History Daily - The Last English City in France

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

January 7, 1558. A French army captures Calais after two centuries of English rule. This episode originally aired in 2025. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

It's the early hours of January 7, 1558, in the port of Calais in northern France. Thomas Wentworth is awake instantly. The 33-year-old has barely been in bed an hour and has slept in his clothes with his sword ready beside him. Grabbing the weapon, he straps it around his waist as he crosses his chambers and halls open the door. A captain of the city guard stands outside, his face pale in the torchlight. The attack that Thomas has long feared has finally come. Calais may be on the coast of France, but for the last 200 years, the port and the small territory around it have been controlled by the English. The pale of Calais, as it's known, has given England an important foothold in mainland Europe.

But its existence is an open wound for the French, and a few days ago they launched a surprise assault. Several English fortifications surrounding Calais have already been taken, and now the French army is outside the walls of the port itself. Thomas Wentworth is the Lord Dead. deputy of Calais, the man in charge of its defenses. But the city's fortifications are in disrepair, and its garrison is undermanned. Thomas has tried to warn the English government that the port is vulnerable, but those messages have been ignored. Now it seems it's too late. Rushing from his quarters, Thomas emerges his onto the streets of Kelly. Terrified townspeople rushed past him in the darkness, desperate to escape the French.

Thomas shouts at the top of his voice for all able-bodied men to take up arms and join him in defending the city, but he's ignored by the stampeding crowd. So, raising his sword, Thomas pushes through the tide of people and heads toward the sounds of battle. Near the walls, Calais is ablaze, lit on fire by French artillery. Ash and smoke cloaked the narrow streets, stinging Thomas's eyes. He stumbles, struggling to see the way. The earth beneath him shakes, blinking his eyes clear for a moment, Thomas stared ahead in horror. The French have blasted a hole in the city walls. And as the stone fortifications collapse, French infantry swarmed through the gap. The English soldiers try to stand their ground, thrusting at their attackers

with pikes and swords, but their line is too ragged. There's nothing Thomas can do to stop his men from falling back. And now, for the first time in two centuries, the French are inside Calais. The fall of Calais will end the English occupation of French soil that dates back almost 500 years. The city was a relic of a time when kings of England spoke French as their first language and held territory across both sides of the English Channel. Over the centuries, Calais had become a vital strategic and economic outpost for the English in Europe, but try as they might, they will never recover the city, and Thomas Wentworth will be the last Englishman to govern Calais

after he surrenders the port on January 7, 1558. When I first began thinking about a live show, I knew I wanted it to be a little more special than just a podcast episode on stage. Something with a bit of theater to it, because after all, I'll be live on stage in a theater. So I put together a band to accompany the stories live. And because I can't resist, I'll be joining in on guitar. I mean, I wrote the History Daily theme song, you know. So come out to see me live. For information on tickets and upcoming dates, go to Historydailylive.com. That's historydaily live.com. And if you're in the North Texas area, buy your tickets now at Historydailylive.com. From Noisor and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is January 7, 1558, the last English city in France. It's July 12, 1346 in the English Channel, more than 200 years before the French recapture Calais. King Edward III of England stares over the prow of his ship. as it chops through the waves. On the horizon, a dirty smudge of coastline slowly grows larger and more distinct. It's France, a kingdom Edward claims as his own. Almost 300 years have passed since Duke William of Normandy

crossed these same waters in the other direction on his way to seize the English throne. As a result of William the Conqueror's successful invasion of England, for many years his descendants have held titles and land on both sides of the channel. But Edward III has especially close ties to France. His mother was a French princess, and it is through her that Edward claims he is the rightful king of France as well as England.

