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.
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| King John his tomb 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 …
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| 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'
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| 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
Positive Letters International Stories
