Death of Arthur. 1203.
Arthur himself now appeared in arms, renounced John, and entered Poitou in alliance with the insurgent barons. He there besieged Mirabeau, where the old Queen then was lying ill on her return from a journey into Spain, whither she had gone to fetch the Princess of Castile, according to the treaty with the French King. The capture of the castle seemed inevitable, when John, with one of those sudden acts of vigour which broke his indolent life, suddenly came upon the besiegers, and surrounded them, rescued his mother, and took the young prince captive. The war became still more vehement. The Bretons claimed the restoration of their prince. Philip moved his army to the Loire, and town after town was captured, while John lay in sensual enjoyment at Rouen. The Norman barons, unused to an unwarlike governor, deserted to Philip, and John was compelled to return to England. He had hardly reached it when the terrible rumour spread that the young Prince Arthur had disappeared. His fate is variously related. The more commonly accepted story is, that, imprisoned at Falaise, under the care of Hubert de Burgh, he escaped, by the good will of his custodian, from the designs of John, who had sent to have his eyes put out. He was thence removed to Rouen, to the charge of Robert de Vipont, and murdered, perhaps by his uncle’s own hand, and his body thrown into the Seine.
Loss of Normandy. 1205.
However he may have died, his death raised a storm of indignation. Philip pressed more boldly forward. In March 1204, Chateau Gaillard, the key of Normandy upon the Seine, was taken. One after the other, Caen, Bayeux, Coutances, Lisieux, and all the country to Mont St. Michel, were captured; Rouen alone remained. John was again summoned before the Peers at Paris. Philip even prepared to invade England, and to make good there the claims of the Counts of Brabant and Boulogne, who had married the granddaughters of King Stephen. In June, Rouen was compelled to capitulate, and in the following year, Loches and Chinon, south of the Loire, yielded, and Rochelle, Niort, and Thouars, in Poitou, were the only towns left in the possession of the English.
Peace with Philip. 1206.
Meanwhile John had tried in vain to assemble an effective army in England. He had raised money and collected troops, but it would seem that they were disaffected; for at the urgent entreaties of his faithful servants, Hubert of Canterbury and William Marshall, they were disbanded. One futile attempt was indeed made from Rochelle, and John boasted loudly of his capture of Montauban, but he was none the less compelled in October of this year to make a two years’ peace with Philip. The connection between England and Normandy was thus for ever broken; henceforward the country was thrown upon its own resources, and its life and interests became more distinctly national.
Many causes had been at work to separate the interests of the crown and nation, but before mentioning them it will be necessary to speak of the second great event of John’s reign, his dispute with Innocent III.
Election of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Election of Stephen Langton. 1207.