Now he intends to assert that right by force. Sailing alongside Edward is the largest invasion force England has ever assembled, a fleet of 747 ships carrying around 10,000 men. When it anchors off the Normandy coast, Edward orders his soldiers to disembark as quickly as possible. No French forces opposed their landing, so Edward immediately leads them east on a march along the coastline. Along the way, he lets his troops cause as much destruction as possible. The men burn crops, slaughter livestock, and raise villages to the ground. Meanwhile, the huge English fleet follows the army's progress from just offshore, destroying any French vessels they come

across and burning a hundred ships at anchor in Normandy's harbors. When his army reaches Khan, King Edward expects that the garrison will close the city gates on him and settle in for a long siege. But instead, the French soldiers retreat to the highly defended castle and leave the surrounding city defenseless. The English are able to march in with barely a fight. They plunder the city, burning its merchants' quarters and leaving more than 3,000 civilians dead. They don't even bother trying to storm the castle. They simply move on to the next target. With no sign of the English rampage coming to an end,

the French king Philip the 6th frantically summoned soldiers from all across the country and marches them north to meet the English invaders. A month after the sack of Khan, the two armies meet near the town of Cressy. But the battle is a disaster for King Philip. English archers launch clouds of deadly arrows at the French infantry who find they can't even get close to the English lines. The French soon retreat and chaos, having lost 4,000 men compared to less than 300 for the English. After this stunning victory, King Edward allows his army just two days rest

before continuing his march across northern France. This time, the destination he has in mind is the port city of Calais. Calais is located at the narrowest point of the English Channel, where just 20 miles separates France from England. If Edward can capture this town, it will give the English a foothold in France that can easily be reinforced and supplied by sea. In September 1346, the English army reaches the outskirts, of Calais. But they soon discovered that the city is well protected. It has a double moat, stone walls,

and a garrison of soldiers. Reaching those defenses will not be easy. But since the French no longer have an army powerful enough to threaten the English, Edward knows there's nothing to stop him from laying siege to Calais for as long as it takes. At first, the French defenders defy the English siege by bringing in food and weapons by sea. But in the spring of 1347, the English advance and seize a position overlooking the Calais Harbor. From that point on, no boats can get through to relieve the besieged town, and within a few months, the people are starving, and Calais finally surrenders. When the victorious King Edward marches into the town, he drives out the entire French population and seizes their possessions. But the prize he's won is far greater than plunder alone.

He quickly repopulates Calais with English soldiers and settlers, and as his war with France continues, this port becomes the most important conduit for arms and supplies crossing the channel from England. The war between England and France will continue for decades to come, and Calais will remain an English possession for even longer. But eventually, after more than two centuries, the French will launch an assault to finally rest back control of the port and evict the English from France once and for all. It's the morning of January 7, 1558, in Calais, 211 years after the English captured the

town. 40-year-old French general Francois de Lorraine walks through the streets of Calais. The ground underfoot is littered with ash and rubble and fires still burn in some buildings, thickening the low pall of smoke that hangs over the town. The fighting here has been fierce, hand-to-hand, street-by-street, and even now Francois can hear the screams of the wounded and dying. But he allows himself a satisfied smile all the same, because he has just been informed that Calais' English commander Thomas Wentworth is ready to surrender. After King Edward III captured Calais in the 14th century, war between England and France continued off and on for decades.

The conflict eventually went on so long that it became known as the Hundred Years' War. It only came to an end in 1453, when the French seized back most of the land in France lost to the English except for one city, the port of Calais. The land around the city was flat marshland, lacking any natural defensive features, so the English were forced to maintain a costly system of fortification to protect the port from attack.

It was worth the expense, however. For centuries, the city offered a safe port for the English Navy, and it secured access for English wool to the lucrative European textile market centered on nearby Flanders. But the French never gave up on reclaiming Calais, and over the years, the English grew complacent. Calais' defenses were neglected, and the French King Henry II,

saw his opportunity. A few days ago, at the beginning of 1558, Henry ordered his general Francois de Lorraine to lead his troops into battle and retake Calais for the French crown. Now Francois's surprise attack has breached Calais's walls and the city is about to surrender. Accompanied by his men, Francois meets with the exhausted English commander Thomas Wentworth in a square at the heart of the city. There Thomas gives up his sword, indicating the town is now officially in French hands. Francois spares Thomas and the other defenders of Calais, but he gives them just a few hours to leave. As the victorious French army watches on in delight,

