Evil King John? Today’s Objective: What actions did King John take during his reign and why is he remembered as being ‘evil King John’

This is a statue of Richard the Lionheart outside Parliament This is a statue of Richard the Lionheart outside Parliament. He ruled Britain from 1189 to 1199. He was a good king. RICH BUT NOT GREEDY INSPIRING WISE FIT AND STRONG A GOOD SOLDIER FIRM BUT FAIR HARD WORKING BRAVE

Think Which three qualities that Richard possessed do you think were the most important for a Medieval King? What bad qualities do you think a bad King would have had in the Middle Ages?

And here we have… King John 1199-1216 But he lacked Richard’s positive qualities. In-fact he is famous as Prince John in the make believe stories of Robin Hood. In the stories he is a wicked and foolish prince who taxes all the people of England unfairly. NOW DRAW A PICTURE OF JOHN IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR PAGE AND WATCH THIS FILM CLIP: WHAT PERSONALITY TRAITS DOES THE CLIP REVEAL ABOUT JOHN?

King John managed to upset everyone He Fell out with his brother and father in family feuds. He argued with his nephew Arthur and this led to the loss of territory in France. He went to war with the French King twice and got badly beaten both times. He lost all the land that his father had gained in France. He kept raising the taxes to pay for these wars. This upset the Barons because he ordered them to pay much higher taxes than previous Kings had. He quarrelled with the Pope about how to run the Church. In 1209 John was excommunicated over a row about who was to be Archbishop of Canterbury. From 1208 to 1213, the Pope banned all Church services in England and people feared they would all go to hell. Some Church leaders blamed John.

So…. In June of 1215 John agreed to meet the Barons to discuss a future path that would make him more popular. They demanded reform and the King agreed to some of their demands by signing the MAGNA CARTA (Great Charter). This charter described the liberties or rights of freemen in England. But consider who were freemen in England at this time? Many view this document as a crucial part of English history as the rights of individual people are protected against the power of the King or Queen.

The Magna Carta The King must not interfere with the Church Justice will be given without delays or bribes When a Baron inherits land he should pay the King no more than £100 Traders must be able to travel freely without paying tolls The King cannot collect the taxes unless the Barons and Bishops agree No freeman can be put into prison without a proper trial with a jury The King’s men must not take anyone’s goods without paying for them

BUT… King John only signed the document to keep peace with the rebel barons – to buy time – and did not keep to what he agreed to.

Think Use the examples from the Magna Carta to work out the different ways in which John had been upsetting people? The Magna Carta was not designed to help everyone. Who was it clearly designed to help? Who did not benefit from it?

Activity Make some lists of the ways in which John had upset the people. Organise your lists under headings. Some of these headings could be: Church Power Money Justice