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On October 19, 1216, King John of England died at Newark-on-Trent and was succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry. From the article:
"The Early Life of John
When John, the last child of the great Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine was born on Christmas Eve, 1167 at Beaumont Palace in Oxfordshire, his father jokingly nick-named him Sans Terre or Lackland, as there was no land left to give him. It seems ironic then, that John Lackland was eventually to inherit the entire Angevin Empire.
A born cynic, with a puckish sense of humour, feckless, treacherous and entirely without scruple, he was possessed of some of the restless energy of his father and was prone to the same violent rages but unlike his father, John was unstable and cruel and a thoroughly flawed character. His deep distrust of others sometimes verged on paranoia. After eight hundred years, John remains the maverick of the House of Plantagenet.
Originally brought up for a career in the church, he had been placed at the Abbey of Fontevrault in Anjou, as an oblate, while still in early childhood, to which the young John reacted rebeliously. He was educated by Ranulf de Glanvill, his father's Chief Justiciar. Henry II hoped to improve his youngest son's prospects, by betrothing him, at the age of nine, to a wealthy heiress, his second cousin, Isabella of Gloucester. Isabella was the granddaughter of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I. The couple were duly married when John was 21 but the marriage failed to produce children.
Henry II attempted to make his favourite son King of Ireland. The adolescent John and his companions alienated the Irish chieftains who came to pay him homage, mocking their clothes and pulling their beards, resulting in rebellion against his rule and he was forced to leave Ireland. A fickle character, in his youth John conspired against both his father and his brother Richard for his own gain. During Richard's absence on the Third Crusade, John had attempted to overthrow his justicar, William Longchamp. In the course of returning from his crusade, Richard was captured by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, and imprisoned by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI. England had to raise a huge ransom for the return of its king. On his release in 1194, Richard readily forgave his younger brother for plotting his overthrow.
John's appearance
In appearance, John was nothing like his tall and majestic brother Richard. He was five feet five inches in height, as opposed to Richard's six feet four inches. Although his height may be considered short by modern standards, it was not considered so in his own time, when men were considerably shorter. He was stockily built as his father had been. He is reputed to have spent a fortune on rich clothing and jewels.
Reign
John succeeded to the throne at the age of thirty-two, on the death of Richard the Lionheart in 1199. Arthur of Brittany, the son of his deceased elder brother, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany had an arguably better claim, but Richard was reported to have announced John his heir on his deathbed. John acted promptly, siezing the royal treasury at Chinon. His coronation took place on Ascension Day, 1199. The shrewd Phillip Augustus, in accordance with his policy of weakening the Angevin Empire by creating division amongst the Plantagenets, supported Arthur's claim and attacked Normandy.
John incurred further opposition through his infatuation with Isabella of Angouleme, the twelve year old daughter of Count Aymer of Angouleme and Alix de Courtenay. She had been betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan, although the marriage had been delayed because of her extreme youth. The unprincipled John stole the enchanting Isabella from under Hugh's very nose.
His first marriage to Isabella of Gloucester had been declared invalid, since they were related within the prohibited degrees. Hugh de Lusignan, incensed, joined forces with Phillip and Arthur, forming a coalition against the King of England. It was said that John was so besotted with his young bride that he refused to rise from bed until well after noon.
The Rebellion of Arthur of Brittany
True to his policy of causing dissension amongst the Angevins, Phillip Augustus recognised Arthur's claim in May 1200 Treaty of Le Goulet. In attempt to take Anjou and Maine, the teenage Arthur of Brittany besieged his octagenarian grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, at Mirabeau. Eleanor sent an urgent message for aid to her son John and succeeded in drawing out the negotiations for as long as possible. John responded with uncharacteristic speed and came to her rescue, in the process taking both Arthur and Hugh prisoner. Arthur was imprisoned at Falaise Castle in Normandy.
King John attempted to make peace with his young nephew, on a visit to Rouen in 1203, he promised Arthur honours if he would separate himself from Phillip Augustus and adopt his uncle's cause. Arthur, proud, indignant and unbowed by his imprisonment, responded by demanding his rightful inheritance and unwisely warned John that he would never give him a moments peace for the rest of his life.
John "much troubled", responded by ordered him to be blinded and castrated, an order which Hubert de Burgh, Arthur's custodian, refused to carry out. By late 1203 rumours were circulating that the young Duke was dead. Phillip, seeing an opportunity to create further trouble, demanded that Arthur be produced. It appears that by this time Arthur was already dead, said to have been killed by John himself in a drunken rage. A contemporary chronicler states 'After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison in the castle of Rouen....When John was drunk and possessed by the devil, he slew (Arthur) with his own hand and tying a heavy stone to the body, cast it into the Seine.'
John also imprisoned Arthur's sister, Eleanor, known as the Fair Maid of Brittany. She was to remain a prisoner for the rest of her life. She died in 1241, during the long reign of John's son, Henry III.
The Loss of the Angevin Empire
Hugh de Lusignan, the slighted fiancee of Isabella of Angouleme had sought redress from his overlord Phillip Augustus, who promptly summoned John to the French court to answer for his actions. John refused to comply and accordingly, Phillip, acting under feudal law, claimed those territories ruled by John as Count of Poitou and declaring all John's French territories except Gascony forfeit, he invaded Normandy. Chateau Gaillard, Richard's impregnable castle, fell to the French after a long siege in 1203, it was followed by the rest of Normandy. John, his resources exhausted, was forced to flee the smoking rubble of his father's once great French Empire.
Eleanor of Aquitaine entered the Abbey of Fontevrault, where she took the veil. She died there on 1st April, 1204, aged eighty-two, a remarkable age for the time. Eleanor had slipped into a coma, according to the annals of Fontevrault she 'existed as one already dead to the world'. She was buried at Fontevrault beside the tombs of the husband who had imprisoned her and whom she had hated and her beloved and favourite son, Richard.
Welsh Affairs
In 1205 whilst he was fighting to recover his French territories, the King married his illegitimate daughter, Joan , then aged around fifteen, to Llywelyn the Great, or Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of Gwynedd (circa 1173-1240). An astute political manipulator, Llywelyn then did homage to John for all his Welsh possesions. Joan was John's daughter by a mistress known only as Clemence.
In 1209 Prince Llywelyn accompanied John on his campaign into Scotland. Llywelyn went on to steadily increase his influence in Wales and conquered southern Powys in 1208. John became concerned at the growth of his son-in-law's power and viewed it as a theat to his own authority in the province. When Llywelyn attacked the lands of the Earl of Chester in 1210, John threw his support behind the latter.
The king marched into Wales with an army, receiving the support of many of the other Welsh princes, he marched toward Deganwy. Llywelyn's army employed the classic guerilla tactic of retreating to the hills, and taking the supplies with them. John had made no provision for supplying Deganwy Castle by sea, and was therefore forced to return to England or face starvation.
John returned to Wales within three months, with a well provisioned army, crossing the River Conway, he encamped on the Menai Strait, penetrating deep into the heart of Gwynedd. Llywellyn sent his wife, Joan, John's daughter, to sue for peace. The king imposed humiliating terms on his son-in-law, and annexed the area of North Wales known as the Four Cantrefs, installing Gerard d'Athée and two other mercenary captains into the southern marches.
Llywelyn capitalized on growing Welsh resentment against John, and led a revolt against him, which received the blessing of Pope Innocent III. By 1212 Llywelyn had regained the Perfeddwlad and burned a castle erected by John at Ystwyth.
Llywelyn's revolt delayed John's planned invasion of France, Llywelyn formed an alliance with John's enemy, King Phillip Augustus of France, later allying himself himself with the discontented English barons who were in rebellion against him. In 1215 he marched on Shrewsbury and captured the town with little resistance. Over the following three years Llywelyn extended his power base into South Wales, becoming without doubt the single most powerful figure in Wales.
John's daughter, Joan died in 1237 at Garth Celyn and Llywelyn suffered a paralytic stroke later in the same year. He died at the Cistercian Abbey of Aberconwy, his own foundation, on 11th April, 1240 and was buried there. His stone coffin was later removed to the parish church of Llanwrst, where it can still be seen.
