Where did England plant her first colony? 'Why, in North America, to
be sure,' says a transatlantic cousin: 'on those shores to which our
fathers resorted during the seventeenth century, for the enjoyment of
civil and religious liberty, and where they laid the foundation of
those States whose wealth and power are now the wonder of the world.'
Stay, Cousin Jonathan, not so fast. 'We reckon' that England made an
experiment in colonisation some 250 years earlier than that, and one
no less demonstrative of the enterprise and hardihood of our
ancestors. There was a spot nearer home, the stronghold of a nest of
pirates, who were to England such an annoyance as the corsairs of
Algiers proved in later times to Southern Europe; and our monarch,
provoked by their numerous and daring outrages, and carrying with him
the enthusiastic concurrence of his people, resolved to dispossess
them. Crossing the water in person, with 738 vessels of war, and a
numerous army, he invested the place both by sea and land; and finding
that it could not be taken by storm, he sat patiently down for nearly
eleven months outside the walls, till the inhabitants were starved
into a surrender. But every reader of history is familiar with the
siege of Calais, so gallantly prosecuted by the English under Edward
III., so gallantly endured by the French under Sir John de Vienne.
As soon as the keys were surrendered, the town was cleared not only of
the soldiery, but of all the inhabitants, men, women, and children,
the king's determination being to repeople it entirely with English.
'Thus all manner of people,' says a historian of 1688, 'were turned
out of the town, except one priest, and two other ancient men, who
understood the customs, laws, and ordinances of the place, and how to
point out and assign the lands that lay about, as well as the several
inheritances, as they had been divided before. And when all things
were duly prepared for the king's reception, he mounted his war-horse,
and rode into Calais with a triumphant clamour of trumpets, clarions,
and tabours;' the drum now sounding for the first time on French
ground. The great lords, who, with their feudal retinues, had assisted
in the siege, were rewarded with gifts of 'many fair houses' and
lands, that through their tenantry and retainers they might assist in
defending the new colony. Abundant encouragement was also given for
the emigration of the stout men of Kent, and the substantial citizens
of London, with their families. The streets and principal buildings
received English names, and the borough was organised in unison with
English feeling, being governed by a mayor and corporation. Thus
commenced in August 1347 England's first colony, which in due time was
represented in the home parliament by two members of the House of
Commons.
The English Pale, as this settlement was called, had a seaboard
extending about eight leagues, while it stretched some three leagues
into the interior. Within this space, a considerable population was
located, not only much more numerous than in the present day, but
including a much greater number of trades-people dealing in articles
of luxury, as we infer from some records of Henry VIII.'s expenditure,
which include, for instance, dealings with five different jewellers.
There is still existing at Calais a curious chart, dated 1460,
containing a minute specification of the roads, farm-steads, mills,
quarries, and bulwarks, as they then existed. Here are 'English
Street,' 'Knight Street,' 'Evelyne's Waye,' 'Ye waye from Marck to St
Peter's,' and 'Ye new main Bank.' Many of the larger country
dwellings, which are rudely depicted, appear more like rustic
fortalices than farmhouses of our day. Numerous towers, marked as
'bulwarks,' seem to have commanded the boundary and other more exposed
parts of the Pale. The only road across the 'marishes' on the south
and south-west was commanded by Fort Nieulay--then called
Newlandbridge--a place of great importance, originally built in an
extensive morass, and furnished with sluice-gates to the sea, which
enabled its holders to flood the surrounding country at will. Not only
the fortifications then existing, but those which succeeded them in
later times, are now in ruin; but the curious traveller finds remains
enough to repay a stroll among the grass-covered bastions.
In the town, we find Castle Street, Duke Street, Hill Street, Shoe
Lane, and Love Lane--names which smack unmistakably of the island home
of John Gibbons, Hugh Giles, Richard Gilbert, and other colonial
householders, whose names appear on a still existing rent-roll.
Though the English monarch was instigated to the capture and
colonisation of Calais mainly with a view to dislodge the pirates, who
issued from its fastnesses and harassed our navigation, yet he very
soon learned to appreciate the possession of such a frontier port and
fortress as a depôt for purposes of aggression, as well as a means of
maritime protection. Moreover, it was afterwards perceived, that
immense gain would accrue to the Exchequer from the maintenance of
this station as a port of _entrée_ into the Netherlands for English
manufactures; and though at a day when knight-errantry was infinitely
more in vogue than commercial enterprise, these interests were
carefully studied, so that the conquest of a small piratical town was
turned to vastly better account than had been anticipated.
