ely
indefeasible, might have justified them in the deposition of their
King, they declined insisting before Philip on a pretension which is
commonly so disagreeable to sovereigns and which sounds harshly in
their royal ears. They affirmed that John was incapable of succeeding
to the crown, by reason of the attainder passed upon him during his
brother's reign, though that attainder had been reversed, and Richard
had even, by his last will, declared him his successor. They pretended
that he was already legally deposed by sentence of the peers of
France, on account of the murder of his nephew, though that sentence
could not possibly regard anything but his transmarine dominions,
which alone he held in vassalage to that crown. On more plausible
grounds they affirmed that he had already deposed himself by doing
homage to the Pope, changing the nature of his sovereignty, and
resigning an independent crown for a fee under a foreign power. And as
Blanche of Castile, the wife of Louis, was descended by her mother
from Henry II, they maintained, though many other princes stood before
her in the order of succession, that they had not shaken off the royal
family in choosing her husband for their sovereign.

Philip was strongly tempted to lay hold on the rich prize which was
offered to him. The legate menaced him with interdicts and
excommunications if he invaded the patrimony of St. Peter or attacked
a prince who was under the immediate protection of the holy see; but
as Philip was assured of the obedience of his own vassals, his
principles were changed with the times, and he now undervalued as much
all papal censures as he formerly pretended to pay respect to them.
His chief scruple was with regard to the fidelity which he might
expect from the English barons in their new engagements, and the
danger of intrusting his son and heir into the hands of men who might,
on any caprice or necessity, make peace with their native sovereign,
by sacrificing a pledge of so much value. He therefore exacted from
the barons twenty-five hostages of the most noble birth in the
kingdom; and having obtained this security, he sent over first a small
army to the relief of the confederates; then more numerous forces,
which arrived with Louis himself at their head.

The first effect of the young Prince's appearance in England was the
desertion of John's foreign troops, who, being mostly levied in
Flanders and other provinces of France, refused to serve