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.
He ruled Britain from 1189 to
1199. He was a good king.
RICH BUT NOT
GREEDY
WISE
FIRM BUT
FAIR
BRAVE
INSPIRING
FIT AND STRONG
A GOOD
SOLDIER
HARD
WORKING
• 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
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?
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.
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
The King’s men must
not take anyone’s
goods without paying
for them
No freeman
can be put
into prison
without a
proper trial
with a jury
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.
• 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?
• 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