The preservation of a settlement so important, and yet surrounded by
an inveterately hostile people, demanded no ordinary vigilance. The
keeping of it was accordingly always committed to one of the most
trusty of the English barons, with the title of lord-deputy, and the
command of a sufficient garrison; while no expense was spared on the
works necessary for its maintenance. There were stringent laws for the
daily opening and closing of the gates, which were superintended by a
knight or master-porter, and a gentleman-porter, with a staff of
subordinates. The lord-deputy himself received the keys every evening,
and delivered them in the morning to the knight-porter, with orders as
to the number of gates to be opened for the day. This was done as soon
as the first watch-bell had tolled three times, and the guard turned
out. During the time of dinner, which was an hour before noon, the
gates were invariably closed, and the keys again delivered to the
lord-deputy, by whom they were 'hidden in a safe place, known only to
himself.' When the meal was ended, and business resumed, they were
reopened with the same ceremony as in the morning; and at four o'clock
P.M., they were shut for the night. Except by special order of the
deputy, none but the Lanthorn Gate was opened during the herring
season. There were strict regulations also with regard to strangers
lodging in the town; the keepers of hostelries and lodging-houses
being sworn to make a daily report of the number and quality of their
guests. The French, by the way, have deemed it proper to maintain this
custom of the place, despite the lapse of four centuries since its
peculiar position rendered such espionage a necessary precaution.
During the 200 years that we boasted the possession of Calais, it was
often the scene of courtly festivities on a magnificent
scale--oftener, perhaps, than any other spot under English dominion,
except the metropolis. We need scarcely remind the reader of the
marriage of Richard II. with the youthful Isabella of Valois in the
church of St Nicholas, a fête which cost the English monarch 300,000
marks; nor the rendezvous of Henry VIII. and Francis I., called the
Field of the Cloth of Gold from the sumptuousness of the royal
pavilions, and other accessories, the preparation of which employed
above 2000 English artificers. We have before us a collection of
annals,[3] recently published, chiefly from rare and ancient
documents, and affording such details of the 'fashionable arrivals'
here as give us a high idea of what this our first colony was capable
of doing in its palmy days.
There landed, for instance, on the 8th of May 1500, Henry VII.,
accompanied by his queen, the Bishop of London, the Duke of
Buckingham, the Earls of Surrey and Essex, with several other
noblemen. Closely following, came the Earl of Suffolk, with an immense
retinue of esquires, gentlemen, and yeomen; the Bishop of Durham, the
Earl of Ormond, with seven other noblemen and gentlemen of rank; and
in the following month, the Earl of Northumberland, Lord Mountjoy,
Lord Devonshire, Sir John Wyngfielde, and their retinues, to assist at
a magnificent banquet given by Henry to the Archduke Philip of
Burgundy. Nothing, as our annalist observes, but numbers, real names,
and dates, can effectually enable the reader to form a notion of the
state, 350 years ago, of this at present trist and unimportant
frontier town. And even with these authentic data before us, it
appears surprising how such a host of nobility, with their numerous
retainers, should have been adequately lodged within the walls of
Calais, on viewing the existing proportions of the town. The banquet
was given at St Peter's, just without the walls--for it seems not to
have been the mode to invite continental guests to 'walk inside'--the
fine old parish church being partitioned off into various apartments
for the guests, and richly hung with arras and cloth of gold.
'Our Lady's Chapel was set apart for the archduke's chamber, the walls
being hung with arras representing the story of Ahasuerus and Esther,
and the floor laid with carpets strewed with roses, lavender, and
other sweet herbs. Another compartment of the church was hung with
tapestry, representing the siege of Troy; the walls of the choir being
covered with blue cloth, emblazoned with _fleurs-de-luce_. The vestry
was hung with "red sarsenet, most richly beseen;" whilst the belfry
was ordained for the offices of the pantry, confectionary, and cellar.
There "lacked neither venison, cream, spice-cakes, strawberries, or
wafers," as the chronicler expresses it; an English fat ox was
"poudered and lesed;" an immense number of young kids and
venison-pasties were consumed, besides "great plenty of divers sorts
of wine, and two hogsheads of hippocrass." Seven horse-loads of
cherries were eaten, besides "pypyns, grengenges, and other sugardys."
The plenty was such, that the guests and their retainers could not
consume all the viands the first day, wherefore the king ordered a
second feast for the peasants, on the one following.'
One of the largest of the apartments formed in the church of St
Pierre, was appropriated as the guest-chamber, in which Philip dined
with Henry and his queen, the party eating off 'gold and silver
vessels of goodlie fashion,' and pledging each other in 'cuppes and
flagons of golde, garnyshed with perculles, rosys, and white hearts,
in gemmes.' After dinner, the archduke 'daunced with the English
ladyes,' then took leave of the king and queen, and rode the same
evening to Gravelines.
Among the august personages who sojourned at Calais in days of yore,
none excelled the gorgeous priest, Cardinal Wolsey, in the display of
pomp, or in the number and quality of his retinue. On the 11th July
1527, his landing _en route_ to Boulogne was attended by the Earl of
Derby, the Bishops of London and Dublin; the Lords Monteagle and
Harredew, with a staff of knights, secretaries, physicians,
gentlemen-ushers, officers of the household, gentlemen of the chapel,
and other retainers; the legate's train of attendants alone requiring
900 horses. But at the same time came the pope's nuncios, the French
king's ambassadors, and the captain of Boulogne, 'with a goodlie
companie,' to welcome him. On the occasion of a previous visit, he
brought over 12 chaplains, 50 gentlemen, 238 servants, and 150 horses.