Magna Carta
The King turned his attention to administration and justice in England, having inherited some of his famous father's administrative ability and restless energy. Pope Innocent III was annoyed at John's interference in the election of an Archbishop of Canterbury in 1205, a quarrel ensued, resulting in England being placed under an interdict, no church services could be held for six years. In 1209, the difficult John himself was excommunicated. The English barons were entering into plots against him, and John wisely made peace with the Pope. In May, 1213 he agreed to hold England as a fief of the papacy.
Eventually, John was met with the full force of his baron's grievances, they demanded their "ancient liberties" and the renewal of Henry I's Coronation Charter.
Faced with an armed revolt which may have cost him his kingdom, the king was forced into compliance. At Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15th June 1215, he signed the historic Magna Carta or Great Charter. The Charter curtailed royal power in matters of taxation, justice, religion and foreign policy.
The Death of John
Disputes with the barons, however, continued and they again rose in rebellion, they incurred the aid of Phillip Augustus of France, who sent his son, the Dauphin Louis (later Louis VIII), to attack England in support of the barons. While retreating before this incursion, King John attempted to avoid East Anglia, which was rebel territory and safely negotiated a route around the Wash, his baggage train, however, took the shorter route through the marshes and famously lost his treasure, including the crown jewels he had inherited from his grandmother Matilda, the Empress of Germany, in the Wash, due to an unexpected incoming tide.
Aggrieved and depressed at the loss, mourning his ill fortune and suffering severely from dysentery, he was carried to Newark Castle in a litter and a physician was sent for. He consoled himself with a "surfeit of peaches". John's condition worsened rapidly and he died at Newark on the wild stormy night of 18th October, 1216, leaving England in a state of anarchy and civil war. Rumours abounded at the time that the king had been poisoned. Matthew Paris was later to comment that "Foul as it is, Hell itself is defiled by the presence of John". Despite his obvious failings, evidence exists that John was not as bad as his posthumous reputation would seem to suggest.
King John was buried at Worcester Cathedral by the shrine of his favourite saint, the Saxon, St. Wulfstan, becoming the first of the Angevin kings to be buried in England. He was succeeded by his nine year old son who became Henry III. King Henry III later raised an effigy over his father's tomb.
When John's body was exhumed in 1797, he was found to have been buried in a damask robe and wearing gloves with a sword in his hands. The skeleton was measured at five feet, six inches and a half inches.
Isabella of Angouleme
Three years after his death, King John's widow, Isabella of Angouleme, married the fiancee of her youth, Hugh de Lusignan and they produced a large family.
Isabella died in 1246 and as an act of contrition for misdeeds, was buried, of her own violition, in the churchyard at Fontevrault. Her son, King Henry III, on a later visit to Fontevrault, was shocked that she had been buried outside the Abbey. He ordered that her body be translated into the Abbey itself, where she was finally laid to rest by his grandparents, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
"The Early Life of John
When John, the last child of the great Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine was born on Christmas Eve, 1167 at Beaumont Palace in Oxfordshire, his father jokingly nick-named him Sans Terre or Lackland, as there was no land left to give him. It seems ironic then, that John Lackland was eventually to inherit the entire Angevin Empire.
A born cynic, with a puckish sense of humour, feckless, treacherous and entirely without scruple, he was possessed of some of the restless energy of his father and was prone to the same violent rages but unlike his father, John was unstable and cruel and a thoroughly flawed character. His deep distrust of others sometimes verged on paranoia. After eight hundred years, John remains the maverick of the House of Plantagenet.
Originally brought up for a career in the church, he had been placed at the Abbey of Fontevrault in Anjou, as an oblate, while still in early childhood, to which the young John reacted rebeliously. He was educated by Ranulf de Glanvill, his father's Chief Justiciar. Henry II hoped to improve his youngest son's prospects, by betrothing him, at the age of nine, to a wealthy heiress, his second cousin, Isabella of Gloucester. Isabella was the granddaughter of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I. The couple were duly married when John was 21 but the marriage failed to produce children.
Henry II attempted to make his favourite son King of Ireland. The adolescent John and his companions alienated the Irish chieftains who came to pay him homage, mocking their clothes and pulling their beards, resulting in rebellion against his rule and he was forced to leave Ireland. A fickle character, in his youth John conspired against both his father and his brother Richard for his own gain. During Richard's absence on the Third Crusade, John had attempted to overthrow his justicar, William Longchamp. In the course of returning from his crusade, Richard was captured by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, and imprisoned by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI. England had to raise a huge ransom for the return of its king. On his release in 1194, Richard readily forgave his younger brother for plotting his overthrow.
John's appearance
In appearance, John was nothing like his tall and majestic brother Richard. He was five feet five inches in height, as opposed to Richard's six feet four inches. Although his height may be considered short by modern standards, it was not considered so in his own time, when men were considerably shorter. He was stockily built as his father had been. He is reputed to have spent a fortune on rich clothing and jewels.
Reign
John succeeded to the throne at the age of thirty-two, on the death of Richard the Lionheart in 1199. Arthur of Brittany, the son of his deceased elder brother, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany had an arguably better claim, but Richard was reported to have announced John his heir on his deathbed. John acted promptly, siezing the royal treasury at Chinon. His coronation took place on Ascension Day, 1199. The shrewd Phillip Augustus, in accordance with his policy of weakening the Angevin Empire by creating division amongst the Plantagenets, supported Arthur's claim and attacked Normandy.
John incurred further opposition through his infatuation with Isabella of Angouleme, the twelve year old daughter of Count Aymer of Angouleme and Alix de Courtenay. She had been betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan, although the marriage had been delayed because of her extreme youth. The unprincipled John stole the enchanting Isabella from under Hugh's very nose.
His first marriage to Isabella of Gloucester had been declared invalid, since they were related within the prohibited degrees. Hugh de Lusignan, incensed, joined forces with Phillip and Arthur, forming a coalition against the King of England. It was said that John was so besotted with his young bride that he refused to rise from bed until well after noon.
The Rebellion of Arthur of Brittany
True to his policy of causing dissension amongst the Angevins, Phillip Augustus recognised Arthur's claim in May 1200 Treaty of Le Goulet. In attempt to take Anjou and Maine, the teenage Arthur of Brittany besieged his octagenarian grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, at Mirabeau. Eleanor sent an urgent message for aid to her son John and succeeded in drawing out the negotiations for as long as possible. John responded with uncharacteristic speed and came to her rescue, in the process taking both Arthur and Hugh prisoner. Arthur was imprisoned at Falaise Castle in Normandy.
King John attempted to make peace with his young nephew, on a visit to Rouen in 1203, he promised Arthur honours if he would separate himself from Phillip Augustus and adopt his uncle's cause. Arthur, proud, indignant and unbowed by his imprisonment, responded by demanding his rightful inheritance and unwisely warned John that he would never give him a moments peace for the rest of his life.
John "much troubled", responded by ordered him to be blinded and castrated, an order which Hubert de Burgh, Arthur's custodian, refused to carry out. By late 1203 rumours were circulating that the young Duke was dead. Phillip, seeing an opportunity to create further trouble, demanded that Arthur be produced. It appears that by this time Arthur was already dead, said to have been killed by John himself in a drunken rage. A contemporary chronicler states 'After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison in the castle of Rouen....When John was drunk and possessed by the devil, he slew (Arthur) with his own hand and tying a heavy stone to the body, cast it into the Seine.'
John also imprisoned Arthur's sister, Eleanor, known as the Fair Maid of Brittany. She was to remain a prisoner for the rest of her life. She died in 1241, during the long reign of John's son, Henry III.
The Loss of the Angevin Empire
Hugh de Lusignan, the slighted fiancee of Isabella of Angouleme had sought redress from his overlord Phillip Augustus, who promptly summoned John to the French court to answer for his actions. John refused to comply and accordingly, Phillip, acting under feudal law, claimed those territories ruled by John as Count of Poitou and declaring all John's French territories except Gascony forfeit, he invaded Normandy. Chateau Gaillard, Richard's impregnable castle, fell to the French after a long siege in 1203, it was followed by the rest of Normandy. John, his resources exhausted, was forced to flee the smoking rubble of his father's once great French Empire.
