today on brief history we look at arguably the most despised english king in the history of the monarchy a man so detested that the monarchy itself would never yield a king of the same name again but why has he been looked upon with such contempt and can there be found anywhere a redeeming quality join me as i take a brief look at john lackland soft sword infamously remembered today as king john of england [Music] [Music] john was born on december 24th 1166 to his father henry ii of england known as kurt mantle or plantagenet and
his mother eleanor of accutane he was the youngest child of eight children and had four elder brothers three of which survived to adulthood henry richard and joffrey the first thing to point out is that john's brothers were all named after their royal family heritage william who died young was named after the conqueror henry after their great grandfather henry the first richard after the dukes of normandy and joffrey after their grandfather from which the plantagenet name draws its origins john was the only son without a royal name and it is believed that he was named after
saint john the evangelist aka john the apostle author of the bible's book of john this is a fairly clear indicator that he was intended for the church as many younger sons often were in that time by the time john was born his father had been king of england for approximately 12 years coming to power after being the victor of the civil war known as the anarchy his father had married his mother who was the duchess of accent and with their marriage john's father became one of the most powerful kings in europe controlling not only england
but normandy anju main and akiten although the marriage between his father and mother was fruitful burying eight children eventually their vastly different personalities led the disputes with eleanor heading back to accutane with her sons it is believed that jon was initially educated at fontesville abbey in the loire valley but he was intended to be raised in his mother's court in akitan known for his romanticized view of the world valuing chivalry bravery glory and the arts his brothers were raised in this court however much of john's youth saw the battles of his father and brothers play
out with jon being too young to actively play a role his mother actively encouraged his brother's rebellion against his father with his father ultimately defeating them and bringing them to heal however due to her involvement in the rebellion eleanor was quasi-imprisoned eliminating her contact with john who was around 7 or 8 years old disagreements and rebellions continued between his older brothers and father and eventually king henry took an interest in john it was said that john as he grew older supported his father and was known to be his father's favorite son although his father did
joke about the lack of land available for john to inherit hence his nickname lackland john was betrothed to his cousin isabella of gloucester when he was around 10 years of age and as he grew older was designated as custodian of lands after deaths of rebellious earls his father wished him to become the king of ireland as his father had begun a campaign to attempt to conquer the warring tribes in ireland establishing a small area of control on the island however when jon was 17 years old his elder brother henry known as the young king due
to his coronation while jon's father was still alive died after warring against his father and brother richard his brother joffrey would die a couple years later in a tournament accident and with that jon stock began to rise with only one childless brother as the new heir to the english throne remaining that being richard the possibility of jon becoming king was greatly increased he went to ireland in an attempt to prove his ability to rule at 18 years of age lands were granted building allies and administration castles were built forming strong bases from which to wield
power and the city of dublin was brought under economic control laying the foundation for the future english expansion into the country all these things are seen as positive results of john's time in ireland however it is believed that jon developed his taste for the macabre in ireland which would come to include hostage taking and execution eventually his brother richard would ally himself with king philip augustus of france and defeat his father who was slowly dying due to blood poisoning and a bleeding ulcer although john 22 at the time previously had supported his father in the
wars with his brothers he publicly declared his allegiance to richard after his father's defeat it was said that upon hearing his favorite son had betrayed him john's father slipped into delirium and died shortly thereafter this betrayal would be john's first but it would certainly not be his last and future betrayals would hold far greater consequences after john's brother richard became king his brother set about raising money and putting his realm in order for his departure as he had taken the cross and would eventually leave on what was to become the third crusade he was generous
with jon finally facilitating his marriage to isabella of gloucester bringing into john's hands her estate which included bristol a place where jon would conduct much of his future business in addition to other english lands including nottingham richard made john count of mortaine in normandy this would give john substantial wealth and income in richard's absence richard was not clear on who would be his successor should he die on the crusade childless obviously john was a main candidate but john's recently deceased elder brother joffrey had a son alive arthur of brittany this nephew of john and richard
also had a strong valid claim to the throne perhaps more of one due to the fact that joffrey was an older brother of john richard was very clearly leery of his younger brother john was forced to swear that he would not enter england while his brother was on crusade something that very clearly shows richard's mistrust of john this mistrust would be well founded for when richard was on crusade john's english exile was lightened by their mother eleanor and he was able to stir up discontent against england's main region in richard's absence william longchamp this attempt
