On 7th January 1558 England lost her final piece
of French territory, namely the port of Calais.
When Duke William conquered England in 1066 he simply added
that country to what he held already, notably the Duchy of Normandy.
When Henry II became king in 1154 he was already Count of
Anjou and his wife Eleanor was Duchess of Aquitaine. Henry’s empire eventually
stretched from the north of England to the Spanish border.
However, much of this territory was lost in the following centuries,
and it would all have been in French hands by 1558 had it not been for the
action in 1346 by King Edward III to besiege and capture Calais. This toehold
on the continent of Europe remained in English hands until the French King
Henri II laid siege to it at the beginning of January 1558.
The successful general was François de Lorraine, duc de
Guise, who was the original “Scarface”. He acquired this nickname following a
battle wound earlier in his career.
It only took Guise six days to overcome the resistance of
the English garrison station in Calais. The area around the town became known
in France as “the reconquered country” but the loss was felt deeply in England.
Queen Mary I had not had a happy reign. She was unpopular
for having married the king of Spain and for her aggressive promotion of
Catholicism in England. A series of poor harvests had not helped matters, so
the loss of Calais was “the final straw”. Mary had failed to produce an heir
and she was probably already suffering from the ovarian cancer that would lead
to her death in November of that year. She probably knew that her life was in
its closing stages, despite being aged only 41, when she uttered the famous
words: “When I am dead and opened, you shall find 'Calais' written on my heart”.
© John Welford
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