The barons themselves appealed to the pope two years later to take their part against John, on the ground that it was only by their compulsion the king had been brought to pay homage to Rome, and though they were then to curse the papal overlordship they had helped procure, and England was to come to regard John’s surrender to the pope as “a thing to be detested for all time,” in that year 1213 the protection of the pope was invaluable to John and, as some thought, to the country. “For matters were in such a strait, and so great was the fear on all sides, that there was no more ready way of avoiding the imminent peril--perhaps no other way at all. For when once he had put himself under apostolical protection and made his realms a part of the patrimony of St. Peter, there was not in the Roman world a sovereign who durst attack him or would invade his lands, in such awe was Pope Innocent held above all his predecessors for many years past.” (Walter of Coventry.) The long war being at an end Stephen Langton and four of the exiled bishops landed in June, and Stephen was now to do the work of archbishop, the work he had been solemnly consecrated to six years before. John met the primate at Winchester, and swore on the gospels in the cathedral “that he would cherish, defend and maintain the holy Church and her ordained ministers; that he would restore the good laws of his forefathers, especially St. Edward’s, rendering to all men their rights; and that before the next Easter he would make full restitution of all property which had been taken away in connection with the interdict.” Then Stephen formally absolved the king from excommunication and gave him the kiss of peace, to the general rejoicing. And now England was to see what sort of archbishop it was Pope Innocent had sent to Canterbury. With a king as cruel as he was vigorous, and as astute as he was unscrupulous, with barons who knew neither loyalty nor patriotism. Archbishop Stephen, out of such materials, was to win for his native land the Great Charter, and to have it written in black and white that all who would might read the several duties of king and people. In August Langton, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, read to the barons the old coronation charter of Henry I., and reminded them that the liberties promised in that document were to be recovered. “With very great joy the barons swore they would fight for these liberties, even unto death if it were needful, and the archbishop promised that he would help with all his might.” Thus within three months of his setting foot in England Langton had started the movement for the Great Charter.