Rǫgnvaldr's gifts from the English Crown may fit into the context of John attempting to offset interference from the Philip Augustus, King of France. At about this time, the French Crown had orchestrated a Franco-Welsh alliance in an attempt to divert the English to deal with a Welsh uprising rather than focus their forces upon the Continent and France in particular. In fact, there is evidence that Norman ships were active off Wales in 1210. Although John had come to terms with Llywelyn ap Iorwerth in 1211, the following year the latter formed a concord with Philip. By May 1212, John succeeded in gaining the support of several foreign lords, such as the counts of Bar, Boulogne, and Flanders, the dukes of Brabant and Limburg, the Holy Roman Emperor, and Rǫgnvaldr himself. Despite these overtures, however, the Welsh uprisings of 1211 and 1212, as well as an English revolt in 1212, all succeeded in keeping English forces from invading France.