1442--1443.=--In =1442= Henry was in his
twenty-first year. Unfeignedly religious and anxious to be at peace
with all men, his character was far too weak and gentle to fit him for
governing in those rough times. He had attached himself to Beaufort
because Beaufort's policy was pacific, and because Gloucester's life
was scandalous. Beaufort's position was secured at court, but the
situation was not one in which a pacific statesman could hope for
success. The French would not consent to make peace till all that they
had lost had been recovered; yet, hardly bested as the English in
France were, it was impossible in the teeth of English public opinion
for any statesman, however pacific, to abandon lands still commanded
by English garrisons. Every year, however, brought the problem nearer
to the inevitable solution. In =1442= the French attacked the strip of
land which was all that the English now held in Guienne and Gascony,
and with the exception of Bordeaux and Bayonne captured almost every
fortified town. The command in France was given to Cardinal Beaufort's
nephew, John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Somerset, who was thoroughly
incompetent, did not even leave England till the autumn of =1443=, and
when he arrived in France accomplished nothing worthy of his office.

15. =The Angevin Marriage Treaty. 1444--1445.=--Henry now fell under
the influence of William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, a descendant of
the favourite of Richard II. Suffolk had fought bravely in France, and
had learnt by sad experience the hopelessness of the English cause. In
=1444=, with the consent of the king and the Parliament, he negotiated
at Tours a truce for ten months. In order to make it more lasting
there was to be a marriage between Henry and Margaret of Anjou. Her
father, Rene, the Duke of Anjou, was titular king of Jerusalem and
Sicily, in neither of which did he possess a foot of ground, whilst
his duchy of Anjou was almost valueless to him in consequence of the
forays of the English, who still held posts in Maine. Charles had the
more readily consented to the truce, because it was understood that
the surrender of Maine would be a condition of the marriage. In =1445=
Suffolk led Margaret to England, where her marriage to Henry was
solemnised. A French queen who brought with her no portion except a
truce bought by the surrender of territory could hardly fail to be
unpopular in England.

[Illustration: Part of Wingfield manor-house, Derbysh