Charles contented himself with taking Fuentarabia,[457] and made no effort at invasion.
The imperial contingent with Suffolk's army went home; winter set in with unexampled severity, and Vendome advanced.[458] The English were compelled to retire; their retreat was effected without loss, and by the middle of December the army was back at Calais.

Suffolk is represented as being in disgrace for this retreat, and Wolsey as saving him from the effects of his failure.[459] But even Wolsey (p.

161) can hardly have thought that an army of twenty-five thousand men could maintain itself in the heart of France, throughout the winter, without support and with unguarded communications.

The Duke's had been the most successful invasion of France since the days of Henry V.from a military point of view.

That its results were negative is due to the policy by which it was directed.
[Footnote 452: Merriman, _Cromwell's Letters_, i., 30-44; _L.