On 3 August 1347 the French town of Calais, which had been besieged by an English army for eleven months, capitulated. The commander of the English army, King Edward III (), immediately paid off a large part of his army and released his Flemish allies. The French commander, Philip VI of France (), in turn stood down the French army. Edward promptly launched strong raids up to into French territory. Philip attempted to recall his army, setting a date of 1 September, but experienced serious difficulties. His treasury was exhausted and taxes for the war had to be collected in many places at sword point. Despite these exigencies, ready cash was not forthcoming. In addition, the French army had little stomach for further conflict, and Philip was reduced to threatening to confiscate the estates of nobles who refused to muster. He set back the date for his army to assemble by a month. Edward also had difficulties in raising money, partly due to the unexpected timing of the need; he employed draconian measures, which were extremely unpopular. The English also suffered a pair of military setbacks: a large raid was routed by the French garrison of Saint-Omer; and a supply convoy en route to Calais was captured by French raiders from Boulogne.