Shortly after his defeat in France (S191), John entered upon his
second quarrel. Pope Innocent III had commanded a delegation of the
monks of Canterbury to choose Stephen Langton archbishop in place of a
person whom the King had compelled them to elect. When the news
reached John, he forbade Langton's landing in England, although it was
his native country.
The Pope forthwith declared the kingdom under an interdict, or
suspension of religious services. For two years the churches were
hung in mourning, the bells ceased to ring, the doors were shut fast.
For two years the priests denied the sacraments to the living and
funeral prayers for the dead. At the end of that time the Pope, by a
bull of excommunication (S167), cut off the King as a withered branch
from the Church. John laughed at the interdict, and met the decree of
excommunication with such cruel treatment of the priests that they
fled terrified from the lnd.
The Pope now took a third and final step; he deposed John and ordered
Philip, King of France, to seize the English Crown. Then John,
knowing that he stood alone, made a virtue of necessity. He knelt at
the feet of the Pope's legate, or representative, accepted Stephen
Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, and promised to pay a yearly tax
to Rome of one thousand marks (about $64,000 in modern money) for
permission to keep his crown. The Pope was satisfied with the victory
he had gained over his ignoble foe, and peace was made.