Eleanor of Aquitaine entered the Abbey of Fontevrault, where she took the veil. She died there on 1st April, 1204, aged eighty-two, a remarkable age for the time. Eleanor had slipped into a coma, according to the annals of Fontevrault she 'existed as one already dead to the world'. She was buried at Fontevrault beside the tombs of the husband who had imprisoned her and whom she had hated and her beloved and favourite son, Richard.
Welsh Affairs
In 1205 whilst he was fighting to recover his French territories, the King married his illegitimate daughter, Joan , then aged around fifteen, to Llywelyn the Great, or Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of Gwynedd (circa 1173-1240). An astute political manipulator, Llywelyn then did homage to John for all his Welsh possesions. Joan was John's daughter by a mistress known only as Clemence.
In 1209 Prince Llywelyn accompanied John on his campaign into Scotland. Llywelyn went on to steadily increase his influence in Wales and conquered southern Powys in 1208. John became concerned at the growth of his son-in-law's power and viewed it as a theat to his own authority in the province. When Llywelyn attacked the lands of the Earl of Chester in 1210, John threw his support behind the latter.
The king marched into Wales with an army, receiving the support of many of the other Welsh princes, he marched toward Deganwy. Llywelyn's army employed the classic guerilla tactic of retreating to the hills, and taking the supplies with them. John had made no provision for supplying Deganwy Castle by sea, and was therefore forced to return to England or face starvation.
John returned to Wales within three months, with a well provisioned army, crossing the River Conway, he encamped on the Menai Strait, penetrating deep into the heart of Gwynedd. Llywellyn sent his wife, Joan, John's daughter, to sue for peace. The king imposed humiliating terms on his son-in-law, and annexed the area of North Wales known as the Four Cantrefs, installing Gerard d'Athée and two other mercenary captains into the southern marches.
Llywelyn capitalized on growing Welsh resentment against John, and led a revolt against him, which received the blessing of Pope Innocent III. By 1212 Llywelyn had regained the Perfeddwlad and burned a castle erected by John at Ystwyth.
Llywelyn's revolt delayed John's planned invasion of France, Llywelyn formed an alliance with John's enemy, King Phillip Augustus of France, later allying himself himself with the discontented English barons who were in rebellion against him. In 1215 he marched on Shrewsbury and captured the town with little resistance. Over the following three years Llywelyn extended his power base into South Wales, becoming without doubt the single most powerful figure in Wales.
John's daughter, Joan died in 1237 at Garth Celyn and Llywelyn suffered a paralytic stroke later in the same year. He died at the Cistercian Abbey of Aberconwy, his own foundation, on 11th April, 1240 and was buried there. His stone coffin was later removed to the parish church of Llanwrst, where it can still be seen.
Magna Carta
The King turned his attention to administration and justice in England, having inherited some of his famous father's administrative ability and restless energy. Pope Innocent III was annoyed at John's interference in the election of an Archbishop of Canterbury in 1205, a quarrel ensued, resulting in England being placed under an interdict, no church services could be held for six years. In 1209, the difficult John himself was excommunicated. The English barons were entering into plots against him, and John wisely made peace with the Pope. In May, 1213 he agreed to hold England as a fief of the papacy.
Eventually, John was met with the full force of his baron's grievances, they demanded their "ancient liberties" and the renewal of Henry I's Coronation Charter.
Faced with an armed revolt which may have cost him his kingdom, the king was forced into compliance. At Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15th June 1215, he signed the historic Magna Carta or Great Charter. The Charter curtailed royal power in matters of taxation, justice, religion and foreign policy.
The Death of John
Disputes with the barons, however, continued and they again rose in rebellion, they incurred the aid of Phillip Augustus of France, who sent his son, the Dauphin Louis (later Louis VIII), to attack England in support of the barons. While retreating before this incursion, King John attempted to avoid East Anglia, which was rebel territory and safely negotiated a route around the Wash, his baggage train, however, took the shorter route through the marshes and famously lost his treasure, including the crown jewels he had inherited from his grandmother Matilda, the Empress of Germany, in the Wash, due to an unexpected incoming tide.
Aggrieved and depressed at the loss, mourning his ill fortune and suffering severely from dysentery, he was carried to Newark Castle in a litter and a physician was sent for. He consoled himself with a "surfeit of peaches". John's condition worsened rapidly and he died at Newark on the wild stormy night of 18th October, 1216, leaving England in a state of anarchy and civil war. Rumours abounded at the time that the king had been poisoned. Matthew Paris was later to comment that "Foul as it is, Hell itself is defiled by the presence of John". Despite his obvious failings, evidence exists that John was not as bad as his posthumous reputation would seem to suggest.
King John was buried at Worcester Cathedral by the shrine of his favourite saint, the Saxon, St. Wulfstan, becoming the first of the Angevin kings to be buried in England. He was succeeded by his nine year old son who became Henry III. King Henry III later raised an effigy over his father's tomb.
When John's body was exhumed in 1797, he was found to have been buried in a damask robe and wearing gloves with a sword in his hands. The skeleton was measured at five feet, six inches and a half inches.
Isabella of Angouleme
Three years after his death, King John's widow, Isabella of Angouleme, married the fiancee of her youth, Hugh de Lusignan and they produced a large family.
Isabella died in 1246 and as an act of contrition for misdeeds, was buried, of her own violition, in the churchyard at Fontevrault. Her son, King Henry III, on a later visit to Fontevrault, was shocked that she had been buried outside the Abbey. He ordered that her body be translated into the Abbey itself, where she was finally laid to rest by his grandparents, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
King John.
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King John - The Worst King of England?
King John has a terrible reputation. Let's find out to what extent he deserves it. Get your free fantasy novella the Wolf God here: http://dandavisauthor.com...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on October 19, 1216, King John portrait of King John is perhaps the earliest such likeness, and was probably painted in the early 17th-century.of England died at Newark-on-Trent and was succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.
King John - The Worst King of England?
King John has a terrible reputation. Let's find out to what extent he deserves it.
https://youtu.be/203FSd2c11o
Images:
1. portrait of King John is perhaps the earliest such likeness, and was probably painted in the early 17th-century.
2. King John of England hunting
3. Magna Carta with Royal Seal, British library
4. King John Short cross penny
Background from {[https://www.ancient.eu/King_John_of_England/]}
King John of England by Mark Cartwright published on 16 December 2019
King John of England (aka John Lackland) ruled from 1199 to 1216 CE. The son of Henry II of England (r. 1154-1189 CE) and Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122-1204 CE), John succeeded his elder brother Richard I of England (r. 1189-1199 CE) as king. John has gone down in history as one of the very worst kings ever to sit on the English throne, both for his character and his failures. He lost the Angevin-Plantagenet lands in France and so crippled England financially that the barons rebelled and forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 CE. This charter limited royal power and emphasised the primacy of the law over all, including the monarchy. Another name frequently associated with the king is Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, but there is little historical evidence of such a figure and, if he did exist, that he ever troubled John. Following his death while fleeing a French invasion force, King John was succeeded by his young son Henry III of England (r. 1216-1272 CE)
Early Life
John was born on 24 December 1167 CE at Oxford, the youngest of four sons born to King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Given no particular inheritance of note, he was nicknamed ‘LackLand’ meaning he had no lands, although his father did pack him off to Ireland in 1185 CE with the title Lord of Ireland. John, acting as viceroy, managed to upset both the English and Irish during his brief stay, and he was back in England after only four months in the job.
WHEN RICHARD I RETURNED BRIEFLY TO ENGLAND IN 1194 CE, HE FORGAVE HIS BROTHER HIS EXCESSIVE AMBITION & NOMINATED HIM HIS OFFICIAL SUCCESSOR.
Rebellion Against Henry II
Richard and his younger brother John challenged their father Henry II in 1188-9 CE. The rebel sons formed an alliance with Philip II, the new King of France (r. 1180-1223 CE). The rebellion was supported by Eleanor of Aquitaine. Losing control of both Maine and Touraine, Henry eventually agreed to peace terms which recognised Richard as his sole heir. When the king died shortly after, Richard was crowned his successor in Westminster Abbey on 2 September 1189 CE. Also part of his kingdom were those lands in France still belonging to his family the Angevins (aka Plantagenets): Normandy, Maine, and Aquitaine. Richard refused to give John Aquitaine, as he had promised his father he would, and this only acerbated the rivalry between the two brothers.
