ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the relationship between Calais and England in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries and to assess whether any fundamental changes in the constitutional position of the town and marches occurred in that period. It offers a re-interpretation of the well known Calais Act of 1536. This piece of legislation, passed by the Reformation Parliament, has long been seen as incorporating Calais within the English realm and altering fundamentally the constitutional position of the town and marches. Calais's importance to England was thrown into stark relief in the early 1450s, following the ignominious loss of Lancastrian Normandy and Gascony. The military and commercial establishments in Calais were inextricably linked. From the late fourteenth century the wool merchants had met much of the costs of defence. Until the 1520s, Calais became self-financing. The defence of Calais was of the highest priority for fifteenth century English kings.
