John was elected as the third Plantagenet
king of England on the death of his
crusading brother,
Richard I the Lion Heart
in 1199. Although able, he became nortorious
for his misrule which resulted in the barons and
Church forcing him to grant
the Magna Carta,
the Great Charter of liberties to avert civil war in
1215.
King John was a man of great ability which was rarely glimpsed during his reign which
was marked by the more base aspects of his nature. History has regarded him as the worst
King that ever ruled England - so much so that no royal child has since born his name. Yet
the ignobility of this king did England a great if unwitting
service for the magnates, the clergy and
the commonality became so incensed with their monarch towards the end of his reign
that they conspired together to make King John seal the
Magna Carta at
Runnymede in 1215 by the Thames -
the Great Charter which established clearly that henceforth no
person, whatever his rank, was above the law of the land and that none could change the
law without general assent.
John was invested as the duke of Normandy on the death of his brother,
Richard I in and crowned
king of England in May.
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His nephew Arthur I, duke of Brittany, backed up by King Philip II of France, was recognized as Richard's successor in Anjou and Maine. In 1200, by the Treaty of Le Goulet, John was recognized as successor in all of Richard I's French possessions in return for financial and territorial concessions to Philip II.
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It was early in King Johns reign however that he lost most of the
French possessions which had come to the
Kings of England with the crowning of
Henry II (1189-
1189). When the barons
of Normandy rallied around John's
feudal lord King Phillip II of France
who had declared the dukedom to be forfeit, the
barons of England were so disgusted with John's misrule that
they refused to ride with him to do battle.
During the final year of John's reign, some half of the magnates
of England conspired to put Louis the dauphin (crown-prince) on
the English throne but on John's death of dysentry in
1216 all rallied around his son who was
crowned Henry III.
Following his abortive campaign in France, King John returned to England
in October 1214 to face much
widespread discontent, centred mainly on the northern, East Anglian, and home counties.
After lengthy negotiations in which both the king and the barons appealed
to the Pope, civil war broke out in May 1215.
The king was forced to negotiate again when London went over to the rebel
barons in May. On June 19 he accepted
the baronial terms embodied in the Magna Carta at Runnymede. The
Great Charter ensured feudal rights and restated English law.
The more intransigent of the barons soon rendered the settlement unworkable and the
king almost immediately appeal to Pope Innocent against it, claiming it had been extracted
from him under duress. Pope Innocent supported the King's side and the country was again thrown
into civil war. King John captured Rochester castle and proceeded to
lay waste to the northern counties and the Scottish border.
The dauphin Louis (later Louis VIII of France) invaded England at the invitation of the barons and weakened the king's cause. Although King John continued to prosecute the war vigorously, his death in 1216 left the issues undecided.
King John's death made peace possible by way of compromise; the rebel barons were restored; his son succeeded to the throne as King Henry III and the dauphin Louis returned to France.
King John died on October 19th, 1216, at Newark Castle in Nottinghamshire and is buried at Worcester Cathedral.
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With the loss of the Duchy of Normandy the barons of Norman blood who held estates on both sides of the English Channel lost their Norman holdings and were thus forced to soon think of themselves as English.
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The youngest (fifth) and favourite son of King Henry II (1154-1189) and Eleanor of Aquitaine, John was born on December 24th, 1166 or 1667. As the youngest son, he could expect no inheritance and thus was surnamed "Lackland".
In 1173, Henry II planned to assign to John extensive lands on his marriage to the daughter of Humbert III, count of Maurienne (Savoy) but the scheme was defeated by the rebellion it provoked among John's elder brothers, Henry and Richard. Various provisions were made for him in England from 1174 to 1176, including his succession to the earldom of Gloucester.
John was also granted the lordship of Ireland in 1177. He visited ireland from April 1185 till late in the year and acquired a reputation for reckless irresponsibility. Despite this, he continued in his father's favour, contributing to the rebellion in June 1189 of his older surviving brother, later Richard I, Coeur de Lion (Lion Heart) during which, for reasons which remain obscure, he deserted his father for the cause of his brother.
On the accession of his brother as Richard I in July 1189, John was made count of Moratin, confirmed as lord of Ireland, granted lands and revenues in England worth �6,000 per annum and married to Isabella, heiress to the earldom of Gloucester.
