28 HISTORY OF FRANCE. cK absent crusader. This did not prevent him from entering into an alliance with Richard's brother John, and feeding the discontent of his subjects in Aquitaine. Very wel- come were the tidings that Richard, on his way home, had been taken prisoner by Leopold, Ditke of Austria. Nor was the opportunity wasted, for Philip took up arms against Normandy, exchanged various promises with John, and offered the emperor Henry VI., into whose hands the king had passed, sums equal to his ransom so long as he was in safe keeping. Not till the February of 1194 did the release of Richard take place, and Philip, on learning it, wrote to John, " Take care of thyself, the devil is let loose." 16. Wars with Richard, 1194. — A border warfare between the two kings took place, chiefly in sieges of castles and skirmishes, but both kingdoms were worn out by the crusade, and nothing great was done. Only, high over the banks of the Seine, Richard lavished all his skill in defensive fortification in building an almost impregnable castle, which he called Chateau Gaillard (Saucy Castle), and viewed as the great bulwark of Normandy. But in 1199 Philip was freed from his most dangerous foe by Richard's death before the castle of Chains^ and thenceforth was the gainer by all that befell the house of Anjou. 17. The Interdict, 1 199.— Philip had however brought on himself by his vices a great embarrassment. In 1191, hoping to weaken England by an alliance with Denmark, he had asked the hand of Ingebioi'g, daughter of li'alde- Jiiar the Great. But he took a great distaste to her, and on the plea of alleged nearness of kin, he made his clergy declare the marriage void, made light of the wrath of Pope Celestine III., and wedded Ai^/ws oj Meraii, a little duchy in the Tyrolese Alps. But in 1 198 InnocerJ the Third was :hosen to the papacy, and showed himselt one of the greatest men who ever sat in the chair of St. Peter, and one who made the most mighty use of the spiritual and temporal weapons of his see. After all admonition failed wiiii Philip, Innocent laid the king- dom under an interdict. Every p.irish church was closed, most religious offices were forbidden, and the only excep- tions were for crusaders and monasteries. The dread and distress which were thus caused to a people, who, though fierce and licentious, still firmly believed in the power of religion, forced the king to yield, and he was freed from
