Frankly … King John (1166 – 1216) was mostly bad … I'm not sure I can find much good to say about him after his early years, when he was doted on by his father, King Henry II and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine.
King John histomb effigy
He was awful … other kings were as incompetent (Edward II (1307 - 1327)), or perhaps as cruel (Richard III (1483 - 1485)), but in the eyes of his contemporaries John appears to have been uniquely both.
Yet his disastrous and bloody reign led to one of the most famous documents in history: Magna Carta.
Magna Carta - perhaps you can read it?!... part of it ...
To save you the history lesson … and me to make it short enough to be entertaining … perhaps this all you need to know …
Rous Roll depicting Richard III(c/o John Rous)
John was not in any way diplomatic … alienating many, cruelly leaving others to die, sometimes killing many others …
… his reign as King of England was a failure … although some historians have tried to paint a more positive picture of John, but this is hard to do when one recalls his deeds as monarch:
the murder in France of his young nephew, Arthur;
the English lands lost to the French;
the starvation of a mother and her young son;
the submission of his kingdom as a fief to the papacy;
his blatant adultery;
his cowardly retreat from combat;
the taxation that finally pushed the country into open rebellion; and after his death ...
leaving London and one-third of the country under French rule.
To somewhat confirm the above - here are a couple of quotes recorded in history …
Gerald of Wales:
'He Feared Not God, Nor Respected Men'.
The Barnwell annalist:
'A Pillager of his own People'
King John ratifying Magna Carta in 1215
Yet from his reign came one of the greatest legacies – Magna Carta … it might have been forced upon him as a damning verdict of his rule, but it has endured as a global symbol of political rights and freedom …
Hilary Melton-Butcher
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