The Reign of King John

 

King John succeeded as King of England on the death of his brother Richard I. He had plotted and schemed against Richard and was a man desperate for true power. John was fortunate that Richard took pity on him, placing the blame on John being "just a child", even though at the time of his revolts, John was in fact a full grown man. John did eventually return to the fold and he served the last few years of Richard's reign reasonably loyally. But Richard died unexpectedly in 1199, during a siege, and the opportunity that John had always dreamed of was now right in front of him. One chronicler refers to John as Richard's rightful heir. This is not strictly the case. The actual rightful heir of Richard was his and John's nephew, Arthur of Brittany. Arthur was the son of Geoffrey, Richard and John's brother. Given that Geoffrey was older than John and with both Richard and Geoffrey now dead, the succession should have passed on to Arthur, Geoffrey's heir. However, Arthur was still only a child, aged about 12 at the time of Richard's death. Child monarchs tended to not be very successful and this gave John the opportunity to snatch power. In May 1199, he was crowned King of England. The spectre of Arthur would, however, linger over him.

Given that he had once been known as "Lackland" due to his lack of inheritance from his father Henry II, becoming King of England must have been a remarkable moment for John. Perhaps to show his gratitude to a higher power, one of his first actions as king was to go on Pilgrimage to Canterbury. John had, while Richard I was still alive, requested to annul his marriage to Isabella of Gloucester. Now that he was king this proved to be straightforward and John divorced Isabella soon after his coronation. The news of his divorce did not go down well in Rome and with Pope Innocent III with whom John would have a mixed bag of a relationship with. Soon after John's succession, his nephew Arthur came to visit him and paid homage to John. This seems to indicate that the young Arthur bore no ill will to his uncle. John, though, was rather dismissive of his nephew. Why? Guilty conscience perhaps? Whatever the reason for John wanting Arthur out of his presence was, it proved to be not very sensible. Arthur then duly made his way to the court of the French king Phillip II. Phillip was a cunning man and Arthur was exactly the sort of weapon he could use in his attempts to win back the English held lands in France. John had made his first big mistake of his reign. Phillip, however, was willing to bide his time and in 1200 he made peace with the English king, perhaps to lure John into a false sense of security. John did have the backing of his influential mother Eleanor of Aquitaine who wished to see her son rather than Arthur, her grandson, on the throne.

John's second marriage took place in 1200. This was to another Isabella, of Angouleme. From this marriage, John's heir, the future Henry III, would be produced and John remained married to Isabella until his death in 1216. At the time of their marriage, Isabella was about 12 or 13 and John in his early thirties. In York, John had a falling out with the clergy there after they refused to adhere to a tax he was trying to place upon them. The Archbishop of Canterbury attempted to intercede in the row and he even offered to grant a sum of money to John if the King would reaffirm the liberties that had been granted to the church by Richard I. John, in quite ignorant fashion, rejected the offer out of hand as he deemed the sum of money insufficient. Cursing the clergy, John then travelled to France where, somewhat oddly, he paid 30,000 marks to the French king as part of the peace treaty that had been agreed. It's safe to say, during those particular peace negotiations, John had had a number done on him. John continued to come down hard on the church, this time on the Cistercian monks. He ordered them to remove any animals they had from the Royal forests, otherwise they'd be confiscated. It was only through the intercession of the Archbishop of Canterbury that the growing tension between John and the clergy was eased. 

In 1202, John made his first move of aggression in France, attacking the count of La Marche who had disapproved of John's marriage to Isabella of Anglouleme. John had, just prior to this, extended his peace with King Phillip but this move went strictly against Phillip's orders for John to not attack any of Phillip's nobility. Phillip ordered John to come to him at Paris but John outright refused. From here, John's misfortunes in France begun. Phillip's nobility advised the French King that John should be stripped of his lands because of his act of aggression. Phillip was only too pleased to hear this. Phillip had surely been waiting for his chance to kick the English out of his country and John had given him exactly the right opportunity to do so. He attacked Normandy and other areas, destroying and capturing as he went, and met very little resistance. Phillip also took a moment to knight Arthur and urged the now 16 year old to attack his uncle and he even threatened a castle where his grandmother, Eleanor had been staying. John came to his mother's rescue and captured a large number of Arthur's forces, including Arthur himself. Phillip withdrew temporarily after Arthur's capture. The loss of Arthur would have been a blow to Phillip but John was now the one on the backfoot.

