"LIEUTENANT GENERAL OF THE KING" 131
the walls of Guines, where they could be used as a much more
flexible weapon than when cooped up in the town. The Privy
Council granted his request with unusual dispatch, addressing
letters to Surrey from Oteland, 29 August, "for encampeng nere
Claeswood according to his owne devise."11 From this camp Sur-
rey moved to attack the garrison at Ardres, which the French
were using as a concentration point. Having deployed his men
in strategic position, Surrey tried to draw the French outside
their walls. Although the French could not be enticed into a
general engagement and avoided the trap which he had set,
Surrey was able to entangle them in a large skirmish on 2
September. In this skirmish the French were badly defeated
and the Commander of Ardres, Baron de Dampierre, was
slain.12 Before Surrey could follow up his victory he was moved
to a higher command.
v. At the King's behest, the Privy Council decided on 31
August that Surrey, not Grey, should be placed in charge at
Boulogne.13 Letters Patent to this effect were issued 3 Septem-
ber.14 Lord Grey was returned to Guines, and Surrey ordered
to take over command of Boulogne at once.
Surrey's command at Boulogne was the height of his mili-
tary career. Sent to replace Lord Grey, who had been simply
"Captain of Boulogne," Surrey was given not only that title;
the patent designated that he was to be "Lieutenant General
of the King on Sea and Land" for all the Continental posses-
sions of England.15 This was an unusual citation, a very great
honor, and an acknowledgment that Surrey had proved his
ability as a military commander. Unlike some sixteenth-cen-
tury monarchs, Henry VIII did not let the claims of birth
determine his choice of military commanders. He placed in
command those who he thought had the greatest abilities;
he left in command only those who were successful. For him
to place a man of only twenty-eight years in such a high com-
mand was without precedent.
» Acts of P. C.91, 237. » Nott, p. bocvii; L. 6r P., XX, ii, 307.
uActsofP.C.tI,23S.
" Rymer's Foedera, XV (London, 1728), p. 80. 1S Ibid.