A Plantagenet, King John was the King of England from 1199 untilhis death in 1216.JOHN, LACKLAND(King from 1199-1216 AD)John was born on Christmas Eve 1167, the youngest son of HenryII and Eleanor of Aquitane. His parents drifted apart after hisbirth, and his youth was divided between his eldest brother'shouse where he learned the art of knighthood, and the house ofhis father's justiciar, Ranulf Glanvil, where he learned thebusiness of government. As the fourth child, inherited landswere not available to him, giving rise to his nickname,Lackland. His first marriage, to Isabel of Gloucester, lastedbut ten years and was fruitless; Isabella of Angouleme, hissecond wife, bore him two sons ( Henry and Richard) and threedaughters (Joan, Isabella, and Eleanor). He also had anillegitimate daughter, also named Joan, who married Llywelyn theGreat, Ruler of All Wales , from which the Tudor line ofmonarchs was descended.The Angevin family feuds left quite a mark on John - he provedhis betrayal to both his father and his brother Richard . He andRichard clashed in 1184 when the elder refused to turn Aquitaneover to the younger brother, as dictated by Henry II. Thefollowing year Henry sent John to rule Ireland, but Johnalienated the native Irish and the transplanted Anglo-Normanswho emigrated to carve out new lordships for themselves; theexperiment was a total failure, and John returned home withinsix months. Richard, after acceding to the throne in 1189, gaveJohn vast estates to appease his younger brother, but to noavail. He tried to overthrow Richard's administrators during theGerman captivity, but failed. He conspired with Philip II inanother attempt, which again failed. Upon Richard's release in1194, John was forced to sue for pardon, and spent the next fiveyears in his brother's shadow, staying out of trouble longenough to be named heir to the crown.John's reign was full of trouble. A quarrel with the Churchresulted in England being placed under an interdict in 1207,with John excommunicated two years later. The dispute, centeredaround John's refusal to install the papal candidate, StephenLangdon, as Archbishop of Canterbury, and was not resolved untilJohn surrendered to the wishes of Innocent III, one of thegreatest medieval popes.A succession dispute with his nephew, Arthur of Brittany,ultimately resulted in the loss French territories, as theking's French vassals preferred Arthur. By Spring 1205, John hadcrossed the Channel back into England as the last of his Frenchpossessions fell out of his hands. From 1206 to the end of hisreign, John was preoccupied with regaining these territories,levying a number of new taxes upon the landed barons to pay forhis campaigns. This would have been satisfactory had John beenwinning battles, but he was continually trounced by the French.The discontented rebel barons revolted, capturing London in May1215. In June, at Runnymeade, John met with the barons andsigned the Magna Carta, a feudal rights document stressing threepoints: 1) the Church was free to make its own appointments, 2)no more than the normal amounts of money could be collected torun the government, unless the king's feudal tenants gave theircontent, and 3) no freeman was to be punished except in concertwith the common law. This document proved to be the forerunnerof modern constitutions. John signed the document as a means ofbuying time, and failed to keep his word. The nobility calledfor French assistance, and John died in the midst of aninvasion.John was remembered in elegant fashion by Sir Richard Baker in AChronicle of the Kings of England : "...his works of piety werevery many ... as far his actions, he neither came to the crownby justice, nor held it with any honour, nor left it peace."John's treacherous nature was the cause of the greatest loss ofEnglish continental territory until Hundred Years' War(1337-1453). r175