John's response was to fight fire with fire and he caused great destruction at Tours and Le Mans. John then received a petition from Brittany to hand over Arthur to them who was, after all, their Duke. John once again refused and the men in Brittany unsurprisingly rose up in rebellion. Things were fast spiralling out of control for John. Some around John advised the King to be rid of his nephew for good and an order was made for Arthur to be killed. For the time being, it was put off but not for long. Rumours did go round that the Duke had been executed which would have only enraged the Bretons further but the news that Arthur was in fact still alive was circulated quickly to at least slightly appease the rebels. Phillip also joined in the demands for Arthur to be released which John obviously refused. Phillip was still making gains and with less effort than might have been expected. 

In an almost symbolic moment of how the war was going for John, Chateau Gaillard, the awesome castle built by Richard I and almost unconquerable, was lost to Phillip. Matters were growing desperate. And that year of 1203 saw John commit his most hideous deed. There are numerous explanations for Arthur's disappearance but what is certain is he died on the orders of King John and it's possible that he even died at the actual hands of John himself. One story goes that Arthur was murdered by John after the English king had become massively intoxicated. And, after committing this most vile of deeds, John is said to have tied a stone to the young man's body and thrown him in the River Seine. I personally believe it's more likely that John had Arthur executed and buried quietly but it makes very little difference in the eyes of history. 

John's treatment of Arthur, his own nephew, was appalling. Arthur may have sided with the French king but John had pushed him into Phillip's arms by his own arrogance. Arthur also had every right to take John on. He was the rightful king and quite frankly, would probably have done a far better job than John. If John had thought getting rid of Arthur and so a rival claimant to his kingdom would benefit him much, he would be proved wrong. 1202 and 1203 had been bad years for the English King. The following year of 1204 would be altogether worse as John lost his grip on his French possessions altogether. And what's worse for John is that it was entirely his own fault.

1204 was a bad year for King John. First of all, it saw the end of one of the most remarkable lives of any medieval woman. Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife to two kings and mother of another two, had died aged 80. For both her husbands she had been too hot to handle. Firstly for Louis VII of France. Louis was too dull for Eleanor and she was not impressed by his terrible leadership during the disastrous Second Crusade, of which they had both been a part of. Eleanor then initiated their divorce before she married the future Henry II of England, shortly before he became king. Their marriage started well. They produced four male heirs including John, who brought up the rear. But the relationship between Henry and Eleanor declined as Henry began to keep mistresses, much to Eleanor's disgust. In revenge, she might well have had one of Henry's mistresses murdered and then incited her frustrated sons to go into open rebellion against their father. She paid the price for this and she was imprisoned between 1174 until the death of Henry II in 1189. 

She was released upon the succession of her favourite son Richard I. So she now went from rebel to regent and she played a crucial role in the governance of England as Richard spent most of his decade long reign outside of the country. When Richard died during a siege in 1199, Eleanor then backed the claims of her youngest son John over those of her grandson Arthur, who had the more legitimate claim. John had much to be grateful to his mother for and in 1203, he repaid her a little when he rescued her from Arthur's forces. During that rescue mission, he also managed to capture his rival to the crown, Arthur. Eleanor, by this point, was now a very aged woman by the Middle Ages standards. Nearly 80, she took the veil as a nun and retired to a convent, knowing she had little time left. Her death the following year wouldn't have been a surprise to John but it would have taken from him a figure of reassurance and comfort. His reign was now descending into chaos.

