Seeing this the pope excommunicated him, and said his subjects need no longer obey him. That too had no effect, and then the pope persuaded Philip of France to invade England. John brought together a vast army on 4 Barham Down. A writer of the time says that if among the men "there had been one heart and one mind towards the king there would not have been a prince under heaven against whom they could not have defended the kingdom."

But John knew he could not trust his people. Besides this, though he cared nothing for religion and would not listen to sound advice, he was frightened by the ravings of a poor half-mad monk who had prophesied that on next 5Ascension Day he would no longer be king. So he suddenly gave in and made a shameful submission. He agreed to receive Stephen Langton and to hold the kingdom as vassal of the pope. At Ewell, near Dover, he did homage to Pandulf, the legate of Innocent. Pandulf was seated on a splendid throne. John came before him unarmed, knelt down, and swore to be the pope's man.

1

1 Sub-prior, the monk next in rank below the prior. The prior is next below the abbot. 2 consult, to ask the advice of. cardinal, one of the highest officers of the Roman Catholic Church. + Barham Down, about midway between Dover and Canterbury. 5 Ascension Day, or Holy Thursday, ten days before Whit-Sunday. e, the one who stood in the pope's place in England.

and strong of will. In his younger days, while studying in the University of Paris, he had formed a firm friendship with a noble Englishman named Stephen Langton, who was one of the teachers there. After he became pope he made his friend a 3 cardinal, and when the monks of Canterbury came to Rome about the election he told them to choose Langton, and they did as they were bid.

John was furious. He seized the monastery of Canterbury with all its estates, and banished the monks. Innocent in return placed England under

an interdict. This was reckoned a fearful punishment. All the churches were closed, and all religious services ceased. The dead were buried in fields and ditches; the images of the apostles and saints were veiled or taken down, and the bells were all silent. His country might lie under an interdict but John cared not. The bishops might flee the unholy land, the barons might be ready to rebel, the people might murmur, but he kept on his course.

Seeing this the pope excommunicated him, and said his subjects need no longer obey him. That too had no effect, and then the pope persuaded Philip of France to invade England. John brought together a vast army on 4 Barham Down. A writer of the time says that if among the men "there had been one heart and one mind towards the king there would not have been a prince under heaven against whom they could not have defended the kingdom."

But John knew he could not trust his people. Besides this, though he cared nothing for religion and would not listen to sound advice, he was frightened by the ravings of a poor half-mad monk who had prophesied that on next 5Ascension Day he would no longer be king. So he suddenly gave in and made a shameful submission. He agreed to receive Stephen Langton and to hold the kingdom as vassal of the pope. At Ewell, near Dover, he did homage to Pandulf, the legate of Innocent. Pandulf was seated on a splendid throne. John came before him unarmed, knelt down, and swore to be the pope's man.

1Sub-prior, the monk next in rank below the prior. The prior is next below the abbot. 2 consult, to ask the advice of. 3cardinal, one of the highest officers of the Roman Catholic Church. 4 Barham Down, about midway between Dover and Canterbury. 5 Ascension Day, or Holy Thursday, ten days before Whit-Sunday. 6 legate, the one who stood in the pope's place in England.

THE GREAT CHARTER.

mus-e'-um

rev'-er-ent

wreak

judg'-ment

JOHN had agreed that when the interdict was taken off he would restore the laws of Edward the Confessor, and would give back to every man his own. He commanded the barons to meet at St. Alban's and settle what payments should be made to those whom he had plundered. The barons met as commanded, but besides doing the business for which they were called together they talked a great deal about the king's misrule. They had long been growing more and more weary of his bad government, and they now resolved he should be made to govern better.

They found a worthy leader in Stephen Langton. At a great assembly held in St. Paul's Cathedral he read to them a charter which had been granted by Henry I., and they agreed to demand such a charter from John. Later in the year they met at St. Edmund's Bury, and there they swore solemnly on the high altar to wage war against the king till he should do as they required.

While the barons and the bishops all acted together John was powerless. By lying, by making false promises, by appealing to the pope, he tried to break up their union, but all in vain. When the barons saw he would yield to nothing short of force they marched to London, where the people gladly welcomed them. Then John gave in. At Runnymede, a grassy plain between Staines and

Windsor, on the south side of the Thames, he affixed his seal, on the 15th of June, 1215, to a charter granting what was demanded of him.

This charter is spoken of as 1the Great Charter. In the British Museum a copy of it, yellow with age, and scorched by fire, may be seen. People, as they pass, look on it with a reverent interest, because in it were first set out those rights which we regard as dearest.

3

John, in the Great Charter, was made to say, "No man shall be seized, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or in any way brought to ruin save by legal judgment of his peers or by the laws of the land." Again, "To no man will we sell or deny or delay right or justice." There were many other important clauses but these are the two to which Englishmen have ever since looked proudly back as the foundation of their liberties.

John had sworn to keep the charter, but he thought nothing of breaking the most solemn oaths. As soon as the barons had separated he sent abroad to hire soldiers. They soon arrived in swarms, and then he went up and down the country wreaking his revenge upon the nobles, destroying their castles, wasting their lands, and slaying such as fell into his hands. But in the midst of his vengeance the king died.

1 The Great Charter. In Latin, Magna Carta. 2 the British Museum, in Bloomsbury, London. 3 reverent, showing respectful love. clause, a part of a law, charter, &c.