John,
the youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor
of Aquitaine, was born in Oxford in
1167. His father sent him to Ireland in 1185, but his misconduct son
compelled his recall. He attempted to seize the crown while Richard
the Lionheart was imprisoned in Austria. Richard pardoned John
and when on his deathbed nominated his brother as his successor.
Some barons in the French part of his empire refused to accept him
and supported Arthur of Brittany instead. In the war that followed
Arthur was captured and imprisoned. He was never seen again and many
people believed that John had arranged for his young rival to be murdered.
Even without their leader, the rebellious barons in France refused
to surrender, and by 1205 John had lost control of Normandy,
Brittany, Anjou and Maine. These military defeats obtained John the
nickname "Softsword".
John also lost the support of Pope Innocent III when he refused to
agree to Stephen Langton becoming the next Archbishop
of Canterbury. Eventually John was forced to back down. He also
had to agree to the pope being his overlord. In 1215 he made another
attempt at gaining control on his lost territory in France. Once again
John was defeated and forced to pay £40,000 for the five-year
truce.
In 1200, King
John became involved in a long-drawn out war with France. This
war was expensive and John was forced to introduce new taxes to pay
for his army. This
created a great deal of resentment in England, and John's position
was not helped when, in 1205, the king's army lost control of Normandy,
Brittany, Anjou and Maine.
In 1215, King John made
another desperate attempt to gain control of his lost territory in
France. Once again he was defeated and was forced to pay £40,000
to obtain a truce. When John tried to obtain this money by imposing
yet another tax, the barons rebelled. Few barons remained loyal, and
in most areas of the country, John had very little support. John had
no chance of victory and on 15th
June, 1215, at Runnymede in Surrey, he was forced to accept the peace
terms of those who had successfully fought against him.
The document the king was
obliged to sign was the Magna
Carta.
In this charter the king made a long list of promises, including no
new taxes without the support of his barons, a reduction in the power
of his sheriffs and the right of a fair trial for all freemen.
Soon after he signed the
charter the king appealed to Pope Innocent III for help. The pope
was concerned about this rebellion and decided to excommunicate the
barons who had fought against their king. The pope also provided money
to help King John recruit foreign mercenaries to fight against his
disloyal barons. The civil war resumed.
John's first marriage to Isabella of Gloucester was childless. His
second marriage, to Isabella of Angouleme, produced three daughters
and two sons. John's eldest son, Henry,
was only nine when John died in 1216.
(1)
The Margam Abbey Chronicle (c. 1205)
King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison
for some time in the castle of Rouen... After dinner on the Thursday
before Easter when he was drunk and possessed by the Devil, King John
killed him with his own hand, and tying a heavy stone to the body
cast it into the Seine.
(2)
The Barnwell Abbey Chronicle (c. 1220)
He (King John) was generous and liberal to outsiders but
stole from the English. Since he trusted more in foreigners than in
the English, he had been abandoned before the end by his people, and
his own end was little mourned.
(3)
Matthew
Paris, Greater Chronicle (c.
1260)
(After signing the Magna Carta) King John's mental state
underwent a great change... He started to gnash his teeth and roll
his eyes in fury. Then he would pick up sticks and straws and gnaw
them like a lunatic... His uncontrolled gestures gave indications...
of the madness that was upon him.
(4)
W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England (1875)
John was the worst of all our kings... a faithless son/ a
treacherous brother... polluted with every crime... in the whole view
there is no redeeming trait.
(5)
Antonia Fraser, King John (1972)
The monkish chroniclers who, for their own good reasons,
quite early set about his reputation, John then suffered at Shakespeare's
hands.
(6)
Maurice Ashley, Life and Times of King John (1972)
The monastic
chroniclers... have been shown by modem research to be completely
unreliable in what they said about John, because their works were
largely compiled out of gossip and rumour directed against a monarch
who had upset the Church... King John was... a first-class general,
a clever diplomat and a ruler who developed... English law and government.
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