But loyal as was their tradition they were English to the core; they had neither lands nor interest over sea, and they now declared themselves bound by no tenure to follow the king in foreign wars.

Furious at this check to his plans John marched in arms northwards to bring these barons to submission.

But he had now to reckon with a new antagonist in the Justiciar, Geoffry Fitz-Peter.

Geoffry had hitherto bent to the king's will; but the political sagacity which he drew from the school of Henry the Second in which he had been trained showed him the need of concession, and his wealth, his wide kinship, and his experience of affairs gave his interposition a decisive weight.

He seized on the political opportunity which was offered by the gathering of a Council at St.Albans at the opening of August with the purpose of assessing the damages done to the Church.