John (Plantagenet) of England (abt. 1166 - 1216)

Born about 25 Dec 1166 in London, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Isabella FitzWilliam — married 29 Aug 1189 (to 30 Aug 1199) in Marlborough Castle, Wiltshire, England

Husband of Isabella (Angoulême) de Lusignan — married 24 Aug 1200 in Bordeaux, France

Descendants

Died 19 Oct 1216 at about age 49 in Newark, Nottinghamshire, England

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Biography

John (Plantagenet) of England is Notable.

John (Plantagenet) of England is a member of the House of Plantagenet.

Birth and Parents

John was the youngest son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.^[1] His exact birth date is uncertain, but it was probably in the Christmas season of 1266/7 - from 24 December 1266 to 6 January 1267. He was probably born in either the Palace of Westminster or the Tower of London.^[2][3] (See Research Notes for more discussion.)

Reign of Henry II

John was his parents' youngest son, and his father had already made significant provision of land for his older brothers, leaving relatively little available for John. Probably because of this, he was nicknamed "Lackland" from at least the early 1180s: it is believed that this nickname may have been given him by his father. Henry II sought to remedy this. In 1173 Henry bestowed Chinon, Loudun, and Mirebeau on him: this provoked a rebellion by John's brother Henry which ended the next year, and Henry II then granted John substantial income from England, Normandy and Anjou. In 1175 Reginald de Dunstanville, Earl of Cornwall and an illegitimate son of Henry I, died: Henry II took the opportunity to appropriate the Earl's estates for John's use.^[2]

In 1173 John was betrothed to Alix, daughter of Humbert/Umberto III, Count of Maurienne: the contract stipulated that John would inherit the County if Humbert had no legitimate sons. Alix's death the next year meant the marriage never took place.^[2][4]

In 1177 Henry II gave John the title King of Ireland.^[2] He attempted to increase John's resources by transferring Aquitaine to him. This was held by his brother, the future Richard I, and Richard declined to hand it over. John and his brother Geoffrey launched an unsuccessful attack on Richard, and Henry II was compelled to agree to Richard retaining Aquitaine.^[2]

Henry II knighted John in March 1185 and sent him with a sizeable army to Ireland, where Hugh de Lacy's activities were a cause of concern. John alienated some Irish kings by his grants of lands to his own followers, and was defeated several times. John was back in England in September 1185. The next year Hugh de Lacy died, and a second Irish expedition was envisaged, but this never took place.^[2]

John's brother Geoffrey died in August 1186, and Henry wished to use the opportunity to increase John's possessions. Rumours that Henry planned to disinherit the future Richard I, and Henry's reluctance to acknowledge Richard formally as his heir, led Richard into rebellion. Initially John supported his father, but he defected when it became clear in the summer of 1189 that Henry II was unlikely to prevail.^[2]

First Marriage

On 28 September 1176 John was betrothed to Isabel, daughter of William, Earl of Gloucester. Like him she was a great-grandchild of Henry I and the betrothal contract allowed for the possibility that the Pope might prevent the marriage on grounds of consanguinity. Isabel's father died in 1183 (the 1176 death date given in John's own entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is a mistake^[2]), and, rather than allow the marriage to take place soon after, Henry II made her a royal ward, allowing him to benefit from the income from her estates.^[5]

The marriage finally went ahead after Henry II's death: they married on 29 August 1189 at Marlborough, Wiltshire. No papal dispensation from the consanguinity rules had been obtained, and the Archbishop of Canterbury summoned John to defend himself. John did not obey the summons, and his lands were placed under interdict. When John appealed to the Pope, the interdict was lifted by the papal legate,^[5] who accepted the validity of the marriage subject to the outcome of the appeal: John, though, did not pursue the appeal, and this left the status of the marriage in a degree of ambiguity.^[2]

John and Isabel had no children.^[1]