Rebellion Against Richard & Succession
While Richard was fighting abroad during the Third Crusade (1189-1192 CE) and then held in captivity by the Holy Roman Emperor, John took the opportunity to try and usurp the throne. The help of Philip II of France did not prove decisive, though, and Richard’s able ministers Hubert Walter organised enough resistance to thwart the rebellion. When Richard returned briefly to England in 1194 CE, he forgave his brother his excessive ambition and even nominated him as his official successor.
JOHN LOST THE SUPPORT OF MANY FRENCH BARONS & WITH IT ALL THE CROWN’S LANDS NORTH OF THE LOIRE RIVER.
In 1194 CE Richard campaigned in France to defend his Angevin-Plantagenet lands, but disaster struck during his siege of the castle of Chalus on 6 April 1199 CE. Hit by an arrow and dying of gangrene, Richard left no heir and so John was made the new king of England; he was crowned on 27 May 1199 CE at Westminster Abbey.
Philip II of France
John had married Isabella of Gloucester on 29 August 1189 CE and, obviously partial to the name, married Isabella of Angouleme (a county in Aquitaine) after his first marriage was annulled on 24 August 1200 CE. This second attachment proved troublesome for the English king since the second Isabella had been previously promised to a French count, Hugh de Lusignan, and so Philip II of France took exception to the wedding. Philip confiscated all of the territory in France then held by the English crown (John, like his Norman predecessors, was also the Duke of Normandy). John responded by sending an army but then once again spoiled relationships in 1203 CE by killing his 17-year old nephew Prince Arthur, the son of the late Geoffrey, Count of Brittany (1158-1186 CE), whom he saw as a threat with his claim to the English throne (which Philip II supported). This treachery cost John the support of many French barons, and with it all the English king’s lands north of the Loire River by 1206 CE.
The blow was one of prestige as well as territory, the king henceforward earning another derogatory nickname, ‘John Softsword’. This was perhaps a little unfair as John did manage to do some things right. He resisted the incursions of William the Lion, king of Scotland (r. 1165-1215 CE) into the north of England and forced him to accept John as his feudal overlord in September 1209 CE. Then he quashed the Irish rebellion of 1210 CE, infamously capturing the wife and eldest son of the rebellious baron William de Briouze and seemingly then allowing them to starve to death in captivity in Windsor Castle. John gained another impressive victory against the troublesome Welsh prince Llywelyn of Gwynedd, aka Llywelyn the Great (r. 1194-1240), in 1211 CE. Clearly, the medieval chroniclers who painted a dark picture of an evil and useless king were not quite telling the whole story. It is perhaps not a coincidence that these chroniclers were men of the cloth, and the medieval Church was the next enemy to be made by the king.
Pope Innocent II
Back in England, King John may not have been talentless but he was certainly managing to make himself one of the most unpopular kings in English history. The next group he upset was officials of the Church after his refusal to endorse Stephen Langton for the post of Archbishop of Canterbury. As Langton was the papal candidate, Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216 CE) excommunicated John in November 1209 CE and ordered the closure of all churches. The idea that the king was chosen by God to rule, the so-called divine right of kings, was looking a little problematic for John to use as a basis for his authority now that the Church had abandoned him. In 1212 CE the Pope even went so far as to declare that John had no longer any legal right to call himself king. The king backed down, Langton was appointed archbishop and John accepted that England and Ireland were fiefs of the Papacy.
Magna Carta
Upsetting foreigners and the Church was par for the course for most medieval rulers but things really started to go badly for John when he began to upset the powerful barons. The king’s heavy taxation to pay for his French campaigns was crippling, even worse, there was no military gain to show for it. Another policy that irked the barons was the king’s creation of his own royal courts to rival local courts, thereby redirecting fines paid by the guilty away from the barons and into his own treasure chest. John was certainly inventive on measures to increase his revenue, he even upped the fee barons had to pay the king when their daughters married, and a young baron now had to pay a fee when he inherited his father’s property. If a baron died without an heir, the custom was to pass on the land to another noble but King John often kept such land for himself as long as possible, as he did with church lands. Merchants did not escape the king’s clutches either, and they had to bear a great increase in taxes, too.
Another defeat to the French in 1214 CE at Bouvines was the last straw. The failure brought about a major uprising of barons and overtaxed merchants who, supported by Alexander II, king of Scotland (r. 1214-1249 CE), marched to London, not to support the king in another invasion of Normandy as he had requested, but to oblige him to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June 1215 CE. This charter of liberties curbed the power of the monarch and protected the feudal rights of the barons. The king could no longer seize lands arbitrarily or impose unreasonable taxes without first consulting the barons. Henceforward, the king would also have to consult a defined body of laws and customs before making declarations and all freemen (but not serfs) would be protected from royal officers and have the right to a fair trial. Thus, the Magna Carta became a symbol of the rule of law as the ultimate sovereign. In return for these concessions, the king was allowed to keep his crown and Archbishop Langton absolved him of his excommunication. The barons may have been acting out of self-interest rather than the good of the commoner but their collective action was a milestone and the beginning of a long and bloody road towards a constitutional monarchy.
Robin Hood
One name that is frequently associated with King John is Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor in the area of Sherwood Forest, Nottingham. Robin represented the common man, hence his weapon was the bow and not the sword of a medieval knight. Unfortunately for romantics, there probably was no such individual. The only historical reference within the complex web of legendary tales is that a man called Robert or Robin ‘Hood’ was a wanted criminal in Yorkshire in 1230 CE. It is true, though, that there were other similar cases of men living in forests outside the law, notably one Geoffrey du Parc in Feckenham Forest, Worcestershire around 1280 CE (who, incidentally, also had his own priest amongst his group just like Robin had Friar Tuck).
Whatever its basis in actual events, the legend was real enough from the 14th century CE onwards and, although receiving changes and embellishments over subsequent centuries, it has remained a very popular myth and a particular favourite of filmmakers. In the most common version of the tale, Robin lives with his band of merry men in the forest where they live by their own laws and so they do not pay excessive taxes and can hunt wild animals freely (which was prohibited by the Norman kings of England). Robin’s wife is Maid Marian and his enemy is the Sheriff of Nottingham, who is himself a representative of the nasty King John. The involvement of John is almost certainly a later addition, shifting the timing of the story to highlight the king’s rapacious tax laws and the imposition of his own royal law courts.
Another connection with John, and another twist to the tale, is that Robin was actually of noble birth but had his lands taken from his family by the king as he schemed to oust his brother Richard while he and Robin were away on the Third Crusade. This later 16th-century CE embellishment may have been a reaction from the aristocracy, who were already a bit miffed about the popularity of a tale where the commoners get the upper hand; essentially then, Robin was made one of them, hence his success. A very similar story is told for the knight Fulk Fitzwarin (c. 1160–1258) who rebelled against King John and dwelt in a forest in Shropshire. Clearly, if any good-hearted rebel in English medieval literature needed a villain to go up against, John was the most popular candidate.
Barons’ War & Death
Back to the actual history of John’s reign. The king had still not quite grasped the principles of statehood, as shown when he went back on his word and ignored what he had signed in the Magna Carta. Inevitably, the barons sought to rid themselves of their sovereign, they refused to give up their occupation of London, and they invited another candidate, Prince Louis, son of Philip (and future Louis VIII of France, r. 1223-1226 CE) to be their king. A civil war broke out, often called the First Barons’ War, between supporters of the two royal persons, and although John famously besieged and captured mighty Rochester Castle in October-November 1215 CE, Louis grabbed southeast England, including the Tower of London, and proclaimed himself king in May 1216 CE. In the same year, Louis managed to grab back Rochester Castle for the rebel cause. The hapless John even managed to lose some of the Crown Jewels in a river as he fled from Lincoln in October. Catching a fever, the king died on 18 October 1216 CE at Newark Castle; he was just 48. The dead and unlamented king was buried in Worcester Cathedral, as requested in his will. King John is the subject and title of a play by William Shakespeare (1564-1616 CE).
