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John - Information

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JOHN 1199 - 1216

Began to reign - 1199. - Reigned 18 years. - Died 1216. Married First - Hawisia, ( Avisa ) or Isabella, of Gloucester., daughter of William, earl of Gloucester; - divorced. Secondly Isabella of Angouleme. daughter of Aymer, count of Angoulême, by whom he had two sons and three daughters.

		DOMINIONS
		John was received as duke in Normandy and elected king in England with peculiar solemnity, swearing to govern well. In Anjou, Maine, and Touraine his nephew Arthur was generally acknowledged, but old Queen Eleanor kept Poictou and Aquitaine steady on the whole to John, though he had personal enemies among the barons there. In 1201 the Poitevins revolted from him, aided by Hugh de Lusignan, Count de la Marche ; but were defeated in 1202. In 1203 John's paternal inheritance abroad, but not Eleanor's inheritance in Poictou and Aquitaine, was declared forfeited to the French crown, owing to the death of Arthur. In 1204 Eleanor died, and Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and most of Poictou, were conquered or submitted to the French. In 1205 all the north-eastern part of Aquitaine was lost. In 1206 Poictou and Saintogne followed, John retaining only Gascony, the half of Guienne and the Channel Islands, out of all the French possessions. In 1214 John recovered much of Poictou, and the Poitevin barons continued to acknowledge a king in France or England, but to obey neither, as they chose.In Great Britain John extorted the customary acknowledgment of his supremacy from the Scotch king and the Welsh princes, and invading Ireland received the homage of the native chiefs.
John - King of England, born in 1166, the youngest son of Henry II., by Eleanor of Guienne.		He bore the title Dominus Hiberniae, granted to him in his father's reign, which was assumed by all English kings, until Henry VIII changed it for Rex Hiberniae

PRINCIPAL EVENTS

John was born in 1166, the youngest son of Henry II., by Eleanor of Guienne, he was surnamed Sans Terre or Lackland, because unlike his brother he did not receive, any provinces; but Richard I, on his accession conferred large possessions on him. The first real record that we have of him concerns his infidelity to his father, Henry II, which probably helped to hasten the death of that great king. The second thing that is said of him is that, while Richard I was away at the Crusades, John intrigued with the King of France to take the throne away from Richard. It says much for Richard that he was prepared to forgive him when he eventually landed in England.

When Richard was killed in battle in France, the people looked upon Arthur the son of Richard's elder brother, (who had died) as the lineally rightful heir. The French provinces of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine declared for, Arthur of Brittany. But John, had no intention of allowing Arthur his nephew to have the throne that he believed was his, by a will drawn up in Richard's last hours.

THE MURDER OF ARTHUR

A war ensued, in which John recovered the revolted provinces, and received homage from Arthur. He obtained the crown (April 1199) In 1201 disturbance, again broke out in France, and the young Arthur, who had joined the protesters, was captured and confined in the castle of Falaise, and afterwards that of Rouen, and was never heard of again. John was suspected of his nephew's death, and the states of Brittany summoned him before his liege lord Philip, to answer the charge of murder, in the war which followed, John lost Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine.

THE POPE & THE INTERDICT

In 1205 Hubert Walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, died, and there followed a dispute as to who should succeed him. The monks of Canterbury appointed its sub-prior Reginald, King John wanted his own man appointed John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich. The matter, was sent to Innocent III. to settle in Rome, he did not choose either of the two candidates he appointed another, Stephen Langton.

John refused to allow Langton to land, and sent an offensive letter to the Pope, the result was that Innocent III. laid the whole kingdom under an interdict. all worship and administration of the Sacraments stopped over the kingdom. John realized he was in a difficult position, he replied by confiscating the lands of the clergy, a year later the Pope excommunicated him. John then raised an army, took treasure from Ireland, attacked Wales, and captured twenty-eight sons of chieftains as hostages, but, on hearing that the Welsh would not accept his rule, hanged them all.

In 1211 the Pope issued a bull to depose John, who had ceased to be a Christian, Philip of France was commissioned to execute the decree, whilst he was preparing to invade, John concluded that he could no longer continue to oppose the Pope. King John submitted to the church, even agreeing to hold his kingdom as a vassal of the Pope (1213). He therefore accepted the Papal delegate, and agreed to allow Langton who was to have great authority in England to land, and act as Archbishop of Canterbury.

It became obvious that Langton was going to take the side of the barons, for he could not possibly agree to working with John. By this time the barons, clergy and common people, were determined to force the hand of the King.

John's arbitrary proceedings led to a rising of his nobles, and he was compelled to sign the Magna Charta or Great Charter, June 15, 1215. But John did not intend on keeping the agreement, and obtained a bull from the pope that annulled the charter. He raised an army of mercenaries and commenced war, the barons, in despair, offered the crown of England to the dauphin Louis, who accordingly landed at Sandwich 20th May, 1216, and received homage from the barons.

THE LOSS OF THE CROWN JEWELS

John, in the meantime, was pillaging and plundering, and massacring as he went. Arriving at the Wash, near King's Lynn, he decided to take a path called the "Cross Keys" which was dry at certain periods of the tide, but which became covered very quickly. Unfortunately for him, he had picked the wrong time, and though he got across safely, his baggage, his jewels and many of his men were lost.

He went to the abbey of Swineshead to spend the night, and there he became ill with the most violent pains in his stomach. The next day in the forty-ninth year of his age, he was carried in a litter to Newark, to die (17th October, 1216). He was later laid to rest in the cathedral at Worcester. His death changed affairs, John's son Henry was only nine years old when he was crowned and did homage to the Pope for his dominions. Royal authority passed into the capable hands of William Marscal Earl of Pembroke who was appointed as Governor of the King and Kingdom, and Magna Charta was confirmed.