7 - Religious and political change: Henry VII, Henry VIII and the Reformation

Summary

The way in which Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, had used his tenure of the Captaincy of Calais to establish a base in the town, which could serve the purpose of advancing his personal interests rather than those of the Crown, provided a lesson to Edward iv and subsequent rulers that they were not eager to forget. Edward and his successors tied the town and its forces much more closely to allegiance to the Crown. Those who would once have been called Captain were now designated Lieutenant (from 1471) or Deputy (after 1508); their power and authority clearly came from the king and were dependent on his approval. It is debatable to what extent these changes reflected wider developments in the governance of the whole realm of England or were driven by the particular circumstances of Calais itself. It was beyond the seas, surrounded by the territory of both the Empire and France, but its great value to England was not doubted. Official documents often included phrases describing the town as a jewel among the possessions of the king of England. A poem written not long after the fall of the town to the English in 1347 described it as ‘Caleys that ryall towne / ever yt mot wel cleve / Unto the crown of mery Yngland.’ The writer of the Libelle of Englyshe Polycye, around 1436, called it and Dover the ‘tweyne eyne to kepe the narowe see’, and the key to English prosperity.