CHAPTER XII.


MAGNA CHARTA INTRODUCED: SLIGHT DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN OVERCOMING
AN UNPOPULAR AND UNREASONABLE PREJUDICE.


Philip called the miserable monarch to account for the death of Arthur,
and, as a result, John lost his French possessions. Hence the weak and
wicked son of Henry Plantagenet, since called Lackland, ceased to be a
tax-payer in France, and proved to a curious world that a court fool in
his household was superfluous.

John now became mixed up in a fracas with the Roman pontiff, who would
have been justified in giving him a Roman punch. Why he did not, no
Roman knows.

On the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1205, Stephen Langton
was elected to the place, with a good salary and use of the rectory.
John refused to confirm the appointment, whereat Innocent III., the
pontiff, closed the churches and declared a general lock-out. People
were denied Christian burial in 1208, and John was excommunicated in
1209.

Philip united with the Pope, and together they raised the temperature
for John so that he yielded to the Roman pontiff, and in 1213 agreed to
pay him a comfortable tribute. The French king attempted to conquer
England, but was defeated in a great naval battle in the harbor of
Damme. Philip afterwards admitted that the English were not conquered
by a Damme site; but the Pope absolved him for two dollars.