John was the youngest of Henry II's four sons, and it can hardly have been expected that he would one day succeed to his father's empire. In fact, in his younger days there was some question as to where Henry would be able to allocate some land for this last of his sons, a dilemma which led to John being awarded the name 'Lackland'. Over the years, however, his brothers died one by one, with only the third son, Geoffrey, leaving an heir.
This son of Geoffrey's, Arthur of Brittany, did have a good claim to the throne after the death of the Lionheart in 1199. In John's favour was the fact that he was a full grown man, while Arthur was still just twelve, and the fact that John was born and bred in England, while Arthur had been born and raised on the Continent. The telling factor, however was the support of two formidable senior figures, John's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the warrior, William the Marshal.
John has the worst reputation of all the English kings, in stark contrast to the veneration with which his elder brother, Richard I, is treated. In all likelihood, neither deserves the extremes of public opinion; Richard was no saint, and John was likely not the Devil incarnate, as some seem to believe. Nevertheless, by a purely objective measure, John was a failure as king. When he ascended to the throne he gained control of vast French holdings, as well as the English crown. By the time of his death, some 17 years later, those French lands were lost to the English, and a French army was encamped on the English mainland. The loss of the French holdings was, to an extent, a result of the greater feeling of English nationalism which was appearing at that time. The same sentiment that meant that the English preferred the English-speaking John over the French-speaking Arthur as their king, also meant that many were unwilling to leave England's shores to fight for him.
Just when things were looking particularly bleak for the monarchy in England, John died. Which, it turned out, was the best thing he could have done, if he was seeking to preserve the Kingdom of England. The barons rallied behind his 9 year old son, Henry, and he was quickly crowned as Henry III.
timn_from_oz
© 1997 t.neame@trl.telstra.com.au
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