Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/59

 fatal concession, wrung from an unwary diplomatist in a moment of weakness, became at once the turning-point of English politics’ (ib.) At a later time, Suffolk laid the responsibility for the transaction on Molyneux (Rot. Parl. v. 182). For the moment, however, all went fairly. Under Suffolk's escort, Margaret entered Rouen in triumph on 22 March 1445, and on 9 April landed at Portsmouth (, i. 87–9). In the parliament which met in June Suffolk made a declaration in defence of his conduct. William Burley, the speaker, on behalf of the commons, recommended the marquis to the king for the ‘ryght grete and notable werkys whiche he hathe don to the pleasir of God’ (Rot. Parl. v. 73–4). Even Gloucester, who had in the previous year endeavoured to thwart Suffolk, found it expedient to express his approval. On 14 July a French embassy reached London. The only practical result was a prolongation of the truce till 1 Nov. 1446. But the record of the transactions shows the thoroughness of Suffolk's political triumph. The French ambassadors plainly accepted him as the most important person in the state, and Suffolk on his part did not hesitate to speak openly of his wish for peace, and of his disbelief in Gloucester's power to thwart him (, i. 96–131, esp. p. 123).

Under Suffolk's influence negotiations for peace were continued throughout 1446, with no very definite result. The government, however, passed more and more into Suffolk's hands. The king became alienated from his uncle, who made Suffolk the object of open and repeated attack (, i. 187, 190;, i. 115; Croyland Chron. p. 521). To Suffolk and the queen, the complete overthrow of Humphrey's power appeared a paramount necessity. On 14 Dec. a parliament was summoned to meet at Bury St. Edmunds, ‘a place where Suffolk was strong, and where Gloucester would be far away from his friends, the Londoners’. The parliament met on 10 Feb. 1447. Some formal action against Gloucester was no doubt intended, and one authority says that Suffolk had all the roads watched with armed men (, English Chron. p. 62). Gloucester himself reached Bury on 18 Feb., and was at once arrested. Five days later he died, no doubt from natural causes accelerated by the shock of his imprisonment. Popular belief, however, laid his death at Suffolk's door, though no definite charge was ever formulated (the nearest approach is in the petition of the commons for Suffolk's attainder in November 1451, Rolls of Parliament, v. 226). The death of Cardinal Beaufort, which took place six weeks after that of Gloucester, left Suffolk without a rival.

But Suffolk's tenure of power was from the first troubled. The charges against him in reference to Maine and Anjou at once took shape. On 25 May he had formally to defend his action in the council, and on 18 June a royal proclamation was issued, declaring the king's satisfaction with what he had done (Fœdera, xi. 173). Gloucester's death had brought Richard of York a step nearer the throne, and made him the leader of the party opposed to the court. The command in France was now taken away from Richard, who was sent into practical banishment as lieutenant of Ireland, and it was given to Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset. Both appointments were ascribed to Suffolk's influence (, i. 300). They certainly contributed to diminish his popularity, and made Richard his mortal enemy (, Reg. i. 160;, Chron. p. 35). Suffolk, however, was so strong in the king's favour that he cared little for the displeasure of others (ib.) At Gloucester's death he had obtained the earldom of Pembroke, the reversion to which had been granted to him four years previously. On 24 Feb. 1447 he was made chamberlain, constable of Dover, and lord warden of the Cinque ports. On 9 Aug. 1447 he was made admiral of England, and on 9 March 1448 governor of Calais. With his promotion to a dukedom on 2 July of this year, he reached the summit of his power. Maine had been formally surrendered in February 1448, and a truce concluded for two years. The fact of the surrender increased Suffolk's unpopularity. The truce was ill observed, and Suffolk found it impossible to carry out his policy of peace in full. On 24 March 1449 Fougères in Brittany was treacherously captured for the English by François l'Arragonais or de Surienne. In this impolitic and unjustifiable act Suffolk was probably implicated. François, who had been connected with Suffolk as early as 1437 (, Proc. Privy Council, v. 29), expressly declared that he had acted with the duke's cognisance and approval (Piéces, &c., ap., iv. 294–300, 337; , i. 278–98). The attack on Fougères was followed by open war; one after another the English strongholds in Normandy were lost, and Rouen itself was taken on 29 Oct. This succession of disasters stirred a warlike feeling in England, and finally discredited Suffolk and his policy.

If the cession of Maine and Anjou had been due to Suffolk's policy, the loss of Normandy was due to the incapacity of Somer