fwo_917142 - IRLAND - JOHN LACKLAND Penny n.d.

IRLAND - JOHN LACKLAND

(1199-1216)

John was born in Oxford on December 24, 1167 from the union of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, of whom he was the fifth child. He was nicknamed "Landless" because his father had divided his domains among his elders. On the death of his brother Richard Coeur de Lion, which occurred in April 1199, he acceded to the throne of England at the expense of his nephew Duke Arthur of Brittany, son of Geoffroy, third child of Henry II. He had to fight against Philippe Auguste who confiscated his French domains (Anjou, Touraine, Normandy, Poitou...). He also clashed with the English barons who occupied London in May 1215 and, together with the bourgeois and the bishops, forced him to sign the Magna Carta, the great charter of English freedoms. In 1216, Jean not having kept his promises, the barons revolted again and proposed the crown of England to Louis, son of the king of France Philippe Auguste. The Plantagenet dynasty was saved by the death of King John in October 1216 at Newark Castle (Nottinghamshire), his son Henry III succeeding him.