He began with exacting an oath from the king, by which, without showing
the extent of his design, he engaged him to everything he could ask.
John swore to submit to the legate in all things relating to his
excommunication. And first he was obliged to accept Langton as
archbishop; then to restore the monks of Canterbury, and other deprived
ecclesiastics, and to make them a full indemnification for all their
losses. And now, by these concessions, all things seemed to be perfectly
settled. The cause of the quarrel was entirely removed. But when the
king expected for so perfect a submission a full absolution, the
legate began a laboured harangue on his rebellion, his tyranny, and
the innumerable sins he had committed; and in conclusion declared, that
there was no way left to appease God and the Church but to resign his
crown to the Holy See, from whose hands he should receive it purified
from all pollutions, and hold it for the future by homage, and an annual
tribute. John was struck motionless at a demand so extravagant and
unexpected. He knew not on which side to turn. If he cast his eyes
toward the coast of France, he there saw his enemy Philip, who
considered him as a criminal as well as an enemy, and who aimed not only
at his crown but his life, at the head of an innumerable multitude of
fierce people, ready to rush in upon him. If he looked at his own army,
he saw nothing there but coldness, disaffection, uncertainty, distrust,
and a strength, in which he knew not whether he ought most to confide or
fear. On the other hand, the papal thunders, from the wounds of which
he was still sore, were leveled full at his head. He could not look
steadily at these complicated difficulties; and truly it is hard to say
what choice he had, if any choice were left to kings in what concerns
the independence of their crown. Surrounded, therefore, with these
difficulties; and that all his late humiliations might not be rendered
as ineffectual as they were ignominious, he took the last step; and,
in the presence of a numerous assembly of his peers and prelates, who
turned their eyes from this mortifying sight, formally resigned his
crown to the pope's legate; to whom at the same time he did homage,
and paid the first fruits of his tribute. Nothing could be added to the
humiliation of the king upon this occasion, but the insolence of the
legate, who spurned the treasure with his foot, and let the crown remain
a long time on the ground before he restored it to the degraded owner.
In this proceeding the motives of the king may be easily discovered;
but how the barons of the kingdom, who were deeply concerned, suffered,
without any protestation, the independency of the crown to be thus
forfeited, is mentioned by no historian of that time. In civil tumults
it is astonishing how little regard is paid by all parties to the honour
or safety of their country. The king's friends were probably induced to
acquiesce by the same motives that had influenced the king. His enemies,
who were the most numerous, perhaps saw his abasement with pleasure, as
they knew this action might be one day employed against him with effect.
To the bigots it was enough, that it aggrandized the pope. It is,
perhaps, worthy of observation, that the conduct of Pandulph towards
King John bore a very great affinity to that of the Roman consuls to the
people of Carthage in the last Punic war; drawing them from concession
to concession, and carefully concealing their design, until they made
it impossible for the Carthaginians to resist. Such a strong resemblance
did the same ambition produce in such distant times; and it is far from
the sole instance, in which we may trace a similarity between the spirit
and conduct of the former and latter Rome in their common design on the
liberties of mankind.