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| Notes for John LACKLAND King Of England | ||||||||||||
| A Plantagenet, King John was the King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. JOHN, LACKLAND (King from 1199-1216 AD) John was born on Christmas Eve 1167, the youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane. His parents drifted apart after his birth, and his youth was divided between his eldest brother's house where he learned the art of knighthood, and the house of his father's justiciar, Ranulf Glanvil, where he learned the business of government. As the fourth child, inherited lands were not available to him, giving rise to his nickname, Lackland. His first marriage, to Isabel of Gloucester, lasted but ten years and was fruitless; Isabella of Angouleme, his second wife, bore him two sons ( Henry and Richard) and three daughters (Joan, Isabella, and Eleanor). He also had an illegitimate daughter, also named Joan, who married Llywelyn the Great, Ruler of All Wales , from which the Tudor line of monarchs was descended. The Angevin family feuds left quite a mark on John - he proved his betrayal to both his father and his brother Richard . He and Richard clashed in 1184 when the elder refused to turn Aquitane over to the younger brother, as dictated by Henry II. The following year Henry sent John to rule Ireland, but John alienated the native Irish and the transplanted Anglo-Normans who emigrated to carve out new lordships for themselves; the experiment was a total failure, and John returned home within six months. Richard, after acceding to the throne in 1189, gave John vast estates to appease his younger brother, but to no avail. He tried to overthrow Richard's administrators during the German captivity, but failed. He conspired with Philip II in another attempt, which again failed. Upon Richard's release in 1194, John was forced to sue for pardon, and spent the next five years in his brother's shadow, staying out of trouble long enough to be named heir to the crown. John's reign was full of trouble. A quarrel with the Church resulted in England being placed under an interdict in 1207, with John excommunicated two years later. The dispute, centered around John's refusal to install the papal candidate, Stephen Langdon, as Archbishop of Canterbury, and was not resolved until John surrendered to the wishes of Innocent III, one of the greatest medieval popes. A succession dispute with his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, ultimately resulted in the loss French territories, as the king's French vassals preferred Arthur. By Spring 1205, John had crossed the Channel back into England as the last of his French possessions fell out of his hands. From 1206 to the end of his reign, John was preoccupied with regaining these territories, levying a number of new taxes upon the landed barons to pay for his campaigns. This would have been satisfactory had John been winning battles, but he was continually trounced by the French. The discontented rebel barons revolted, capturing London in May 1215. In June, at Runnymeade, John met with the barons and signed the Magna Carta, a feudal rights document stressing three points: 1) the Church was free to make its own appointments, 2) no more than the normal amounts of money could be collected to run the government, unless the king's feudal tenants gave their content, and 3) no freeman was to be punished except in concert with the common law. This document proved to be the forerunner of modern constitutions. John signed the document as a means of buying time, and failed to keep his word. The nobility called for French assistance, and John died in the midst of an invasion. John was remembered in elegant fashion by Sir Richard Baker in A Chronicle of the Kings of England : "...his works of piety were very many ... as far his actions, he neither came to the crown by justice, nor held it with any honour, nor left it peace." John's treacherous nature was the cause of the greatest loss of English continental territory until Hundred Years' War (1337-1453). r175 | ||||||||||||
| Notes for Isabella of Angouleme (Spouse 1) | ||||||||||||
| She was betrothed to Hugh before she married John. After John's death she retired to her native city and eventually married Hugh after about 3 years. Countess of Angoulême 1202. | ||||||||||||
| Last Modified 20 May 2001 | Created 6 Jan 2007 by EasyTree for Windows |