King John Research Paper

King John

King John, known for his outrageous temper, his lechery and unstable temperament, is arguably one of, if not the worst king to ever sit on England’s throne. Born on 24th December 1166, he was the 5th child of Henry ∣∣ and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Being the youngest of the 5 children did not guarantee him an inheritance of wealth or property with the result of him being named John Lackland. He was originally destined for a career in the church to which he rebelled, eventually being educated by Ranulf de Glanvill, chief justiciar (English monarchs, 2016). In an attempt to improve his son’s prospects, Henry betrothed John to his wealthy second cousin, Isabella of Gloucester at the age of 9. They were married when he was 21 but the marriage

John was briefly regent when Richard was away on the Third Crusade but on Richard’s death in 1199, John was finally crowned king (History Learning Site, 2016). Within 5 years of his crowning, John had lost almost all inherited territories in France, Wales and Ireland to Philip Augustus, King of France. Contemporary reports attribute this to a lack of boldness and cowardice, nicknaming him ‘Softsword’ (Morris, 2015). Determined to win back these lands and restore his reputation, he increased taxes dramatically in order to fund this attempt. He introduced a large tax for the inheritance of land and also for very minor infringements of the law (History Learning Site, 2016). Under his reign we saw one of the greatest financial exploitations of England. During this time, he was in dispute with the church over the pope’s appointment of the new archbishop of Canterbury (Englishmonarchs, 2016). As a result of this feud, the pope excommunicated john and introduced a new law that no religious ceremonies were to take place in England (Britroyals.com, 2016). At last John launched his long thought out plan to retrieve his land but it was all for nothing. John, true to form, shied away from battle and lost all remaining possessions to his enemy (History Learning Site, 2016). For the remaining years of his life he was at war against his barons and France, He died in 1216 and his son, Henry ∣∣∣, ascended the

Perhaps the most important and famous document of all time is the Magna Carta. It was the first document to establish that every man is entitled to justice and a fair trial and that even the monarch was obliged to obey the law of the land (Breay and Harrison, 2016). The extortionate taxing of barons and his people was the beginning of a revolution against King to deprive him of his absolute power. The barons (who were punished severely if they refused to pay) demanded that John obey the law. When the king refused, they retaliated (Breay and Harrison, 2016). These rebellious barons captured London and John was forced to negotiate. The two sides met at Runnymede and as a result, the Magna Carta was created. A short while after its creation, Pope Innocent ∣∣∣ declared the document ‘null and void of all validity for ever’ (Breay and Harrison, 2016). The barons were not impressed and civil war broke out. England was still at war when john died. The Magna Carta was re-issued during the early reign of Henry