CHAPTER XXXVI

HOW CALAIS WAS REPEOPLED

Melancholy, I must confess, it was on that memorable August day, even in the eyes of the conquerors of Calais, to see the citizens expelled from the homes which hitherto they had called their own, and compelled to wander forth, not knowing whither they went. Nor with them did they carry aught to aid them in forming new settlements. Everything they possessed was left behind; and, atoning for their fidelity to Philip of Valois by the loss of wealth and goods, as well as houses and heritage, men, women, and children, of various ages and conditions, passed, weeping, through the opened gates, to seek among strangers for new abodes and new friends.

All who witnessed their departure commiserated their hard fate. Even King Edward, albeit exasperated at the Calesians, must, in his heart, have deplored the stern necessity under the influence of which he acted. But, as I have said, the king had expressed his determination to repeople Calais with English, and so thoroughly was his mind made up on the subject, that nothing could have turned him from the plan he had formed for securing his conquest to England, and making it advantageous to Englishmen.

In order to contribute to the result which he contemplated, the king gave to Sir Walter Manny and the Earl of Warwick, and other lords and knights, very handsome houses in Calais, that they might aid him in the work, and intimated his resolution to lose no time in doing his part.

"Immediately on reaching England," said the king, "I will hasten to send hither a number of substantial citizens, with all their wealth, and exert myself in such a manner that the inhabitants shall be wholly English. Not even a dog not of English breed should remain in the city if I could help it."

At the same time the king gave orders for dismantling the temporary town and fortifications which he had raised during the siege, and also the great castle which he had erected in the harbour. Having done this, and repaired the gates and walls, he took such measures for guarding the gates and defending the walls as he deemed essential to the security of the town, and then flattered himself that he had nothing more to fear.

"Nothing," said he, "save treachery from within, could now deprive me of this town, which has cost me so much time and money to gain; and to provide at once against treachery, I intend to appoint as its governor a man in whose perception and fidelity I have full confidence."

Accordingly, the king appointed to the important post of Governor of Calais a Lombard, named Aymery de Pavie, whom he had brought up from youth, whom he had greatly befriended, whom he had highly promoted, and who was destined to requite so many favours with the very blackest ingratitude.

It was a grave mistake on the king's part, I must admit, to appoint an avaricious Lombard to such a post; and he well-nigh atoned for his misplaced confidence by the loss of a conquest which he was so proud to have made, and which any king might have been proud to make. But in the meantime everything seemed fair, and Aymery de Pavie received the keys of Calais from the royal conqueror with the air of a man who was incapable of thinking a dishonourable thought. However, there were then Englishmen and warriors of fame in Calais who had little faith in the Lombard's honesty, and who murmured that, in trusting a foreigner so much, the king was showing less than his wonted sagacity. None, however, ventured to speak, save in a whisper, on a subject so delicate, and not an echo of what was said ever reached the king's ears.

Meanwhile, many men--both English and French--were tired of the war, and talking about "peace;" and Pope Clement, in the exercise of his discretion, deemed it a fitting time to interfere. Before the surrender of Calais, indeed, and ere yet Philip of Valois had left the Calesians to their hard fate, the Pope had sent two cardinals to make an effort at negociating a peace. But Edward would listen to no terms likely to interfere with his gaining possession of Calais; and the cardinals, after wasting three days in a fruitless attempt at negociation, gave up the business in despair, and returned to Avignon.

But Clement did not abandon his design. No sooner, indeed, did the Pope learn that Edward had gained his object--in so far as Calais was concerned--than he resolved on renewing his attempt to terminate the war. With this object he sent into France, as his ambassador, the Cardinal Guy of Boulogne, who, meeting Philip of Valois at Amiens, exercised all his tact and skill to induce the vanquished prince to agree to a peace on practicable terms, and then appeared at Calais to try his powers of persuasion on the King of England.

At first the cardinal had not much reason to congratulate himself on the success of his negociations. His mission, in fact, was one of great difficulty; for Philip hated Edward's name as death, and Edward's contempt for Philip was by no means so slight as to be easily concealed. But the cardinal comprehended his own position and theirs, and felt sure that he would succeed in the end.

And so, indeed, it came to pass. Both parties, after reflecting deliberately, arrived at the conclusion that, for the time being, at least, they had had enough of the war. The English were--as well they might be--contented with the victories they had won, and anxious to return to their homes; the French, depressed and disheartened with defeat and disaster, were the reverse of eager to continue a struggle in which they instinctively felt they were almost certain to have the worst.

Such being the circumstances in his favour, the cardinal persevered, and, with so skilful a mediator as Guy of Boulogne whispering into their ears, both Philip of Valois and King Edward began gradually to listen more earnestly to his representations and his counsels.

At length the cardinal's endeavours were, in some degree, rewarded, and he had the gratification of bringing the rivals to consent to a truce for two years. On the 28th of September, 1347, the truce was signed with all due form, and the King and Queen of England, with the Prince of Wales and the Lady Isabel, embarked for England. The squires and pages of the prince prepared to follow more leisurely.

And on reaching England, where he met with a boisterous welcome, King Edward did not forget to neglect his scheme of repeopling Calais. Forthwith he adopted measures for putting it into execution. Thirty-six citizens of worth and substance, with their wives and families, were sent, in all haste, to inhabit the conquered town, and others speedily followed in large numbers, so that in manners, and customs, and language, Calais differed little from any town in England.

And, as time passed on, the temptation to cross the narrow seas became every year stronger. In fact, King Edward was all anxiety to see Calais prosper and grow rich under his rule; and he, to stimulate its trade, so multiplied the privileges of the English colonists, that adventurous Englishmen flocked eagerly to it as the place where, of all others in Europe, industry was best rewarded, and where fortunes were most easily gained.