Siege of Calais.
1346--1347.=--Whilst Edward was fighting in France, the Scots invaded
England, but they were defeated at Nevill's Cross, and their king,
David Bruce (David II.), taken prisoner. Edward, when the news reached
him, had laid siege to Calais. In this siege cannon,[18] which had
been used in earlier sieges of the war, were employed, but they were
too badly made and loaded with too little gunpowder to do much damage.
In =1347= Calais was starved into surrender, and Edward, who regarded
the town as a nest of pirates, ordered six of the principal burgesses
to come out with ropes round their necks, as a sign that they were to
be put to death. It was only at Queen Philippa's intercession that he
spared their lives, but he drove every Frenchman out of Calais, and
peopled it with his own subjects. A truce with Philip was agreed on,
and Edward returned to England.

[Footnote 18: It has been said that they were used at Crecy, but
this is uncertain.]

[Illustration: Contemporary view of a fourteenth-century walled town.]

[Illustration: Gloucester Cathedral. The choir, looking east: built
between 1340 and 1350.]

15. =Constitutional Progress. 1337--1347.=--Edward III. had begun his
reign as a constitutional ruler, and on the whole he had no reason to
regret it. In his wars with France and Scotland he had the popular
feeling with him, and he showed his reliance on it when, in =1340=, he
consented to the abolition of his claim to impose tallage on his
demesne lands (see p. 221)--the sole fragment of unparliamentary
taxation legally retained by the king after the _Confirmatio
Cartarum_. In =1341= the two Houses of Parliament finally separated
from one another, and when Edward picked a quarrel with Archbishop
Stratford, the Lords successfully insisted that no member of their
House could be tried excepting by his peers. The Commons, on the other
hand, were striving--not always successfully--to maintain their hold
upon taxation. In =1341= they made Edward a large money grant on
condition of his yielding to their demands, and Edward (whose
constitutional intentions were seldom proof against his wish to retain
the power of the purse) shamelessly broke his engagement after
receiving the money. On other occasions the Commons were more
successful; yet, after all, the composition of their House was of more
importance than any special victory they might gain. In it the county
members--or knights of the shire--sat sid