Around the time of his mother's passing, John had been attempting to negotiate with Philip II of France. John had sent an impressive group of men including the Archbishop of Canterbury as well as the finest knight of his day William Marshall to try and secure at least a temporary peace. But Philip knew he held the cards. John had shot himself in the foot by attacking the Count of La Marche thus giving Philip the excuse he needed to attack the Angevin Empire. He had made significant gains before he suffered a setback when Arthur had been recaptured by his uncle. Philip pulled back but he remained confident that John's French possessions would soon fall into his grasp. From the peace talks, he demanded that Arthur be released otherwise there'd be no deal. By the time of these peace talks, Arthur had disappeared. The circumstances are mysterious but it seems almost certain John had had his nephew killed. Some even speculate that Arthur's death had been caused by John himself. A story goes that, one night, John had become so intoxicated that he killed Arthur and tied a stone to his corpse and then threw the body into the river Seine. Whether this is true or not is hard to say but John is certainly the reason for Arthur's death. Rumours would have reached Philip about Arthur's fate but, dead or alive, Philip could use the situation to his advantage and he continued to demand Arthur's release.

 The situation in France was now dire for John. Philip took Falaise and then Caen before capturing Barfleur and Cherbourg. John was helpless as the rest of Normandy soon fell to the French king. After Normandy, came the fall of Anjou, Brittany, Maine and Tours . An unmitigated disaster was unfolding before John's eyes and he was powerless to stop it. The ease with which the English possessions in France fell to Philip was almost shocking. 1204 had been a calamitous year for John. In 1205, John decided to invade France and had done so at the encouragement at some of the Nobility in Normandy who were not at all happy with the treatment they were receiving from Phillip. The decision taken by John to reclaim his French possessions was not without it's strong critics. One of those at the forefront of the counter arguments was William Marshall. Several different arguments against the invasion were put forward including that greater disaster could befall John, he could be totally outnumbered by the French king and even that he was leaving England open to a possible invasion. I also think it's quite likely that Marshall seriously doubted John's military capabilities.

. If that was the case, then Marshall was quite right to doubt the English king. Marshall's arguments eventually won the day and John abandoned his plan to go to France. However, this caused a great deal of disgust amongst his men who were furious that the efforts they had made to prepare for the invasion were in vein and on top of this, they were ordered by the king to repay the money he had given them for their troubles. This failed expedition would have left a lot of men out of pocket. Shortly after this fiasco, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Hubert Walter, died. This now led to John falling out with the church and, more seriously, the Pope. Innocent III had given his consent for Stephen Langton to be made the new Archbishop of Canterbury but John refused to acknowledge this appointment. John, demonstrating his total lack of wisdom, then kicked the Monks out of Canterbury Cathedral for supporting Stephen's appointment. Whilst the row with the papacy rumbled, some better news arrived for John and that was the birth of a son and heir in 1207. This baby was to become king aged 9 in 1216 as Henry III.

But the situation with the Church was getting worse and because of John's headstrongedness, the Bishops of London, Chester, Ely and Hereford as well as the Archbishop of York, left the country, disgusted by John's handling of the vacant Archbishopric of Canterbury. John is accused of harassing the church, stealing their lands and property which increasingly infuriated the Pope in Rome. Attempts were made to heal the rift between John and Innocent III but in 1208, John was excommunicated. Church services across England were suspended and, in a time where people had strong religious beliefs, this would have caused a great deal of distress and done absolutely nothing for John's popularity. The excommunication went as far as preventing burials in churches, leaving those who had died to be buried in rather abject places. This failed to have any impact on John and he continued to persecute members of the clergy, forcing some to flee. Even those higher up in the church suffered, Cardinals, who received rent from lands they held, had this seized from them..And it wasn't just the church who suffered under John, it was the entire English populace. Heavy and burdensome taxes were placed, financially crippling many. John is even accused of imprisoning his own queen, Isabella. What is the cause of this tyranny, that John had now descended too? I would believe it has something very much to do with frustration and a feeling of inadequacy. He had been thoroughly defeated by Philip II in France but still harboured hopes of reclaiming and reestablishing the Angevin Empire. The greed that now consumed him was in preparation for another war. The more he could enrich himself, the more a glorious invasion he could hope to launch. In 1210, John hit a new low by persecuting the Jewish community. He blinded some, hanged others and stole their lands and property. At the end of this middle period of his reign, it's clear to see that John was very much on the path to be one of England's worst ever kings. He had failed dismally in France. He had made an enemy of the pope, who was in almost constant communication with him ordering him to refrain from his destructive measures against the Church and people and he had absolutely no moderation in anything he did.