In March 1190, John promised not to enter England during the absence of his brother the king during his England, an oath which he broke when Richard I reconised his nephew, the three-year-old Arthur I, duke of Brittany, and son of his deceased elder brother Geoffrey as his heir to the throne in October, 1190.
John led the opposition to Richard I's chancellor, William Longchamp, and, on recieving the news in January 1193 that Richard I, had been imprisoned in Germany on his way back from the Richard I, allied himself with King Philip II Augustus of France in an unsuccessful attempt to seize the English throne. Although John was was forced to accept a truce in April, he made further arrangements with Philip for the division of Richard I's possessions and for rebellion in England.
On Richard's return early in 1194, John was banished from the kingdom and deprived of all his lands. Reconciled with the King in May 1195, he recovered some of his estates, including Mortain and Ireland.
It was only after the Bretons had surrendered Arthur to Philip II in 1196 that John was fully rehabilitated and Richard I recognized him as his heir.
| Seige of Rochester Castle |
Following the breakdown of the settlement reached by the Magna Carta of 1215, King John left for the continent to raise a mercenary army with which to fight the barons. In May 1216, during the king's absence, London went over to the cause of the barons. The king landed at Dover with his army of foreign mercenaries in September and the barons captured Rochester to bar his route to London.
The first challenge to the barons at Rochester came on Wednesday, September 30th when, under a blanket of arrows loosed by their longbows, the barons poured down the castle hill to totally overwhelm the small expeditionary force sent by King John.
Two days later, a larger force arrived to deal witht he rebels. The barons again poured forth from the castle but their force was split into two, one half enticed over the wooden bridge crossing the river Medway which protected one side of the castle. Having drawn the force over the bridge, the royal army burnt it behind them by catapulting jars of burning pitch at the wooden structure. Thus isolated, Robert Fitzwalter was forced to return to London.
Simon de Montford was to burn another wooden London built on the site of the 1216 structure with fireships, fifty years later.
The remaining rebels still held the castle which had recently been refurbished by the king at great expense. On November 11th, the royal forces broke through the twenty-foot high curtain wall of the castle and forced a hundred of the rebels to retreat to the five-storey keep, only seventy feet square (although the tallest of its kind in England, at 113 feet high).
The king himself arrived at Rochester to take command of his army. The barons had not counted on a protracted seige and, although possessed of a well within the keep, lack of provisions soon forced them to kill and eat their steeds.
Besieged and starving, picked off by the king's barons (a weapon which could pick off a soldier at 500 feet and was thought so dreadfull the church had tried to ban its use three times), and bombarded with burning pitch, and dead animals to spread disease within the keep, the barons were bound to face defeat in time but the king could not afford to wait - not only was his mercenary army costing £1,000 a day, but rumour was rife that the dauphin Louis might invade to aid the barons and claim the English crown as his own.
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King John is reputed to have had those rebels who surrendered killed (contrary to the accepted rules of warfare at the time) and their mutilated bodies catapulted back into the keep as a warning to the defenders.
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While keeping the castle under constant attack to distract the defenders, the King set miners to work to dig beneath the foundations of the south-east tower of the keep, supporting it on wooden props. He ordered forty of the fattest swine to be supplied so that their fat (burning at 1,000°F) could be used to fire the foundations of the tower, the intense heat not only burning the props supporting the tower but also cracking its masonry.
With the south-eastern quarter of the keep destroyed on November 30th, the remainder of the rebels battled on desperately against the King's forces before being fianlly overcome.
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King John chose to ignore the accepted conventions of warfare whereby combatants who surrendered were entitled to fair treatment. It is said that the hands and feet of the first defenders were cut off on the orders of the monarch. The captured barons were imprisoned and King John was disauded from hanging the rest of the defenders only by the counsel that such an act might encourage widespread popular discontent. In the vent, only one of the defenders was hanged.
