s dominions, embraced the cause of the young duke of Brittany, took
him under his protection, and sent him to Paris to be educated along
with his own son Lewis. In this emergency, John hastened to establish
his authority in the chief members of the monarchy; and after sending
Eleanor into Poictou and Guienne, where her right was incontestable, and
was readily acknowledged, he hurried to Rouen, and having secured the
duchy of Normandy, he passed over, without loss of time, to England.
Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury, William Mareschal, earl of Strigul,
who also passes by the name of earl of Pembroke, and Geoffrey
Fitz-Peter, the justiciary, the three most favored ministers of the
late king, were already engaged on his side; and the submission or
acquiescence of all the other barons put him, without opposition, in
possession of the throne.

The king soon returned to France, in order to conduct the war against
Philip, and to recover the revolted provinces from his nephew Arthur.
The alliances which Richard had formed with the earl of Flanders, and
other potent French princes, though they had not been very effectual,
still subsisted, and enabled John to defend himself against all the
efforts of his enemy. In an action between the French and Flemings, the
elect bishop of Cambray was taken prisoner by the former; and when the
cardinal of Capua claimed his liberty, Philip, instead of complying,
reproached him with the weak efforts which he had employed in favor of
the bishop of Beauvais, who was in a like condition. The legate, to show
his impartiality, laid at the same time the kingdom of France and the
duchy of Normandy under an interdict; and the two kings found themselves
obliged to make an exchange of these military prelates.

{1200.} Nothing enabled the king to bring this war to a happy issue so
much as the selfish, intriguing character of Philip, who acted, in
the provinces that had declared for Arthur, without any regard to the
interests of that prince. Constantia, seized with a violent jealousy
that he intended to usurp the entire dominion of them, found means to
carry off her son secretly from Paris: she put him into the hands of his
uncle; restored the provinces which had adhered to the young prince; and
made him do homage for the duchy of Brittany, which was regarded as a
rere-fief of Normandy. From this incident, Philip saw that he could not
hope to make any progress against John; and being threatened with an
in