Pope Innocent III placed the kingdom of England under an interdict for five years between 1208 and 1213 after King John (King of England, reigned from 6 April 1199 until his death) refused to accept the pope's appointee Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. In November 1209, King John was excommunicated, and in February 1213, Innocent III threatened stronger measures unless King John submitted. The papal terms for submission were accepted in the presence of the papal legate Pandulph in May 1213; in addition, John offered to surrender the Kingdom of England to God and the Saints Peter and Paul for a feudal service of 1,000 marks annually, 700 for England and 300 for Ireland.
King John's 'Act of Vassalage' to the Pope. May 15, 1213, surrounded by Bishops, Barons, Knights and various Nobles of the Realm, King John took an oath of fealty to the Pope on his knees before Pandulph. The occasion was the surrender of the Crown to the Pope. King John then made his submission, in the House of the Knights Templar.
Charter of Submission from the King of England, 1213
John, by the grace of God king of England, lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy "By this charter attested by our golden seal we wish it to be known to you all that...we offer and freely yield to God and to SS Peter and Paul...and to the Holy Roman Church our mother, and to our lord Pope Innocent III and his Catholic successors, the whole kingdom of England and the whole kingdom of Ireland with all their rights and appurtenences for the remission of our sins and the sins of our whole family.... And now, receiving back these kingdoms from God and the Roman Church, and holding them as a feudatory vassal...we have pledged and sworn our fealty hencefort to our lord aforesaid, Pope Innocent III...and we bind in perpetuity our successors and legitimate heirs that without question they must similarly render fealty and acknowledge homage to the Supreme Pontiff holding office at the time...
...in lieu of all service and payment which we should render for them [the fiefs], the Roman Church is to receive annually...one thousand marks sterling...."
