John's nickname was John Lackland, or as the French called him Jean Sans Terre.

 

John's Famous Family

John's father was  Henry II. His mother was the beautiful and smart  Eleanor of Aquitaine, who by the way was brilliantly depicted by the great Katherine Hepburn in the movie  The Lion in Winter.

Back to John.

Henry and Eleanor had five sons and three daughters.

The oldest son was William who died at age three. Henry Jr. was son number two. Son number three was John's very famous brother  Richard the Lionheart. Number four was  Geoffrey. John was his parents' youngest son and his father's favorite.

John's sisters were Matilda, Eleanor Jr., and Joan.

John's mother Eleanor was married once before — to Louis VII. The marriage was annulled in the year 1152. Eleanor and Louis had two daughters.

 

1167 - 1188

It was the year 1173. John was 16 years old. John's father had it all figured out. His favorite son would marry the daughter of Humbert III, count of Maurienne (Savoy), which would mean lots of lands for John. Unfortunately for John, the marriage proposal didn't sit right with John's elder brothers, a greedy bunch. The brothers started a rebellion during the years 1173 - 1174.

See also the Anglo-Norman Rebellion of 1173

This marriage was off and father Henry arranged another marriage via which John would become the Earl of Gloucester.

In 1177, John was given the lordship of Ireland. John went and visited Ireland in April 1185 and stayed until late 1185. While in Ireland, John partied the house down, which didn't help his reputation.

Father Henry kept preferring son John. John's brother Richard was finally fed up with it and raised serious stink. John, son of a smart mother, figured that father Henry would probably kick the bucket fairly soon. So John made friends with Richard and turned against his father.

 

1189 - 1199

Richard became king after the death of his father in 1189. Richard was very generous towards his brother John. He made him Count of Mortain, France, and gave him lands and revenues in England.

MAP LOCATION OF MORTAIN, FRANCE

As it had already been arranged by his father, John now married Isabella, heiress to the earldom of Gloucester.

Richard was no fool. When he was fixing to go on  crusade, he made his brother John promise not to enter England while he was away. John promised and kept his word. That is, until October 1190, when Richard announced that their nephew  Arthur I, son of their late brother  Geoffrey, would be successor to the throne.

This ticked John off and he returned to England in order to kick butt and take names.

During Richard's absence (1190 - 1191),  William Longchamp and  Hugh de Puiset were entrusted with the running of the country. William soon managed to get rid of Hugh. William was loyal to Richard, but he was a Frenchman.

John thought this was an opportune time to convince the English citizens that he, John, should become king. Now.

Thus, in 1191, John declared himself ruler. Many people, however, kept their loyalty to Richard and disliked John's presumptuous actions. In addition, clever and powerful mother Eleanor wished to see her son Richard on the throne, rather than her son John.

In January 1193, John received news that Richard, on his way back from the crusade, had been imprisoned in Germany by Holy German Emperor  Henry VI. John thought that was excellent news and teamed up with French King  Philip II to get some backup to take over the throne for good.

But easier planned than done. Richard's loyal supporters forced John to accept a truce in April 1193.

John continued scheming with Philip. On paper, they divided Richard's belongings amongst each other, just in case something actually should happen to Richard, God forbid. To make sure it would, they were also planning a rebellion in England.

When Richard came back to England in early 1194, he issued John a one-way ticked into exile and all his lands were confiscated. John apologized to Richard and, amazingly enough, Richard forgave him. By May 1194, the brothers were best friends again. Richard gave John back some of his estates including Mortain and Ireland.

But there was still the nephew Arthur issue that John wanted to be taken care of. And solved it got. In 1196, the Brits handed Arthur over to Philip II of France. Dungeon storage optional. Richard announced that John would be his successor, Arthur who?

 

King of England 1199 - 1216

Richard died in April 1199 and John became king of England. Finally. But not undisputed. The people weren't blind and some thought that Arthur had been dealt a foul hand.

Greedy Philip II of France decided there was potentially some money to be made with his prisoner, Arthur. Philip switched game plans and loyalties, turned against John, voted for Arthur as English ruler, and organized a propaganda campaign accordingly. In Anjou and Maine everybody was convinced that Arthur was the rightful king of England. Death to John.

A year down the road:

The Treaty of Le Goulet between the supporters of Arthur and the supporters of John established that John could be Richard's successor and rightful owner of all of Richard's lands in France if John would pay money and give several estates to Philip.

