King John I of ENGLAND, KING

                          King John took the throne upon the death of his brother King RichardI in 1199. There are quite a number of ironies connected with the reignof John, for during his reign all the vast Plantagenet possessions inFrance except Gascony were lost.  From now on, the House of Anjou wasseparated from its links with its homeland, and the Crown of Englandeventually could concern itself solely with running its own affairs, freefrom Continental intrigue.  But that was later.  In the meantime, John'smishandling of his responsibilities at home led to increased baronialresistance and to the great concessions of the Magna Carta, hailed as oneof the greatest developments in human rights in history and the precursorof the United States Bill of Rights.  It was also in John's reign thatthe first income tax was levied in England.  In an attempt to recover hislost lands in France, John introduced his tax of one thirteenth on incomefrom rents and moveable property, to be collected by the sheriffs. To befair to the unfortunate John, his English Kingdom had been drained of itswealth for Richard's wars in France and the Crusade as well as theexorbitant ransom.  His own resources were insufficient to overcome theproblems he thus inherited.  He also lacked the military abilities of hisbrother.  It has been said that John could win a battle in a suddendisplay of energy, but then fritter away any advantage gained in a spellof indolence.  More than one historian wrote of John as having the mentalabilities of a great King, but the inclinations of a petty tyrant.  Johnalienated his vassals in Aquitaine by divorcing his first wife, Isabellaof Gloucester (who had failed to give him a son and heir), and taking ashis second wife the teenage daughter of the Count of Angouleme, apolitical move that brought him no gain.  The young woman was alreadybetrothed to Hugh of Lusignan and Poitou, and John was summoned to appearbefore King Philip ll his nominal overlord in France.  After all hislands in France were forfeited for his refusal to appear, John seized theinitiative, marched to Poitier, seized young Arthur, and released Eleanorof Aquitaine, who was held captive.  He then threw everything away byreleasing the most dangerous of his prisoners, who continued the revoltagainst him and worse, he had Arthur of Bretagne killed.  When Arthur wasmurdered, it was the end for John's hopes in France.  The act alienatedjust about everybody, and Philip now pressed home his advantage.  TheKing of England's ineptitude and lack of support, despite winning somevictories in some provinces, eventually caused him to flee across theChannel, never to return.  It was the greatest reverse suffered by theEnglish Crown since the Battle of Hastings in 1066.  When John reachedEngland, the only French lands left to him, apart from Gascony, was theChannel Islands.  Philip had not been the only one to be upset by John'srepudiation of Isabella.  The English barons were also indignant.  Theyhad begun to lose confidence in their feudal lord.  After Richard'sdeath, they had little faith in a victory over the King of France andbecame weary of fighting John's wars, deserting him in droves.  When Johnbegan to direct his attention to matters in England, he was unable togain their confidence.  William the Lion of Scotland seized theopportunity to reassert his country's claim to Northumberland andCumberland, though his age and lack of allies prevented him fromachieving his aims.  John's greatest problems, apart from the mistrust ofhis barons, lay not with Scotland, but with the Church of Rome, now undera strong and determined Pope, Innocent lll.
Innocent, Pope from 1198 to 1216 was the first to style himself "Vicar ofChrist."  He proved to be a formidable adversary to the English King.Their major dispute came over the appointment of the new Archbishop ofCanterbury at the death of Hubert Walter in 1205.  John refused to acceptStephen Langton, an Englishman active in the papal court at Rome.  He waspunished by the Interdict of 1208, and for the next five years, Englishpriests were forbidden from administering the sacraments, even fromburying the dead.  Most of the bishops left the country.  York had beenwithout an Archbishop since 1207 when John's half brother Geoffrey hadfled to the continent after a quarrel over church taxes.  In 1209,Innocent excommunicated John, who was eventually forced to submit byaccepting Langton as his primary Church leader.  Not only that, but hehad to place England under the direct overlordship of the papacy, and itwas this humiliation that completely destroyed his politicalcredibility.  In the meantime, however, John had successfully dealt withthe problem of Ireland.  The King had already been in Ireland, sent byhis father to try to complete Henry's plans to bring the feuding Irishchiefs and independent Norman lords to order.  He had failed miserably,and the behavior of his undisciplined troops quickly led to hisignominious withdrawal from that troubled land.  The campaign of 1210 wasmore successful.  Many Anglo-Norman lords had consolidated majorlandholdings and were in defiance of royal authority.  John's efforts tobring them to heel proved to be one of the few successes of hisseventeen-year reign.  He allied himself with the Irish chiefs, and withtheir help was able to dispossess the powerful Walter and Hugh of Lacy.He placed the royal Justiciar in charge of Ireland and had castles builtat Carrickfergus and Dublin to strengthen English control over thecountry.  It was time for the king of England to turn back to France.  In1212, John's plans to re-conquer his former French possessions led to therevolt of his barons.  His request for money and arms was the flashpoint.  When the northern barons refused to help, John took an army topunish the rebels.  Only Langton's intervention effected areconciliation.  The expedition to Poitou then proceeded, but ended intotal failure with the defeat by Philip at Bouvines.  His continueddisregard of feudal law and customs, allied to the disgrace of the defeatin France and loss of lands, were now seized on by the majority ofEnglish barons who presented their grievances at Runnymede, on June 15,1215.  The Magna Carta, the "Great Charter" was something of acompromise, a treaty of peace between John and his rebellious barons,whose chief grievance was that of punishment without trial.  ArchbishopLangton drew up the grievances into a form of statements that constitutea complex document of 63 clauses.  Though John's signature meant thatbaronial grievances were to be remedied, in later years, the charterbecame almost a manifesto of royal powers.  In fact, for the next 450years, even though John reluctantly signed the charter, all subsequentrulers of England fundamentally disagreed with its principles.  Theypreferred to see themselves as the source of all laws and thus above thelaw.  For posterity, however, the two most important clauses were 39,which states that no one should be imprisoned without trial and 40, whichstates that no one could buy or deny justice.  Also of particularinterest is the provision that taxes henceforth could not be leviedexcept with the agreement of leading churchmen and barons at a meeting towhich 40 days notice was to be given.  In addition, restrictions wereplaced on the powers of the king's local officials to prevent them fromabusing their financial, administrative and judicial powers.  Weights andmeasures were regulated, the safety of merchants ensured and theprivileges of the citizens of London were confirmed.  The most lastingeffect of the somewhat vague conditions of the Magna Carta was theupholding of individual rights against arbitrary government.
Baronial rebellion in England was not crushed by the provisions signed atRunnymede.  John spent the rest of his reign marching back and forthtrying to stamp out opposition that was led by Prince Louis of France,son of Philip ll, but achieving little.  One persistent legend is that helost all his baggage train, including the Crown jewels in the marshy areaknown as the Wash in the county of Norfolk.  The angry and frustratedking died in October 1216.  His burial at Worcester, however, showed thatthe center of Plantagenet rule was now firmly established in England, andnot France (both Henry ll and Richard l had been buried in Anjou).  KingJohn was buried in Worcester Cathedral near the Saints Oswald andWulfstan, Saints that he revered in life.[Copy of Current.FTW]

Alias: /"Lackland"/