The crisis of 1450 entirely changed the nature of Henry VI's polity. So broad and so deep was the failure of the government that the authority of king and lords momentarily, but entirely, collapsed. Into the breach stepped the commons of England, both the people themselves and their soi-disant representatives in parliament. For the next year or two, it was they who dictated the political agenda, leaving the nobility little choice but to represent them and to respond to their concerns. This transformed the way in which government was perceived, redefining the arena of political activity and driving the nobility into a partial abandonment of the informal relationships with the crown and each other which had been the hallmark of Suffolk's court. Inevitably, the recent past became a matter of intense public interest, and an authoritative version of events was rapidly established and publicised. By almost all commentators, the period of Henry's personal rule, from the Truce of Tours in 1444 to the attack on Fougères in 1449, was depicted as a series of betrayals and derelictions of duty on the part of the king's household intimates: five years of corruption in government, which led inexorably to the loss of France and the destruction of England.

This familiar critique has had a significant impact on modern accounts of the later 1440s. Most historians write of a narrowing household clique which dominated the government, pursued muddled and defeatist policies in France and sponsored the interests of their lawless clients in the countryside, while the tide of criticism which would eventually engulf them rose all around.