| Notes |
John was the youngest of Henry II's sons, and when Henry divided his l
and amongst his children, John was slighted. Hence, John would earn th
e nickname "Lackland". By the time of Richard's coronation, it was no
t true any longer. John was count of Mortain, Earl of Gloucester and L
ord of Ireland. Richard had left him in charge of many counties, inclu
ding Nottinghamshire. However, even at this time John was plotting. W
hen Richard was dying in 1199, he named John his heir. There was som
e dispute over the succession. While David, Earl of Huntingdon oppose
d John's supporters in 1194, he did support John as king. Unfortunatel
y, the people of Anjou did not. They supported Arthur of Brittany, so
of John's late older brother Geoffrey. Arthur caused trouble for Joh
including imprisoning Eleanor of Aquitaine. On August 1, 1202, Joh
defeated Arthur and Mirebeau and rescued his mother. Arthur was impr
isoned. Some say John called for Prince Arthur's castration. And altho
ugh it's never been completely resolved, it's likely King John had hi
s nephew murdered. His shabby treatment of Arthur drove Anjou into th
e hands of King Philip of France. John lost most of his lands in Franc
e. To fight the French, John had to raise the first income tax. Althou
gh he did win some battles, Normandy was eventually lost. His failur
e in battle earned John the nickname "Softsword". John told his lord
s that they could not serve two masters. They should either claim thei
English lands or their Normans ones, not both. For his defeats on th
e battlefield, John is sometimes considered the first English king aft
er 1066. King John argued with his monks over who should be the archb
ishop of Canterbury. Pope Innocent III disagreed with both groups an
d chose his own candidate, Stephen Langton, in 1207. John wouldn't le
t the archbishop into England. The conflict escalated. In 1208, the po
pe slapped an Interdict on England. Virtually no church services coul
d be performed. Later King John was excommunicated. Finally the king s
urrendered England as a vassal state to the pope in 1213 in exchange f
or papal support against the barons. While at Nottingham in 1212, Joh
learned of a plot to assassinate him. One of the suspected plotter
s was the Earl of Huntingdon. Another baron, Robert FitzWalter, was ex
iled for his role in the affair. In English legend, Fitzwalter is know
as the father of Matilda. In history, Fitzwalter is better known a
s one of the leaders of the Baronial rebellion. In 1215, King John wa
s forced to sign a charter that would become known as Magna Carta. Dur
ing this rebellion, supporters of the king seized the lands belongin
g to the Earl of Huntingdon. One of John's supporters was Philip Mark
, the sheriff of Nottinghamshire. In 1216, the uprising returned. Man
y of the barons looked to France for support. Meanwhile, King John los
t the crown jewels when his baggage train overturned in the Wellstrea
m (aka "in the Wash"). Not long after, John died from dysentry at Newa
k in Nottinghamshire. King John was a capable administrator, an avi
d reader, had an interest in law, and he travelled all across Englan
d and knew the language. He visited Nottingham on many occasions, an
d his favourite hunting lodge was Clipstone in Sherwood Forest. In th
e reign of Henry VIII, he was portrayed as a hero for arguing with th
e pope. Unfortunately, the 13th century monks were the ones who firs
t wrote John's history. And needless to say, they were annoyed about t
he Interdict among other things. They probably exaggerated the king'
s faults. But John did have a terrible temper (like his father and bro
ther), he could be autocratic, and John turned friends into enemies. E
ven the famous supporter of the monarchy William Marshall broke fait
h with John for a time. (Getting the Marshall to turn against his kin
g was quite a feat, but John managed it.) And then there's his lechery
... Source: Wright, Allen W., The Search For A Real Robin Hood
; http://www.boldoutlaw.com/realrob/, accessed 29 May 2009
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1166 - 1216 (49 years)
