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Reigned 1199-1216. Signed Magna Carta in 1215 at Runnymede. . H e came into conflict with his Barons and was forced to Sign th e Magna Carta. His later repudiation of the charter led to the f irst barons war 1215-17 during which John died. Burke says he wa s born in 1160. King of Ireland 1177, Count of Mortain 1189, Earl of Gloucester 1209 - John excommunicated 1209 - First stone London Bridge built 1215 - Magna Carta signed. He came into conflict with his Baron s and was forced to sign the Magna Carta. His later repudiatio n of the charter led to the first barons war 1215-17 during whic h John died. Matthew Paris wrote, 'Foul as it is, hell itself is defiled by t he presence of King John', and this pretty well sums up John's r eputation--until 1944, that is. For in that year Professor Galbr aith demonstrated in a lecture to an astonished world that the c hief chronicle source for the reign of John was utterly unreliab le. Since then bad King John has been getting better and better , until now he is nearly well again, and a leading scholar in th e field has seriously warned us that the twentieth century coul d well create it own John myth. A man who can create so many myths, or rather have them create d about him, is clearly outstanding in some way, but the myths h ide the truth. Plainly the chroniclers who invented stories abou t him after his death can tell us little, and we should not tak e too much notice of people who condemned John for carrying ou t his father's (and his brother's officials'] policies and admin istratrive routines, nor indeed those who condemned him becaus e of the bitter troubles that happened in the succeeding reign , troubles which were in no means entirely of John's making. Rec ent historians have turned to the administrative records of hi s reign, and found there a very different picture; but still th e lingering doubts remain--were these records the result of John 's skill and application or of those of his able staff? John was a paunchy little man, five feet five inches tall, wit h erect head, staring eyes, flaring nostrils and thick lips se t in a cruel pout, as his splendid monument at Worcester shows . He had the tempestous nature of all his family, and a drivin g demoniac energy: Professor Barlow says that 'he prowled aroun d his kingdom,' which is an evocative phrase, but it would be tr uer to say that he raced around it. He was fastidious about hi s person--taking more baths than several other medieval kings pu t together, and owning the ultimate in luxury, for that time , a dressing-gown. He loved good food and drink, and gambled a g reat deal, though he usually lost--the results of his typical im patience and carelessness are recorded on his expense rolls; abo ve all things he loved women. Some say his 'elopment' was the ca use of his loss of Normandy. He was generous to the poor (for in stance, he remitted to them the penalties of the forest law), an d to his servants; at the least he went through the motions of b eing a Christian king. He was extortionate, though if one consid ers the terrific increase in his outgoings (a mercenary soldie r cost him 200 per cent more in wages than he would have in Henr y II's day) one can understand some of his actions in the field . He was deeply concerned about justice, took care to attend t o court business, and listened to supplicants with sympathy; h e had also an urgent desire for peace in the land, saying that h is peace was to be observed 'even if we have granted it to a dog .' But for all that, he had two totally unredeeming vices; he wa s suspicious, and enjoyed a cloak-and-dagger atmosphere--simpl y he did not inspire trust in his subjects. Dr. Warren says of h im with some justice that if he had lived in the twentieth centu re he would have adored to run a secret police. He was born at Oxford on Christmas Eve 1167. He was oblated fo r a monk at the abbey of Fontevrault at the age of one year, bu t was back at court by the time he was six--plainly he had no vo cation, but he probably picked up at this early stage his fastid iousness and his passion for books: his library followed him whe rever he went. He was his father's favourite, but he turned agai nst the old man when his chance came, as he did against Richar d (who had been very generous to his brother) when the latter wa s in captivity in 1193. The episode was a miserable failure, bu t it possibly sowed the seeds of distrust for John in England, w here they began to sprout luxuriantly in 1199 when Richard die d and John came to the throne. Immeditaely the challenge came: Philip Augustus, the wily King o f France, was backing John's nephew, Prince Arthur of Brittany ( son of John's elder brother Geoffrey) as a contender for the thr one, and England's French possessions fell prey to civil war. Jo hn found grave difficultly in dealing with the situation for a n umber of reasons, but in 1202 he made the remarkable coup of cap turing Arthur by force-marching his troups eighty miles in forty -eight hours; but then his prosecution of the war became listles s, and he lost much sympathy by his brutal murder of Arthur whil st in a drunken rage. By 1204 Normandy was lost. The loss of Normandy seemed to wake John up, and he now deploye d his every energy in building up the coastal defences of Britai n, now faced with an enemy the other side of the Channel, instea d of just more of her own territory. The navy was built up, an d the army, and John poured a quarter of his annual revenue int o defence. But he could not persuade the baronage to support hi m in a counterstroke to regain Normandy: the barons of the nort h country had never owned land in Normandy and did not see why t hey should pay to regain southerners's castles for them. These ' Northerners' as they called themselves, were a hive of disconten t, and more was to be heard from them. Meanwhile, John sailed an grily about in the Channel, cursing ineffectually. Other troubles were to come first, however. In 1205 the Archbish op of Canterbury, Hubert Walker, died, and John assumed that h e would