Reign of Richard I

In 1189 Richard I became King of England. He awarded John extensive estates in England, and made him Count of Mortain in Normandy (in charters of that year confirming rights of the people of Nottingham, John styles himself Count of Mortain^[6]). But Richard may not altogether have trusted him: before he went on crusade in 1190, he secured an oath from John that he would stay out of England for three years. Richard subsequently gave William de Longchamp, left in charge of England, permission to free John from the oath if he considered this right. In 1191 John returned to England, quite likely without William de Longchamp's permission. This may have been precipitated by the belief that William regarded John's nephew Arthur of Brittany (son of John's older brother Geoffrey) as heir to the English throne. John took control of some important castles, and attempts to secure a lasting accord between him and William de Longchamp in the summer of 1191 failed.^[2]

In October 1191 William de Longchamp was compelled to resign and Walter de Coutances took his place. John continued to try to bolster his position in England, He was also in contact with Philippe Auguste, king of France, who offered to help him gain control of his family's lands in France if he agreed to marry Philippe Auguste's sister Alice, who had previously been spurned by Richard I. In January 1193 John entered into a formal agreement to marry Alice even though he was still married to Isabel of Gloucester, and to cede the territory of the Vexin to Philippe Auguste. The marriage never took place.^[2]

John now engaged in open rebellion in England. In the spring of 1193, fearing he would be charged with treason, he sought refuge in France. In July 1193 it was agreed that he could retain his lands if he contributed to the huge ransom for Richard I's release from captivity. Back in Normandy, keepers of castles he had previously held refused to return them to him. John then entered into alliance with Philippe Auguste. They invaded Normandy, and sought to bribe the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI to detain Richard I for longer. John was excommunicated and his lands and his lordship of Ireland were declared forfeit.^[2]

John switched sides again after Richard I, now freed, came to Normandy, begging Richard's pardon. For the rest of Richard's reign, he kept a lower profile. The lordship of Ireland and the Counties of Mortain and Gloucester were restored to him.^[2]

King

Richard I died on 6 April 1199. There followed a dispute over whether the new king should be John or his nephew Arthur of Brittany. In northern France a number of leading barons, supported by Philippe Auguste, backed Arthur, and they almost captured John at Le Mans on 20 April. On 25 April John was formally acknowledged as Duke of Normandy; he was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on 27 May.^[2][7] Soon afterwards, he ended his ambiguous marriage to Isabel of Gloucester, securing an official annulment on grounds of consanguinity. He made her a royal ward again, which gave him access to her estates and the associated revenues.^[5]

Conflict with Philippe Auguste continued. A treaty was signed in May 1200 under which John ceded some of his French possessions to the French king and paid homage to him for the remainder, while Arthur of Brittany paid homage to John.^[2]

Second Marriage

After his accession to the throne John initiated negotiations for marriage into the royal house of Portugal. In the end his second marriage was to Isabella d'Angoulême, only child of Audemar, Count of Angoulême. They married on 24 August 1200:^[2][8] Douglas Richardson and Charles Cawley give the marriage place as Bordeaux Cathedral;^[1][4] Isabella's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says it was at Angoulême.^[8] She had been betrothed earlier that year to Hugues de Lusignan, and one motivation for the marriage was probably to prevent Hugues from acquiring the strategically important territory of Angoulême. But the marriage alienated the Lusignans, who had earlier given John valuable support.^[2][8]

John and Isabella had five children:

• Henry, , who succeeded his father as King Henry III and who was born at Winchester Castle, Hampshire on 1 October 1207^[1][4]
• Richard, who became the first Earl of Cornwall and who was born at Winchester Castle, Hampshire on 5 January 1209^[4][9][10]
• Joan, who married Alexander II of Scotland, and who was born on 22 July 1210,^[4][11] at Gloucester according to Douglas Richardson^[12]
• Isabella, who became the third wife of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and who was born in 1214,^[4][13] at Gloucester according to Douglas Richardson^[1]
• Eleanor, who married William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and Simon de Montfort,^[4] and who was probably born in 1215,^[14] at Gloucester according to Douglas Richardson^[15]

Loss of French Possessions

In 1201 John granted the County of La Marche to Isabella d'Angoulême's father. He had previously granted it to Hugues de Lusignan, who had been betrothed to Isabella, and Hugues appealed to Philippe Auguste. John was summoned to appear before Philippe Auguste but did not do so. In April 1202 the French king formally deprived him of his French fiefs, and took the homage of John's nephew Arthur of Brittany for all of them except Normandy. Philippe Auguste then invaded Normandy. John's mother Eleanor of Aquitaine was almost trapped by Arthur of Brittany and the Lusignan family at Le Mans, but John rescued her, capturing Arthur. Later that year, though, John lost Anjou.^[2]

