John
Iohannes
King of England · Lord of Ireland · Duke of Normandy (until 1204)
1166 – 1216
Biography
Inherited the Angevin Empire and lost most of it within five years, ceding Normandy, Anjou, and Maine to Philip II of France. His attempts to recoup losses through heavy taxation provoked the baronial revolt that produced Magna Carta in 1215. He died of dysentery during the ensuing civil war, leaving his nine-year-old son Henry III to inherit a partitioned kingdom.
Events
The decisive battle of medieval France. On 27 July 1214 Philip II Augustus crushed a coalition of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV, Count Ferdinand of Flanders, and the English under John, ending the Plantagenet attempt to recover the continental holdings John had lost a decade earlier. Bouvines confirmed France as the dominant power of Latin Europe and broke John's standing at home — the Magna Carta crisis followed within a year.
Also there: Philip II Augustus
On 15 June 1215, in a meadow at Runnymede, John of England sealed the Great Charter under duress from an alliance of rebellious barons. The document compelled the king to respect certain feudal rights, established that no free man could be imprisoned without the lawful judgment of his peers, and bound the crown to the rule of law. John repudiated it within weeks and Pope Innocent III voided it; later kings reissued it, and it became the foundational text of English constitutional liberty.
Recommended Reading
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