5 - Calais as a base for political intrigue: Yorkists, Lancastrians and the earl of Warwick

Summary

It might be thought that the humiliation of Burgundian arms following the ignominious end of the siege in 1436 would have led to a notable increase in the security of Calais. The alarm at the prospect of the Burgundian attack and the palpable relief at its complete failure might have also provided an opportunity for the English to take stock of this possession of the Crown in which so much money and effort was invested. That neither of these things happened is an indication of the competing interests centred on the town. On the one hand, the fact that the Flemish towns were very reluctant to get involved in their duke's adventures testified to their respect for English arms and their reluctance to conduct open warfare against a major trading partner. On the other hand, the duke himself continued to make warlike plans, including one that involved flooding the Pale by attacking the sluices at Newenham Bridge, though to what purpose was not clear. On the English side, the drift, lack of leadership and lethargy becoming increasingly visible in English government, largely because of the character of the young king Henry vi, was affecting policy in the overseas territories as well as matters in England itself. As the situation for English arms in both Normandy and south-west France became more and more unsettled and losses mounted, some argued that all the available men and money should be dispatched to these regions.