When, after thirteen years of misgovernment, during which John had enraged the barons and excited general discontent by endless impositions, matters were brought to a climax by his submission to the pope, it was in the city of London that the first steps were taken by his subjects to recover their lost liberty. On the 25th August, 1213, a meeting of the clergy and barons was held in the church of St. Paul; a memorable meeting, and one that has been described as "a true parliament of the realm, though no king presided in it."(179) Stephen Langton, whose appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury had so raised John’s ire, took the lead and produced to the assembly a copy of the Charter of Liberties, granted by Henry I, when that king undertook to put an end to the tyranny of William Rufus. If the barons so pleased, it might (he said) serve as a precedent. The charter having been then and there deliberately read, the barons unanimously declared that for such liberties they were ready to fight, and, if necessary, to die.(180) The clergy and people who had hitherto supported the king against the barons, having now engaged themselves to assist the barons against the tyranny of the king, John found himself with but one friend in the world, and that was the Pope. "Innocent’s view of the situation was very simple," writes Dr. Gardiner, "John was to obey the Pope, and all John’s subjects were to obey John." Within a few weeks of the council being held at St. Paul’s, the same sacred edifice witnessed the formality of affixing a golden _bulla_ to the deed—the detestable deed (_carta detestabilis_)—whereby John had in May last resigned the crown of England to the papal legate, and received it again as the Pope’s feudatory.(181) (M120) In the following year (1214), whilst the king was abroad, the barons met again at Bury St. Edmunds, and solemnly swore that if John any longer delayed restoring the laws and liberties of Henry the First, they would make war upon him. It was arranged that after Christmas they should go in a body and demand their rights, and that in the meantime they should provide themselves with horses and arms, with the view of bringing force to bear, in case of refusal.(182) The citizens at the same time took the opportunity of strengthening their defences by digging a foss on the further side of the city wall.(183) (M121) Christmas came and a meeting between John and the barons took place in London at what was then known as the "New" Temple. The result, however, was unsatisfactory, and both parties prepared for an appeal to force, the barons choosing as their leader Robert Fitz-Walter, whom they dubbed "Marshal of the army of God and of Holy Church."(184) (M122)