By the year 1210, King John's reign was well and truly headed for disaster. He had alienated a large portion of the population, rich or poor, clergy or layman. His taxes were crippling but failed to justify them by his dismal efforts in France. Even more dangerously for John, he had fallen out with the papacy and found himself excommunicated in 1208. This would have done nothing for his popularity as this meant that church services in England were suspended. The year 1210 is where we pick up the story from where i left off previously in part three. 1210 started, predictably, with another scandal for the king. As i mentioned towards the end of part three, John decided to extort from the Jewish community, by blinding and executing innocent people and seizing their property. His behaviour was absolutely diabolical. Whilst rough treatment from the monarchy was not exactly unheard for the Jews in medieval England, John had left them with little choice and a large number of the Jewish community fled the country altogether.

 That same year of 1210, John diverted an army he had gathered , funded in no small part through his burdensome taxes, from sailing to France and instead sailed for Ireland where trouble had been brewing. When John arrived to restore order and impose his laws on the Irish, he faced stiff resistance but was ultimately successful and he returned to England. John then attempted to resolve the dispute with Stephen Langton, the man who had been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Innocent III. Stephen was currently in France when he received messages from the English king to come to Dover to discuss the situation. Stephen seemed willing to meet the king and indeed made preparations for his journey across the Channel but tellingly, he was warned by nobles not to make the trip. This gives a big indication as to how little John was now regarded by his nobility. They fully expected him to ensnare Stephen in some kind of trap. The nobles fully doubted John's willingness to accept Stephen as Archbishop as his pride would certainly stand in the way of accepting an appointment that hadn't been made by John.himself.

John's reign wasn't without it's successes. As i mentioned, he had subdued trouble in Ireland and in 1211, he brought the Welsh into line as well. The situation between England's neighbours in the North, Scotland, and in the west, Wales and Ireland, was for now relatively stable. But the calm in Scotland didn't last. The Scottish king, William The Lion, now an old man of approaching 70, was driven from his kingdom, along with his queen, Ermengarde. William arrived at the court of King John seeking his aid in restoring William to the Scottish throne. William paid homage to John who knighted him in return and they marched North. The leader of the rebels who had driven William out of Scotland was captured and hanged. In return for John's assistance, John's daughter was betrothed to William's son and successor, the soon to be Alexander II.

