In the spring of 1445, when Margaret arrived in England as Henry VI's bride, the pageants welcoming her to London lauded their marriage as the means to a lasting peace, ending the off-and-on warfare that had plagued England and France for roughly one hundred years. They intimated that the longed-for peace would come about ‘by mene of Margarete’, i.e., specifically through her agency. Unfortunately for the young queen, her gender denied her any recognized, concrete role in the negotiations that were supposed to lead to peace. Since no clear distinction was made between the expectations placed upon the marriage itself and Margaret's personal agency as a means of fulfilling them – an agency she realistically did not have – she was later blamed for the loss of English-held territory in France.

Another difficulty, affecting all the men involved in the discussions, was that England and France had different goals and different understandings of what a satisfactorypeace would look like. As in all such transactions, each side demanded what it thought it could obtain, and conceded – at least on paper – what it thought it must, in the pursuit of a final settlement. Neither side was prepared to lose everything, but in the political and strategic gamesmanship that ensued France proved to be the better gamer. At the time of Margaret's marriage, however, the future remained uncertain. When she became England's queen, only a twentythree- month truce had been agreed to, while peace talks continued.

Negotiations resumed in London in the summer of 1445. Although the truce was extended by seven months, the major issues of sovereignty over Normandy and Gascony and Henry VI's claim to the French crown were not resolved. The French floated a proposal that the kings of both realms should meet personally to discuss a final rapprochement. The English, including King Henry, responded favorably, with the proviso that such a meeting must be a ‘weighty affair’, requiring a truce of sufficient length for its accomplishment, as well as further discussion – and perhaps some added sweetening – to make it seem worthwhile. Charles VII sent his envoys Guillaume Cousinot and Jean Havart to England in the autumn of 1445 to begin further talks.