Arthur of Brittany's captivity provoked rebellion in John's territories in northern France. Arthur himself was killed, possibly in early April 1203 and probably either by John himself or on John's orders.^[16] Soon after, Philippe Auguste again invaded Normandy. John retreated to England in December 1203. By late summer of 1204 Normandy and Poitiers were in the French king's hands. By the close of the year John had lost most of his French possessions.^[2]

In 1205 John was forced to cancel a major expedition to France because of lack of English support, but he did succeed in regaining the Channel Islands. The next year a truce was agreed with Philippe Auguste, under which John retained Gascony and part of Poitou.^[2]

Middle Years of John's Reign

John found himself in dispute with Pope Innocent III over appointments to senior positions in the church, including the Archbishopric of Canterbury, a post John wanted John Grey to fill. When Innocent consecrated Stephen Langton as Archbishop in 1207, John took control of the estates of the see, and sent the monks of Canterbury, who had approved Stephen's election, into exile. In March 1208 England was placed under a papal interdict, and in November 1209 John was excommunicated. Most bishops left England. As king, John had a right to the income from the estates of unfilled bishoprics and abbacies, and these substantially swelled his revenues.^[2]

Meanwhile John's authority in Ireland was threatened by the English lords there. In 1210 he launched a major campaign, which subdued them in the space of some two months, and increased the territory under direct royal control.^[2]

In 1209 John planned an invasion of Scotland, leading to the Treaty of Norham (August 1209) under which William the Lion agreed to pay a substantial sum to John, and gave John among other hostages two of his daughters.^[2]

In Wales John had an uneasy relationship with Llywelyn ap Iorwerth. In 1201 a treaty was concluded between them and in 1204 Llywelyn married John's illegitimate daughter Joan. Llywelyn sought to take advantage of John's absence in Ireland in 1210 to increase the extent of his power, but was defeated in 1211 and forced to come to humiliating terms. Fighting broke out again in 1212, with the Pope and Philippe Auguste encouraging Llywelyn. The Pope secured a truce the next year.^[17]

Renewed Conflict with France

John still had ambitions to regain possessions lost in France and he encouraged a coalition against Philippe Auguste, who responded in April 1213 by threatening an invasion of England. In May John came to terms with the Pope, formally surrendering the Kingdom of England, and Innocent III now gave John his backing. At the end of May the threat of invasion was lifted when William de Longespée destroyed much of the French fleet. In February 1214 John invaded at La Rochelle, persuading the Lusignan family to support him in return for a promise of his legitimate daughter Joan in marriage to Hugues de Lusignan and a grant of lands. William de Longespée took other forces to join allies in Flanders. The invasion ended badly: John was forced to retreat, and on 27 July the French won a decisive victory against his allies in the Battle of Bouvines. William de Longespée was captured. John's dreams of recovering French possessions were ended. The cost of his efforts drained his coffers.^[2]

Baronial Rebellion and Magna Carta

Back in England, baronial unrest, strengthened by the return of prominent exiles at the Pope's insistence, came to a head in 1215. In January that year John met leading barons in London, and agreed to a further meeting on 26 April after he had considered their demands. Civil war loomed. In March John took a crusading vow, which increased the support he had from the Pope. The April meeting never happened, and on 5 May baronial opponents renounced their allegiance. On 17 May London went over to the rebels. Llywelyn ap Iorwerth sided with them and captured Shrewsbury. Forced to make concessions, John agreed to the Magna Carta at Runnymede, Surrey on 15 June. This safeguarded the rights of the church and generally set limits to royal powers and was a major landmark in British constitutional history. The Magna Carta included a provision that 25 barons - often known as the "Surety Barons" - would be chosen to ensure it was observed.^[2] They included the then Mayor of London, a sign of the importance of the city.^[18]

