e, and Touraine, immediately
declared in favour of Arthur's title, and applied for assistance to
the French monarch as their superior lord. Philip, who desired only
an occasion to embarrass John, and dismember his dominions, embraced
the cause of the young Duke of Britany, took him under his protection,
and sent him to Paris to be educated, along with his own son Lewis
[c]. In this emergence, 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 favoured ministers of the
late king, were already engaged on his side [d]; and the submission or
acquiescence of all the other barons put him, without opposition, in
possession of the throne.
[FN [a] Hoveden, p. 677. M Paris, p. 112. Chron. de Dunst. p. 43.
Rymer, vol i p. 66, 68. Bened. Abb. p. 619. [b] Hoveden, p. 791.
Trivet, p. 138. [c] Hoveden, p. 792. M. Paris, p. 137. M. West. p.
263. Knyghton, p. 2414. [d] Hoveden, p. 793. M. Paris, p. 137.]

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 [e],
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 favour 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.
[FN [e] Rymer, vol. i. p. 114. Hoveden, p. 794. M. Paris, p. 138.]

[MN 1200.] Nothing enabled the king to bring this war to a happy
issue so much as the selfish intriguing character of Philip, who a