146
Constitutional History.
[chap.
or of .armaments, was not equal to his spirit, He was made
duke of Somerset in March 14481, and in company with bishop
Breachof Moleyns, commissioned to treat for a perpetual peace. But
the tɪuee. . ,
before the end of the year the г reιιclι were complaining that
the truce was broken: early in 1449 it was really broken by
the capture of Fougères by a vassal of Henry2 ; and in April
Lossof war began again. Somerset saw all the strongholds of Nor-
in I449 a∏d mandy slip from his grasp with appalling rapidity: the English
45° ascribed it to treachery, but, against strong armies without
and a hostile population within, it was impossible to retain
them. In May Pont ΓArche was taken ; Conches, Gerberoi,
Verneuil followed ; in August Lisieux surrendered ; on the
29th of October Rouen. In January 1450 Harfleur and
Dieppe fell ; in May the English were defeated in a battle at
Formigny3, and Bayeux was taken; Caen surrendered on the
23rd of June, Falaise on the ɪoth of July; on the 12th of
August Cherbourg, the last stronghold in Normandy. Not
content with recovering Normandy, Charles was threatening
a descent on England, and the Isle of Wight was expecting
invasion. Iu the meanwhile England was suffering the first
throes of the great struggle in which her medieval life seems
to close.
iarity1of No PaGiament was lιel<l in 1448; the year was occupied in
the court, peace negotiations ; nothing is known of the proceedings of the
council ; and, as the surrender of Maine became known in the
country, the popularity of the court and of Suffolk waned.
1 Somerset’s creation as duke was on March ʒɪ, 1448 (not 1447 : see
Nicolas, Hist. Peerage, p. 437); Lords’ Reports, v. 258, 259. The com-
mission to him and Moleyns is dated April 6, 1448. See Stevenson, Wars
in France, ii. 577 ; Hardyng, p. 399.
2 Mar. 24 ; Blondel, p. 5. The conduct of Francis L5Arragonois, who
broke the truce, with the connivance of Suffolk and Somerset, as he tried
to prove, and possibly with that of Henry, is the subject of a long dis-
cussion in the letters of the time. Stevenson, Wars in France ; Stow,
p. 386. The chronicler however (Giles, p. 36) represents the true state of
the case when he says that the French were eagerly watching for the first
breach of truce in or 1er to overwhelm the English, i imputantes omnem
causam rebellionis.’ See also Æneas Sylvius, Opp. p. 440. According to
M. de Coussy (Buchon, xxxv. 133 sq.) Somerset professed himself unable
to control the English forces or to restore Fougères.
3 Hardyng, p. 399.
XVIIi.] Suffolk’s Vindication. τ47
As early as May 1447 he had been allowed at his own Syiffoik
request to defend his conduct before the council : he had heard hɪmseif,
that he was reported to have acted faithlessly in the matter ; May ɪ447'
and it had come also to the king’s ears ; the duke had desired
a hearing, and May 25 was appointed: there were present the
chancellor, treasurer, the queen’s confessor, the dukes of York
and Buckingham, lords Cromwell, Sudeley, and Say, with some
others. The vindication was able and eloquent ; the king
regarded it as complete, and declared that the charges brought
against Suffolk by public report were mere scandals, and that
he was guiltless of any real fault. He ordered the reports to
be silenced, issuing letters to that effect on the 18th of June1.
On the 2nd of June, 1448, Suffolk was made duke, and,
although he must have been aware that his policy found no
favour with the people, he Iiore himself as an innocent man to
the last. In February 1449 the parliament met at West- Parliaments
minster2, and granted a half-tenth and fifteenth, and continued ° ɪ449'
tunnage and poundage for five years. After two prorogations
in consequence of the plague, it met in June at Winchester,
and there continued the wool subsidy for four years and re-
newed the tax on aliens ; the commons attempted also to tax
the clergy by granting a subsidy of a noble from each sti-
pendiary priest in consideration of a general pardon. Henry
sent the bill to convocation, telling the clergy that it was for
them to bestow the subsidy ; if they would grant the noble, he
would issue the pardons. The clergy accepted the compromise
and voted the tax. An urgent appeal for help for Normandy
was made by Somerset’s agents4 ; but matters were already
too far gone to be helped ; still to the last we see the king and
council toiling in vain to send over men and munitions. At
1 Rot. Parl. v. 447 ; Rymer, xi. 172-174.
2 Rot. Parl. v. 141. It met Feb. 12 ; John Say was speaker. On the
4th ofApril it was prorogued to May 7, and on May 30, to June 17, at
Winchester. The grants were made April 3 and July j6, the last day of
the session ; ib. pp. 142, 143. Security was given for £100,000; p. 143.
In July the clergy voted a tenth and 6s. 8d. on chaplains ; Wilk. Cone,
ɪɪɪ. 556. Another tenth was voted in November; ib. p. 557.
3 Rot. Parl. v. 152, 153 ; 3rd Report Dep. Keeper, p. 27.
4 Rot. Park v. 147.