These concessions were so just and reasonable, that, if we except the force, no prince could think himself wronged in making them.  But to secure the observance of these articles, regulations were made, which, whilst they were regarded, scarcely left a shadow of regal power.  And the barons could think of no measures for securing their freedom, but such as were inconsistent with monarchy.  A council of twenty-five barons was to be chosen by their own body, without any concurrence of the king, in order to hear and determine upon all complaints concerning the breach of the charter; and as these charters extended to almost every part of government, a tribunal of his enemies was set up who might pass judgment on all his actions.  And that force might not be wanting to execute the judgments of this new tribunal, the king agreed to issue his own writs to all persons, to oblige them to take an oath of obedience to the twenty-five barons, who were empowered to distress him by seizure of his lands and castles, and by every possible method, until the grievance complained of was redressed according to their pleasure:  his own person and his family were alone exempted from violence.

By these last concessions, it must be confessed, he was effectually dethroned, and with all the circumstances of indignity which could be imagined.  He had refused to govern as a lawful prince, and he saw himself deprived of even his legal authority.  He became of no sort of consequence in his kingdom; he was held in universal contempt and derision; he fell into a profound melancholy.  It was in vain that he had recourse to the Pope, whose power he had found sufficient to reduce, but not to support him.  The censures of the Holy See, which had been fulminated at his desire, were little regarded by the barons, or even by the clergy, supported in this resistance by the firmness of their archbishop, who acted with great vigor in the cause of the barons, and even delivered into their hands the fortress of Rochester, one of the most important places in the kingdom.  After much meditation the king at last resolved upon a measure of the most extreme kind, extorted by shame, revenge, and despair, but, considering the disposition of the time, much the most effectual that could be chosen.  He dispatched emissaries into France, into the Low Countries and Germany, to raise men for his service.  He had recourse to the same measures to bring his kingdom to obedience which his predecessor, William, had used to conquer it.  He promised to the adventurers in his quarrel the lands of the rebellious barons, and it is said even empowered his agents to make charters of the estates of several particulars.  The utmost success attended these negotiations in an age when Europe abounded with a warlike and poor nobility, with younger brothers, for whom there was no provision in regular armies, who seldom entered into the Church, and never applied themselves to commerce, and when every considerable family was surrounded by an innumerable multitude of retainers and dependants, idle, and greedy of war and pillage.  The Crusade had universally diffused a spirit of adventure; and if any adventure had the Pope’s approbation, it was sure to have a number of followers.