[MR] Wikipedia: Death of "Bad" King John

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On this date in 1216 John I, King of England, died of dysentery at Newark
Castle in Nottinghamshire while on campaign against his rebellious barons.

In the opinion of many historians, and in popular culture, John comes off
as one of the worst kings in English history. He was petty, vindictive and
avaricious and ineffective, all of which alienated many of his barons. He
lost most of the Angevin holdings in France, lost effective control of
Ireland, torqued off the Pope, probably had his nephew Arthur (Richard the
Lion Hearted's chosen heir) murdered, plunged his country into civil war,
agreed under pressure to the Magna Carta which John quickly repudiated, was
essentially chased from the throne by Prince Philip of France whom the
barons invited to become King of England, and lost England's crown jewels.
That's a pretty sorry record.

His greatest accomplishment was that he had five legitimate children, all
of whom survived to adulthood, and were important players in later English
and European history. He also had at least ten more children on the wrong
side of the sheets, as they say, most of whom were pretty unremarkable.

Being the inept foe of Robin Hood in countless period tales and ballads,
and again in modern books, television shows and movies, hasn't helped his
reputation either. Think of how Claude Rains deliciously portrayed King
John in the 1938 *Adventures of Robin Hood*. Here was a villain you really
wanted to hiss at.

If you would like to know more about King John, and his many, many
failures, Wilipedia has an extensive biographical sketch at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_King_of_England . There is also an
extensive "family tree" showing how various dynasties ended up
intermarried. No wonder insanity and hemophilia plagued so many royal
families.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