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| 1166.Dec.24 | | Birth of the future King John, fifth and favourite son of Henry II (1154-1189) by Eleanor of Aquitaine | | BAAAGBVF | | 1173 | | Henry II plans to assign to John (John I)extensive lands on his marriage to the daughter of Humbert III, count of Maurienne (Savoy)
The scheme is thwarted by the rebellion it provoked among John's elder brothers, Henry and Richard | | BAAAGBVF | | 1185.Apr | | Prince John visits Ireland
As Lord of Ireland, he acquires a reputation for reckless irresponsibility | | BAAAGBVF | | 1189.Jun | | Henry II's favouritism of Prince John contributes to the rebellion of his elder brother Richard, later Richard I
For reasons which remain obscure, John deserted his father for the cause of his brother | | BAAAGBVF BAAAGCSC | | 1189.Jul | | On the accession of Richard I, Prince John made count of Moratin, confirmed as lord of Ireland, granted lands and revenues in England worth �6,000 per annum and married to Isabella, heiress to the earldom of Gloucester | | BAAAGCSC | | 1190.Mar | | Prince John promises not to enter England during the absence of his brother, king Richard I, on crusade | | BAAAGCSC | | 1190.Oct | | Prince John breaks his oath and returns to England after Richard I reconises thier nephew, the 3-year-old Arthur I, duke of Brittany, and son of their deceased elder brother Geoffrey as his heir | | BAAAGCSC | | 1193.Jan | | News reaches Prince John that Richard I is imprisoned in Germany while returning from the crusade
He allies himself with King Philip II Augustus of France in an unsuccessful attempt to seize the English throne | | BAAAGCSC | | 1193.Apr | | Prince John forced to accept a truce but further arrangements with Philip II of France for the division of Richard I's possessions and for rebellion in England | | BAAAGCSC | | 1194 | | Prince John banished from the kingdom and deprived of all his lands | | BAAAGCSC | | 1194.Mar | | Richard I lands at Sandwich | | BAAAGCSC | | 1195.May | | Prince John reconciled with King Richard I and recovers some of his estates, including Mortain and Ireland | | BAAAGCSC | | 1196 | | Truce concluded between Richard I and Philip Augustus of France | | BAAAGCSC | | 1196 | | Richard I recognises Prince John as his heir | | BAAAGCSC | | 1198.Jan.08 | | Innocent III becomes Pope | | | | 1199.Mar | | Richard I wounded by a crossbow bolt shot by Bertrand de Gourdon during the seige of the castle of Chalus | | BAAAGCSC | | 1199.Apr.06 | | Death of king Richard I from a crossbow bolt wound. His brother John becomes king of England | | BAAAGCSC | | 1199.Apr.25 | | Crowning of King John as Duke of Normandy | | | | 1199.May | | Important appointments in England | | | | 1199.May.27 | | King John crowned king of England | | | | 1200.May.22 | | Treaty of le Goulet King John recognized as successor in all of Richard I's French possessions in return for financial and territorial concessions to Philip II of France
| | | | 1200.Aug | | Crowning of King John and Isabella | | | | 1200.Aug.24 | | marriage of King John to Isabella of Angouleme | | | | 1200.Nov.22 | | William does homage to King John | | | | 1201 | | King John grants a charter to the Stannaries (Cornwall) | | BAAAGCEK BAAAGBHZ | | 1201 | | Strengthening fo Banbury Castle | | | | 1201.May | | King John sails to Normandy | | | | 1201.Jun | | Philippe II entertains King John in Paris | | | | 1202.Apr.28 | | King John fails to attend the summons to the court of Philip II | | | | circa 1202.Apr | | Philip II sides with the Lusignans | | | | 1202.Jul | | Arthur, nephew of King John, knighted | | | | 1202.Aug.01 | | Battle of Mirebeau | | | | 1203 | | Robert FitzWalter and Saire de Quincey surrender the Castle of Ruil to the King of France when a French army arrives | | BAAGEHL BAAAGEHL | | 1203.Apr.03 | | Murder of Arthur, nephew of King John | | | | 1204 | | Goodrich given to William Marshal | | | | 1204.Apr.01 | | Death of Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of King John
The king loses her political skill and influence in Europe | | | | circa 1204.Apr | | English peace negotiations with France | | | | 1204.Jun | | King John loses Normandy which is taken by Philip II of France | | BAAAGBKX BAAAGBKY | | 1205.Jan | | River Thames freezes over | | BAAAGEHZ BAAAGEIS | | 1205.Feb | | Philippe II of France plans invasion | | | | 1205.Jun | | King John prepares an invasion | | | | 1205.Jul.13 | | Death of Hubert Walter | | | | circa 1205.Jul | | More English castles in France fall to the French | | | | 1205.Dec | | King John forces election of De Gray | | | | 1206.Jun | | King John defends Aquitaine | | | | 1206.Oct.26 | | Truce between King John and Philip II of France | | | | 1206.Dec | | Stephen Langton selected as Archbishop of Canterbury by the Pope | | BAAAGEET | | 1207 | | Stephen Langton appointed archbishop of Canterbury
