A spy was also despatched to Normandy and Brabant to see how matters were going there, and gifts were made to the courts of Juliers and Namur to secure their favour. The parliament which sat at York in May, 1335,(490) having decided in favour of a fresh expedition to Scotland,(491) the king sent orders to the City to hold its forces in readiness to march under the leadership of two of its aldermen, John de Pulteney and Reginald de Conduit.(492) A commission to seize ships in the port of London to the king’s use, resulted in the detention of six ships.(493) (M285) At length, the friendly attitude which Philip of Valois had taken up towards Scotland, much to Edward’s prejudice, determined the latter to go in person to France for the purpose, not only of defending his possessions there, but also of enforcing his claim to the French crown. The year 1337 was devoted to active preparations for the struggle. The City of London, in spite of its franchise, was called upon to furnish 500 men at arms, and to send them to Portsmouth by Whitsuntide.(494) The date was subsequently altered to Trinity Sunday.(495) The king took occasion to find fault with the city’s dilatoriness in executing his demands, as well as with the physique of the men that were being supplied. At the request of the mayor, Sir John de Pulteney (he had recently received the honour of knighthood(496)), the number of men to be furnished was reduced to 200, the rest to be supplied on further notice.(497) (M286) When Parliament met in London in February, the City made presents of money to the king, the queen, the chancellor, the treasurer, and others,(498) for no other purpose apparently, but to win their favour. In the following month the City obtained a charter declaring its liberties and customs to be unaffected by the recent statute establishing free trade,(499) when presents in money or kind were again made to the officers of state.(500) (M287) The services which the mayor had done the city in the work of obtaining this charter were acknowledged by a gift of two silver basins and the sum of £20 from his fellow citizens.(501) It was by Pulteney’s influence that the king consented to allow a sum of 1,000 marks to be taken into account at a future assessment for a fifteenth, instead of insisting upon its being a free gift from the citizens.(502) (M288)