poundage, but a heavy graduated income-tax, of novel character
now¹, though it became too familiar in later times. They
further empowered the council to give security for £100.000, a
larger loan than had eλ^rer been contemplated before². Gloucester
was appointed for nine years captain of Calais³, and at last he
was to have the chance of showing his mettle ; for the cardinal
himself had nothing better to propose. The session closed on
the 23rd of December; war was to be resumed early in the
next year : the garrison of Calais ravaged the Flemish pro-
vinces, and the Burgundians prepared to besiege Calais. Yet,
before anything was done by Gloucester, Paris had been re-
covered by the French king. Edmund Beaufort, now count of
Mortain and Harcourt⁴, the aspiring rival of Gloucester and
York, was able to snatch the first and almost solitary laurels.
By him Calais was succoured and enabled to repel its besiegers
before Gloucester would set sail for its relief, or the duke of
York, the newly-appointed regent, who entered on his office in
April, could complete his equipment⁵. Gloucester’s Flemish
campaign occupied eleven days⁸, and he returned, after this
brief experience of marauding warfare, to receive from his
nephew the title of Count of Flanders, an honour scarcely less
substantial than the royal title which its bestower continued

¹ Rot. Part. iv. 486, 487. Incomes of ιoos. paid 2s. 6<7., and 6d. in the
pound up to £100; over £ioo they paid 8d. in the pound up to £400;
over £400 2-s. in the pound. A similar grant was made in convocation
Dec. 23 ; Dep. Keeper’s Rep. iii. App. 16 ; Wilk. Cone. iii. 525.

² Rot. Pari. iv. 482. Writs were issued for a loan, Feb. 14, 1436, the
treasurer to give security for repayment from the fifteenth granted in the
last parliament; Ordinances, iv. 316, 329. Cf. pp. 352 sq.

³ Rot. Parl. iv. 483.

⁴ So entitled as early as April 19, 1431 ; Carte, Rrench Rolls, ii. 273 ;
he was made earl of Dorset in 1441, marquess in 1442, and duke of
Somerset in 1448. Hardyng calls him * wise and sage ’ (p. 388), and
ascribes to him all the credit of relieving Calais, p. 396 ; as for Gloucester,
ⁱ he rode into Flanders a little waye and Iitle did to count a manly man?
‘The earl of Mortayne went to Calys sone aftyr Estyr Gregory, p. 178.
This chronicler gives the credit of the repulse of the Burgundians to
Beaufort and Camoys. Cf. Leland, Coll. ii. 492 ; Engl. Chron. (ed.
Davies), p. 55 ; Chron. Giles, p. 15.

⁵ According to Hall, p. 179, Stow, p. 375, the earl of Mortain was so
jealous of the duke of York that he prevented him from leaving England
until Paris was lost. He had wished, it was said, to marry queen
Katharine, but was prevented by Gloucester ; Chron. Giles, p. 17.

^c Aug. 1-15 ; see Stevenson, Wars in France, ii. pp. xix, xx.

to bear. This was the work of 1436. In 1437 the parliament, Parliament
which sat from January to March, renewed the grants of 1435,
except the income-tax, and did little more¹. This year nego-
tiations were set on foot for the release of John Beaufort, earl

of Somerset, who had been a captive in France since 1421; he
was exchanged for the count of Eu and returned home to
strengthen the party of the cardinal². After a year’s expe- Warwick
rience the duke of York refused to serve any longer in France, France, I₄₃₇.
and the earl of Warwick, Henry’s tutor, was appointed to
succeed him as regent³. Bedford’s widow had already forgotten
him and married one of his officers ; queen Katharine had long
ago set the example, although the public revelation of her im-
prudence was deferred during her life. She died on the 3rd of Deathofthe
^{x                                      o}                                               queen, 1437.

January, 1437, ɪeaving the young king more alone than ever.

Warwick died in April, 1439, after no great successes. Such
credit as was gained in France at all fell to the share of the
two Beauforts. The zeal of the nation died away quickly ; Truce with
and in October, 1439, a truce for three years with Burgundy ^₄]gΓ'^nd'^s,
was concluded at Calais⁴ ; negotiations for a peace with
Charles VII going slowly on in parallel with the slow and
languishing war⁵. The cardinal’s schemes for a general pacifi-
cation were ripening. Gloucester showed neither energy nor
originality, but contented himself with being obstructive. The
parliament, in a hopeless sort of way, voted supplies and

¹ The parliament of 1437 began Jan. 21 ; .Sir John Tyrell was speaker.
The grants were made on the last day of the session ; Rot. Parl. iv. 495,
496, 501, 502. The security given was for £100,000; p. 504. The clergy
granted a tenth; Wilk. Cone. iii. 525.

² Rymer, x. 664, 680, 697.

³ The duke’s indentures expired and he was not willing to continue
in office, April 7, 1437 ; Ordiii. v. 6, 7. The earl of Warwick was
nominated lieutenant July 16, 1437; Ryiuer, x. 674. He died in April,
¹439∙ After his death the lieutenancy seems to have been in commission:
but the earl of Somerset is found calling himself, and acting as, lieutenant
until after York’s reappointment; see Appendix D to the Foedera, pp.
443-447 ; Stevenson, Wars in France, ii. 304. Cf. Ordinances, v. 16, 33 ;
Clir. (Files, p. 18. It could however only b_e for a few months, as he was
in England in December 1439 ; Ordinances, v. 112.

⁴ Rymer, x. 723-736.

^s The journal of the ambassadors sent to negotiate with France on the
mediation of cardinal Beaufort and the duchess of Burgundy, who was
Beaufort’s niece, is printed in the Ordinances, v. pp. 335-437.

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