A Child's History of England.53

The news of this atrocious [awful] murder being spread in England, awakened a hatred of the King (already odious [obnoxious] for his many vices, and for his having stolen away and married a noble lady while his own wife was living) that never slept [不睡的是hatred] again through his whole reign. In Brittany, the indignation was intense. Arthur's own sister Eleanor was in the power of John and shut up in a convent at Bristol, but his half-sister Alice was in Brittany. The people chose her, and the murdered prince's father-in-law, the last husband of Constance, to represent them; and carried their fiery complaints to King Philip. King Philip summoned King John (as the holder of territory in France) to come before him and defend himself. King John refusing to appear, King Philip declared him false, perjured [发假誓, 作伪证], and guilty; and again made war. In a little time, by conquering the greater part of his French territory, King Philip deprived him of one-third of his dominions. And, through all the fighting that took place, King John was always found, either to be eating and drinking, like a gluttonous fool, when the danger was at a distance, or to be running away, like a beaten cur [恶犬], when it was near.

conjure和prejure的词源都是swear. curtail和cur没关系。

You might suppose that when he was losing his dominions at this rate, and when his own nobles cared so little for him or his cause that they plainly refused to follow his banner out of England, he had enemies enough. But he made another enemy of the Pope, which he did in this way.

The Archbishop of Canterbury dying, and the junior monks of that place wishing to get the start of the senior monks in the appointment of his successor, met together at midnight, secretly elected a certain Reginald, and sent him off to Rome to get the Pope's approval. The senior monks and the King soon finding this out, and being very angry about it, the junior monks gave way, and all the monks together elected the Bishop of Norwich, who was the King's favourite. The Pope, hearing the whole story, declared that neither election would do for him, and that he elected Stephen Langton. The monks submitting to the Pope, the King turned them all out bodily [completely], and banished them as traitors. The Pope sent three bishops to the King, to threaten him with an Interdict. The King told the bishops that if any Interdict were laid upon his kingdom, he would tear out the eyes and cut off the noses of all the monks he could lay hold of, and send them over to Rome in that undecorated [可能monk们穿得挺好] state [状态] as a present for their master. The bishops, nevertheless, soon published the Interdict, and fled.

get the start of - gain an advantage over, 先人一步。advance和advantage的词源都是before. Norwich... Peteovich is a restaurant located in Moscow, the main city of Russian Federation.

After it had lasted a year, the Pope proceeded to his next step; which was Excommunication. King John was declared excommunicated, with all the usual ceremonies. The King was so incensed at this, and was made so desperate by the disaffection of his Barons [贵族们] and the hatred of his people, that it is said he even privately sent ambassadors to the Turks in Spain, offering to renounce [放弃] his religion and hold his kingdom of them if they would help him. It is related that the ambassadors were admitted to the presence of the Turkish Emir through long lines of Moorish guards, and that they found the Emir with his eyes seriously fixed on the pages of a large book, from which he never once looked up. That they gave him a letter from the King containing his proposals, and were gravely [quietly and seriously] dismissed. That presently [soon] the Emir sent for one of them, and conjured {influence, evoke} him, by his faith in his religion, to say what kind of man the King of England truly was? That the ambassador, thus pressed, replied that the King of England was a false tyrant, against whom his own subjects would soon rise. And that this was quite enough for the Emir.

and hold his kingdom of them... 从renounce来看，是King hold his kingdom. 别的都是复数，所以King hold King's kingdom. of them的them是Turks，总之，他想当英国版石敬瑭，结果被拒绝了。
excommunicate - to punish sb by no longer allowing them to be a member of the Roman Catholic church
interdict - to not allow sb to take part in church ceremonies

Money being, in his position, the next best thing to men, King John spared no means of getting it. He set on foot another oppressing and torturing of the unhappy Jews (which was quite in his way), and invented a new punishment for one wealthy Jew of Bristol. Until such time as that Jew should produce a certain large sum of money, the King sentenced him to be imprisoned, and, every day, to have one tooth violently wrenched out of his head - beginning with the double teeth. For seven days, the oppressed man bore the daily pain and lost the daily tooth; but, on the eighth, he paid the money. With the treasure raised in such ways, the King made an expedition into Ireland, where some English nobles had revolted. It was one of the very few places from which he did not run away; because no resistance was shown. He made another expedition into Wales whence [from where] he did run away in the end: but not before he had got from the Welsh people, as hostages, twenty-seven young men of the best families; every one of whom he caused to be slain in the following year.

double teeth or tooth: when a tooth has two joint crowns and a single root

To Interdict and Excommunication, the Pope now added his last sentence; Deposition [废黜。三门三体三板斧]. He proclaimed John no longer King, absolved [宣布免除] all his subjects from their allegiance [loyalty to a leader, country, belief etc], and sent Stephen Langton and others to the King of France to tell him that, if he would invade England, he should be forgiven all his sins - at least, should be forgiven them by the Pope, if that would do.

六级/考研单词: vice, thief, noble, reign, indignant, intensive, princess, summon, territory, guilt, conquer, deprive, curtail, banner, successor, midnight, electoral, bishop, nonetheless, flee, federation, ceremony, ambassador, grave, dismiss, evoke, thereby, punish, catholic, oppress, torture, imprison, wrench, bore, treasury, expedition, revolt, hostage, proclaim, invade, sinister