The interdict and its impact

• Innocent sent bishops to England to persuade John to accept Stephen Langton, but John would not give in
• In March 1208, Innocent responded by placing England under a sentence of interdict, meaning that the people of England were denied access to Christian sacraments
• Sacraments were not provided for the dying, including Holy Communion and the anointing of the sick
• Christian burial was forbidden, and people worried the souls of the dead wouldn’t go to heaven
• Marriages could not take place in churches
• Baptisms took place behind locked doors of the church
• Sermons could only be preached on a Sunday in the churchyard
• John reacted by punishing those he blamed for the interdict; the clergymen who supported the Pope, so he seized the revenue of their confiscated properties and arrested their mistresses
• The church coped with the interdict by holding services outside their doors and by 1209, Innocent allowed churches to hold services behind closed doors and Holy Communion to the dying