REVIEW BY DUNCAN CAMERON
The reign of King John is a period of immense significance in English history, comparable to the events of 1066 and the Norman Conquest a century and a half previously. John’s signing of the Magna Carta supposedly laid the foundations of the rights of property and personal freedom in England, although the reality behind his reign, generally considered to have been a disaster, is more nuanced than the mythology would suggest.
Catherine Hanley’s complex and exciting book 1217: The battles that saved England reveals to us the significance of the later years of John’s reign, after he repudiated his famous agreement with his barons. Reneging on Magna Carta made him several enemies, although many of the barons he broke with were not in favour of radical action. They simply wanted a better monarch.
But England’s division was France’s opportunity. Were French king Philip Augustus to play his cards right, he could use the schism within the country to get rid of John and instal his son Louis on the throne. This would involve usurping John’s own son and heir, Henry.
