This unfortunate misunderstanding came almost at the end of Bedford’s stay in England. He had already made up his mind to return to the scenes of his former labours, for he could not stand by and see the kingdom that Henry V. had won pass out of English hands, without doing his utmost to prevent it. On June 20 he took leave of the Council,[838] and shortly after left England for the last time.[839] His life’s work was done. Burgundy, who had been an unsatisfactory ally for many years past, was drawing closer and closer to the French King, and the Pope, having brought his influence to bear on the contending parties, induced them to hold a European Congress at Arras in August 1435.[840] In spite of the conciliatory offers of the French, Beaufort and the other English delegates based their demands on the Treaty of Troyes—at this stage of the war an absurdly impossible attitude—and, perceiving that a Burgundian alliance with France was inevitable, they left the Congress on September 5.[841] This alliance was completed by the end of the month,[842] but not before Bedford’s death on September 14.[843]

With the death of Bedford and the defection of Burgundy, even the most shadowy hope of retaining his hold on France passed from the King of England, and the claims, first raised by Edward III., and resuscitated by Henry V., were to end in the disaster which had been inevitable from the first. Of all the men to whom Henry of Monmouth had confided the care of his son and of his kingdom, Bedford alone was worthy of his implicit trust. He had fought an uphill and impossible fight in France, and on two occasions he had turned his attention to the internal affairs of England. He had played a difficult rôle with as much success as was to be expected, and we can only guess at what might have been the destiny of England had it secured his undivided attention. Had he been settled in England as Protector, his power would doubtless have been less than on the occasions when he came to readjust the balance of parties in 1426 and 1433, for he would not then have received the support of the Beaufort faction, which only looked on him as a useful tool to use when Gloucester’s ascendency became too secure. At his death the one steadying and exterior influence in English politics was gone, and the party strife, which had been the curse of England for the last thirteen years, pursued its course unhindered.

From the time of the death of Bedford and the Treaty of Arras onwards a change comes over the internal politics of England. Hitherto the war in France had been carried on by the French Regent almost without reference to the authorities at home, and questions of foreign policy had not made their way into the bickerings of Beaufort and Gloucester. But now that the strong hand in France was removed, and the defection of the Duke of Burgundy had at last become definite, it was impossible for the Council, in the face of both occurrences, to ignore any longer the fact that the country was at war. This was emphasised by the appearance of Burgundian envoys in London, who came to announce the peace made between the Duke of Burgundy and Charles of France, and to seek to procure peace with England also.[844] The country in general was too angry with the Duke to realise the advantages of his neutrality. His envoys therefore were denied the privileges of their position, their peace propositions were scouted by the Council, and they were not even vouchsafed a definite answer.[845] Both Beaufort and Gloucester emphasised their objections to peace with Burgundy, and the Treasurer pointed out what he considered to be the insulting omission of the title ‘souverain seigneur’ in addressing the King.[846] In Parliament, which met on October 10, the Chancellor, John Stafford, delivered a virulent attack on Burgundian policy, and the assembly was induced to agree readily enough to the continued prosecution of the war, and to the inclusion of the Duke of Burgundy among the King’s enemies.[847] Council and Parliament therefore, led by both Beaufort and Gloucester as well as by the rest of the royal officers, threw down the gauntlet to Burgundy, and it is well to remember this when in the light of subsequent events we find Gloucester attacked for leading the nation to war at this time.[848]

1435] GLOUCESTER LIEUTENANT OF CALAIS

The death of Bedford naturally increased Humphrey’s strength in the kingdom. He now stood next in succession to the throne as heir-presumptive to his young nephew, and he was freed from the domination of a superior authority, to which in time of need his enemies could appeal. His influence may be traced in the appointment of the Duke of York to the command in France. Hitherto this Duke had not been seen in English politics, being at this time only twenty-four years old, but he had been brought into close contact with Humphrey, who had been granted the administration of his land during his minority, and whose good name he championed later in life. At this time men looked to the Duke of Gloucester as the chief man in England, and it was to him that the Bishop of Bayeux addressed himself when begging for help for the distressed Duchy of Normandy.[849]

Such being Gloucester’s position, it was natural that he should receive some of the offices and responsibilities vacated by his brother. His former idea of taking the command in France was not resuscitated, as he doubtless wished to guard his interests at home, but on November 1 he succeeded Bedford as Lieutenant of the King in the town, marches, and castle of Calais, to which were added the regions of Picardy, Flanders, and Artois. The appointment bore civil as well as military obligations, and was a challenge to the Duke of Burgundy in that certain of his territories were included in the grant.[850] Calais itself was an important command quite apart from strategic reasons. It was the town where the wool staple was established, though this was a fact of declining importance; more than this, it was regarded as the safeguard of English trade, for so long as England kept the command of the narrow seas between Dover and Calais, she might rule the world’s commerce, as all trade from north to south had to pass that way.[851] Besides the government of Calais, Gloucester received another of Bedford’s possessions when on November 23 the Council presented him with the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, in exchange for which Humphrey resigned the annuity of five hundred marks, given to him by Henry V. for himself and his heirs until lands of an equal value should be given him.[852]

1436] RELIEF OF CALAIS

For a time the political quarrels of the two factions were silenced by their common anger at the desertion of Burgundy and by the pre-eminence of Gloucester in the kingdom. Two instances of his preponderance appeared in the following year, when his wife Eleanor received her first public recognition as Duchess of Gloucester by being provided with robes of the Order of the Garter wherewith to keep the Feast of St. George at Windsor,[853] and when in the May following the Duke of Orleans was transferred from the custody of the Earl of Suffolk, who had been ordered to France, to that of Sir Reginald de Cobham, Gloucester’s father-in-law.[854] Matters other than those of home politics, however, were to occupy Gloucester in the near future. Early in June it was known in London that Burgundy had begun hostilities, and was advancing against Calais, and preparations were hurriedly made to save the city which Englishmen cherished above all their other possessions in France. Orders were given for the preparation of supplies and munitions of war for the garrison, and provisions for an army which was being mustered to serve under Gloucester.[855] The Earl of Huntingdon was commissioned to raise men to accompany the expedition,[856] the Cardinal was induced to lend nine thousand marks to defray the costs, armourers and victuallers were forbidden to raise their prices in view of the demand on their wares, and all men who wished to serve under Gloucester were ordered to be at Sandwich by the 22nd of July.[857] Delays, however, were inevitable, and it was not till the 27th that Gloucester received his special commission as Lieutenant-General of the army going to the defence of Calais, followed three days later by a writ conferring on him the County of Flanders.[858] By the 2nd of August all things were ready, and on that day he transported his army in five hundred ships from Winchester to Calais.[859]

Humphrey had been retained to serve the King, with one Duke besides himself, two Earls, eleven Barons, twenty-three Knights, four hundred and fifteen men-at-arms, and four thousand and forty-five archers,[860] but the full number of his army when joined by the retinue of the Duke of Norfolk and the Earls of Huntingdon, Devon, Stafford, and Warwick[861] who accompanied him, is uncertain. The chroniclers estimate the strength of the army variously between ten thousand and sixty thousand men,[862] of which the lowest figure is probably nearer the truth, since it was given by one who himself saw the army,[863] and at such short notice it would have been impossible to raise a force in any way approaching the larger estimate.