John's Relationship With The Church Analysis

John's relationship with the church during the latter years of his life was a rather turbulent one, which underwent several changes.

The turmoil began upon Hubert Walter's death in 1205, when it could not be decided who was going to be the new Archbishop of Canterbury. It could be argued that this was a change in John's relationship with the church, but it is perhaps more significant that it was the catalyst for a huge chain of events that would change John's relationship with the Church more significantly. Some historians hold the view that 'the basic cause of the quarrel was the issue of who was to appoint the archbishop of Canterbury when Hubert Walter died in 1205'.1 The schism created by the opposing opinions on who was to be elected as Archbishop of Canterbury was hugely significant, and in a letter to from Pope Innocent III to the bishops in England, in 1207, Innocent writes that John is 'persecuting'2 Stephen Langton. This source was written before the Interdict, so gives some explanation of how it came to be that John was excommunicated, with the country under an Interdict, as it provides evidence that the Pope did not agree with what John was doing.

The Interdict imposed by Pope Innocent III in March 1208 could be argued to have had very little effect on John, so …show more content…
In this respect, John's relationship with the Church had greatly changed, as he was now willing to conform to the wishes of the Church, instead of stubbornly resisting them. However, it could be argued that John only surrendered once his situation had escalated greatly and was on the 'brink of disaster'7, so was still somewhat reluctant to take such action. This is understandable, due to the fact the John appeared to be profiting from the Interdict, however, it could be argued that for John to allow the country to remain under the Interdict would have been a extremely reckless move to