King John Was The Most Hated King Of England For A Reason D
[Music] King John’s Reign was an utter catastrophe this cruel Twisted Tyrant watched as his once powerful Empire went up in Flames around him while he alienated every single person who ever called him an ally it’s fitting then that when this maniac’s end finally came it was absolutely gruesome most people think of King John as the sniveling usurper who plagued Rob Hood but the real man was far more complicated born a forgotten fourth son to King Henry II the Wy and cunning Jon played his family against each other until he was the only one left but while Jon knew how to take a throne he didn’t know what to do with it once he had it and his Reign was one of the most disastrous in England’s [Music] history when John was born his father
King Henry II ruled over the Anan Empire which included England and nearly half of France John’s mother and father might have been two of the most powerful people in Europe but that didn’t make them good parents his mother the infamous elanar of aquatine was far too busy conspiring against her equally absent husband to spend any time with her son Jon was his parent’s fourth son while their older boys Henry Richard and Jeffrey stood to inherit great fortunes there wasn’t going to be much left for the runt of the litter John wasn’t supposed to inherit anything but he had one thing going for him he came from one of the most toxic dysfunctional families in history King Henry didn’t really trust his three older Sons and he refused to grant them any real power over the Empire as each of them Grew Older they chafed under his restrictions by the
time johon was a boy the Anan Empire was a den of infight backstabbing and sometimes even open conflict Henry still gave young John control over several powerful castles across France and one person in particular was absolutely Furious about it King Henry had already promised said castles to John’s older brother Henry the young king young Henry who wanted more power and feared that their father would give even more of his lands to Jon revolted against his father and he wasn’t alone John’s mother elanar didn’t like her husband sticking his nose where it didn’t belong I.E aquatine so she pushed Jon’s other brothers to join forces with the young king against their father the family was in complete disarray but no one had more to gain than johon he was right at his father’s side the final remaining loyal son the longer the Rebellion dragged on the more lands
Henry II gave to John mostly by ripping them away from various bter Nobles the Earl of Gloucester was one of the richest men in England and he planned to split up his lands among his many daughters Henry had other ideas he disinherited all of the Earl’s daughters except for one Isabella then he betrothed John to Isabella setting him up to become one of the richest men in the Empire not only were JN and Isabella children at the time but the two of them were related through their great-grandfather King Henry the that was close enough that their marriage should have been illegal based on consanguinity the Archbishop of Canterbury certainly thought so and he banned the two cousins from marrying Henry II took his case straight to the pope and he agreed to allow JN and Isabella to marry under one condition they weren’t allowed to sleep together JN was the Medieval equivalent
of a spoiled Millionaire’s son he adored books and even maintained an incredibly expensive Ive library to travel around with him that was nothing compared to his extensive collection of jewels and his Wardrobe full of the finest clothes money could buy all of this sounds fairly normal if a little eccentric but anyone who knew him quickly realized there was something off about [Music] John his mood swings could break the sound barrier he was extremely touchy incredibly jealous and and prone to sudden and violent fits of Rage without an outlet for his anger many noted that he would often gnaw on his own fingers in blind rage mommy however beneath the fine clothes and wild mood swings lay a cunning and ruthless mind and that made Jon extremely dangerous the constant infighting that
haunted Jon’s family soon claimed its first victim John’s oldest brother Henry the young king started a war with the Middle Brother Richard over one slate or another but he bet off more than he could chew the conflict accomplished basically nothing and all Henry got out of it was an agonizing demise from dentry with the primary heir to Henry II’s Empire gone everyone moved up in the world Henry made Richard the king of England and gave John Richard’s old territory of [Music] aquatine Richard wasn’t going to give up a territory as rich as aquatine that easily so he dug in his heels and refused to budge Furious Henry ordered johon and his other brother Jeffrey to gather a force and take the duche from Richard by any means necessary John and Jeffrey stormed the
capital at Puti so Richard responded by attacking jeffy’s territory in [Music] Britany this family was a total mess but after years of scheming in fighting they were finally getting sick of [Music] it the conflict reached a stalemate and the whole family met up in England to call a truce Richard ended up keeping aquatine but John now a temperamental teenager got his first taste of real power and he liked ity Henry II still wanted to get some serious land for his favorite son so why not Ireland he sent John and a large Entourage to the Emerald Isle to start running things there finally Jon actually had real power and he completely screwed at all up it’s hard to imagine Jon doing a worse job in Ireland to be fair he had
his work cut out for him the anjans had only recently conquered the island and the Irish still weren’t exactly happy about it it was going to take a delicate hand to secure control of Ireland and John was more like a bull in a china shop John lasted a year in Ireland in that time he managed to anger the locals alienate pretty much all his Anan allies and lose a bunch of ground to Irish Rebels he eventually slunk back to England with his tail between his legs placing all the blame on his Viceroy Hugh Dey and this was just the beginning of a lifetime of failures [Music] Henry II grew old and weak and John’s Brother Richard saw blood in the water he allied with Philip II the king of France and declared war on his stumbling father in a shocking twist after a lifetime as his father’s lap dog JN
actually turned coat and sided with Richard Henry II had no fight left in him he waved the White Flag exceeded to Richard demands and died soon after Richard became the new king and he had only one thing on his mind the Crusades he desperately wanted to fight the holy war in the Middle East but he knew that was risky he’d spent his entire life squabbling with his parents and brothers over the Anan Empire so he realized someone might take it as soon as he left to buy Jon’s loyalty Richard showered him with valuable territories and Cornwall Devon Somerset and Nottingham he hoped that with all that wealth John would just sit by and watch over the empire in Richard’s name while his lionhearted brother fought sarens in the Holy Land Richard named his four-year-old nephew Arthur heir to the Empire and forced Jon to promise not to
