possibly succumb within a week. But the French had contemplated the enterprise for four years, and the fall of Boulogne, in the preceding reign, had paved the way for them to Calais.[668]
Bonfires were lighted in Paris, two days before the intelligence that was to plunge England into a stupor of despair reached London. “The x day of January, heavy news came to England and London, that the French had won Calais, the which was the heaviest tidings to London and to England that ever was heard of, for like a traitor it was sold and delivered unto them.”[669]
“On the 10th, and not previously,” wrote Surian, “the news of the loss of Calais was received in England, and it is strange that such important intelligence should scarcely have been conveyed in three days, whereas the passage is usually made in one. They (a Spanish and an English messenger) having left so immediately after the receipt of the news, are unable to know what took place in the kingdom either good or bad, merely saying that the Queen, when she heard it, determined to make every possible effort to recover the place, and that besides the ships now ready to put to sea to succour it, and the troops which were being mustered, it will be reinforced by the greatest amount the country can raise, and with the opportunity offered by the session of Parliament, her Majesty will obtain any sum of money that may be required to that effect.”[670]
Although the English laboured under a delusion in regard to the strength of Calais, they were probably right in ascribing its prompt fall to treachery. The whole region had been a nest of conspirators, of whom Stafford had left many behind him, when he went to surprise Scarborough Castle, and they were all in the employ of the King of France. John Highfield in his letter to Mary, concerning the siege and loss of Calais, said that the Duke of Savoy had asked him “after what sort the town was lost”; and he had answered that “the cause was not only by the weakness of the castle and lack of men,” but also he thought there was some treason, for as he heard “there were some escaped out of the town, and the Frenchmen told [him] that they had intelligence of all our estate within the town”.[671]
Moreover, Sir Edward Carne wrote from Rome, that tidings had come from Venice, and from Cardinal Trivulci, Papal Legate in Paris, “which last stated, that the place had been rendered without any battery being laid to it, or defence made, but by appointment of those within it. If so, it is the most abominable treason that ever man heard of, and most to be abhorred.”[672] In the same despatch, he tells the Queen that, “if she spares either heretics or traitors, she shall but nourish fire in her own house”.