invited Flemish weavers to
settle in England so as to give a stimulus to the manufacture of woollen
fabrics. These he took under his special protection,(482) for the native
looked askance upon all foreigners, traders or craftsmen.

(M283)

One of the last political acts of Mortimer had been to send Edward over to
France to do homage to Philip of Valois, the new king, for his possessions
in that country. This homage Edward paid in 1329, but subject to certain
reservations.(483) In 1330 he was making preparations for war, and took
the opportunity of the presence of Stephen de Abyndone and John de
Caustone, the City's representatives in the parliament held that year at
Westminster, to ask them what assistance the City would be likely to
afford him. The City members asked leave to consult the commonalty on the
matter. Eventually the sum of 1,000 marks was offered, a sum so trifling
that Edward consented to accept it only as a free gift, and plainly
intimated that he looked for more substantial aid in the future.(484)

In July, he summoned the mayor and twenty-four of the leading citizens to
attend him at Woodstock. The mayor (Simon de Swanlonde) would have had
them excused on the ground of the disturbed state of the city, but the
king was not to be denied. Substitutes were appointed for the mayor during
his absence, and he and seven aldermen and sixteen commoners went to
Woodstock, where they gave assurances of the City's loyalty.(485) In 1331,
after Mortimer's fall, when Edward was his own master, lie again visited
France, and a peace was concluded between the two kings.(486)

(M284)

From 1332 to 1335 the king was chiefly occupied with Scotland. It was part
of the policy of Philip of Valois to encourage disturbance in the north of
England, as a means of recovering his lost possessions in France.(487) The
period of four years during which peace had been assured by Edward with
Scotland by the treaty of Northampton had now elapsed,(488) and active
operations on both sides re-commenced. In 1334 the city voted 1,000 marks,
afterwards raised to 1,200, for raising 100 horsemen and as many
men-at-arms to assist the king for a period of forty days.(489)

A spy was also despatched to Normandy and Brabant to see how matters were
going there, and gifts were made to the courts of Juliers and Namur to
secure their favour. The parliament which sat at York in May, 1335,(490)
having decided in favour of a fresh expedition to Scotlan