King John

We are ready to represent the best custom paper writing assistance that can cope with any task like King John even at the eleventh hour. The matter is that we posses the greatest base of expert writers. Our staff of freelance writers includes approximately 300 experienced writers are at your disposal all year round. They are striving to provide the best ever services to the most desperate students that have already lost the hope for academic success. We offer the range of the most widely required, however, not recommended for college use papers. It is advisable to use our examples like King John in learning at public-education level. Get prepared and be smart with our best essay samples cheap and fast! Get in touch and we will write excellent custom coursework or essay especially for you.

King John

King John was the last of the Angevin kings. John was the archetypical Angevin, the autocratic ruler of a vast territory. His story is a story of failure. The purpose of this report is to show how John rose to power, and what he did to lead his subjects to impose the Magna Carta.

John was the fourth son of Henry II. His brothers were, Henry the Younger, Geoffrey, and Richard. John being the youngest of four meant that the expectations from his father were not as clear as was with his three older brothers. John was destined to be married and live off land from his father until the death of his oldest brother Henry the Younger in 118. Then Henry II began to use John in his plans. Henry the Younger’s death threw a problem into King Henry’s plans. Then Henry II began to use John in his plans. So to solve the problem Henry asked his son Richard to turn over his authority in Aquitaine to John. Eventually Henry forgot about his problems with Richard and worried more about his policy in Ireland. He knighted 18 year old John and sent him to Ireland with 00 knights and a treasury to take charge of the situation. The Irish eventually united against John. John ended up isolated and blocked by the locals. He was unable to pay his mercenaries and was forced to leave Ireland.

After Geoffrey died in a tournament and Henry’s relationship with Richard worsened, John became King Henry’s favorite. Henry still though, was keeping Richard the heir to the throne. He did however keep Richard guessing whether or not he would inherit the throne. The paranoia backfired when Richard united with Louis of France and declared war on Henry in 118.






John stabbed his father in the back and joined Richard. Henry died in 118.

Richard was crowned king months after Henry died. He named John the Count of Mortain and granted him lands in England. The new king also had enough respect for Johns trouble making tendencies to ban him from England for three years while he went on crusade. However, against Richards better judgement, his mother Eleanor went behind his back to allow John back into England. It was a huge mistake. John conspired against Richards regent, William Longchamp, and set himself up as King in all but name. A plot to divide up the Angevin empire between himself and the new French King, Philip Augustus, was only just prevented by his mother, when she intercepted him as he was about to take ship from Southampton. When Richard was imprisoned on his return from the crusades, by Duke Leopold of Austria, John again conspired with the French King to seize the kingdom. On Richards release John fled to France, but he was soon forgiven by his brother, who himself returned to France, where he died in 11. On his deathbed Richard named John as his heir, although by the law of primogeniture Arthur, the son of an older brother, Geoffrey, should have succeeded him. Johns coronation took place at Westminster Abbey in 11.

Johns energetic campaigning and diplomatic moves threw his opponents into a corner, and by May 100 he was able to negotiate the Treaty of Le Goulet with Philip of France. Having successfully secured his kingdom, John almost immediately proceeded to throw it away. In 100, he married Isabella of Angoulême, Hugh, the justiciary of Ireland’s 1-year-old fianc�. John was deeply suspicious of the powerful position Hugh le Brun had built up for himself during 11, and the marriage of Isabella was but the first in a series of maneuvers designed to curb that power. John then took Hugh’s position away and gave it to Aymer dAngoulême, taking away all Hugh had worked so hard for. Also, he deprived Hughs brother Ralph of the county of Eu which Richard had given him in Normandy.



The Lusignans appealed to Philip for justice, who summoned John before his court as his vassal to give an account of himself in autumn 101. John refused to attend, on the grounds that the French court had no jurisdiction over the Duke of Normandy, but Philip replied that he was summoned as the Duke of Aquitaine, and in April 10 declared John a rebellious vassal, confiscating all his feoffs. With Philip on their side, the lords of Lusignan went into revolt.

Richard I, through careful diplomacy, had ringed Philip with Angevin allies among the princes and nobles of France, forcing the French king to fight a war on several fronts if he wanted to fight the Angevins. However, by 10, many of these allies had either gone on crusade or been won over to Philips side, leaving John isolated and alone. So John had no international allies but, apart from Poitou and Brittany, his internal territories were secure. As John raised an army in Normandy to fight Philip, Arthur and the Lusignans managed to trap Eleanor in the castle of Mirabeau, from where she sent a message to her son for aid. John sped south to surprise the rebels unprepared outside Mirabeau on 1 July 10. Not a single rebel escaped. John had captured over 00 knights and all the leaders of the rebellion, including Arthur and Hugh le Brun. Yet once again, he threw it all away by taking things too far. He dismissed the pleas of William and Aimeri, and treated his captives most cruelly, making sure that noblemen died of harsh conditions. Worst of all, John was involved in the murder of Arthur of Brittany. A rumor circulated that, drunk and possessed by the devil, John had killed Arthur with his own hands and thrown him into the bottom of a river. Horrified by Johns actions William and Aimeri rebelled. John now saw enemies on all sides.

John is best remembered not for the loss of France, but for signing the Magna Carta. He didn’t sign the Magna Carta as a sign of weak kingship. It was the exact opposite. It was a because of the Angevin collapse in France, it was started by the increasing tax demands imposed by the king in his efforts to finance his French expeditions. Johns thinking was not dominated by England, but by France.

REFERENCES

“BBC” Online. Internet 10 September 00. http//www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/monarchs_leaders/

“Magna Carta” New Standard Encyclopedia Chicago, Illinois Standard Education Society, Inc.

160

Modern World History. Boston McDougal Littell, 00. p. 17

Mind that the sample papers like King John presented are to be used for review only. In order to warn you and eliminate any plagiarism writing intentions, it is highly recommended not to use the essays in class. In cases you experience difficulties with essay writing in class and for in class use, order original papers with our expert writers. Cheap custom papers can be written from scratch for each customer that entrusts his or her academic success to our writing team. Order your unique assignment from the best custom writing services cheap and fast!