rt of the Diocese of Thérouanne from 1379, keeping an ecclesiastical tie with France.
The town came to be called the "brightest jewel in the English crown" owing to its great importance as the gateway for the tin, lead, cloth and wool trades (or "staples")] Its customs revenues amounted at times to a third of the English government's revenue, with wool being the most important element by far. Of its population of about 12,000 people, as many as 5,400 were recorded as having been connected with the wool trade. The governorship or Captaincy of Calais was a lucrative and highly prized public office; the famous Dick Whittington was simultaneously Lord Mayor of the City of London and Mayor of the Staple in 140.
Calais was regarded for many years as being an integral part of Kingdom of England, with its representatives sitting in the English Parliament. This was, however, at odds with reality. The continued English hold on Calais depended on expensively maintained fortifications, as the town lacked any natural defences. Maintaining Calais was a costly business that was frequently tested by the forces of France and the Duchy of Burgundy, with the Franco-Burgundian border running nearby.The British historian Geoffrey Elton once remarked "Calais – expensive and useless – was better lost than kept". The duration of the English hold over Calais was, to a large extent, the result of the feud between Burgundy and France, under which both sides coveted the town, but preferred to see it in the hands of the English rather than their domestic rivals. The stalemate was broken by the victory of the French crown over Burgundy following Joan of Arc's final battle in the Siege of Compiègne in 1430, and the later incorporation of the duchy into France.
16th century
In 1532, Henry VIII visited Calais and his men calculated that the town had about 2400 beds and stabling to keep some 2000 horses.In September 1552, the English adventurer Thomas