John complied and things calmed down for the moment.

No, not really.

 

War With the French 1201 - 1206

John equally alienated the English and the French. How does one accomplish this? Let's learn from John. He got rid of his first wife (1199), a girl from England, in favor of his second wife (1200), a girl from France.

The English thought that was as extremely unpatriotic as it was tasteless. But why did it alienate the French as well? Because the new girl, Isabella, was the heiress to Angoulême and she had been already promised to Frenchman Hugh IX de Lusignan. Well done, John.

Now, the Angoulemes and the Lusignans couldn't stand each other. Both families were living in the county of Poitou, France, where John was screwing things up even further my meddling in local politics.

Therefore, the result of John's second marriage was that the Lusignans revolted. The year? 1201. The people complained to Philip II, who ordered John to come by and explain himself. John did not pay the ordered visit.

War ensued between England and France.

At Mirebeau in August 1202, John captured Arthur, and the latter found himself murdered by 1203.

In 1204, John lost Normandy and by 1206 John had lost Anjoy, Maine, and parts of Poitou as well. Only Aquitaine and a piece of Poitou were still his.

Why did France win this war? Because they had all the resources and England and Normandy didn't.

 

Trouble With the Church

During the war, in the year 1205, things started going downhill at home, as well. Hubert Walter, chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury, died. So far not a problem but what followed wasn't pretty:

Hubert Walter needed a successor. John was ready to pick one but  Pope Innocent III wanted to pick one himself. The Pope had Stephen Langton in mind and in December 1206 he got Stephen the job.

John took this personally and didn't accept Langton. In turn, the Pope took John's disobedience personally and in November 1209 John was fired from Church, excommunicated.

That did the trick. John gave in and in November 1212 John accepted Langton and the Pope's terms.

The terms in question were pretty harsh, by the way. John had to surrender his kingdom to the Pope, which he did on May 15, 1213, at Ewell, near Dover. The Pope, a smart businessman, let John continue to rule as a vassal for 1,000 marks per year.

John paid up and his excommunication was undone by, of all people, Mr. Langton in July 1213. Keeps one nice and humble.

Why would John go through all of this? Because the papacy was an important ally. The political situation of the day was this: John wanted his lands in France back, the French were toying with the idea of invading England, and John's barons had become pretty ruthless lately. John couldn't afford to alienate the powerful Church as well. So he played along.

 

Another French Campaign

With the Church problems under control and the Pope appeased, John was ready to show the French. He allied with Otto IV, who was Holy Roman emperor and son of John's sister Matilda. John landed at La Rochelle in February 1214. But he couldn't pull it off. Nephew Otto was defeated by French Philip at Bouvines in 1214.

John had to accept a truce and returned to England in October 1214, where a lot of his barons were discontented and complaining about John's unreliable style of ruling. The barons demanded some concessions. John and his barons negotiated all they could and each side appealed to the Pope. It didn't help. No agreement could be reached.

 

Magna Carta 1215

In May 1215 civil war broke out and in June an agreement,  Magna Carta, was sealed by the king. Right after sealing the document, John appealed to the Pope against it. Pope Innocent took John's side and, once again, civil war ensued.

John captured Rochester castle and showed who was boss in the country. Meanwhile, the barons asked  Prince Louis of France to come over for a raid. What would be in it for Louis? The English throne was promised to him.

But all of a sudden John died and, surprisingly, all the contempt for his rule with him. Now the barons preferred for a fellow Brit to rule.  Henry III, John's son, was good and ready to go. French Louis was paid some cash under the table. Thanks for the support and goodwill was mumbled, and Louis moved on.

 

Controversy

Historians comment that John didn't have quite as many enemies during his lifetime as some future historians, for example  Roger of Wendover and  Matthew of Paris, wanted people to believe. They say that many prominent barons actually fought on John's side.

 

Trivia

John could be one cruel puppy. There was a certain baron whose guts John hated with a vengeance. A la mafia, John arranged for that baron's wife, Matilda de Braose, also called Maud de Braose, and their son to be imprisoned and starved to death.

 

... and here is the kicker

Historians say that John was a brilliant executive. Moreover, they say that fair treatment of his subjects was extremely important to him. He ruled with absolute powers over rich and poor, which wasn't much appreciated by the rich who were used to preferred handling. Remember that the barons were the ones who made John sign the Magna Carta, not the peasants.

John was the good guy all along. Ohmygosh.

 

See also the chart  Governments of Britain.