John was succeeded by his son Henry III (b. 1207 CE) who was crowned king on 28 October 1216 CE in Gloucester Cathedral. Henry, despite being only nine years old and having to pick up the pieces of a broken kingdom, would defeat the remaining rebel barons at Lincoln in May 1217 CE and go on to reign for 56 years until 1272 CE.
EDITORIAL REVIEW This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
Bibliography
• Blockmans, W. Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1500. Routledge, 2017.
• Cannon, J. The Kings and Queens of Britain. Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Crouch, D. Medieval Britain, c.1000-1500. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Gibson, P. The Concise Guide to Kings and Queens. Harpercollins, 1986.
• Jones, D. The Plantagenets by Dan Jones Paperback. William Collins (4 July 2013), 2019.
• McDowall, D. An Illustrated History of Britain. Pearson English Language Teaching, 1989.
• Phillips, C. The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Kings & Queens of Britain. Lorenz Books, 2006.
• Phillips, C. The Complete Illustrated History of Knights & The Golden Age of Chivalry. Southwater, 2017.
• Pounds, N.J.G. The Medieval Castle in England and Wales. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
• Ralph Lewis, B. Kings and Queens of England. Readers Digest, 2003.
• Starkey, D. Crown and Country. HarperPress, 2011.
• Wilson, D. The Plantagenets. Quercus Publishing, 2016."
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D ] MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SGT Denny Espinosa SSG Stephen Rogerson LTC (Join to see) LTC Greg Henning Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSG Franklin Briant TSgt David L. SMSgt David A Asbury MSgt Paul ConnorsPO1 Steve Ditto SPC Michael Terrell SSG Paul Headlee PO3 Phyllis Maynard
King John - The Worst King of England?
King John has a terrible reputation. Let's find out to what extent he deserves it.
https://youtu.be/203FSd2c11o
Images:
1. portrait of King John is perhaps the earliest such likeness, and was probably painted in the early 17th-century.
2. King John of England hunting
3. Magna Carta with Royal Seal, British library
4. King John Short cross penny
Background from {[https://www.ancient.eu/King_John_of_England/]}
King John of England by Mark Cartwright published on 16 December 2019
King John of England (aka John Lackland) ruled from 1199 to 1216 CE. The son of Henry II of England (r. 1154-1189 CE) and Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122-1204 CE), John succeeded his elder brother Richard I of England (r. 1189-1199 CE) as king. John has gone down in history as one of the very worst kings ever to sit on the English throne, both for his character and his failures. He lost the Angevin-Plantagenet lands in France and so crippled England financially that the barons rebelled and forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 CE. This charter limited royal power and emphasised the primacy of the law over all, including the monarchy. Another name frequently associated with the king is Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, but there is little historical evidence of such a figure and, if he did exist, that he ever troubled John. Following his death while fleeing a French invasion force, King John was succeeded by his young son Henry III of England (r. 1216-1272 CE)
Early Life
John was born on 24 December 1167 CE at Oxford, the youngest of four sons born to King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Given no particular inheritance of note, he was nicknamed ‘LackLand’ meaning he had no lands, although his father did pack him off to Ireland in 1185 CE with the title Lord of Ireland. John, acting as viceroy, managed to upset both the English and Irish during his brief stay, and he was back in England after only four months in the job.
WHEN RICHARD I RETURNED BRIEFLY TO ENGLAND IN 1194 CE, HE FORGAVE HIS BROTHER HIS EXCESSIVE AMBITION & NOMINATED HIM HIS OFFICIAL SUCCESSOR.
Rebellion Against Henry II
Richard and his younger brother John challenged their father Henry II in 1188-9 CE. The rebel sons formed an alliance with Philip II, the new King of France (r. 1180-1223 CE). The rebellion was supported by Eleanor of Aquitaine. Losing control of both Maine and Touraine, Henry eventually agreed to peace terms which recognised Richard as his sole heir. When the king died shortly after, Richard was crowned his successor in Westminster Abbey on 2 September 1189 CE. Also part of his kingdom were those lands in France still belonging to his family the Angevins (aka Plantagenets): Normandy, Maine, and Aquitaine. Richard refused to give John Aquitaine, as he had promised his father he would, and this only acerbated the rivalry between the two brothers.
Rebellion Against Richard & Succession
While Richard was fighting abroad during the Third Crusade (1189-1192 CE) and then held in captivity by the Holy Roman Emperor, John took the opportunity to try and usurp the throne. The help of Philip II of France did not prove decisive, though, and Richard’s able ministers Hubert Walter organised enough resistance to thwart the rebellion. When Richard returned briefly to England in 1194 CE, he forgave his brother his excessive ambition and even nominated him as his official successor.
JOHN LOST THE SUPPORT OF MANY FRENCH BARONS & WITH IT ALL THE CROWN’S LANDS NORTH OF THE LOIRE RIVER.
In 1194 CE Richard campaigned in France to defend his Angevin-Plantagenet lands, but disaster struck during his siege of the castle of Chalus on 6 April 1199 CE. Hit by an arrow and dying of gangrene, Richard left no heir and so John was made the new king of England; he was crowned on 27 May 1199 CE at Westminster Abbey.
Philip II of France
John had married Isabella of Gloucester on 29 August 1189 CE and, obviously partial to the name, married Isabella of Angouleme (a county in Aquitaine) after his first marriage was annulled on 24 August 1200 CE. This second attachment proved troublesome for the English king since the second Isabella had been previously promised to a French count, Hugh de Lusignan, and so Philip II of France took exception to the wedding. Philip confiscated all of the territory in France then held by the English crown (John, like his Norman predecessors, was also the Duke of Normandy). John responded by sending an army but then once again spoiled relationships in 1203 CE by killing his 17-year old nephew Prince Arthur, the son of the late Geoffrey, Count of Brittany (1158-1186 CE), whom he saw as a threat with his claim to the English throne (which Philip II supported). This treachery cost John the support of many French barons, and with it all the English king’s lands north of the Loire River by 1206 CE.
The blow was one of prestige as well as territory, the king henceforward earning another derogatory nickname, ‘John Softsword’. This was perhaps a little unfair as John did manage to do some things right. He resisted the incursions of William the Lion, king of Scotland (r. 1165-1215 CE) into the north of England and forced him to accept John as his feudal overlord in September 1209 CE. Then he quashed the Irish rebellion of 1210 CE, infamously capturing the wife and eldest son of the rebellious baron William de Briouze and seemingly then allowing them to starve to death in captivity in Windsor Castle. John gained another impressive victory against the troublesome Welsh prince Llywelyn of Gwynedd, aka Llywelyn the Great (r. 1194-1240), in 1211 CE. Clearly, the medieval chroniclers who painted a dark picture of an evil and useless king were not quite telling the whole story. It is perhaps not a coincidence that these chroniclers were men of the cloth, and the medieval Church was the next enemy to be made by the king.
Pope Innocent II
Back in England, King John may not have been talentless but he was certainly managing to make himself one of the most unpopular kings in English history. The next group he upset was officials of the Church after his refusal to endorse Stephen Langton for the post of Archbishop of Canterbury. As Langton was the papal candidate, Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216 CE) excommunicated John in November 1209 CE and ordered the closure of all churches. The idea that the king was chosen by God to rule, the so-called divine right of kings, was looking a little problematic for John to use as a basis for his authority now that the Church had abandoned him. In 1212 CE the Pope even went so far as to declare that John had no longer any legal right to call himself king. The king backed down, Langton was appointed archbishop and John accepted that England and Ireland were fiefs of the Papacy.
Magna Carta
Upsetting foreigners and the Church was par for the course for most medieval rulers but things really started to go badly for John when he began to upset the powerful barons. The king’s heavy taxation to pay for his French campaigns was crippling, even worse, there was no military gain to show for it. Another policy that irked the barons was the king’s creation of his own royal courts to rival local courts, thereby redirecting fines paid by the guilty away from the barons and into his own treasure chest. John was certainly inventive on measures to increase his revenue, he even upped the fee barons had to pay the king when their daughters married, and a young baron now had to pay a fee when he inherited his father’s property. If a baron died without an heir, the custom was to pass on the land to another noble but King John often kept such land for himself as long as possible, as he did with church lands. Merchants did not escape the king’s clutches either, and they had to bear a great increase in taxes, too.