John did not intend to keep to the terms of the Magna Carta. Within two months he approached the Pope to secure his backing for annulling it. The Pope excommunicated the rebels, who sought French support, offering Philippe Auguste's son Louis the English throne. The Surety Barons granted Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland to Alexander II of Scotland. Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, having gained the support of other Welsh kings, captured English castles there and became in effect ruler of most of Wales.^[2]

Over the following months John invaded Scotland, and had some success in England. But on 22 May 1216 Louis of France ignored the Pope and landed in Kent, going on to wrest control of much of the eastern half of England, with the support of most of the more important barons, and Alexander II of Scotland paid Louis homage for his English lands. John retreated west, before moving towards Lincoln and East Anglia.

Death and Burial

John began to suffer dysentery at King's Lynn, Norfolk during the night of 9-10 October 1216 and over the next few days his health worsened. Despite this he reached Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. En route some of his baggage was lost, and some of his men drowned, in the Wash. He died at Newark Castle during the night of 18/19 October.^[2]

John's short will requested burial at "the church of Saint Mary and Wulstan of Worcester" - Worcester Cathedral. It is undated, but must have been made not long before his death as it refers to "Lord Sylvester, Bishop of Worcester"^[19][20] and Sylvester of Evesham was not elected Bishop until 1216, and was consecrated on 3 July 1216.^[21] He was buried at the Cathedral, with the same cap on his head as he had worn at his coronation.^[2] The tomb was before the high altar; he was re-interred there in a new tomb in 1232 in the presence of Henry III. In 1529 a new tomb-chest was added.^[22] The Abbot of Croxton, Leicestershire had heard his final confession, and his heart was buried at the Abbey.^[23]

Illegitimate Children

The exact number of John's illegitimate children is uncertain. They included:

• Joan, born by 1189, who married Llywelyn ap Iorwerth,^[1] and who was legitimised by the Pope in 1226:^[4][24] see her profile for discussion of who her mother was
• Richard,^[4] whose mother was a daughter of Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey^[1]
• Oliver, who died in Egypt while on crusade in 1219:^[4] Douglas Richardson names his mother as Hawise FitzWarin, daughter of Fulk FitzWarin of Alveston, Gloucestershire^[1]
• John, who became a priest^[1][4]
• Osbert^[1][4]
• Eudo/Yvo,^[4] who died on crusade in January 1241/2^[1]
• Geoffrey, who embarked with a group of mercenaries to Poitou that year^[1][4]
• Henry, who was alive in September 1242^[4] and whom Richardson says dies shortly before 8 April 1245^[1]
• Bartholomew, who became a friar preacher and chaplain to the Pope^[1][4]
• Maud/Matilda, who became abbess of Barking Abbey, Essex in 1247 and died a little before 6 February 1252^[1]

Research Notes

Birth Date and Place

The contemporary Chronicle of Robert de Torigni could be read as meaning that John was born on the "vigil" of Christmas - that is, Christmas Eve - but this is uncertain: the entry is sandwiched between one for Christmas Eve and one for Christmas Day and does not give a specific date.^[25] Douglas Richardson gives the birth date as about 27 December.^[1]

His birthplace is also uncertain. Many sources suggest it was Oxford, including Douglas Richardson^[1] and John's entry in the original Dictionary of National Biography.^[26] This suggestion appears to stem from an insertion made in the 15th century to the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester: it is proved improbable by a Pipe Roll entry for 1166-7 for expenditure on a chamber in the Tower of London or the Palace of Westminster for Eleanor of Aquitaine to use during her confinement. This strongly points to John being born in one of those places, and his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography was revised in 2021 to reflect this.^[2] For more detailed discussion, see a 2020 article by Stephen Church in Notes and Queries.^[3]

Charles Cawley's 'Medieval Lands' database says John was born either on 24 December 1166 or 1167 at Oxford, and gives Robert de Torigni's Chronicle as source for it possibly being the latter:^[4] this is a misreading of the dating in this Chronicle.^[25] The Pipe Rolls entry on expenditure for his mother's confinement for his birth shows December 1167 is definitely wrong.^[3]

John's entry in the original Dictionary of National Biography gives the birth year as "?1167", citing among other sources the Chronicle of Robert de Torigni,^[26] and again misreading the dating in that Chronicle.^[25]

