King John

King John, called John Lackland (1167-1216), King of England (1199-1216), best known for signing Magna Carta.

John was born in Oxford on December 24, 1167, the youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry provided for the eventual inheritance of his lands by his older sons before John was born, hence his nickname “Lackland”. By 1186, however, only Richard I, the Lion-Hearted, and John were left as Henry’s heirs. John had already turned Ireland against him when Henry sent him there as Lord of Ireland in 1185. In 1189, as Henry neared death, John joined Richard’s rebellion against their father, and when Richard was crowned, he gave John many estates and titles.

John tried but failed to usurp the crown while Richard was away on the Third Crusade, but upon returning to England, Richard forgave him. When his brother died in 1199, John became king and lord of all the Angevin territories, without initially facing much opposition. However, a revolt ensued by the supporters of Arthur of Brittany, the son of John’s brother, Geoffrey, partly caused by John’s mistakes in handling his family. Arthur was defeated and captured in 1202, and John was widely believed to have had him murdered, turning many of his subjects against him. Philip II of France continued Arthur’s war until John had to surrender nearly all his French possessions in 1204, after a flight to England that earned him a reputation for cowardice. He then began to build up monetary and political resources to regain the lost lands.

In 1207 John refused to accept the election of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Innocent III then excommunicated him and began negotiating with Philip for the invasion of England that the French king himself had long planned. Desperate, John surrendered England to the pope and in 1213 received it back as a fief. Trying to regain his French possessions, he and his French and German allies were decisively defeated by Philip in the Battle of Bouvines of July 27, 1214, an event that greatly enhanced France’s position in Europe and ended John’s ambitions there. John’s reign had become increasingly tyrannical; to support his wars he had extorted money, raised taxes, and confiscated properties. Some modern authorities regard these policies as misrepresented efforts at sound administrative reform, but they were certainly seen at the time as oppressive, and his barons finally united to force him to respect their historic rights and privileges. John had little choice but to sign Magna Carta, presented to him by his barons at Runnymede in 1215, making him subject, rather than superior, to the law. However, John evidently regarded Magna Carta as exacted under duress and sought to evade its terms, and soon afterwards he and the barons were at war. He died at Newark in Nottinghamshire on October 19, 1216, while still pursuing the campaign, and was succeeded by his son, Henry III.