The Harleian and Cottonian Manuscripts are rich in interesting details
of another fashionable arrival at Calais--that of Anne of Cleves, on
her way to England to be united in marriage to Henry VIII. Her train
was composed of 263 persons, including the Earls of Oversteyn and
Roussenbergh, with their 'gentlemen, ladies, pages, officers, and
servants.' The Lord High Admiral of England came over expressly to
take command of the vessel destined to convey the bride across the
Channel. Accompanied by the lord-deputy of Calais, and a numerous
retinue, he went forth to meet the _fiancée_ on her way from
Gravelines. His dress, and that of his attendants, is recorded for our
gratification:--'For he was apparelled in a coat of purple velvet, cut
in cloth of gold, and tied with aigulets and trefoils of gold to the
number of four hundred. Baldricwise, he wore a chain of strange
fashion, to which was suspended a whistle of gold, set with precious
stones of great value. The admiral's train consisted of thirty
gentlemen of the king's household, apparelled with massive chains.
Besides these, he had a great number of gentlemen of his own suite, in
blue velvet and crimson satin, as well as the mariners of his ship, in
satin of Bruges (blue), both coats and slops of the same colour--his
yeomen being clad in blue damask.' A foul wind detained the lady here
for fifteen days, 'during which time, in order to afford her
recreation, jousts and banquets were got up by the authorities.' The
simplicity with which our gracious Queen travels from the Isle of
Wight to Aberdeenshire, or takes a trip across the Channel to see her
uncle Leopold, makes us almost forget that such gorgeous state
attended every step of royalty in the olden time. Glance we now a
moment at the commercial aspect of Calais during the English
occupancy.
The Staple-Hall or Wool Staple (now called the Cour de Guise) built by
letters-patent from Richard II., dated 1389, was a singular
combination of palace and market, exchequer and cloth-hall; the seat
alike of royalty and trade; for here our English monarchs often
lodged, and within these precincts our ancestors established their
seat of custom, beneath the royal eye and roof-tree. Hither were not
only the 'merchauntes and occupiers of all manner of wares and
merchandizes' in England, but the 'merchauntes straungers' of the Low
Countries invited by proclamation to resort and repair, from time to
time, there to 'buy and sell, change and rechange, with perfect and
equal freedom and immunity;' provided always the traffic or 'feates of
merchandizes' were effected according to tariff; 'our dread and
sovereigne lord the king mynding the wealth, increase, and enriching
of his realm of England, and of this his town of Calais.' In the court
of this our Calaisian Guildhall, the iron-clad man-at-arms, the
gaily-decked esquire, or captain of the guard, used to mingle with the
staid wool-staplers, clothiers, cutlers, or weavers, just arrived from
our primitive manufacturing districts, laden with bales and hardwares
for bartering with their colonial and Flemish customers; whilst the
nobles, princes, and at times even the king of England, sat at the
upper casements, countenancing if not enjoying the bustle of the mart.
Immense fortunes were realised by the merchants of the Staple; they
were often in a position to aid the exchequer of the mother-country;
and one of them named Fermour was, from some patriotic act in
money-matters, raised to the peerage under the title of Lord Pomfret.
We are told that a great revenue was derived to the crown from the
customs' duty here levied on wool; that which passed into the
Netherlands alone amounting to 50,000 crowns per annum--an enormous
sum in those days. Modern Vandalism has done for this building what
time had failed to effect; and now there is little remains of it to
gratify the antiquary, save its metamorphosed contour and a fine old
gateway.
That a handful of troops and emigrant residents should have enjoyed
for above two centuries the unmolested occupation of a sea-port town,
and an extensive adjacent district, in one of the most powerful and
warlike kingdoms of Europe, is a singular episode in the history of
the two nations. At length, after an almost fabulous retention of the
place, the very facility of tenure having led to heedlessness and
neglect of proper precaution, the day of reprisal came. In 1558, the
Duke of Guise, being put in command of a powerful army, effected its
recapture without any signal display of valour on the one hand, or
heroism on the other. On its surrender, the lord-deputy, with 50 of
his officers, were detained as prisoners of war; the residue of the
inhabitants had to turn out, as the French had done before, and were
compelled to retire either to England or Flanders. All the property of
every description was placed at the disposal of the conqueror, in
honour of whom our famous Wool Staple was thenceforth called the Cour
de Guise. The booty in gold, silver, and valuable merchandise was
enormous, and even the common soldiers, we are told, made fortunes by
their share of it. So perished England's first colony!