Doubtful Illegitimate Children

• Isabel, wife of Richard FitzIves of St Keverne, Cornwall^[1]
• Philip, who married someone called Lavina: they are recorded in 1263 as transferring lands to a Henry FitzRoy: Douglas Richardson speculates that Henry was their son, producing no evidence to confirm this, and that Henry's name FitzRoy suggests Philip may have been an illegitimate son of John
• the parent, gender not known, of a Roger de Meulan, a papal chaplain said to be a "nepos" of Henry III (Douglas Richardson assumes this was a daughter of John, with no clear evidence,^[1] while Charles Cawley suggests this may possibly have been a son^[4]): the term "nepos" can mean nephew but covered a range of relationships and it is far from certain this person was a child of John

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt City: the author, 2013), Vol. I, pp. 43-58, ENGLAND 5
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by John Gillingham for King John, print and online 2004, revised online 2021
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Church, Stephen. The Date and Place of King John's Birth together with a Codicil on his Name, in 'Notes and Queries', Vol. 67, 2020, PDF viewable on University of East Anglia website, accessed 15 January 2024
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17} Charles Cawley. King John, entry in “Medieval Lands” database (accessed 17 January 2024
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Robert B Patterson for 'Isabella, suo jure countess of Gloucester', print and online 2004, revised online 2005
6. ↑ Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Vol. I, , Bernard Quaritch, 1882, pp. 6-10, Google Books
7. ↑ E B Fryde, D E Greenway, S Porter and I Roy. Handbook of British Chronology, 3rd edition, Royal Historical Society, 1986, p. 29
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Nicholas Vincent for 'Isabella [Isabella of Angoulême], suo jure countess of Angoulême', print and online 2004, revised online 2023
9. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. II, pp. 298-306, CORNWALL 6
10. ↑ G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. III, st Catherine Press, 1913, pp. 430-432, Internet Archive
11. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Keith Stringer for 'Joan (1210–1238)', point and online 2004
12. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV, pp. 590-593, SCOTLAND 5
13. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by D S H Abulafia for 'Isabella [Elizabeth, Isabella of England] (1214–1241)', print and online 2004
14. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Elizabeth Hallam for 'Eleanor, countess of Pembroke and Leicester', print and online 2004
15. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. III, pp. 563-566, LEICESTER 10
16. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Michael Jones for 'Arthur, duke of Brittany', print and online 2004
17. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by A D Carr for 'Llywelyn ab Iorwerth', print and online 2004
18. ↑ Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. I, p. ix, Google Books
19. ↑ Cornelius Brown. The annals of Newark-upon-Trent, H Sotheran and Co, 1879, pp. 13-15, Internet Archive
20. ↑ Nicholas Harris Nicolas. Testamenta Vetusta, Vol. I, Nicholas and Son, 1826, p. 5, Internet Archive
21. ↑ E H Fryde, D E Greenway, S Porter and I Roy (eds.). Handbook of British Chronology, 3rd edition, Royal Historical Society, 1966, p. 279
22. ↑ Mark Duffy. Royal Tombs of Medieval England, The History Press, 2003, pp. 60-65
23. ↑ 'House of Premonstratensian canons: The abbey of Croxton Kerrial', in A History of the County of Leicestershire: Volume 2, ed. W G Hoskins and R A McKinley (London, 1954), pp. 28-31, British History Online, accessed 15 January 2024
24. ↑ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. V, pp. 298-302, WALES 6
25. ↑ ^{25.0 25.1 25.2} Howlett, Robert (ed.). Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II., and Richard I, Vol. IV, Chronicle of Robert of Torigni, HMSO, 1889, p. 233, Internet Archive
26. ↑ ^{26.0 26.1} Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 29, pp. 402-417, Wikisource

See also:

• Faris, David. Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth-century Colonists: the Descent from the Later Plantagenet Kings of England, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III, of Emigrants from England and Wales to the North American Colonies Before 1701, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1996, pp. 223-225
• Wikipedia: John, King of England Wikipedia John, King of England
• Worcester Cathedral website: King John, accessed 18 January 2024