was greatly influenced by richard's betrothal of their young nephew arthur in sicily and then his subsequent open declaration that arthur would be heir although this was most likely done for political leverage longshan had been unpopular with other justice years in england and refused to acknowledge jon as heir when the castle of lincoln was held against longchamp the rebellious lord appealed to jon for protection jon seized the opportunity defiantly standing up to longshot eventually longshot was deposed and forced into exile john was then seen as heir in england although he did not have any political control
at that point nevertheless john's treachery saw no bounds in 1191 the king of france philip augustus chose to return from the crusade early john saw another opportunity for personal gains here he extorted the regents of england threatening to ally himself with philip augustus and the exiled longchamp in 1193 he pushed further his treachery to treason richard had been captured in vienna on his return trip from the crusade john seeing an opportunity for usurpation traveled to normandy and openly allied himself with philip augustus he had vast swathes of important lands cities and castles ceded to philip
and paid homage to him for the remaining in return jon was betrothed to philip's sister alice although he was already married and philip would support john's claim to the throne however the ransom for richard was raised by the regents of england and his mother eleanor and in 1194 he was released he traveled back to england and easily defeated all of john's supporters banishing jon to the continent when richard landed in normandy to retake all that jon had lost jon was tasked by philip augustus withholding effort instead john assisted by his mother eleanor traveled to meet
richard at lisieux and begged for forgiveness from his older brother any other person who had attempted this treason would have been dealt with quickly and furiously but incredibly richard did not punish jon other than having his land seized which eventually would be reinstated to him richard viewed his younger brother as a fool and a mere child in his words easily influenced and of no great threat but jon would continue down the path he had been walking and soon he would wield power and england would be turned upside down [Music] in 1199 richard decided to besiege
the unimportant and small castle of chalu in akitan he was known for taking risks and decided to ride unarmored up to the front where he was hit in the shoulder with an arrow developed a gangrenous infection and died shortly thereafter although richard had previously declared his nephew arthur as heir on his deathbed richard declared john as heir despite all john's prior treasonous actions it is believed that richard was influenced by the fact that young arthur 12 years old was now duke of brittany and had become a staple in king philip augustus french court philip being
richard's nemesis john had developed a reputation for himself after betraying his father and brother prior to their deaths and richard had very clearly shown that he mistrusted his brother nevertheless after richard's declaration and death john traveled to westminster abbey with one of his staunch supporters hubert walter archbishop of canterbury and was coordinated as king on may 27 1199 he traveled around the realm visiting shrines and stopping a fantasy respects to richard's tomb it was said that he was very cheap and was not fond of the church choosing to give little gifts in times when it
was expected he give much and skipping mass or requesting that priests hurry their sermon jon would spend approximately his first four years in normandy intending to prove his value as a leader a new pope came to power in 1198 37 year old pope innocent iii this pope was extremely aggressive and was to play an integral role in europe and in john's reign the pope had put an interdict on philip augustus's territories which essentially was a punishment for bidding mass and christian processes such as burials in that area putting anyone's souls who lived there at risk
this was due to philip augustus's marriage betrayal to his newly married wife who he swore off after their first night together this forced philip augustus to sign a treaty with jon at le goulet for the time being in 1200 in order that he could deal with the problem with the pope john paying homage to philip for his lands in normandy was guaranteed peaceful possession of these lands and was to secure a beneficial family marriage between his niece and philip's son but jon was forced to pay a large amount of money that he could not afford
due to richard's ransom and the treaty with philip also reversed previously made agreements with some of his allies on the continent again showing that jon would betray anyone if it served his immediate interest although normandy was technically secure and peace was expected from philip john was openly mocked by the french king in his courtiers john and his wife isabella of gloucester had drifted apart with no children and john secured an annulment of their marriage as they were cousins after searching for a new bride he chose to marry isabella of ongolem who was from an area
which lied in the region that jon's brother richard was attempting to bring to heal when he was killed she had already been betrothed to another nobleman and was only eight or nine years old at the time but this did not influence john's decision he married her in august of 1200 with isabella being declared queen philip augustus used this to his advantage the man formally betrothed to isabella hugh de luzinyon who had held off marrying her due to her age appealed to philip augustus with philip siding with him and using this as an excuse to reopen
hostilities with jon philip also had john's nephew fifteen-year-old arthur of brittany knighted married to his daughter and recognized him now as the duke of normandy and akitan instead of john philip also stated that any land arthur sees from john on the continent would become arthurs by right of conquest giving incentive to arthur to actively campaign against his uncle this he did and had great military success coming close to capturing his grandmother john's mother eleanor of accutane at michael besieging the castle john then made a strategically brilliant and dangerous move he and his army force marched
