In the same month the City advanced the king the sum of 5,000 marks,(777) and in the following June a further sum was advanced by private subscription among the wealthier citizens on the security of a Spanish sword, set in gold and precious stones, of the estimated value of £2,000. The sword was pledged with the subscribers on the understanding that they would not dispose of it before Michaelmas twelve-month.(778) (M413) (M414) On the 9th August the king addressed a letter to the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen and good folk of the City of London, informing them of his safe arrival in Normandy and of his success in making himself master of the castle of "Touque" without bloodshed.(779) To this the citizens sent a dutiful reply on the 28th day of the same month, assuring the king of the peaceful condition of the city. On the 2nd September an order went forth from the Common Council of the City that each alderman should immediately instruct the constables of his ward to go their rounds and warn all soldiers they might come across, to vacate the City and set out on the king’s service before the end of the week on pain of imprisonment.(780) Success continued to attend Henry’s arms. On the 5th September he was able to inform the citizens, by letter,(781) of the capture of Caen, excepting only the citadel, and this was to be rendered to him by the 19th day of the same month at the latest, unless relief should have previously arrived for the besieged from the King of France, his son the Dauphin, or the Count of Armagnac, Constable of France. The Duke of Clarence wrote a few days later to the citizens, notifying the extraordinary success which had followed the king. So many towns and fortresses had been taken that the only fear was that there were not sufficient men to keep guard over them.(782) (M415) (M416) In order to keep the English force in Normandy better provided with victuals, the Duke of Bedford, who had been left behind as the king’s lieutenant, caused the Sheriffs of London to proclaim that all persons willing and able to ship victuals to France for Henry’s use, might do so without paying custom dues on their giving security that the victuals should be sent to Caen and not elsewhere.(783) Bedford, who was learning how to rule a free people—a lesson which, had he been allowed to practice in after years, might have saved the house of Lancaster from utter destruction(784)—presided in the parliament, which met in November, 1417. On the 17th December this parliament granted the king two fifteenths and two tenths. No time was lost in taking measures for collecting these supplies, the king’s writ appointing commissioners for the City of London being issued the day following.(785) (M417)