Calais, the most important
military post under the Crown. The Commons indeed still remained resolute.
When they again met in the summer of 1451 they called for the removal of
Somerset and his creatures from the king's presence. But Henry evaded the
demand, and the dissolution of the Houses announced the royal resolve to
govern in defiance of the national will.

[Sidenote: Failure of York]

The contest between the Houses and the Crown had cost England her last
possessions across the Channel. As York marched upon London Charles closed
on the fragment of the duchy of Guienne which still remained to the
descendants of Eleanor. In a few months all was won. Bourg and Blaye
surrendered in the spring of 1451, Bordeaux in the summer; two months
later the loss of Bayonne ended the war in the south. Of all the English
possessions in France only Calais remained; and in 1452 Calais was
threatened with attack. The news of this crowning danger again called York
to the front. On the declaration of Henry's will to resist all change in
the government the Duke had retired to his castle of Ludlow, arresting the
whispers of his enemies with a solemn protest that he was true liegeman to
the king. But after events show that he was planning a more decisive
course of action than that which had broken down with the dissolution of
the Parliament, and the news of the approaching siege gave ground for
taking such a course at once. Somerset had been appointed Captain of
Calais, and as his incapacity had lost England Normandy, it would cost
her--so England believed--her last fortress in France. It was said indeed
that the Duke was negotiating with Burgundy for its surrender. In the
spring of 1452 therefore York again marched on London, but this time with
a large body of ordnance and an army which the arrival of reinforcements
under Lord Cobham and the Earl of Devonshire raised to over twenty
thousand men. Eluding the host which gathered round the king and Somerset
he passed by the capital, whose gates had been closed by Henry's orders,
and entering Kent took post at Dartford. His army was soon fronted by the
superior force of the king, but the interposition of the more moderate
lords of the Council averted open conflict. Henry promised that Somerset
should be put on his trial on the charges advanced by the Duke, and York
on this pledge disbanded his men. But the pledge was at once broken.
Somerset remained in power. York found himself practically a