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 Philip Augustus, who, long before, had returned from the East, had chosen to forget the undertaking which he had concluded with Richard before setting out, and which he had continued in Palestine, and had attacked Normandy during Richard's absence.

The King of England took advantage of his restoration to liberty to immediately resent this breach of faith. By the third week of April, 1194, he had assembled a large army, and a fleet of one hundred sail at Portsmouth; but, the wind being contrary and the weather foul, he was delayed for several days. On May 2nd, although the circumstances were still adverse, his impetuosity induced him to order the troops and horses to embark, and to himself put to sea in a "long ship," in spite of all remonstrances. Happily, the fleet did not sail with him. Had it made the attempt, it is probable that part of it would have been lost, for Richard was obliged to take shelter in the Isle of Wight, and to return thence to Portsmouth. On May 12th, however, the weather being favourable, he embarked again, and crossed with all his force to Barfleur. He never returned to England; for although, after a five years' war, in which the navy did not participate, he concluded a truce with the French, he prolonged his stay on the continent in order to settle a petty quarrel with one of his nobles, and in the course of this he fell.

John became king by the will of his brother Richard, and by the wish of the people of England, rather than by hereditary right; for, though Richard left no legitimate issue, there was a nearer heir in the person of Geoffrey Plantagenet (son of Henry II.), by Constance, Duchess of Brittany. The cause of his son Arthur was espoused, feebly and half-heartedly by Philip Augustus, and more generously by the nobles of Anjou, Maine and Touraine, so that John's accession involved the almost immediate breaking of the truce with France, and the renewal of the war.

John, who was at Beaufort, in Anjou, at the time of his brother's death, crossed to England before the truce was actually broken, and, landing at Shoreham on May 25th, 1199, was crowned at Westminster on the 27th. In June, having raised an army and assembled a fleet to transport it, he re-embarked at Shoreham for Normandy,