The New International Encyclopædia/John (King of England)

​JOHN (c.1167–1216). King of England from 1199 to 1216. He was the youngest son of Henry II. by his wife, Eleanor of Guienne, and was born probably on December 24, 1167. His father called him ‘Lackland’ early, probably, because Henry had divided his dominions among his elder sons, and thus left John without a portion. John was appointed in a council, held at Oxford in 1177, King of Ireland, and in April, 1185, he went over to take the reins of government, but ruled so badly that he was recalled the following September. John united with his brothers in their repeated rebellions against their father, and it was the sudden communication of the news of his having joined his brother Richard’s uprising that caused the death of Henry. When Richard I. succeeded to the crown, he conferred upon his young brother earldoms which amounted to nearly one-third of the Kingdom. This did not, however, prevent John from endeavoring to seize the crown during Richard’s captivity. John was, nevertheless, pardoned on Richard’s return and treated with great clemency, and is said to have been designated by his brother on his deathbed as his successor. John hastened, at his brother’s death, to obtain the support of the Continental barons, and then returned to England, being crowned at Westminster May 27, 1199. Arthur (q.v.), the son of his elder brother Geoffrey, was, according to modern laws of heredity, the lawful heir to the crown, but at this time the rules of succession to the crown were still imperfect. The claims of Arthur were supported by the King of France, but John bought off the latter’s influence. In 1200 he obtained a divorce from his first wife, Avice of Gloucester, and married Isabella of Angoulême, who was betrothed to Hugh le Brun, son of Hugh, Count of La Marche, one of his vassals. In revenge Le Brun stirred up the nobles of Poitou against him, and embraced the cause of young Arthur. In the war which ensued, Arthur, who was again assisted by France, was taken prisoner, and confined in the Castle of Rouen, where, according to tradition, he was put to death. As a result of the war, the English monarch lost to Philip Augustus of France Normandy, Touraine, Maine, Anjou, and Poitou. In 1207 John quarreled with the Pope concerning the appointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury, and, as a result, the Kingdom was placed under an interdict in 1208; John in return confiscated the property of the clergy who obeyed the interdict, and banished the bishops. He also compelled William, King of Scotland, who had joined his enemies, to do him homage (1209), put down a rebellion in Ireland (1210), and subdued Llewelyn, the independent Prince of Wales (1211). The Pope, in 1212, solemnly deposed John, and absolved his subjects from their allegiance, and commissioned Philip Augustus of France to execute his sentence. John, denounced by the Church, and hated for his cruelty and tyranny by his subjects, found his position untenable, and was compelled, in 1213, to make abject submission to Rome, and to hold his kingdom as a fief of the Papacy. Philip Augustus, nevertheless, proceeded with his scheme of invasion, though no longer approved by Rome; but the French fleet was totally defeated in the harbor of Damme. Subsequent events, however, proved more favorable to France, and John’s strength was crushed in 1214 by the defeat at Bouvines (q.v.). At length the English barons saw the opportunity to end the tyranny of John; they drew up a petition demanding the redress of abuses in the government and the administration of justice and the issuance of a charter of liberties modeled on that of Henry I. This was rejected by the King, and became the signal for war. The army of the barons assembled at Stamford and marched to London; they met the King at Runnymede, and on June 15, 1215, was signed the great charter, Magna Charta (q.v.), the basis of the English Constitution. The Pope soon after annulled the charter, and the war broke out again. The barons now called over the Dauphin of France to be their leader, and Louis landed near Sandwich, May 21, 1216. In crossing the Welland John lost his regalia and treasures and part of his baggage and army. He was taken ill, and died at Newark Castle October 19, 1216. Consult: Norgate, England Under the Angevin Kings (London, 1887); Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, vol. i. (6th ed., Oxford, 1897); Pauli, Geschichte von England, vol iii. (Hamburg, 1853); Norgate, John Lackland (New York, 1902).