Winchelsea was obdurate.  His estates remained for five months in the king’s hands, and he was forced, like another St. Francis, to depend on the charity of the faithful.  But even Winchelsea did not hold out indefinitely.  On July 14 he was publicly reconciled with the king outside Westminster Hall, and a few days later his goods were restored.  On July 31 Boniface entirely receded from the doctrine of Cleritis laicos in the bull Etsi de statu.  Before this could be known in England, Winchelsea told his clergy that the king had agreed to confirm the Great Charter, if they would but make a grant to carry on the French war.  A little later Edward of his own authority exacted a third from all clerical revenues.  This persistence in his highhanded policy made any real reconciliation between Edward and Winchelsea impossible.  The king never forgave the archbishop, whose action demonstrated to all England the divided allegiance of his clergy between their two masters.  Winchelsea still retained his profound distrust of the king, who had set at naught the liberties of Church and realm.

The baronial opposition was broken up by devices not dissimilar to those which neutralised the antagonism of the clergy.  By strenuous efforts Edward obtained a fair sum of money for his expenses.  He let it be understood that, if he took his subjects’ wool, the talleys given in exchange would be redeemed when better times had arrived, and he scrupulously paid for the corn and meat that his officers had requisitioned.  Meanwhile he summoned all possible fighting men from England, Wales, and Ireland to meet at London on July 7.  The prospect of subjects of the crown being forced, whatsoever their feudal obligations might be, to wage war beyond sea, threatened to provoke a fresh crisis.  But after many long altercations, Edward announced that neither the feudal tenants nor the twenty-pound freeholders had any legal obligation to go with him to Flanders, and offered pay to all who were willing to hearken to his “affectionate request” for their services.  Under these conditions a considerable force of stipendiaries was levied without much difficulty.

Hereford and Norfolk abandoned active in favour of passive hostility.  They refused to serve as constable and marshal, and Edward appointed barons of less dignity and greater loyalty to act in their place.  While all England was busy with the equipment of troops and the provision of supplies, they sullenly held aloof.  At last, when all was ready, Edward issued an appeal to his subjects, protesting the purity of his motives, and emphasising the inexorable necessity under which he was forced to play the tyrant in the interests of the whole realm.  By the beginning of August such barons as were willing to go to Flanders began to assemble in arms at London.  The young Edward of Carnarvon was appointed regent during his father’s absence, and among the councillors who were to act in his name was the Archbishop of Canterbury.