Another defeat to the French in 1214 CE at Bouvines was the last straw. The failure brought about a major uprising of barons and overtaxed merchants who, supported by Alexander II, king of Scotland (r. 1214-1249 CE), marched to London, not to support the king in another invasion of Normandy as he had requested, but to oblige him to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June 1215 CE. This charter of liberties curbed the power of the monarch and protected the feudal rights of the barons. The king could no longer seize lands arbitrarily or impose unreasonable taxes without first consulting the barons. Henceforward, the king would also have to consult a defined body of laws and customs before making declarations and all freemen (but not serfs) would be protected from royal officers and have the right to a fair trial. Thus, the Magna Carta became a symbol of the rule of law as the ultimate sovereign. In return for these concessions, the king was allowed to keep his crown and Archbishop Langton absolved him of his excommunication. The barons may have been acting out of self-interest rather than the good of the commoner but their collective action was a milestone and the beginning of a long and bloody road towards a constitutional monarchy.
Robin Hood
One name that is frequently associated with King John is Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor in the area of Sherwood Forest, Nottingham. Robin represented the common man, hence his weapon was the bow and not the sword of a medieval knight. Unfortunately for romantics, there probably was no such individual. The only historical reference within the complex web of legendary tales is that a man called Robert or Robin ‘Hood’ was a wanted criminal in Yorkshire in 1230 CE. It is true, though, that there were other similar cases of men living in forests outside the law, notably one Geoffrey du Parc in Feckenham Forest, Worcestershire around 1280 CE (who, incidentally, also had his own priest amongst his group just like Robin had Friar Tuck).
Whatever its basis in actual events, the legend was real enough from the 14th century CE onwards and, although receiving changes and embellishments over subsequent centuries, it has remained a very popular myth and a particular favourite of filmmakers. In the most common version of the tale, Robin lives with his band of merry men in the forest where they live by their own laws and so they do not pay excessive taxes and can hunt wild animals freely (which was prohibited by the Norman kings of England). Robin’s wife is Maid Marian and his enemy is the Sheriff of Nottingham, who is himself a representative of the nasty King John. The involvement of John is almost certainly a later addition, shifting the timing of the story to highlight the king’s rapacious tax laws and the imposition of his own royal law courts.
Another connection with John, and another twist to the tale, is that Robin was actually of noble birth but had his lands taken from his family by the king as he schemed to oust his brother Richard while he and Robin were away on the Third Crusade. This later 16th-century CE embellishment may have been a reaction from the aristocracy, who were already a bit miffed about the popularity of a tale where the commoners get the upper hand; essentially then, Robin was made one of them, hence his success. A very similar story is told for the knight Fulk Fitzwarin (c. 1160–1258) who rebelled against King John and dwelt in a forest in Shropshire. Clearly, if any good-hearted rebel in English medieval literature needed a villain to go up against, John was the most popular candidate.
Barons’ War & Death
Back to the actual history of John’s reign. The king had still not quite grasped the principles of statehood, as shown when he went back on his word and ignored what he had signed in the Magna Carta. Inevitably, the barons sought to rid themselves of their sovereign, they refused to give up their occupation of London, and they invited another candidate, Prince Louis, son of Philip (and future Louis VIII of France, r. 1223-1226 CE) to be their king. A civil war broke out, often called the First Barons’ War, between supporters of the two royal persons, and although John famously besieged and captured mighty Rochester Castle in October-November 1215 CE, Louis grabbed southeast England, including the Tower of London, and proclaimed himself king in May 1216 CE. In the same year, Louis managed to grab back Rochester Castle for the rebel cause. The hapless John even managed to lose some of the Crown Jewels in a river as he fled from Lincoln in October. Catching a fever, the king died on 18 October 1216 CE at Newark Castle; he was just 48. The dead and unlamented king was buried in Worcester Cathedral, as requested in his will. King John is the subject and title of a play by William Shakespeare (1564-1616 CE).
John was succeeded by his son Henry III (b. 1207 CE) who was crowned king on 28 October 1216 CE in Gloucester Cathedral. Henry, despite being only nine years old and having to pick up the pieces of a broken kingdom, would defeat the remaining rebel barons at Lincoln in May 1217 CE and go on to reign for 56 years until 1272 CE.
EDITORIAL REVIEW This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
Bibliography
• Blockmans, W. Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1500. Routledge, 2017.
• Cannon, J. The Kings and Queens of Britain. Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Crouch, D. Medieval Britain, c.1000-1500. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Gibson, P. The Concise Guide to Kings and Queens. Harpercollins, 1986.
• Jones, D. The Plantagenets by Dan Jones Paperback. William Collins (4 July 2013), 2019.
• McDowall, D. An Illustrated History of Britain. Pearson English Language Teaching, 1989.
• Phillips, C. The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Kings & Queens of Britain. Lorenz Books, 2006.
• Phillips, C. The Complete Illustrated History of Knights & The Golden Age of Chivalry. Southwater, 2017.
• Pounds, N.J.G. The Medieval Castle in England and Wales. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
• Ralph Lewis, B. Kings and Queens of England. Readers Digest, 2003.
• Starkey, D. Crown and Country. HarperPress, 2011.
• Wilson, D. The Plantagenets. Quercus Publishing, 2016."
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D ] MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SGT Denny Espinosa SSG Stephen Rogerson LTC (Join to see) LTC Greg Henning Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSG Franklin Briant TSgt David L. SMSgt David A Asbury MSgt Paul ConnorsPO1 Steve Ditto SPC Michael Terrell SSG Paul Headlee PO3 Phyllis Maynard
(14)
(0)
LTC Stephen F.
John Lackland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5SrXGhdjaE
Images:
1. John, King of England image is from Royal 14 C VII, folio 9
2. King John 1 of England battling of King Philip II of France
3. King John of England, also known as John Lackland, with warriors in armour a hunter with falcon, a jester and ladies of rank with modest and restrained floor-length dresses, loosely-fitted gown, with long, tight sleeves and a narrow belt
4. 1873 engraving of King John reluctantly signing the Magna Carta
Biographies
1. nndb.com/people/198/000092919
2. royal.uk/john-lackland
1. Background from {[https://www.nndb.com/people/198/000092919/]}
King John Lackland
King John Lackland AKA John Plantagenet
Born: 24-Dec-1166
Birthplace: Oxford, England
Died: 18-Oct-1216
Location of death: Newark, Lincolnshire, England
Cause of death: Illness
Remains: Buried, Worcester Cathedral, Worcester, England
Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Royalty
Nationality: England
Executive summary: Signed the Magna Carta, then reneged
John Lackland, King of England, the youngest son of King Henry II by Eleanor of Aquitaine, was born at Oxford on the 24th of December 1167. He was given at an early age the nickname of Lackland because, unlike his elder brothers, he received no land rights in the continental provinces. But his future was subject of anxious thought to Henry II. When only five years old John was betrothed (1173) to the heiress of Maurienne and Savoy, a principality which, as dominating the chief routes from France and Burgundy to Italy, enjoyed a consequence out of all proportion to its area. Later, when this plan had fallen through he was endowed with castles, revenues and lands on both sides of the channel; the vacant earldom of Cornwall was reserved for him (1175); he was betrothed to Isabella the heiress of the earldom of Gloucester (1176); and he was granted the lordship of Ireland with the homage of the Anglo-Irish baronage (1177). Henry II even provoked a civil war by attempting to transfer he duchy of Aquitaine from the hands of his brother Richard the Lionheart to those of John (1183). In spite of the incapacity which he displayed in this war, John was sent a little later to govern Ireland (1185); but he returned in a few months covered with disgrace, having alienated the loyal chiefs by his childish insolence and entirely failed to defend the settlers from the hostile clans. Remaining henceforth at his father's side he was treated with he utmost indulgence. But he joined with his brother Richard and the French king Philip Augustus in the great conspiracy of 1189, and the discovery of his treason broke the heart of the old king.
