1 - Richard the Lion-Hearted, as he was known, was the King of England that unified all of England and
Western France (Brittany) under a single legal system and continued the democratic reforms started by his
father. Richard’s system of law was known as common law since it was the same throughout the kingdom.
After Richard the Lion-Hearted’s death there was a power struggle to see who would become the new king.
Richard had no son, so Richard’s younger brother John and Richard’s nephew Arthur both wanted to become
the next king of England & Western France (Brittany).
2 - Since John was Richard’s brother, he would become king.
John’s nephew Arthur was furious since he
already had power & influence in most of Western France (Brittany). To avoid a fight and to satisfy Arthur,
John gave him some, but not all of the land in Western France (Brittany). However, since France & England
had a treaty regarding Brittany, John had to get permission from the French King to give Arthur control of any
French land.
3 - John would then marry a French woman named Isabella.
However, Isabella at one time had been engaged
to a powerful French noble named Hugh X. Hugh X complained to the French King that John stole his bride, so
the French King invaded Western France (Brittany) to punish John & take it away from England. John’s
cousin Arthur was furious that John’s actions caused him to lose control of the land he controlled. Arthur
threatned John’s rule.
4 - John, not wanting to look like a weak leader killed his nephew, Arthur.
Since Arthur was quite popular in
France, John’s actions upset the French nobels and France and England went to war. Due to his weak
leadership skills, John would lose the war and the rest of his French territory (all of Brittany). John would have
to raise taxes in England to pay for the lost revenue.
5 - John began creating new taxes in England.
He created a forest tax, a tax on fish traps, marriage tax, death
tax, and John raised the price that Land Barons (nobles) paid for military protection. John also increased
income tax eleven times in seven years. The two kings before John only raised income tax eleven times in50
years of rule. People became angry and John began suspending many of the democratic reforms created by his
predecessors.
6 - The next big mistake that King John made dealt with the Catholic Church. Usually, the king would appoint
someone to become the Archbishop of Canterbury and Catholic Monks in England would approve that person.
However, the monks in did not like John’s choice and appointed their own Archbishop. When Pope Innocent
III heard that there were two appointments, he invalidated [threw out] both choices and insisted that a man
named Stephen Langston should become Archbishop.
7 - John refused Langston as a choice and decided to expel [kick out] all of the Catholic Monks that opposed
John’s original choice for Archbishop. Pope Innocent was furious and excommunicated John (kicked John out
of the church). The Pope encouraged King Phillip of France to invade England. However, John backed down
and accepted the choice of Langston and allowed the expelled monks to return to England. To placate the Pope
(make the Pope happy), John also gave the Catholic Church a good deal of land in England for very cheap rent
and low taxes. This enraged the English Land Barons (nobles) since they would now have to pay higher taxes
to make up for the discount the Church would now be getting.
8 - In 1215, the English nobles forced King John to agree to the Magna Carta (Great Charter).
The 63-clause
document guaranteed certain political and legal rights. These rights included no taxation without
representation, establishment of a Parliament, legal rights, trial by jury and no interference in Church affairs.
The nobles wanted to limit the powers of the King in order to protect their children’s future rights.