• General Notes

  [charlemegne.FTW]
  
  Beaumont Palace
  John Lackland
  
  JOHN OF ENGLAND [Lackland], brother and heir, youngest son, wa s born at Oxford on 24 Dec. 1167. His father's attempt to provid e territory in France for him provoked rebellion by his older br others. His father granted him the lordship of Ireland in 1177 , and arranged his succession to the earldom of Gloucester. Hi s father's continued favour to him contributed to the rebellio n of John's older brother Richard I, though at the end of Henry' s reign John deserted his father to support Richard who, on acce ssion as king in 1189, made John Comte de Mortagne in Normandy . John was married for the first time at Marlebridge on 29 Aug . 1189 to ISABEL OF GLOUCESTER, Countess of Gloucester, younges t daughter and co-heiress of William FitzRobert, Earl of Glouces ter, by Hawise, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leic ester. Henry had arranged the marriage before his death, but i t was delayed because Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, had for bidden it on account of consanguinity (they were both great-gran dchildren of King Henry I). On appeal to Rome the papal legate i n England annulled the Archbishop's interdict. John became Ear l of Gloucester jure uxoris. Richard, who was childless, acknowl edged that his successor as King of England was his and John's n ephew, Arthur, son of their deceased brother Geoffrey. While Ric hard was on crusade John broke his promise not to enter Englan d during Richard's absence and, on learning of Richard's impriso nment in Germany, attempted, though unsuccessfully, to seize con trol of England. On Richard's return John was banished and disin herited though he was pardoned and recognized as heir when Arthu r fell into the hands of the king of France, Philippe II. On th e death of Richard in 1199, John took the Throne, and was crowne d King of England on Ascension Day 27 May 1199. In 1199, throug h the Archbishop of Bordeaux and the Bishops of Poitier and Sain tonge, and after a ten-year childless marriage, John obtaine d a divorce from his wife on the grounds of consanguinity. Thi s enraged the Roman Curia as presuming to dissolve what had bee n joined by their authority. He intervened in the politics of hi s county of Poitou and, in trying to settle the quarrel betwee n the rival families of Lusignan and Angouleme, was married fo r the second time at Bordeaux on 24 Aug. 1200 to ISABELLE D'ANGO ULEME, daughter and heiress of Aymer Taillefer, Comte d'Angoulem e (descendant of Charlemagne), by Alice, daughter of Pierre de F rance, Seigneur de Courtenay (descendant of Charlemagne). She wa s born in 1188, and had been betrothed to Hugues IX de Lusignan , Comte de La Marche. She was crowned on 8 Oct. 1200. War with F rance followed John's refusal to appear before Philippe 11 conce rning the grievance of the Lusignans. At first John was successf ul in defending his French lands, capturing his nephew Arthur (w ho died in custody), but in 1204 lost Normandy, Anjou, Maine, an d Touraine to the French king. For the next ten years John resid ed almost permanently in England (the first such Angevin king) a nd attempted to restore his finances for further warfare in Fran ce by determined taxation and exploitation of his feudal preroga tives (later the basis for the charge of tyranny). When he insis ted on his, rather than the Pope's, right to nominate the Archbi shop of Canterbury, Pope Innocent III in 1208 imposed an Interdi ct on England suspending all religious services, and excommunica ting King John. After five years of amassing the revenues of vac ant or appropriated sees and abbeys, John agreed to become a vas sal to the Pope for an annual tribute of one thousand marks, wit h absolution from excommunication and the lifting of the Interdi ct. John continued his fight with the French, now with the Pop e as his ally, but attempts finally collapsed with the defeat o f his continental allies at Bouvines in 1214. An alliance of bar ons took advantage of this defeat to launch a rebellion which wa s successful in forcing John to a comprehensive and humiliatin g Magna Charta ensuring the feudal rights of the barons and th e reinstatement of English law, signed at Runnymede on 19 June 1 215. John soon repudiated the charter, and civil war resumed. JO HN OF ENGLAND, King of England, died suddenly in the midst of ca mpaigning at Newark on 19 Oct. 1216, and was buried at Worceste r Cathedral where his effigy is to be seen on his tomb. His wido w was married for the second time on 10 May 1220 to Hugues X d e Lusignan, Comte de la Marche (died 1249), and had nine childre n. She died at Fontrevrault on 31 May 1246. C.P. 5:689-692 (1926 ). Paget (1977), pp. 15-16.

Details of John "Lackland"'s family with Isabelle of Angoulme