King+John+I

King John I By: Ellen Gabis King John I was the youngest of his five brothers. He was born on December 24, 1199. John was his father’s favorite son but could expect no inheritance being the youngest. At a young age, John was betrothed to Alys (pronounced “Alice”), but died before they could marry.[1] During the Third Crusade(1190-1194) John attempted to overthrow William Longchamp while Richard, his brother, was absent. John was more popular than Longchamp, and one day in October of 1991 while Longchamp was imprisoned in a tower, the citizens opened the gates of the city. John promised the city the right to govern itself if he could become Richards heir.[1]  While Richard was on his back from the crusade, Leopold V, a Duke from Austria, captured him. He was then improsioned by Henery VI, a Holy Roman Emperor. Meanwhile in England, John had joined forces with the King of France, Philip Augustus. John and Augustus are of said to have sent a letter to Henery asking to keep Richard away from England as long as possible and were willing to pay money to do so. Henery declined, and one the ransom that Richard had to pay was paid, he was set free.[1] Upon return, Richard bannished John and had his lands taken away from him. In May, John pled for forgiveness, and gained some of his lands back. Only after Arthur, Richards first heir, was captured by Philip, did John regain all of his land back[2].

After Richard died, people considered his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, son of his late brother Geoffrey. Arthur fougt his uncle for the through the throne with the help of King Philip of France. After years of war with Arthur, John is to of supposively killed him when he was drunk and then tying a heavy stone to him and casting him into the Seine. Another possible way Arthur died was that around Easter, agents of the king went to castrate him and died of shock.[1]

Twelve years later, barons turned against him. He met with their leaders at Runnymede on June 15 1215 to sign the Great Charter, called in Latin, and more known as, the Magna Carta[1]. The Magna Carta is the document that limited King John's power and gave more rights to the people, and is the building blocks for many documents, such as the U.S.'s Bill of Rights.[3]  Fleeing from a French invasion, John took a safe route around the are of the Wash yo avoid the rebels in East Anglia. Instead, his slow baggage train took a direct route across it and was lost in the unexpected incoming tide. This affected John's health and state of mind. He stayed the night at Sleaford Castle before dying in his sleep on the night of October 18 (possibly 19) at Newark Castle.[1] 

King John will go down in history for many things, one of them being signing the Magna Carta. C. Warren Hollister once described him as "...talented in some respects, good at administrative detail, but suspicious, unscrupulous, and mistrusted. He was compared in a recent scholarly article, perhaps unfairly, with Richard Nixon. His crisis-prone career was sabotaged repeatedly by the halfheartedness with which his vassals supported him—and the energy with which some of them opposed him."[1]

Bibliography: [1] __John of England__. 20 April 2009. Wikipedia. 22 April 2009.  [2] __King John of England__. 1997. About.com. 22 April, 2009. <[]> [3] __Magna Carta__. 22 April 2009. Wikipedia. 23 April 2009. <[]>