Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/491

 Efigland in the Middle Ages 419 Innocent replied by placing England under the iiiterdid ; that England un- is to say, he ordered the clergy to close all the churches and ^kt suspend all public services — a veiy terrible thing to the people of the time. John was excommunicated, and the Pope threatened that unless the king submitted to his wishes he would depose him and give his crown to Philip Augustus of France. As Philip made haste to collect an army for the conquest of England, John humbly submitted to the Pope in 12 13. He went so far as to hand England over to Innocent III and receive it back as a fief, thus becoming the vassal of the Pope. He agreed also to send a yearly tribute to Rome. Section 70. The Great Charter and the Beginnings of Parliament We must now turn to the most important event in John's reign — the drawing up of the Great Charter of English liberties. When, in 12 13, John proposed to lead his English vassals The grant- across the water in order to attempt to reconquer his lost pos- cfe^t Char- sessions in France, they refused to accompany him on the ground *^'^' ^^^5 that their feudal obligations did not bind them to fight outside of their country. Moreover, they showed a lively discontent with John's tyranny and his neglect of those limits of the kingly power which several of the earlier Norman kings had solemnly recognized. In 12 14 a number of the barons met and took a solemn oath that they would compel the king, by arms if neces- sary, to sign a charter containing the things which, according to English traditions, a king might not do. As John would not agree to do this, it proved necessar)' to get together an army and march against him. The insurgent nobles met him at Runnymede, not far from London. Here on the 15th of June, 1 2 15, they forced him to swear to observe what they believed to be the rights of his subjects, which they had carefully written out.