to the coasts of Llewellyn's territories to co-operate with the army by destroying the Welsh prince's vessels, and harassing the foe in every possible manner; and to dispatch two other galleys, with stores for John, to Bristol.[1] Three months later, the available strength of the fleet was reinforced by means of a general arrest of shipping.[2]
This last-mentioned measure was no doubt taken in anticipation of a threatened French invasion. In consequence of his attitude towards Rome, John had driven the Papacy to employ all its terrors against him. His kingdom had been laid under an interdict in 1208, and he had retaliated by confiscating the goods of the clergy, and had so drawn upon himself the further penalty of personal excommunication. But he still remained intractable, and the Holy See now decided to use physical as well as spiritual force. It deposed John, and confided the execution of its decree to Philip Augustus, in particular, and to all Christian princes, in general.
Philip, far from being loath, was only too willing to undertake the mission. Even when John, by an unnecessarily abject submission to the Pope, had secured the countenance instead of the frown of Innocent III., and had obtained the revocation of the Bull of Deposition, Philip remained eager for the conquest. He had a large fleet in the mouth of the Seine, and a large army at Rouen; and, with the weapons in his hands, he was not disposed to lay them aside without using them, although John had sixty thousand men encamped upon Barnham Down, and the strongest fleet that had ever been collected from the ports of England. But it happened that the Count of Flanders, who before had been Philip's ally, did not share Philip's eagerness, and declined, since John had made his peace with the Pope, to have anything further to do with the invasion of England. Philip replied by entering Flanders with his army, and by ordering his fleet, which had been collected in the Seine, to proceed to Damme, now an inland village five or six miles north-east of Bruges, but then a seaport with a very spacious harbour. It is said that the French vessels numbered seventeen hundred; and that in consequence of the size of the fleet, part of it had to anchor outside the port.[3]
Ferdinand, who was then Count of Flanders, naturally appealed
