How Effective Do You Think King John Was as King of England?
How effective do you think King John was as King of England?
King John was born in 1167 and died in 1216. Like William I, King John is known as one of the more notorious monarchs of Medieval England and is mostly associated with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.We think of King John as very strong, bossy and cunning person but how effective do you think he was as King of England?
One of Johns failures was when he made an enemy of the Church, by refusing to accept the Popes choice of a new Archbishop of Canterbury. The Pope reacted by placing the whole of England under an “Interdict” – in effect closing all the churches. This caused a great effect on England because nobody could get christened or married legally in the church. The church law was that if you were not married or christened in a church you would be sent to hell. After this problem King John gained a lot of enemies in England. This added to his poor reputation. It also brought England into two groups King John followers and the rebels.
As King John increased his taxes many people could not afford it. The morale in the country dropped. This shows he wasnt very effective at keeping the population happy.
Johns greatest talent was in making enemies. In 1200, he married his second cousin, Isabella, who was already betrothed to a powerful French baron, Hugh of Lusignan. King Phillip [France] summoned him to his court to explain his behavior. The English king refused to go, giving Philip the excuse to declare that all Johns lands in France were confiscated. This piece of evidence tells us King John was not very good at talking and socializing with people.
King John was not a very good general because by the time of his death in 1216 he had lost Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Poitou, Aquitaine and Gascony to the French king, Philip Augustus This piece of information tells us he wasnt very good at fighting as he lost wars against