their way 200 miles in less than three days and caught arthur's forces off guard john's army steadily defeated arthur's forces and captured arthur in the process this was one of if not the greatest achievement in john's reign but unfortunately his cruel nature would overshadow this triumph arthur was held captive at filets and eventually ruan but quickly disappeared and was never seen again john was asked to produce his young nephew but was not able to do so rumors began to circulate that jon in a drunken rage beat his nephew to death and had his body thrown
into the river send philip augustus demanded that all of john's lands be seated on the continent after jon refused to be summoned by philip to account for these actions john went to rua but chose not to defend his norman lands in battle and fled to england something that was seen as a sign of his weakness he had by this point developed his other nickname soft sword perhaps in reference to his piece with the french but some believe it to be in regards to his inability to produce children at that time although he and isabella would
go on to have five children once she became older john traveled to his hunting lodge at gillingham where he and his court were said to have consumed large amounts of wine as the cities and castles of normandy fell to the french philip traveled south seizing maine and anju as well with a few of the territories remaining loyal to jon including angulim a restructuring of normandy in england had taken place with philip seizing land on the continent owned by english-leaning barons and john seizing english land from norman or french-leaning barons john now having a massive amount
of wealth come his way from the seizure of these lands was able to reward his subjects with new lands if they had their possessions stripped away from the continent this actually made it so that many did not wish to see the continent re-conquered as they stood to lose their newly acquired english lands if the old empire were to be reinstated there was a sense of englishness that was beginning to develop english pride or patriotism if you will the french were beginning to be seen more and more as foreign although french was still spoken at court
and the lineage of much of the barons derived from the continent john surrounded himself mostly with men who had lost their lands on the continent leading many of the english-feeling nobles to see jon as more of a foreigner than a king of his people [Music] almost all of john's military campaigns ended in defeat costing much in taxation and gaining little if nothing but defeat although the withdrawal from the continent and end to the war with france should have yielded a cash surplus as the managing and fighting for the continent lands were expensive jon wished to
see the continent re-conquered something that would carry a heavy price tag in fact if jon wished to attempt to retake his lands he would have to impose significantly larger taxes for said attempt and mainly on english barons who stood to gain little from victory john said about doing this implementing over and over again high taxation sometimes with military purpose in mind and sometimes just to have the money available should he need it it is important to note that he had other military objectives in mind besides reconquest which included wales scotland and ireland none of these
campaigns sought to benefit any of the english barons in significant ways in addition the weight of the money paid for his brother's ransom along with the money paid to philip as part of their treaty added to john's financial need to tax and the loss of his continental lands had a significant negative impact on trade other economic factors also were at play some of which may have been out of john's control but the perceived financial mismanagement and wasteful spending meant unpopular money raising demands were inevitable to add to this john had been staying indefinitely in england
and had began to become a thorn in the side of his english parents who had previously saw a little interference from him when he remained on the continent john's wealth especially in that of lands was quite substantial while those of his barons were but a fraction of what he controlled discontent began to grow and although historically barons knights and clergy had not formed a coalition to oppose a king in quite some time in john's case they began to see a common cause to confer jon also started turning on his closest allies william marshall was another
of john's supporters who vigorously assisted him along with the archbishop of canterbury in john's bid for the throne the majority of martial's valuable lands were in normandy so when the duchy was lost to the french he was forced to make agreements with philip augustus paying homage to philip for his norman lands he simultaneously held english lands as a vassal of king john and john despite the previous support from martial declared him a traitor forcing him to flee to his estates in ireland john also moved against his close friend william de plause some believe because plows
knew too much information about the murder of john's nephew arthur owing large sums of money to jon his debts were called in full and he was forced to hand over many of his welsh castles and his nephew as a hostage for collateral in regards to the payment of this debt jon then sent some of his norman men to provoke brause into an armed conflict eventually forcing him to flee to ireland as well john's relationship with the church continued to decline although pope innocent had generally supported john against philip augustus the archbishop of canterbury who assisted
in john's ascension hubert walter died in 1205 to john's rejoice john wished to fill the vacant archbishopric position on his own accord but pope innocent forbade this instead installing a man named steven langton believed to be a man that innocent had studied under to the position he was a man born in england but who had spent much of his life in paris and he along with innocent was committed to defending the honor and memory of thomas beckett the archbishop who was murdered by john's father john refused to let langton into the country resulting in the
pope putting an interdict on england and excommunicating john and his court in 1208 the majority of the english bishops exiled to the continent and it was rumored that john had sought an alliance with the emmer of morocco supposedly offering to convert to islam but this has not been conclusively confirmed john moved against his enemies in ireland although he had made peace with marshall plaus and the rest of the leading rebellious irish barons were easily defeated exiling in france this was another successful military campaign on the part of john that would become overshadowed by his actions
