Cruel, mean, faithless, licentious, weak-willed and with no redeeming features – such was King John. No wonder there was a First Barons’ War.
The favourite child of Henry II (see MHM 147, August/September 2025) and Eleanor of Aquitaine, John (1166-1216) was dubbed ‘Lackland’ because as the youngest son he possessed no lands. An early foray to Ireland as governor (1185) was inauspicious, and he was recalled for misconduct. He tried seizing the Crown when his elder brother (now King) Richard I was imprisoned in Austria (1192-1194) – but, despite such disloyalty, he had the support of the bulk of the English and Norman nobility, and was named successor at Richard’s deathbed and crowned on 27 May 1199 (even though Arthur, son of John’s elder brother Geoffrey, might have been considered the rightful heir by primogeniture).
Having divorced his first wife, John married Isabella of Angoulême, the betrothed of the Count of La Marche, Hugh IX of Lusignan (c.1160s-1219), who in turn appealed to King Philip II Augustus of France as their common overlord. Finding his summons ignored by John, Philip declared John’s extensive French possessions forfeit in 1202 and waged war, causing John to lose much of his Angevin (Plantagenet) empire. During these wars, Arthur was captured, and by Easter 1203 he had been murdered, most likely at John’s behest – an act that cast a dark shadow, doing much to undermine John’s cause.
Changing conclusions