bBut after this apparent success in the north, John then had bad news from Wales. After being absolved by Innocent III from any oaths they had sworn to John after his previous successful military expedition into Wales, the Welsh became emboldened and attacked John's lands. Furious, John executed Welsh hostages he had taken as part of the peace agreements but was then defeated in battle. To compound matters, word then got back to the king that the nobility was conspiring against him. There was growing unrest and an increasing desire for John to be deposed. Rather than attempting to appease the nobles, John went on the attack. Increasingly paranoid, John took a large force of men wherever he went and started to attack and capture castles held by the barons who were plotting against him. A certain Eustace De Vesci headed to Scotland whilst Robert Fitzwalter sailed for France. Their properties were immediately seized and Fitzwalter's Castle Baynard in London was demolished, The situation was becoming increasingly dire.Perhaps in a attempt to win some favour, John ordered restraint from his officials who collected the taxes and ordered them to adhere to those that had been imposed by Henry II. 13 years into his reign, John had finally made an effort to keep his taxes reasonable. John then turned his attentions to his dispute with the pope. He received a confirmation from the church as to their grievances against John and what he had taken from them. John, through hook or by crook, had managed to reduce the church's demands significantly and now he sent messengers to Innocent. By handing back to the church at least a portion of which he had unrightfully taken, John hoped he could now win back the favour of the pope. In 1213, matters took a dire turn for John. Innocent III, still not placated by John's feeble efforts to get back in his favour, wrote to Phillip II of France. Phillip was John's erstwhile enemy and stood in complete contrast to his English counterpart. Opportunistic but a canny and wily operator and he was only too willing to accept Innocent's offer to depose John from his throne. Phillip had already ripped apart the empire built up by John's father and now he could even be about to kick John off the throne altogether,,
The threat was very real and John knew it all too well. He gathered all the men he could to guard the ports in case of a French invasion. He even took to bribing the poorest men in the kingdom to join his forces. But just in the nick of time for John, a peace agreement was reached wit the pope. He had returned to the fold of Innocent III. Things seemed to have dramatically improved  for John and he even defeated Phillip II in a sea battle. In the summer of 1213, Stephen Langton finally returned to England where he made peace with John. Had the king seen the error of his ways? It could certainly have been hoped that he had. In 1214, John took the attack back to Phillip. The successes of the previous year had evidently empowered him. John made significant gains at Poitou before he made a pact with the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV and also the count of Flanders.after the count had lost his territory to the French king. John now must have thought the opportunity to reestablish the lost Angevin empire had finally come. But it wasn't to be. It was a total triumph for Philip who crushed the Allied forces at Bouvines and effectively ended further efforts John could make in France, such was the damage done to his forces. He now had to turn his attention back to England where the nobility were less than happy with him.

In 1215, the barons presented John with Magna Carta. They simply had had enough of John's rule. For over a decade and a half of his reign, he had afflicted them with crippling taxation and had nothing to show for it. He had lost all the lands held in France, making England as a country significantly poorer. Previous disputes had forced earls and barons to flee the country. On one occasion, a member of the nobility had escaped John's clutches but his wife and son hadn't. John starved the unfortunate mother and son to death. To boot, England had spent years in excommunication; this would have been highly troubling for rich and poor in a highly religious age. The fact of the matter was, John's reign could not continue as it was. John though did not take kindly to this charter that sought to protect the individual rights of men and he attempted to fob the nobles off. Eventually, it became clear that tensions were rising to such a point that civil war was imminent. Around Easter of 1215, a band of nobles gathered together in the north. Among them was one Robert Fitzwalter, the man who had felt obliged to go into exile just a couple of years earlier. Once again John had failed to realise he could have cooled the situation down with a more pacifying tone. But, frankly, he seems to have been too daft to do that. It was only through the cooler heads of people like William Marshall and Archbishop Stephen Langton, that John began to see sense and he finally put his seal on Magna Carta in the summer of 1215. The strength of the nobles army was growing all the time and putting the king into rapid retreat. After the charter had been sealed and sent into circulation around England, John then restored order, bringing an end to sieges of noble held castles and handing back property he had wrongfully seized.

However, the peace in John's reign didn't last. The king was aware, despite the charter being sealed, that there was a number of influential men who wanted him deposed and it wasn't long before hostilities were renewed. And again, John was on the backfoot and found himself besieged. This time, the barons had truly had enough of John and declared him deposed. In his stead, they elected Prince Louis of France, who obliged by invading England in the middle of 1216. Louis made significant ground quickly. He captured Winchester and was paid homage to by more and more of the nobility and also by Alexander II of Scotland. But Louis's efforts would ultimately prove in vain. John, by this point, must have been a weary man. Battered by all sides, he eventually died of dysentery in October 1216. So ended a remarkable man. Fleeting moments of success militarily were overshadowed by an overwhelming number of disasters. He completely lost the Angevin empire in the first years of his reign before Bouvines had put paid to any hopes of John gaining his lands back. Philip had completely dominated him and John's nobles knew it. The price they had to pay for John's rule was too much to bare. To invite a foreign invasion is a remarkable act of desperation and a damning indictment of the reign of King John.