Pope Innocent IIīack in England, King John may not have been talentless but he was certainly managing to make himself one of the most unpopular kings in English history. It is perhaps not a coincidence that these chroniclers were men of the cloth, and the medieval Church was the next enemy to be made by the king. Clearly, the medieval chroniclers who painted a dark picture of an evil and useless king were not quite telling the whole story. John gained another impressive victory against the troublesome Welsh prince Llywelyn of Gwynedd, aka Llywelyn the Great (r. Then he quashed the Irish rebellion of 1210 CE, infamously capturing the wife and eldest son of the rebellious baron William de Briouze and seemingly then allowing them to starve to death in captivity in Windsor Castle. 1165-1214 CE) into the north of England and forced him to accept John as his feudal overlord in September 1209 CE. He resisted the incursions of William the Lion, king of Scotland (r. This was perhaps a little unfair as John did manage to do some things right. The blow was one of prestige as well as territory, the king henceforward earning another derogatory nickname, 'John Softsword'. This treachery cost John the support of many French barons, and with it all the English king's lands north of the Loire River by 1206 CE. John responded by sending an army but then once again spoiled relationships in 1203 CE by killing his 17-year old nephew Prince Arthur, the son of the late Geoffrey, Count of Brittany (1158-1186 CE), whom he saw as a threat with his claim to the English throne (which Philip II supported). Philip confiscated all of the territory in France then held by the English crown (John, like his Norman predecessors, was also the Duke of Normandy). This second attachment proved troublesome for the English king since the second Isabella had been previously promised to a French count, Hugh de Lusignan, and so Philip II of France took exception to the wedding. John had married Isabella of Gloucester on 29 August 1189 CE and, obviously partial to the name, married Isabella of Angouleme (a county in Aquitaine) after his first marriage was annulled on 24 August 1200 CE. Hit by an arrow and dying of gangrene, Richard left no heir and so John was made the new king of England he was crowned on CE at Westminster Abbey. In 1194 CE Richard campaigned in France to defend his Angevin-Plantagenet lands, but disaster struck during his siege of the castle of Chalus on 6 April 1199 CE. John Lost the support of many French barons & with it all the Crown's lands north of the Loire River. Following his death while fleeing a French invasion force, King John was succeeded by his young son Henry III of England (r. Another name frequently associated with the king is Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, but there is little historical evidence of such a figure and, if he did exist, that he ever troubled John. The celebrated Magna Carta that he was obliged to sign limited royal power and emphasised the primacy of the law over all, including the monarchy. 1122-1204 CE), John succeeded his elder brother Richard I of England (r. 1154-1189 CE) and Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. He lost the Angevin-Plantagenet lands in France and so crippled England financially that the barons rebelled and forced him to sign the Magna Carta charter of liberties in 1215 CE. King John of England (aka John Lackland) ruled from 1199 to 1216 CE and he has gone down in history as one of the very worst of English kings, both for his character and his failures.
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