[1086] _Ib._ Cf. _Hist. des Ducs_, p. 153. [1087] W. Coventry, _l.c._ [1088] R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 340. Cf. R. Coggeshall, p. 174, and W. Coventry, vol. ii. p. 225. [1089] Gir. Cambr. vol. i. p. 401. [1090] W. Coventry, vol. ii. pp. 224, 225. [1091] _Rot. Pat._ p. 154 b. This disposes of R. Coggeshall’s assertion (p. 174) that Stephen went “rege invito et ei minas intentante.” [1092] _Rot. Pat._ p. 182. [1093] _Ib._ p. 182 b (dateless). [1094] See above, pp. 182 and 225. [1095] In the “Articles of the Barons,” c. 49, this reservation-clause ran: “Rex faciet eos securos per cartas archiepiscopi et episcoporum et magistri Pandulfi quod nihil impetrabit _a domino Papa_,” etc. In the Charter, c. 61, “_ab aliquo_” was substituted for “a domino Papa,” and the security to be given by letters patent of Pandulf and the bishops was made to refer to the keeping of the Charter in general (_ib._ c. 62), instead of to that one particular point. [1096] R. Wendover, vol. iii. pp. 322–7. CHAPTER VII JOHN LACKLAND 1215–1216 Dicitur ... “Sine Terra,” quia moriturus nil terrae in pace possedit. M. Paris, _Hist. Angl._ vol. ii. p. 191. [Sidenote: 1215] The Pope’s letters evidently did not reach England till after the primate and the bishops had set out for Rome, so that there was no one left to publish the new sentence; and it seems, in fact, never to have been published in England at all. But its existence soon became known there; and when once the barons knew of it, they knew, too, that they must make their choice between unconditional surrender and war to the uttermost with both king and Pope; for there was no one left to act as their mediator with either. They chose war; but they were not ready for war, and the king was. Poitevins, Gascons, Brabantines, Flemings, were flocking to him from over sea.[1097] On October 2 he ordered his brother, Earl William of Salisbury, to visit ten royal castles and select from their garrisons troops for service in the field. On the 4th he committed the superintendence of military affairs in mid-England and the west to Falkes de Bréauté, and issued a general safe-conduct to “all who may wish to return to our fealty and service” through the medium of Falkes or the earl.[1098] He himself had, towards the end of September, advanced as far inland as Malling;[1099] but this seems to have been merely a sort of reconnoitring expedition; his plan evidently was to wait till all his expected reinforcements had arrived from over sea, and then march with them upon London, while William and Falkes did the same with the troops which they could bring up from the west, so as to place the capital between two fires. While his forces were concentrating, those of the barons were scattering; they had no scheme of united action; one party had renewed the siege of Northampton castle, another was engaged in that of Oxford.[1100] At last the leaders in London decided that something must be done to