In 1214 John began his final campaign to reclaim Normandy from Philip. John was optimistic, as he had successfully built up alliances with the Holy Roman Emperor
Otto IV, Count
Ferrand of Flanders, Count
Renaud of Boulogne, Duke
Henry I of Brabant, Count
William I of Holland, Duke
Theobald I of Lorraine and Duke
Henry III of Limburg. He was also enjoying papal favour and had successfully built up substantial funds to pay for the deployment of his experienced army. Nonetheless, when John left for Poitou in February 1214, many barons refused to provide military service; mercenary knights had to fill the gaps. John's plan was to split Philip's forces by pushing north-east from Poitou towards Paris, and Otto, Renaud and Ferdinand, supported by
William Longespée, were to march south-west from Flanders. By those operations, John had drawn Philip far to the south. Philip, however, refused to pursue John any farther and, after ravaging the revolted districts of Poitou, marched homewards. At
Châteauroux, he handed over a few thousand troops to his son and returned with the rest to the north. John was still determined to tie down as large a force as possible. When he heard Philip had departed, he at once faced about and re-entered Poitou in May. Rapidly passing the Loire, he again invaded Anjou and, after subduing many towns, laid siege to the strong castle of Roche-au-Moine on 19 June. He had lain in front of it for fifteen days when Prince Louis marched to it with his relief army, reinforced by Angevin levies under
William des Roches and
Amaury I de Craon. However, despite his significantly larger army, the English king was not prepared to fight, as he deemed his Poitevin allies to be untrustworthy. He recrossed the Loire on 3 July and retreated to La Rochelle, with his rearguard suffering immensely at the hands of the French forces in the process. == Aftermath ==