Richard on his accession confirmed John's existing possessions; married him to Isabella of Gloucester; and gave him, besides other grants, the entire revenues of six English shires; but excluded him from any share in the regency which was appointed to govern England during the third crusade; and only allowed him to live in the kingdom because urged to this concession by their mother. Soon after the king's departure for the Holy Land it became known that he had designated his nephew, the young Arthur of Brittany, as his successor. John at once began to intrigue against the regents with the aim of securing England for himself. He picked a quarrel with the unpopular chancellor William Longchamp, and succeeded, by the help of the barons and the Londoners, in expelling this minister, whose chief fault was that of fidelity to the absent Richard. Not being permitted to succeed Longchamp as the head of the administration, John next turned to Philip Augustus for help. A bargain was struck; and when Richard was captured by Leopold, duke of Austria (December 1192), the allies endeavored to prevent his release, and planned a partition of his dominions. They were, however, unable to win either English or Norman support and their schemes collapsed with Richard's return (March 1194). He magnanimously pardoned his brother, and they lived on not unfriendly terms for the next five years. On his deathbed Richard, reversing his former arrangements, caused his barons to swear fealty to John (1199), although the hereditary claim of Arthur was by the law of primogeniture undoubtedly superior.
England and Normandy, after some hesitation, recognized John's title; the attempt of Anjou and Brittany to assert the rights of Arthur ended disastrously by the capture of the young prince at Mirebeau in Poitou (1202). But there was no part of his dominions in which John inspired personal devotion. Originally accepted as a political necessity, he soon came to be detested by the people as a tyrant and despised by the nobles for his cowardice and sloth. He inherited great difficulties -- the feud with France, the dissensions of the continental provinces, the growing indifference of England to foreign conquests, the discontent of all his subjects with a strict executive and severe taxation. But he cannot be acquitted of personal responsibility for his misfortunes. Astute in small matters, he had no breadth of view or foresight; his policy was continually warped by his passions or caprices; he flaunted vices of the most sordid kind with a cynical indifference to public opinion, and shocked an age which was far from tenderhearted by his ferocity to vanquished enemies. He treated his most respectable supporters with base ingratitude, reserved his favor for unscrupulous adventurers, and gave a free rein to the license of his mercenaries. While possessing considerable gifts of mind and a latent fund of energy, he seldom acted or reflected until the favorable moment had passed. Each of his great humiliations followed as the natural result of crimes or blunders. By his divorce from Isabella of Gloucester he offended the English baronage (1200); by his marriage with Isabella of Angoulême, the betrothed of Hugh of Lusignan, he gave an opportunity to the discontented Poitevins for invoking French assistance and to Philip Augustus for pronouncing against him a sentence of forfeiture. The murder of Arthur (1203) ruined his cause in Normandy and Anjou; the story that the court of the peers of France condemned him for the murder is a fable, but no legal process was needed to convince men of his guilt. In the later quarrel with Pope Innocent III (1207-13) he prejudiced his case by proposing a worthless favorite for the primacy and by plundering those of the clergy who bowed to the pope's sentences. Threatened with the desertion of his barons he drove all whom he suspected to desperation by his terrible severity towards the Braose family (1210); and by his continued misgovernment irrevocably estranged the lower classes. When submission to Rome had somewhat improved his position he squandered his last resources in a new and unsuccessful war with France (1214), and enraged the feudal classes by new claims for military service and scutages. The barons were consequently able to exact, in Magna Carta (June 1215), much more than the redress of legitimate grievances; and the people allowed the crown to be placed under the control of an oligarchical committee. When once the sovereign power had been thus divided, the natural consequence was civil war and the intervention of the French king, who had long watched for some such opportunity. John's struggle against the barons and Prince Louis (1216), afterwards King Louis VIII, was the most creditable episode of his career. But the calamitous situation of England at the moment of his death, on the 19th of October 1216, was in the main his work; and while he lived a national reaction in favor of the dynasty was out of the question.
Father: King Henry II
Mother: Eleanor of Aquitaine
Brother: Henry
Brother: Geoffrey
Brother: King Richard the Lionheart
Wife: Avisa (m. 1189, annulled for consanguinity)
Wife: Isabella of Angoulême (m. 24-Aug-1200, two sons, three daughters)
Son: King Henry III (by Isabella)
Son: Richard (by Isabella)
Daughter: Joanna (by Isabella)
Daughter: Isabella Plantagenet (by Isabella)
Daughter: Eleanor (by Isabella)
Son: Richard Fitz Roy ("Richard De Warenne", by a mistress)
Son: Oliver FitzRoy (by Hawise)
Son: Geoffrey FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Son: John FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Son: Henry FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Son: Osbert Gifford (by a mistress)
Son: Eudes FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Son: Bartholomew FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Daughter: Maud FitzRoy (d. 1252, by a mistress)
Mistress: Hawise
UK Monarch (1199-1216)
Exiled to France (1180s)
Excommunicated by Pope Innocent III (1209)
2. Background from {[https://www.royal.uk/john-lackland]}
John was an able administrator interested in law and government but he neither trusted others nor was trusted by them.
Heavy taxation, disputes with the Church (John was excommunicated by the Pope in 1209) and unsuccessful attempts to recover his French possessions made him unpopular. Many of his barons rebelled, and in June 1215 they forced King John to sign a peace treaty accepting their reforms.
This treaty, later known as Magna Carta, limited royal powers, defined feudal obligations between the King and the barons, and guaranteed a number of rights.
The most influential clauses concerned the freedom of the Church; the redress of grievances of owners and tenants of land; the need to consult the Great Council of the Realm so as to prevent unjust taxation; mercantile and trading relationships; regulation of the machinery of justice so that justice be denied to no one; and the requirement to control the behaviour of royal officials.
The most important clauses established the basis of habeas corpus ('you have the body'), i.e. that no one shall be imprisoned except by due process of law, and that 'to no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay right or justice'.
The Charter also established a council of barons who were to ensure that the Sovereign observed the Charter, with the right to wage war on him if he did not.
Magna Carta was the first formal document insisting that the Sovereign was as much under the rule of law as his people, and that the rights of individuals were to be upheld even against the wishes of the sovereign.
As a source of fundamental constitutional principles, Magna Carta came to be seen as an important definition of aspects of English law, and in later centuries as the basis of the liberties of the English people.
As a peace treaty Magna Carta was a failure and the rebels invited Louis of France to become their king. When John died in 1216 England was in the grip of civil war and his 9 year old son, Henry III, became King."
FYI CPL Dave Hoover Sgt John H. Maj Wayne CristSGM Bill FrazerCSM (Join to see)SSG Jeffrey LeakeSSG Paul HeadleeSGM Major StroupeCPL Michael PeckSSG Jeff Furgerson]Sgt (Join to see)PO1 Steve Ditto SPC Michael Terrell CPL Douglas ChryslerSP5 Geoffrey Vannerson LTC John Shaw MSgt Paul Connors SPC Matthew Lamb GySgt John HudsonSP5 Jeannie Carle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5SrXGhdjaE
Images:
1. John, King of England image is from Royal 14 C VII, folio 9
2. King John 1 of England battling of King Philip II of France
3. King John of England, also known as John Lackland, with warriors in armour a hunter with falcon, a jester and ladies of rank with modest and restrained floor-length dresses, loosely-fitted gown, with long, tight sleeves and a narrow belt
4. 1873 engraving of King John reluctantly signing the Magna Carta
Biographies
1. nndb.com/people/198/000092919
2. royal.uk/john-lackland
1. Background from {[https://www.nndb.com/people/198/000092919/]}
King John Lackland
King John Lackland AKA John Plantagenet
Born: 24-Dec-1166
Birthplace: Oxford, England
Died: 18-Oct-1216
Location of death: Newark, Lincolnshire, England
Cause of death: Illness
Remains: Buried, Worcester Cathedral, Worcester, England
Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Royalty
Nationality: England
Executive summary: Signed the Magna Carta, then reneged
John Lackland, King of England, the youngest son of King Henry II by Eleanor of Aquitaine, was born at Oxford on the 24th of December 1167. He was given at an early age the nickname of Lackland because, unlike his elder brothers, he received no land rights in the continental provinces. But his future was subject of anxious thought to Henry II. When only five years old John was betrothed (1173) to the heiress of Maurienne and Savoy, a principality which, as dominating the chief routes from France and Burgundy to Italy, enjoyed a consequence out of all proportion to its area. Later, when this plan had fallen through he was endowed with castles, revenues and lands on both sides of the channel; the vacant earldom of Cornwall was reserved for him (1175); he was betrothed to Isabella the heiress of the earldom of Gloucester (1176); and he was granted the lordship of Ireland with the homage of the Anglo-Irish baronage (1177). Henry II even provoked a civil war by attempting to transfer he duchy of Aquitaine from the hands of his brother Richard the Lionheart to those of John (1183). In spite of the incapacity which he displayed in this war, John was sent a little later to govern Ireland (1185); but he returned in a few months covered with disgrace, having alienated the loyal chiefs by his childish insolence and entirely failed to defend the settlers from the hostile clans. Remaining henceforth at his father's side he was treated with he utmost indulgence. But he joined with his brother Richard and the French king Philip Augustus in the great conspiracy of 1189, and the discovery of his treason broke the heart of the old king.
