John had not relied solely on papal protection. A great fleet, collected at Dover to block Louis with his smaller vessels in Calais harbour, was wrecked on 18th May, 1216. The channel thus cleared of English ships, the French Prince, setting sail on the night of the 20th May, landed next morning without opposition. John, reduced to dependence on mercenaries, did not dare oppose his landing. Gualo, now in England, on 28th May excommunicated Louis by name, and laid London under interdict. Such thunderbolts had now lost their blasting power by frequent repetition, and produced no effect whatever. On 2nd June, Louis entered London amid acclamations, and marched against John at Winchester, which he reached on 14th June, after John had fled. Ten days later, the ancient capital of Wessex with its castles surrendered. Next day, the French Prince attacked Dover, whose brave defender, Hubert de Burgh, after some months of stubborn resistance, obtained a truce, on 14th October, in order that the garrison might communicate with the King. Before Hubert’s messengers could reach him, John was dying. During these months, when the verdict of war was going against him in the south, he had been acting in the north strenuously, and not without success. The issue still trembled in the balance. A royalist reaction had begun. The insolence of the French troops caused desertions from the barons. On 10th October John, after being feasted to excess by the loyal burghers of Lynn, fell into an illness from which he never really recovered. Nine days later, worn out by his wars, and by excitement and chagrin, at this critical juncture when fortune might have taken any sudden turn, he died at Newark Castle, in the early hours of the morning of 19th October, 1216. His death saved the situation, rendering a compromise possible. Almost immediately, there took place an entirely new grouping of political forces inside and outside of England. A silent compromise was effected, all parties returning gradually to their natural allegiance to the son of John, on the understanding that the Charter in its main features should be accepted as the basis of his government. Prince Louis was soon discarded. Rome also fell into line; the death of Innocent, on 16th June, 1216, had been equally opportune with the death of John, four months later, removing an obstacle from the path of peace. Gualo, in the name of Innocent’s successor, consented to the re-issue of the Charter by the advisers of the young King Henry. PART II. FEUDAL GRIEVANCES AND MAGNA CARTA. I. The Immediate Causes of the Crisis.