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Notes for John "Lackland" , King of England
General Note
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The administrative and bureaucratic innovations John brought to the Angevin government have
not been enough to save his reputation throughout the years. Chronicled as England's most cruel
and untrustworthy monarch, John may long be the victim of his early bad press. As a monarch,
John displayed no love lost for the Church of Rome and as a result, the historians of the day--almost
without exception clerics, took every opportunity to malign and discredit him. However, while
not evil incarnate, John certainly demonstrated on many an occasion those qualities that led
generations of school children to remember him as Bad King John.
The last child born
to Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine earned his first nickname, Lackland, because as the fourth
legitimate son born to the King of England and Duke of Anjou, it was hard to provide him inherited
titles and land. John's main rivals were his brothers, the Young King Henry, Geoffrey and Richard,
and his nephew Arthur, son of King Henry's brother Geoffrey of Brittany. Yet, John had one
advantage over his aspiring siblings: his father's favor. In 1184 Henry asked Richard to hand
over to John the rule of Aquitaine, the ancestral land of their monther, Eleanor. Richard's
refusal led to the first armed clash between the brothers. Next, Henry devised to let John
rule Ireland, but John's rule was a disaster. In 1185, on his first expedition he and his companion
laughed at the beards of the Irish chieftains who came to pay homage. John's callous alienation
continued until John left six months later, blaming his failure on others.
Henry's
generosity bore no loyalty in John. When Richard and Philip II of France forced Henry into
a humiliating defeat in 1188, the old king was given a list of those who fought against him,
and was shocked to find John's name on it. Henry had forsaken Richard to the point of armed
rebellion for the sake of John, but when John saw who would emerge the victor he cynically
abandoned his father. As King of England, Richard, however, was not blind to John's raw ambition.
He bestowed John with vast estates in Normandie and England, and betrothed him to Isabella
of Gloucester, in an effort to bribe him, but it was not enough to quell John. While Richard
was away on various Crusades, and now quarrelling from Philip II, John plotted a number of
unsuccessful rebellions, at one point joining forces with Philip. When Richard was later kidnapped
and held for ransom by the Leopold of Austria, John and Philip were almost successful in having
Richard turned over to them for their own devices.
When Richard was released from
captivity by English barons John was forced to beg for his pardon. Richard, seemingly unaware
of the depth of his brother's treachery, pardoned him with the words, "Don't be afraid, John.
You are a child. You have fallen into bad company and it is those who have led you astray who
will be punished." At this point John was twenty-seven years old. John behaved himself for
the next five years and in 1199 Richard nominated him as heir and John was invested the Duke
of Normandie. It was at this ceremony that John giggled and gossiped so much that he dropped
the ceremonial lance. While Richard's right to declare his successor was respected in England,
that was not the case in Anjou, Maine and Touraine. There the local barons acknowledged Arthur,
son Geoffrey of Brittany as their lord. John persuaded Philip II to oust the twelve-year old
Arthur, and by 1200 John was Lord of the Angevin Empire. He had annulled his marriage to Isabella
of Gloucester and took as his wife Isabella of Angouleme, in an effort to unite the north and
south of the empire. However, his twleve-year old bride had of late been the fiance of Hugh
of Lusignan, and when he got no satisfaction from John, Hugh appealed to Philip II. Philip
sided with Hugh and declared all of John's recent acquisitions forfeit. John put up a stiff
resistance, and succeeded in capturing Arthur of Brittany, but by spring of 1205 John fled
to England, the last of his strongholds fell and he lost ancestral Normandie.
It was
while Arthur was in the hands of John that he disappeared, never to be seen again. A contemporary
historian wrote:
After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison
for some time, at length, in the castle of Rouen, after dinner on the Thursday before Easter,
when he was drunk and possessed by the devil he slew him with his own hand, and tying a heavy
stone to the bidy cast it into the Seine. It was discovered by a fisherman in his net, and
being dragged to the bank and recognized, was taken for a secret burial, in fear of the tyrant,
to the priory of Bec called Notre Dame de Pres.
The murder of Arthur has never been
proven.
John's goal was now to win back his lost territories, but he realized that
a confrontation with the King of France would take resources and planning. For eight years
he stayed in England and made preparations, but these preparations meant a huge burdon for
the English. Huges taxes were levied and forest laws were tightened and enforced. This power,
never before seen wielded by an English king, was coinciding with a time of economic recession.
At the same time John came to loggerheads with Pope Innocent III over the election of the Archbishop
of Canterbury. In 1208 Innocent punished England and Wales by banishing all church services
for six years and further punished John by excommunicating him the following year. John's response
was to confiscate all church lands--a response that also helped ease his financial difficulties.
By 1212, however, Philip was planning an invasion and John decided an excommunicated monarch
was particularly vulnerable. John agreed to hold England as a papal fief and with Innocent's
support led an offensive against Philip.
The beginning months of the struggle looked
promising for the English forces, but in July, 1214, Philip won the Battle of Bovines. This
bitter defeat only fueled English discontent. The hardships of the previous eight years were
only justified with victory in battle and the defeat soon turned to rebellion. In May of 1215
the English rebels captured London and force John to make peace. John met with the lords at
Runnymead and the terms laid out and agreed upon became known as Magna Carta. However, the
attempt to implement the terms of the treaty only led to more war, for John seemed to agree
to the document as a way of buying time. In frustration and contempt for John, the English
lords elected Louis of France, Philip's son, as their leader. In May of 1216 Louis invaded
England and made an unopposed entry into London. The death of John in October, with his son,
Henry, only nine years old, plunged the county into civil war.
John's reign now over,
its interpretation began, and while none would be impartial, some would be remembered through
the years as is this anonymous chronicle:
He was munificent and liberal to outsiders
but a plunderer of his own people, trusting strangers rather than his subjects, wherefore he
was eventually deserted by his own men and, in the end, little mourned.
Biographical
information from The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, ed. Antonia Frasier, The Oxford
Illustrated History of the British Monarchy, ed. John Cannon and Ralph Griffiths, and The Oxford
Book of Royal Anecdotes, ed. Elizabeth Longford.
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