Philip, King of France, accused John of the crime, and ordered him as
Duke of Normandy, and hence as his feudal dependant (S86), to appear
at Paris for trial. John refused. The court met, declared him a
traitor, and sentenced him to forfeit all his lands on the Continent.
John's late brother, Richard Coeur de Lion (S185), had built a famous
stronghold on the Seine to hold Rouen and Normandy. He named it
"Saucy Castle." King Philip vowed in Richard's lifetime that he would
make himself master of it. "I would take it," said the French King,
"were its walls of iron." "I would hold it," retorted Richard, "were
its walls of butter." Richard made his word good, and kept the castle
as long as he lived; but his successor, John, was of poorer and meaner
stuff. He left his Norman nobles to carry on the war against Philip
as best they could. At last, after much territory had been lost, the
English King made an attempt to regain it. But it was too late, and
"Saucy Castle" fell. Then the end speedily came. Philip seized all
Normandy and followed up the victory by depriving John of his entire
possessions north of the river Loire. (See map facing p. 84.)