south. He was at Lyons from the beginning of 1536 till June. In July there was a rumour that he was going to Spain. A curious letter to him from Henry, dated 12 Sept. 1536, directs him to investigate the strength of the French fortresses. On 2 Oct. 1536 he was at Valence, but back in Paris in December. He left Paris on 1 March 1537 (Letters and Papers, xii. i. 525), and was in London in May.
Wallop was now rich, as his uncle had been some time dead. In 1538 he was granted the lands of the dissolved monastery of Barlinch, Somerset, and some manors in Somerset and Devonshire. In May 1539 he was in the Pale of Calais, where there were troubles as to religion (ib. XIV. i. 1008, 1042).
In February 1539–40 Wallop succeeded Bonner as ambassador resident at Paris; at Abbeville he was presented to the king of France and had an interview with the queen of Navarre (State Papers, viii. 289, cf. p. 318). He had reached Paris by June 1540, and was soon joined there by Carne. For the rest of this year he followed the court, sometimes going as far as Rouen or Caudebec.
William, lord Sandys of the Vyne [q. v.], captain of Guisnes, died on 4 Dec. 1540, and Wallop's friends made a successful application in his favour. It is strange that the captaincy of Guisnes should have been considered a more advantageous post than that which he already held, particularly as we know that Francis liked him (ib. viii. 415). Chapuys, indeed, says that many thought he had been retired for fear he should withdraw himself (ib. Spanish, 1538–1542, p. 307). On 18 Jan. 1541 he was revoked in favour of Lord William Howard (ib. Hen. VIII, viii. 514). Suddenly he fell into disgrace. He was accused of ‘sundry notable offences and treasons done towards us’ (cf. ib. Spanish, 1538–42, p. 314), but in consideration of his long service he was allowed to explain his conduct (Letters and Papers, xvi. 541). Brought before the council (some time earlier than 26 March 1541), ‘at his first examination he stood very stiffly to his truth and circumspection, neither calling to remembrance what he had written with his own hand. … Whereupon the king's majesty of his goodness caused his own sundry letters written to Pate, that traitor, and others to be laid before him; which when he once saw and read he cried for mercy, acknowledging his offences with the danger he was in by the same, and refusing all shifts and trials, for indeed the things were most manifest. Nevertheless, he made most earnest and hearty protestation, that the same never passed him upon any evil mind or malicious purpose, but only upon wilfulness … which he confessed had been in him, whereby he had not only in the things of treason but also [in] other ways … meddled above his capacity and whereof he had no commission, far otherwise than became a good subject. … Whereupon his majesty conceiving that the man did not at the first deny his transgressions upon any purpose to cloak and cover the same but only by “slippernes of memory,” being a man unlearned, and taking his submission pardoned him’ (ib. Hen. VIII, viii. 546). The queen, it seems, had made intercession, and Henry himself, who was fond of men of Wallop's type, would not need much persuading. Thus he became captain of Guisnes in March 1541 (Letters and Papers, xvi. 678).
At Guisnes he remained, no doubt taking an active part in the engineering operations in the Pale of this time, and attending the meetings of the deputy's council, of which, as captain of Guisnes, he was a member. In 1543, when Henry and Charles were in alliance and an English force was ordered to co-operate with the imperialists in the north of France, the Earl of Surrey supposed he should have the command; but, to his disappointment, it was given to Wallop, with Sir Thomas Seymour [q. v.] as his marshal; Surrey had to accept a subordinate post. The expedition effected little, though the soldiers were long in the field (Chron. of Calais, p. 211; State Papers, ix. 460 sq.). Wallop was ill during part of the operations, but gained great glory, and Charles V commended his conduct to Henry VIII (Cal. State Papers, Spanish, 1542–3, p. 504).
On Christmas eve 1543 Wallop was elected K.G., the king providing him with robes from his own wardrobe. He was installed on 18 May 1544. The war of that year kept him busily occupied, as he had to keep a large number of men at Guisnes. During the next few years there are many notes of his activity in the ‘Acts of the Privy Council.’ On 19 June 1545 he was specially thanked by the council for his courage. In 1546 he was placed on the second commission for the delimitation of the frontier of the Boulonnais, and in March following he was appointed on the third commission for the same purpose. As relations between France and England grew strained, Wallop was involved in various frontier conflicts which were the subject of prolonged recriminations between the English and French courts (Odet de Selve, Corr. Pol. passim). He retained his post during the ensuing war, 1549–50, and