King John refused to acknowledge Langton as archbishop for six years although the country was placed under interdict | | BAAAGEET BAAAGCBT | | 1207 | | Earl of Leicester loses his lands | | | | 1207 | | Building of Odiham Castle | | | | 1207 | | Marshall inherits the lands of Leinster in Ireland | | | | 1207.Aug | | Pope threatens to place England under an interdict | | BAAAGEET | | circa 1208.Apr | | England placed under interdict by the Pope | | BAAAGEET | | 1209 | | Stephen Langton lands at Dover | | BAAAGEET | | 1209.Aug | | King John prepares to invade Scotland | | | | 1209.Nov | | Excommunication of King John by the Pope | | BAAAGEET | | 1210 | | Improvement of the defences at Kenilworth Castle | | | | 1210.Jun.10 | | King John lands in Ireland | | | | 1211 | | Excommunication of King John (1209) is served | | BAAAGEET | | 1211.Jul | | King John makes peace with Wales | | | | 1212 | | King John extorts money from the barons | | | | 1212 | | William gives son as hostage | | | | 1212.Aug | | Discontent of the barons results in an
unsuccessful plot to murder or desert King John during a campaign planned against the Welsh | | BAAAGBTK | | 1212.Nov | | King John accepts te demands of the Pope | | BAAAGEET | | 1213.Mar | | King John prepares against invasion by the French | | | | 1213.May.30 | | Defeat of the French fleet | | | | 1213.Jul | | Lifting of the excommunication of King John | | | | 1213.Sep.26 | | The Papal envoy arives in England | | | | 1213.Nov | | King John meets the Barons | | | | 1214.Feb.01 | | Peter Des Roches become Justiciar | | | | 1214.Feb.02 | | King John sails for France | | | | 1214.Feb.02+ | | King John lands at La Rochelle to launch his long-planned campaign against the
French
(achieving nothing, John was forced to accept a truce lasting until 1220) | | | | 1214.Jun.29 | | Interdict on England lifted | | | | 1214.Oct.15 | | King John returns from France to face widespread discontent, centred mainly on the northern, East Anglian, and home counties | | | | 1214.Dec.04 | | Death of William the Lyon, king of Scotland | | | | 1214.Dec.05 | | Alexander II becomes King of the Scots | | | | 1215 | | Colchester Castle occupied by the French | | | | 1215 | | Fortification of Wallingford Castle | | | | 1215.Jan | | King John meets the Barons in London | | | | 1215.Mar.04 | | King John takes oath for crusade | | | | 1215.Apr.01 | | The Pope sides with King John against the barons | | | | 1215.May.12 | | The Barons' War; civil war breaks out after lengthy negotiations in which both sides
appealed to the Pope
| | | | 1215.May.17 | | London goes over to the rebels, against King John
Largely through the influence of Robert Fitzwalter, standard-bearer of the city | | BAAAGEHL | | 1215.May.27 | | A truce is sought | | | | 1215.Jun.19 | | The Magna Carta sealed at Runnymede by King John to stave off civil war with the barons | | BAAAGEET BAAAGBTK BAAAGBXJ BAAAGCBT | | 1215.Sep | | King John lands at Dover
Rebel barons capture Rochester Castle between the King and London | | BAAAGEHJ | | 1215.Sep.30 | | The rebel barons holding Rochester Castle repel a small force sent by King John | | | | 1215.Oct.02 | | Forces of the rebel barons holding Rochester Castle are divided and half of them isolated, dispersing or escaping to London | | | | 1215.Nov.11 | | Royal forces break through the curtain wall of Rochester Castle | | | | 1215.Nov.30 | | King John captures Rochester Castle from the barons after a seige of 7 weeks | | | | 1216.Feb | | Small French fleet lands at London | | | | 1216.Feb | | King John puts down the revolt | | | | 1216.May.18 | | King John's fleet hit by a storm | | | | 1216.May.21 | | Prince Louis of France claims the English Throne | | | | 1216.Jun | | Kings John fights rebels in East Anglia | | | | 1216.Oct | | King John attacks Berwick | | | | 1216.Oct.19 | | Death of King John (1199-), succeeded by his son as Henry III | | BAAAGBSW |
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John Lackland
by K Norgates , 1902
Recommend a Book for this Page
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