the defeated English file out of the city and crowd aboard ships to take them back across the channel. It's only when these survivors reach England that the news of the fall of Calais begins to spread. The loss is a bitter blow to England's queen, Mary. But she never has a chance to retake the port. Only a few months after Calais' fall, Mary falls ill, and she never recovers. In November 1558, Mary dies, allegedly exclaiming on her deathbed when I am dead and cut open, they will find Calais inscribed on my heart. Mary is succeeded as Queen of England by her half-sister Elizabeth. And though Elizabeth doesn't have much in common with

her predecessor, she does share Mary's despair at the loss of Calais. She resolves to retake the port as quickly as possible. Her chance comes four years later in 1562. Protestant rebels rise up against the Catholic monarchy in France, and the country falls into chaos. Hoping to take advantage, Elizabeth makes an alliance with these rebels and helps them seize the port of La Avares in the north of France. Then she rushes 3,000 English troops across the channel to garrison the town. Once again, England occupies a small sliver of French land. But Elizabeth doesn't actually want La Ava at all. It's around 100 miles by sea from England and almost 200 miles by sea.

by land from the heart of the textile trade in Flanders, so it will be difficult to reinforce, and its use as a trading post is limited as well. Instead, Elizabeth intends to use L'Avra as a bargaining chip to regain control of Calais. Elizabeth's plan is quickly foiled, though. In March 1563, the Protestant rebels in France agree to a peace deal with their monarch. That frees up the French army to advance on La Avra, and it's a fight Elizabeth's generals in the city believe they cannot win. They have little choice but to order a retreat back across the water to the safety of England. The failure of Elizabeth's scheme will be the last time she will attempt to capture French territory.

Soon, a formal treaty will be drawn up to confirm what's becoming increasingly obvious on both sides of the English Channel. Calais belongs to France, and it always will. It's April 11, 1564, at Richmond Palace in London, England, six years after the French recaptured the port of Calais. Queen Elizabeth I first lifts her quill and dips it into an ornate silver inkwell as one of her secretaries hovers by her shoulder ready with a stack of documents for her to sign. The most important of them is placed before her first, a new treaty between England and France. After the failure of the English expedition to France last year, Elizabeth was forced to accept that there was no prospect of reclaiming Calais as she once had hoped. The French had significantly strengthened its fortification since they ceased. the town, and Elizabeth's advisors told her that taking it by force would be almost impossible.

So reluctantly, Elizabeth dispatched her diplomats to France with orders to negotiate a lasting peace, and now the treaty is here and ready for her royal approval. The Treaty of Tuat formally confirms that the English will no longer claim any territory in France, including Calais. In return for this promise of peace, the French king has agreed to pay Elizabeth the enormous sum of 120,000 crowns. This lucrative deal will boost the English treasury, but Elizabeth still can't help feeling stung by the humiliation of having to officially give up Calais. So with little ceremony, Elizabeth scratches her name at the bottom of the document. The official shakes a little sawdust

over it to dry the ink before taking the signed treaty away. Elizabeth watches him go, and rises from her seat and prepares herself to face the lords and ladies of her court. Elizabeth is determined that she will show them no hint of regret, and instead she'll present the Treaty of Tuat as a victory that has brought the long conflict over Calais to a bloodless and profitable end, though in truth the fate of the town was sealed when Francois de Lorraine led his men past the English defenses and reconquered the port for France on January 7, 1558. Next, on History Daily, January 8, 2016. After evading authorities for decades, the drug lord known as El Chapo is arrested for the third and final time.

From Noisor and Airship, this is History Daily. Posted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazid, sound design by Molly Bog, music by Thrum. This episode is written and research by Rob Skrag, edited by Scott Reeves, managing producer Emily Burr. Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.