have the choice of the new archbishop. However, Pope Inn ocent III was no man to support secular control over church appo intments, and supported the right of the monks of Canterbury t o select their own archbishop. For two years the storms blew bet wen England and Rome, then Stephen Langton was appointed. Meanwh ile John had driven the monks into exile and appropriated the re venues of the archdiocese. He had fallen out also with his half- brother, Geoffrey Archbishop or York, over tax-collection, and h e too fled abroad while John collected his revenues. Four bishop s joined in his fight--tension was growing to the snapping point . In 1208 the Pope put an Interdict on England, which in effec t meant the clergy went on stike, or, in certain cases and areas , worked to rule. John began negotiations with Innocent, but, fi nding that he demanded unconditional surrender, stopped them an d took over all ecclesiastical properties and incomes. He did le ave the clergy sufficient to live, though barely; but he still g ained a large increment to his usual finances. In Nov 120 9 the Pope took the final step of excommjunicating the King, whi ch, in that it made him an outlaw in Christendom, did far more d amage than the Interdict. John used his enlarged treasury to restore order in Scotland, Ir eland and Wales, and to rebuild the old alliance with Otto IV o f Germany and the Count of Flanders against Philip Augustus. H e planned a two-pronged attack on France, to take place in 1212 . But that year turned out an unlucky one for John, for the baro ns again refused to serve abroad, and the army he had was neede d to put down a revolt in Wales; the Pope was threatening to dem ote him, and Philip Augustus was planning a massive invasion o f England. John had to give in in one direction, for the prssur e was much too great: he chose the Pope, and wisely so. He agree d to return to the status quo in the matter of church property a nd establishment, and to pay compensation; he further resigned h is kingdom into the hands of the Pope, to receive it back in ret urn for his homage and an annual tribute of 1,000 marks (a mar k being two-thirds of a pound]. He had won a notable ally in Innocent III, who supported him fai thfully throughout his troubles. Then his fleet, his own creatio n, had the good luck to find the French fleet at anchor and unpr otected, destroyed it, and so made a French invasion impossible . On the crest of a wave, John determined to put his two-pronge d invasion plan into action, but once more the northern barons r efused to play, and he set off to punish them. Stephen Langton h ad arrived on the scene by now and managed to persuade John no t to provoke the barons further. In 1214 he finally managed to put his long cherished plan into a ction, but the two attacks were not properly coordinated; Otto w as defeated at Bouvines, and John was deserted by his Poitevin k nights. In 1215 John faced a baronage in turmoil: they could point to th e failure of his expensive schemes, he ascribed his failure to t heir total lack of support. The situation could not be more tens e. John's nervousness can be seen in his taking of the cross , a blatant attempt to reinforce his alliance with the papacy. I n April the Northerners met at Stamford; they were by now a mixt ure of northerners and southerners--the name was now merely a ni ckname--but by and large they were the younger element in the ki ngdom, roughnecks out for a spree. They moved south and were le t into London by a faction, and received the expected encouragem ent from Philip Augustus in the form of siege engines brought ov er by one Eustace, a renegade monk turned pirate. John offered arbitration, but the barons turned it down, and whi le he put his faith in an appeal to Rome, Stephen Langton, in co operation with William Marshal and other more stable and sensibl e barons, were working on the Northerners' demands to incorporat e them into a general charter, which would not only govern feuda l relationships, but would also lay down a more general patter n of legality in government. On 15 Jun John fixed his seal to t he draft of Magna Carta, and on 19 Jun attested copies were sen t to all parts of the kingdom. The King did his part thoroughly, though for how long he would h ave continued is another matter, but the barons continued to dis trust him. They remained in arms, organising tournaments as thei r excuse, saying that the prize would be 'a bear a certain lad y would send.' This was civil war, and John took to it with a fi endish glee. He reduced the north and the east, and was about t o mop up the remainder of the opposition in London when Philip A ugustus' son Louis landed in force to help the barons (May 1216) . John had been riding hard for months, and was sick with dysent ery after a bout of over-eating; whilst crossing the Wash, the w hole of his baggage-train was lost. At Neward Castle on 18 Octob er, he died, desiring to be buried near his patron saint Wulfsta n in Worcester Cathedral. He was by no means a good man, and his energies could well hav e been put to a better use, but in a different situation he migh t well have made a great king. His constant failure was discipli ne, over himself first, and others second. John reminds me of no thing so much as the type of person who is brilliant in many way s, and has many gifts, but leaves after two terms 'not suited t o teaching in this type of school.' [Who's Who in the Middle Age s, John Fines, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1995] John Lackland was the fourth child of Henry II. Short and fat, he was jealous of his dashing brother Richard I whom he succeeded. He was cruel, self-indulgent, selfish and avaricious, and the raising of punitive taxes united all the elements of society, clerical and lay, against him. The Pope excommunicated him. On 15th Jun 1215 at Runnymede the barons compelled John to sign Magna Carta, the Great Charter, which reinstated the rights of all his subjects. John died - from over-eating - a fugitive from all his enemies. He has been termed ``the worst English king´´.
Michael
Grimes