after the victory william de prouse's wife and son had been captured and john offered to spare them if an exorbitant amount of money was paid pause was not able to do so and his wife and son were reportedly starved to death in john's dungeons this family was well connected and although brows himself could have perhaps been seen as fit for such punishment his wife and son were innocent again john's flawed character continued to add flames to an already glowing fire of resentment within the baronial and clerical circles in 1212 john's wealth continued to soar with
continued high taxation and revenue seizure by the crown his imposition of taxes and unpopular laws left a growing contingent of disgruntled barons and clergymen some exiled and some not who began to become more and more familiar with each other eventually the noose began to tighten on jon and as he started to feel pressure from the enemies he had made both at home on the continent and in rome he attempted to reverse some of his unjust laws and cut some taxation but it was too late and he was eventually forced to make peace with the pope
for his own protection kneeling before one of the pope's representatives in submitting to the pope john agreed that england was now a feudal possession of rome with john paying an annual tribute as a vassal the archbishop stephen langton was finally admitted into the country and john prostrated before him begging for forgiveness and agreeing to eliminate all bad laws and rule as a good king king john was now in a safer place to attempt his long-awaited reconquest attempt philip augustus had actually assembled a fleet to attack england in may of 1213 at dam but john's half-brother
william earl of salisbury known as longsword attacked and defeated the french fleet putting an end to philip's aspirations in england at this point it must be noted that john looked to launch a three-pronged invasion of france to reconquer his territories he was to land at la rochelle in the west his allies in the south from aragon and toulouse were to attack from the south and his northern allies from germany flanders and bologna were to attack from the north however john was forced to put off the invasion due to a shortage of disgruntled barons that showed
up for military service this would prove costly as there was a small army on the continent which was actively campaigning against heretics in what was known as the albigensian crusade this army included a man named simon de montfort known as the elder a religious fanatic and father of the infamous simon de montfort heavily involved with the reign of a future king of england he and other commanders were gifted military leaders who had participated in the fourth crusade and they confronted jon's southern allies who had been branded as heretics and defeated them at the battle of
mirai eliminating jon's allies in the south this forced john to split his forces between him who would attack in the west and south and his half-brother william longsword who would attack in the north with his northern allies germany flanders and bologna upon landing john saw initial success confronting and forcing the retreat of simon de montfort's crusading army he continued northeast along the river loire laying siege to and capturing castles and lands along the way which came to include his family seat of onji philip augustus was confronting the northern pincer led by william longsword and was
forced to send his son louis with a small force to confront jon at la omois this was a great opportunity for jon to strike a decisive blow to philip augustus however jon ever suspicious of his barons chose to withdraw instead of engage in battle after hearing rumors of betrayal within his ranks this withdrawal was seen as cowardice and his possessions began simply being abandoned handed over to the french same as was done in 1204. in addition the northern prong had been defeated at the battle of bouvin with many of john's barons being killed or captured
a truce would be reached with the french in september 1214 and this would see the end of john's chances to retake his lands on the continent with much of his wealth acquired in the years leading up to the landing being wasted on this failed attempt the english barons and clergy had had enough of jon's imposition and some of them would now rise up to bring what they saw as a treacherous king to heal [Music] as a great quell of unrest began to fall at john's feet he attempted to do what he did in 1204 when
his lands were initially seized grant gifts give awards and make promises however many of his prior promises had not been kept and much of his wealth had been squandered on the continent making this appeasement difficult if not impossible barons began to refuse taxation and by november of 1214 some had been meeting and threatening war on king john if their demands were not met both the barons and john turned to the pope for guidance with the pope utilizing stephen langton the archbishop of canterbury as his communicator john initially met the rebel barons in january 1215 at
london but he and the barons disagreed and argued in a standoff stalemate situation until negotiations were halted in april both barrons and john readied for war with jon looking to win over the pope by taking the cross and agreeing to go on crusade the barons wrote to the king declaring members of their army as their new military leaders essentially a declaration of civil war the barons seized the capital city of london in may with john retreating to windsor eventually negotiations were opened up and a meeting place was agreed upon it would be at a meadow
along the river thames on the road halfway between london and windsor where four counties converged a place known as runnymede it is said that stephen langton happened to rediscover henry the first coronation charter and this was used as a basis to form a written account of what was expected of john by his subjects and what generally a good king should be doing this document would become known as the great charter of freedoms or in latin magna carta commonly referred to simply today as magna carta this document with over 60 clauses formally and clearly identified the
