e
nation. But when he proceeded so far as to throw into prison
Geoffrey, Archbishop of York, who had opposed his measures, this
breach of ecclesiastical privileges excited such an universal ferment,
that Prince John, disgusted with the small share he possessed in the
government, and personally disobliged by Longchamp, ventured to
summon, at Reading, a general council of the nobility and prelates,
and cite him to appear before them. Longchamp thought it dangerous to
intrust his person in their hands, and he shut himself up in the Tower
of London; but being soon obliged to surrender that fortress, he fled
beyond sea, concealed under a female habit, and was deprived of his
offices of chancellor and chief justiciary; the last of which was
conferred on the Archbishop of Rouen, a prelate of prudence and
moderation. The commission of legate, however, which had been renewed
to Longchamp by Pope Celestine, still gave him, notwithstanding his
absence, great authority in the kingdom, enabled him to disturb the
government, and forwarded the views of Philip, who watched every
opportunity of annoying Richard's dominions. [MN 1192.] That monarch
first attempted to carry open war into Normandy; but as the French
nobility refused to follow him in an invasion of a state which they
had sworn to protect, and as the pope, who was the general guardian of
all princes that had taken the cross, threatened him with
ecclesiastical censures, he desisted from his enterprise, and employed
against England the expedient of secret policy and intrigue. He
debauched Prince John from his allegiance; promised him his sister
Alice in marriage; offered to give him possession of all Richard's
transmarine dominions; and had not the authority of Queen Eleanor, and
the menaces of the English council, prevailed over the inclinations of
that turbulent prince, he was ready to have crossed the seas, and to
have put in execution his criminal enterprises.
[FN [b] Hoveden, p. 665. Knyghton, p. 2403. [c] W. Heming. p. 528.
[d] Hoveden, p. 680. Bened. Abb. p. 626, 700. Brompton, p. 1193.]

[MN The king's heroic actions in Palestine.]
The jealousy of Philip was every moment excited by the glory which the
great actions of Richard were gaining him in the East, and which,
being compared to his own desertion of that popular cause, threw a
double lustre on his rival. His envy, therefore, prompted him to
obscure that fame which he had not equalled; and he embraced e