Richard on his accession confirmed John's existing possessions; married him to Isabella of Gloucester; and gave him, besides other grants, the entire revenues of six English shires; but excluded him from any share in the regency which was appointed to govern England during the third crusade; and only allowed him to live in the kingdom because urged to this concession by their mother. Soon after the king's departure for the Holy Land it became known that he had designated his nephew, the young Arthur of Brittany, as his successor. John at once began to intrigue against the regents with the aim of securing England for himself. He picked a quarrel with the unpopular chancellor William Longchamp, and succeeded, by the help of the barons and the Londoners, in expelling this minister, whose chief fault was that of fidelity to the absent Richard. Not being permitted to succeed Longchamp as the head of the administration, John next turned to Philip Augustus for help. A bargain was struck; and when Richard was captured by Leopold, duke of Austria (December 1192), the allies endeavored to prevent his release, and planned a partition of his dominions. They were, however, unable to win either English or Norman support and their schemes collapsed with Richard's return (March 1194). He magnanimously pardoned his brother, and they lived on not unfriendly terms for the next five years. On his deathbed Richard, reversing his former arrangements, caused his barons to swear fealty to John (1199), although the hereditary claim of Arthur was by the law of primogeniture undoubtedly superior.
England and Normandy, after some hesitation, recognized John's title; the attempt of Anjou and Brittany to assert the rights of Arthur ended disastrously by the capture of the young prince at Mirebeau in Poitou (1202). But there was no part of his dominions in which John inspired personal devotion. Originally accepted as a political necessity, he soon came to be detested by the people as a tyrant and despised by the nobles for his cowardice and sloth. He inherited great difficulties -- the feud with France, the dissensions of the continental provinces, the growing indifference of England to foreign conquests, the discontent of all his subjects with a strict executive and severe taxation. But he cannot be acquitted of personal responsibility for his misfortunes. Astute in small matters, he had no breadth of view or foresight; his policy was continually warped by his passions or caprices; he flaunted vices of the most sordid kind with a cynical indifference to public opinion, and shocked an age which was far from tenderhearted by his ferocity to vanquished enemies. He treated his most respectable supporters with base ingratitude, reserved his favor for unscrupulous adventurers, and gave a free rein to the license of his mercenaries. While possessing considerable gifts of mind and a latent fund of energy, he seldom acted or reflected until the favorable moment had passed. Each of his great humiliations followed as the natural result of crimes or blunders. By his divorce from Isabella of Gloucester he offended the English baronage (1200); by his marriage with Isabella of Angoulême, the betrothed of Hugh of Lusignan, he gave an opportunity to the discontented Poitevins for invoking French assistance and to Philip Augustus for pronouncing against him a sentence of forfeiture. The murder of Arthur (1203) ruined his cause in Normandy and Anjou; the story that the court of the peers of France condemned him for the murder is a fable, but no legal process was needed to convince men of his guilt. In the later quarrel with Pope Innocent III (1207-13) he prejudiced his case by proposing a worthless favorite for the primacy and by plundering those of the clergy who bowed to the pope's sentences. Threatened with the desertion of his barons he drove all whom he suspected to desperation by his terrible severity towards the Braose family (1210); and by his continued misgovernment irrevocably estranged the lower classes. When submission to Rome had somewhat improved his position he squandered his last resources in a new and unsuccessful war with France (1214), and enraged the feudal classes by new claims for military service and scutages. The barons were consequently able to exact, in Magna Carta (June 1215), much more than the redress of legitimate grievances; and the people allowed the crown to be placed under the control of an oligarchical committee. When once the sovereign power had been thus divided, the natural consequence was civil war and the intervention of the French king, who had long watched for some such opportunity. John's struggle against the barons and Prince Louis (1216), afterwards King Louis VIII, was the most creditable episode of his career. But the calamitous situation of England at the moment of his death, on the 19th of October 1216, was in the main his work; and while he lived a national reaction in favor of the dynasty was out of the question.
Father: King Henry II
Mother: Eleanor of Aquitaine
Brother: Henry
Brother: Geoffrey
Brother: King Richard the Lionheart
Wife: Avisa (m. 1189, annulled for consanguinity)
Wife: Isabella of Angoulême (m. 24-Aug-1200, two sons, three daughters)
Son: King Henry III (by Isabella)
Son: Richard (by Isabella)
Daughter: Joanna (by Isabella)
Daughter: Isabella Plantagenet (by Isabella)
Daughter: Eleanor (by Isabella)
Son: Richard Fitz Roy ("Richard De Warenne", by a mistress)
Son: Oliver FitzRoy (by Hawise)
Son: Geoffrey FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Son: John FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Son: Henry FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Son: Osbert Gifford (by a mistress)
Son: Eudes FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Son: Bartholomew FitzRoy (by a mistress)
Daughter: Maud FitzRoy (d. 1252, by a mistress)
Mistress: Hawise
UK Monarch (1199-1216)
Exiled to France (1180s)
Excommunicated by Pope Innocent III (1209)
2. Background from {[https://www.royal.uk/john-lackland]}
John was an able administrator interested in law and government but he neither trusted others nor was trusted by them.
Heavy taxation, disputes with the Church (John was excommunicated by the Pope in 1209) and unsuccessful attempts to recover his French possessions made him unpopular. Many of his barons rebelled, and in June 1215 they forced King John to sign a peace treaty accepting their reforms.
This treaty, later known as Magna Carta, limited royal powers, defined feudal obligations between the King and the barons, and guaranteed a number of rights.
The most influential clauses concerned the freedom of the Church; the redress of grievances of owners and tenants of land; the need to consult the Great Council of the Realm so as to prevent unjust taxation; mercantile and trading relationships; regulation of the machinery of justice so that justice be denied to no one; and the requirement to control the behaviour of royal officials.
The most important clauses established the basis of habeas corpus ('you have the body'), i.e. that no one shall be imprisoned except by due process of law, and that 'to no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay right or justice'.
The Charter also established a council of barons who were to ensure that the Sovereign observed the Charter, with the right to wage war on him if he did not.
Magna Carta was the first formal document insisting that the Sovereign was as much under the rule of law as his people, and that the rights of individuals were to be upheld even against the wishes of the sovereign.
As a source of fundamental constitutional principles, Magna Carta came to be seen as an important definition of aspects of English law, and in later centuries as the basis of the liberties of the English people.
As a peace treaty Magna Carta was a failure and the rebels invited Louis of France to become their king. When John died in 1216 England was in the grip of civil war and his 9 year old son, Henry III, became King."
FYI CPL Dave Hoover Sgt John H. Maj Wayne CristSGM Bill FrazerCSM (Join to see)SSG Jeffrey LeakeSSG Paul HeadleeSGM Major StroupeCPL Michael PeckSSG Jeff Furgerson]Sgt (Join to see)PO1 Steve Ditto SPC Michael Terrell CPL Douglas ChryslerSP5 Geoffrey Vannerson LTC John Shaw MSgt Paul Connors SPC Matthew Lamb GySgt John HudsonSP5 Jeannie Carle
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