terdict on account of his irregular divorce from Ingelburga, the
Danish princess whom he had espoused, he became desirous of concluding a
peace with England. After some fruitless conferences, the terms were
at last adjusted; and the two monarchy seemed in this treaty to have an
intention, besides ending the present quarrel, of preventing all future
causes of discord, and of obviating every controversy which could
hereafter arise between them. They adjusted the limits of all their
territories; mutually secured the interests of their vassals, and, to
render the union more durable, John gave his niece, Blanche of Castile,
in marriage to Prince Lewis, Philip's eldest son, and with her the
baronies of Issoudun and Gracai, and other fiefs in Berri. Nine
barons of the king of England, and as many of the king of France,
were guaranties of this treaty; and all of them swore, that, if their
sovereign violated any article of it, they would declare themselves
against him, and embrace the cause of the injured monarch. John, now
secure, as he imagined, on the side of France indulged his passion for
Isabella, the daughter and heir of Aymar Tailleffer, count of Angouleme,
a lady with whom he had become much enamored. His queen, the heiress of
the family of Glocester, was still alive: Isabella was married to
the count de la Marche, and was already consigned to the care of that
nobleman; though, by reason of her tender years, the marriage had
not been consummated. The passion of John made him overlook all these
obstacles: he persuaded the count of Angouleme to carry off his daughter
from her husband; and having, on some pretence or other, procured a
divorce from his own wife, he espoused Isabella; regardless both of the
menaces of the pope, who exclaimed against these irregular proceedings,
and of the resentment of the injured count, who soon found means of
punishing his powerful and insolent rival.

{1201.} John had not the art of attaching his barons either by affection
or by fear. The count de la Marche, and his brother, the count d'Eu,
taking advantage of the general discontent against him, excited
commotions in Poictou and Normandy, and obliged the king to have
recourse to arms, in order to suppress the insurrection of his vassals.
He summoned together the barons of England, and required them to pass
the sea under his standard, and to quell the rebels: he found that he
possessed as little authority in that kingdom as in his transmari