limitations of john's power it discussed things such as marriage widowhood debt collection taxation lordship over churches the king's army service forest rights prophets of justice trade concerns baronial jurisdiction sheriff powers speedy justice and foreign mercenaries clause 39 and 40 specifically would become perhaps the most famous of the clauses essentially guaranteeing safety from arbitrary accusations judgments and the sale of justice which can roughly be interpreted by today's customs as having the right to a fair trial and freedom for all the document also concluded by stating that 25 barons would be able to make war on the
king should he break any of the promises the interesting thing to note about magna carta is that for all its glorification and praise in the modern era it was an absolute failure in its day barons refused to give back london and the very idea that barons would have control over a divinely anointed king was ridiculous in the minds of many including pope innocent who we must remember was considered the overlord of england after jon had capitulated to him years earlier innocent issued a papal condemnation of magna carta in august with john raising an army of
mercenaries and after 11 weeks of peace post magna carta war simply resumed we must not downplay the significance of magna carta as it would re-arise and be altered in subsequent reigns of future monarchs to be used as a tool to achieve what we know today as our modern rights but to john and his subjects it became meaningless other than representing another instance of john's betrayal john now continued his pursuit of the rebels but he was to find that good fortune would not be on his side john laid siege to rochester castle held by archbishop stephen
langton in october 1215 capturing it in two months and then headed north to capture castles in the north of the country the barons decided that they would rather find a replacement for jon instead of continue to try and work with him they sent word to louis viii son of philip augustus offering him the throne of england louis accepted and claimed the right to rule england through his wife blanche of castile who was john's niece through his older sister eleanor louis landed at sandwich under the observation of john who very well could have attacked louis here
but chose to avoid pitch battle in yet another instance viewed today as hesitance due to cowardice war became widespread in southern england with jon eventually ending up in lincolnshire in the east of the country on october 11th he departed king's lin and attempted to cross the wash which is an estuary on the english east coast connected to the sea and fed by many rivers unfortunately for jon the tide was misread and jon became separated from his baggage train with the baggage train being swallowed by the incoming tide it was reported that a vast amount of
treasure was lost including the crown jewels but exactly what was taken by the sea can't fully be known jon eventually reached swine's head and then moved on to newark on the river trent it was here that he was allegedly fed a meal of peaches and a new cider that had been developed in the area this seems to have brought on a sudden and terrible bout of dysentery of which jon was unable to recover on october 19 1216 at 49 years of age the much despised king john of england died from his sickness his body was
robbed by the members of his household and his intestines removed and buried at nearby croxton abbey his body was carried to worcester cathedral to be buried although it is believed that he wished to be buried at fontefco with his mother father and brother richard but this was not possible due to the fact that the french controlled that area today john's tomb can still be seen at worcester cathedral sword in hand slightly bent some believe in reference to his soft sword nickname louis viii would eventually upset the english nobility and be thrown out of england with
jon's son henry ultimately becoming his heir it is easy to see why the reputation surrounding jon has persisted he was no doubt a failure as a king in almost every aspect military campaign protectorate of onjavan lands king of his people and sovereign lord above all lords however there have been kings both prior to jon's reign and post jon's reign who have been remembered as failures but not to the degree that jon has been remembered many other unpopular kings when looked at critically or impartially weeding through clerical biases and modern revisionism are able to provide some
form of redeeming qualities albeit many times in small doses and sometimes not related to kingship at all but this does not seem to be the case with jon we can no doubt attribute some degree of church bias to how he is remembered along with revised historical tales such as that of robin hood who implanted john as the abject villain centuries after his death but even today those who set out to attempt to partially clear john's name or at least provide some historical clarity for john's shortcomings many times come up short in their attempt to answer
for the transgressions placed at jon's feet jon has had few defenders and this is most likely due to the fact that it is difficult to form a stance from which to defend him perhaps he was a product of his upbringing being the youngest child somewhat forgotten during the wars of his father and brothers absorbing the worst of their qualities and tactics but failing to do the same of their best perhaps there was a certain degree of bad luck or treachery that prevented him from making decisive decisions that could have won him glory instead of branding
him as a coward and perhaps his own treacherous acts of deviants were more commonplace in that time than we'd like to acknowledge this hypothetical pondering however is no doubt a grasp for straws despite being remembered harshly john's reign would no doubt have lasting effects with magna carta perhaps being the greatest although his version not specifically but even this aspect which was to positively benefit humanity in the future were at a cost to john and not to his benefit or credit jon's story will no doubt continue to be remembered perhaps as a historical what not to
do and how not to do it display for future generations sometimes the future can rewrite history to one's benefit but in john's case that remains to be seen for even today people still believe that king john was the epitome of evil the worst king that england has ever seen and that in all reality whether right or wrong will most likely never change you
