Book
King John
First published 2015
Marc Morris reassesses John, the youngest son of Henry II, whose reign became synonymous with tyranny and political failure. The biography follows his rivalry with Richard I, his contested accession, the disappearance of Arthur of Brittany and the collapse of much of the Angevin dominion in France. John’s intelligence, administrative energy and military planning are considered alongside suspicion, vindictiveness and an increasingly exploitative style of rule.
Conflict with Pope Innocent III, heavy financial demands and the king’s treatment of noble families drove opposition into open rebellion. Morris explains how the crisis produced Magna Carta in 1215, why John rapidly rejected the settlement and how the First Barons’ War brought a French invasion led by Prince Louis. John’s death in 1216 left a child heir and a divided kingdom, yet the reissue of Magna Carta under Henry III ensured that his disastrous confrontation with the barons had a constitutional afterlife far beyond his reign.
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