" John heard them all with an
unmoved countenance, and dismissed them all with the unvarying reply:
"Let him alone! Some day I shall win back all that he is winning from
me now."
It was by diplomacy that John hoped to parry the attack which he knew
he could not repel by force. Early in the year he had complained to
the Pope of the long course of insult and aggression pursued toward
him by Philip, and begged Innocent to interfere in his behalf.
Thereupon Philip, in his turn, sent messengers and letters to the
Pope, giving his own version of his relations with John, and
endeavoring to justify his own conduct. On May 26th, Innocent
announced to both kings that he was about to despatch the abbots of
Casamario, Trois Fontaines, and Dun as commissioners to arbitrate upon
the matters in dispute between them.
These envoys seem to have been delayed on their journey; and when they
reached France they, for some time, found it impossible to ascertain
whether Philip would or would not accept their arbitration. When at
last he met them in council at Mantes on August 26th, he told them
bluntly that he "was not bound to take his orders from the apostolic
see as to his rights over a fief and a vassal of his own, and that the
matter in dispute between the two kings was no business of the
Pope's.
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