1. Background

Philip and Arthur started the conflict by attacking John’s French territories. Arthur was captured while attempting to take the castle of Mirabeau (where his grandmother Eleanor was staying.) John imprisoned him, Rouen Castle, where he died, probably murdered by John. Philip was furious and with the extra energy of hatred took all English lands in France with the exception of the extreme western part on the Atlantic coast north of Spain and south of the river Loire. (approx 300 miles north-south by 50 miles. Or Bordeaux and the west of Gascony. The land lost included Normandy, perhaps still the emotional home of the English Kings, and its loss caused John and the Barons (who had also lost much land) to consider England as their home (or perhaps their only safe home) for the first time.

-1205: the power of a Medieval Pope. A religious upheaval was commenced by the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury. John and his elder monks voted for John de Grey Bishop of Norwich but the younger monks chose a Reginald. John sent to Rome for an adjudication. Pope Innocent 3rd ignored both local preferences and appointed Stephen Langton who King John rejected.

-1208: the Pope was furious and set out to punish John and England as follows.

 The Pope pronounced an interdict which forbade any religious service to be held other than for the baptism of infants. The purpose was to set the people of England against John. For 4 years nobody could be buried in Church land and no “Mass” was allowed which eliminated the chance of the people “confessing” or the dead being prayed for to move them through purgatory. To the God-fearing mind of the superstitious medievals, this was frightening.

 John still refused to budge so the Pope excommunicated him which meant John would believe he had no chance of going to heaven. John reacted by seizing the property of the clergy and bishops.

 Finally the Pope declared that John was no longer King of England and appointed the French King Phillip to the throne and told Philip to attack England.

-1213: After 5 years religious persecution by the Pope, John and the Barons were in no mood to fight a war with Philip and John agreed to the Pope’s demands and, accept Langton as Archbishop, returned the church property and paid an annual tribute of 1000 marks to Rome. The Pope ordered Philip to stand down. But Philip was so incensed that he turned his assembled French army on Flanders.

-1214: Flanders was a major trading partner for English sheep’s wool so John had little difficulty in persuading the Barons to produce an army to defend Flanders. Unfortunately Philip was too good a soldier and at the battle of Bouvines, King John’s army under the Earl of Salisbury, supported by the Count of Flanders and Otto Emperor of Germany were defeated. Philip 2nd Augustus is sometimes called the creator of modern France