step foot in England for 3 years the way he saw it that gave him plenty of time to go off crusade to his heart’s content then come back to reclaim his throne John happily agreed he would never dare try to usurp his brother’s Throne it didn’t take long for Jon to get to work he knew that the people of England were unhappy with Richard’s rule thus far and he saw his chance to strike first he convinced his mother elanar to persuade Richard to let him back into England Richard relented and John quickly crossed the channel establishing himself at the Royal Court the years began to pass and yet still Richard the supposed King of England remained nowhere to be found pretty soon people in England began to see Jon as their de facto ruler perhaps even the next king Jon started spreading rumors that Richard had been killed on his
Crusade Richard was still very much alive and actually had begun his trip back to England after years abroad unfortunately Duke Leopold of Austria had captured him on Route and handed him over to the unscrupulous Henry V 6 Holy Roman Emperor this was the best opportunity John was ever going to get so he went all in in England the lines had been drawn there were those who supported Richard and those who backed John with the sides chosen fighting broke out and it turned ugly even with Richard in captivity Jon just couldn’t gain a foothold against the force is loyal to his brother by the time Richard escaped his bondage and limped back to England John had accomplished nothing his forces surrendered pretty much the second that Richard stepped foot on English soil John ran away to Normandy and tried to Lee low hoping his brother would
forget about the whole treachery thing Richard of course caught up to him before long yet his response to Jon’s betrayal surprised everyone apparently Richard the lionart the fierce Crusader King was a big softy deep down he forgave his 27-year-old brother saying he was only a child who has had evil counselors after his laughable failed coup John bited his time and waited for his next chance to strike that chance came when Richard took a crossbow bolt to the shoulder the wound soon festered and the warrior king quickly faded away he died in 1199 leaving a power vacuum behind the succession crisis after Richard’s passing was a complete mess there were two claimants to the throne John and his nephew Arthur still a young boy to make matters worse Norman law
favored John while Anan law favored Arthur within a matter of months the crisis broke out into open conflict Jon had already made one deal with the devil so why not do it again he negotiated a peace with King philli of France not long after Richard’s death in the treaty Philip recognized John as Richard’s air while John accepted Philip as the feudal Overlord of his territories in France John’s weak diplomacy disgusted the Normans who took to calling the new king John’s soft sword for his Craven deal just when you think he can’t get any worse JN set his sights on replacing his wife and in keeping with medieval history’s tendency to feature several characters with the same name his new love interest was also named Isabella though we don’t know exactly how old Isabella of angulam was when she married John contemporary
chroniclers noted that she was too young even for the time so we know she was young Isabella was already engaged to someone else the powerful Hugh the 9th of lucon who just so happened to be a political rival of J’s Hugh wasn’t about to take Jon’s treachery lying down he took his case straight to King Philip of France who ordered Jon to come to Paris to make amends Jon who never liked being told what to do said no and stayed put with his child bride Philip must have been fed up with Jon’s nonsense because he decided to bring the hammer down he revoked Jon’s claim to all of his territories on the continent including uding his ancestral home of Normandy King John now found himself at War once again fighting for his Birthright all because he wanted to marry one particular young girl John’s nephew Arthur was still
kicking around a rival claimant to the Anan Throne so he decided to take him out of the equation he had his nephew captured locked him up and threw away the key no one ever saw Arthur again and modern historians believe he was eventually killed by John and his body thrown into the sin in 1204 John received devastating news his mother elanar of aquatine had died her Steely grip on aquatine was essential to his Rule King philli went for the jugular in one Fell Swoop he invaded and claimed Normandy anju and Patu now all that remained of the once formidable Anan Empire was England and aquatine John’s Empire was falling apart Philip defeated his force and John had to sign a humiliating peace treaty putting the final nail in the coffin of his hopes of regaining his territory but
once he made it back to England things went from bad to worse Rebel Barons well and truly fed up with the tyrannical King Jon raised a force of their own and marched on London they easily took the city and several Nobles loyal to JN betrayed him and joined forces with the rebels completely out of options johon had to wave the white flag and sign one of the most humiliating deals in the history of England the Barons forced JN to sign the Magna Carta which completely hamstrung his power and gave The Baron’s Untold Freedom signing such a deal should have been Rock Bottom for the miserable King JN and yet no while the Magna Carta is one of the most in inous charters in history it didn’t actually accomplish much neither John nor the Barons abided by it and it was only a matter of time before they ripped it up and decided to settle
things the old-fashioned way the rebels gathered a new Army and planned to us John by force in a shocking move they even invited the French Prince Louie to lead them even a French King would be better than King John at this point the first Baron’s war was a miserable end to a miserable rain the two sides fought each other to a stalemate that showed little sign of letting up stubborn John still insisted on leading his men from the front lines and that eventually proved fatal he contracted dentry yet still he trudged on through the countryside determined to deal with the rebel Barons once and for all dentry is an extremely gruesome way to go so it was a fitting end to Jon’s horrible Reign he managed to limp into Newark Castle CLE in Nottinghamshire before his body finally gave out he died in October 1216 just over a year after he put his
pen to the Magna Carta for the final decade of his Reign King John had kept his own niece elanar rotting in a Cell she technically had a claim to his throne so he kept her locked up so she couldn’t rise up against him in a final Act of spite Jon amended his will to state that she’ never be released from captivity that that’s just the kind of man king John was today history remembers him as one of the most despised monarchs England has ever seen a title that he truly earned thanks for watching history expose if you love uncovering the best stories in history hit like And subscribe to keep exploring with us don’t forget to visit our main page fact Tate for more incredible facts about everything
