Over time, there have been many different ways people see King John. A variety of opinions regarding this matter have been expressed. Some are very difficult to believe as they are secondary sources. John was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death in 1216. He was the youngest of five sons from King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. This meant that it was very unlikely he would be King. As he wasn’t expected to be king, many people didn’t know what to think of him. However, his older brothers William, Henry and Geoffrey all died young leaving Richard (John’s older brother) as heir to the throne. When he became King, Richard was a very popular king and won many battles. Richard died in 1199, which caused John to be proclaimed king …show more content…
This made him a very popular king as he was winning many battles. He desperately needed money to pay for battle expenses; yet none of his barons were prepared to support him financially. This meant that he needed to raise taxes. Despite this, he was still in France trying to regain the lost land. This made the barons angry and many people started to doubt him. It was a hard task for John to win the support of his barons. The barons were unhappy with the way previous kings had run the country. Their demands had been ignored for a long time and they wanted change. John angered the barons because he tried to keep the power that past kings had enjoyed. In 1209, he was excommunicated from the church following an argument with Pope Innocent III and then returned to England where he faced a rebellion from lot of his barons, who were unhappy with many of his policies and the way he treated many of England 's most powerful nobles. They then forced John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. The Magna Carta is a peace charter and gave the barons more power. The charter has 63 clauses. Despite the fact that these clauses are not used in British law today, the Magna Carta is still used as a symbol of