JOHN 1204-1216 [Sidenote: England and the Conquest] The loss of Normandy did more than drive John from the foreign dominions of his race; it set him face to face with England itself.

England was no longer a distant treasure-house from which gold could be drawn for wars along the Epte or the Loire, no longer a possession to be kept in order by wise ministers and by flying visits from its foreign king.

Henceforth it was his home.

It was to be ruled by his personal and continuous rule.
People and sovereign were to know each other, to be brought into contact with each other as they had never been brought since the conquest of the Norman.

The change in the attitude of the king was the more momentous that it took place at a time when the attitude of the country itself was rapidly changing.