ENGLAND. 



613 



History. 



War with 

 France. 



Arthur 

 Duke of 

 Brittany 

 taken pri- 



And mur- 

 dered. 



A. D.I 203. 



-7ehn in 

 cxpelli-d 

 from hi* 

 foreign do- 

 minion*. 



all, and discontent and insurrection became general 

 throughout his continental dominions. Philip took ad- 

 vantage of this spirit, and being called to interpose in 

 behalf of the French barons, he prevailed upon John to 

 promise them satisfaction, and to redress their grievan- 

 ces. This promise, however, with several others, was 

 remembered only till he had an opportunity of viola- 

 ting them ; when Philip at last, sensible of his weak- 

 ness and want of faith, openly supported the malcon- 

 tents. The Duke of Brittany, who had now arrived at 

 man's estate, had also become distrustful of his uncle ; 

 and passing over into France, joined the army of Philip, 

 by whom he was treated with great distinction, and re- 

 ceived the hand of his daughter Mary. 



The allies were every where victorious; and so rapid 

 was the progress of their arms, that John was threatened 

 with the loss of his continental possessions. They recei- 

 ved a check, however, by the rashness of young Arthur, 

 who, fond of military fame, had entered Poictou with a 

 small army, and laid .siege to Mirebeau, where his inve- 

 terate enemy Queen Eleanor then resided. John hastened 

 by forced marches to her relief, and coming upon Arthur 

 before he was aware, dispersed his forces and took him 

 prisoner, together with the most considerable of the 

 revolted barons. This good fortune revived for a time 

 his sinking cause ; but he soon exposed himself, by his 

 cruelty, to greater odium and danger. Having repre- 

 sented to his nephew the folly of his pretensions, he 

 endeavoured to withdraw him from the French alliance, 

 and to bring him back to a sense of duty. But the 

 young prince, unawed by the presence of his conqueror, 

 boldly asserted his claim, not only to the French pro- 

 vinces, but also to the crown of England. The king 

 finding it in vain to reason the matter, determined to 

 rid himself of a rival, by his death. Arthur was ac- 

 cordingly never inore heard of; and though the cir- 

 cumstances of his murder were carefully concealed, yet 

 it was universally believed that he fell by his uncle's 

 own hand. 



This inhuman deed excited general horror and de- 

 testation of the tyrant. The Bretons, enraged at the 

 murder of their prince, laid their complaints before 

 Philip, and demanded justice on his murderer. Philip 

 summoned the king of England to trial, and, upon 

 his non-appearance, adjudged him to forfeit all his 

 fcifs in France. Vigorous efforts were immediately 

 made to put the sentence into execution ; and, while the 

 king of France was employed in reducing his fortresses, 

 and extending his conquests over his dominions, John 

 was amusing himself at Rouen. When informed of the 

 success of the enemy, he boasted that he would retake 

 in a day, what it had cost the French years to acquire. 

 But notwithstanding his vaunts, Philip proceeded in 

 his career, and laid siege to Chateau Gaillard, the 

 strongest fortress on the frontiers of Normandy. This 

 place was defended by Roger tie Laci, a brave and de- 

 termined officer, and a numerous garrison. For a 

 twelvemonth they bravely repelled every assault ; but 

 being at last greatly reduced by famine and fatigue, 

 they were overpowered and made prisoners of war. 

 On the reduction of this bulwark, all Normandy lay 

 open to his arms, and soon submitted to the conqueror. 

 Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and part of Poictou, wtre also 

 successively reduced; and John was expelled with dis- 

 grace from all his foreign dominions. On his arrival in 

 England, he attempted to excuse the cowardice and 

 folly of his conduct, by exclaiming against his barons, 

 who, he pretended, had deserted his standard ; and in 

 order to regain his character, he collected a fleet, and 



His disputr 

 with the 

 Pope. 



summoned his vassals to attend him on a foreign ex- History, 

 pedition. But his design was several times deferred ; """^V^* 

 and when he at last ventured abroad with a consider- 

 able army, he merely took and burnt the town of An- 

 gers, but fled on the approach of Philip, and returned 

 to England, loaded with new shame and disgrace. 

 Though despised for his cowardice, and hated for his 

 cruelty, yet he still preserved the prerogatives of his 

 crown ; but new affronts awaited him, and having im- 

 prudently entered into a contest with the church, he 

 was reduced to the most abject degradation. 



On the death of Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, 

 a dispute arose respecting the election of a new pri- 

 mate. That important privilege belonged to the monks 

 or canons of Christ Church; but some of the juniors of 

 that order had met privately, and had chosen Reginald 

 their sub-prior as Hubert's successor. As no election, 

 however, could be considered as regular without a congf 

 d'clire from the king, and as the suffragan bishops of 

 Canterbury also claimed the right of concurrence in the 

 choice of their primate, John ordered the monks to 

 proceed to a new election, when the Bishop of Nor- 

 wich was unanimously chosen. The dispute came be- 

 fore the Pope, Innocent III. who, glad of an opportu- 

 nity of nominating to such a high office, declared both 

 the elections null, and commanded the monks, under 

 pain of excommunication, to choose for their primate 

 Cardinal Langton, an Englishman, but attached to the 

 see of Rome. This attempt to usurp one of the highest 

 prerogatives of his crown, filled John with ungovern- 

 able fury. He vented his rage against the monks of 

 Christ Church, whom he expelled from the convent ; 

 and when Innocent threatened to lay an interdict upon 

 his kingdom, he swore that he would banish all the 

 bishops and clergy of England, and confiscate their 

 possessions. This idle violence and imprudence en- 

 couraged Innocent to persevere in bringing this weak 

 prince to submission, and the interdict was accordingly 

 pronounced. At once the churches were shut ; the al- 

 tars were despoiled of their ornaments; the bells were A.D. 1207. 

 removed from the steeples ; the dead were thrown into 

 ditches, or buried in common fields without any funeral 

 solemnity ; marriages were solemnised in the church- 

 yards ; the people were forbidden to salute each other, 

 or even to shave their beards ; and every deprivation 

 was enforced that was calculated to strike with awe the 

 minds of a superstitious people. John, in revenge, ba- 

 nished the prelates, and confiscated the estates of all the 

 clergy, who obeyed the interdict; but, instead of at- 

 tempting to secure the interest, or gain the affections of 

 the barons, who alone were able to defend him against 

 these papal usurpations, he seems to have disgusted all 

 orders of men by his tyranny and licentiousness. 



As John still continued obstinate, the Pope next pro- 

 ceeded to pass a sentence of excommunication against 

 him. No sooner was this known, than many of the 

 bishops and nobility left the kingdom, which so alarm- 

 ed the king, that he proposed a conference with Lang- 

 ton at Dover, when he offered to receive him as pri- 

 mate, to restore the exiled clergy, and to pay a li- 

 mited sum as a compensation for the rents of their con- 

 fiscated estates. The cardinal, however, was not con- 

 tent with these terms, but demanded that full repara- 

 tion should be made to all the clergy. This exorbi- 

 tant demand put an end to the conference, and was 

 soon after followed by another papal sentence more 

 terrible than either. The subjects of John were ab- a^ived 

 solved from their oath of fidelity and allegiance ; all from their 

 were declared excommunicated persons, who had any allegiance. 



Is excom- 

 municated. 



A. D. 1209. 



