Born on 24 Dec 1167. Died on 19 Oct 1216. Title: King of England, 1199-1216.Henry II's youngest son, John was left out of Henry's original division of territory among his sons and was nicknamed John Lackland. He was, however, his father's favorite, and despite the opposition of his brothers (whose rebellion of 1173–74 was provoked by Henry's plans for John), he later received scattered possessions in England and France and the lordship of Ireland. His brief expedition to Ireland in 1185 was badly mismanaged.
John deserted his dying father in 1189 and joined the rebellion of his brother Richard, who succeeded to the throne as Richard I in the same year. The new king generously conferred lands and titles on John. After Richard's departure on the Third Crusade, John led a rebellion against the chancellor, William of Longchamp, had himself acknowledged (1191) temporary ruler and heir to the throne, and conspired with Philip II of France to supplant Richard on the throne. This plot was successfully thwarted by those loyal to Richard, including the queen mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard pardoned John's treachery.
On Richard's death, John ascended the English throne to the exclusion of his nephew, Arthur I of Brittany. The supporters of Arthur, aided by King Philip, began a formidable revolt in France. At this time John alienated public opinion in England by divorcing his first wife, Isabel of Gloucester, and made enemies in France by marrying Isabel of Angoulême, who had been betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan. In 1202, Arthur was defeated and captured, and it is thought that John murdered him in 1203. Philip continued the war and gradually gained ground until by 1206 he was in control of Normandy, Anjou, Brittany, Maine, and Touraine. John had lost all his French dominions except Aquitaine and a part of Poitou, which was a critical factor in his subsequent unpopularity.
The death (1205) of John's chancellor, Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, not only removed a moderating influence on the king but precipitated a crisis with the English church. John refused (1206) to accept the election of Stephen Langton as Walter's successor at Canterbury, and as a result Pope Innocent III placed (1208) England under interdict and excommunicated (1209) the king. The quarrel continued until 1213 when John, threatened by the danger of a French invasion and by increasing disaffection among the English barons, surrendered his kingdom to the pope and received it back as a papal fief.
John's submission to the pope improved his situation. Now backed by the pope, he formed an expedition to wage war on Philip in Poitou. However, while John was at La Rochelle, his allies, Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV (his nephew) and the count of Flanders, were decisively beaten by Philip at Bouvines in 1214. John had resorted to all means to secure men and money for his Poitou campaign, and after returning home he attempted to collect scutage from the barons who had refused to aid him on the expedition.
Abuses of feudal customs and extortion of money from the barons and the towns, not only by John but by Henry II and Richard I, had aroused intense opposition, which increased in John's unfortunate reign. The barons now rose in overwhelming force against the king, and John in capitulation set his seal on the Magna Carta at Runnymede in June, 1215. Thus, the most famous document of English constitutional history was the fruit of predominantly baronial force.
John, supported by the pope, gathered forces and renewed the struggle with the barons, who sought the aid of Prince Louis of France (later Louis VIII). In the midst of this campaign John died, and his son, Henry III, was left to carry on the royal cause.
John, though often cruel and treacherous, was an excellent administrator, much concerned with rendering justice among his subjects. The basic cause of his conflicts with the barons was not that he was an innovator in trying to wield an absolute royal power, but that in so doing he ignored and contravened the traditional feudal relationship between the crown and the nobility. The modern hostile picture of John is primarily the work of subsequent chroniclers, mainly Roger of Wendover and Matthew of Paris.
He married Isabella of Angouléme, on 24 Aug 1200.
They had the following children:
| 35539304 | i. | Henry III (1207-1272) | |
| ii. | Joan |
71078609 Isabella of Angouléme. (Same as ahnentafel number 71078603.)
71078610 Raymond Berenger V.
Born in 1198. Died on 19 Aug 1245. Title: Count of Provence and Forcalquier.He married Beatrice of Savoy, abt 5 Jun 1219.
They had one child:
| 35539305 | i. | Eleanor (1217-1291) |
71078611 Beatrice of Savoy.
Died in 1266.71078612 Louis VIII the Lion.
Born in 1187. Died on 8 Nov 1226 in Montpensier, Auvergne. Title: King of France (1223-1226).He fought (1215, 1219) against the Albigenses in southern France. Invited by English lords in rebellion against their king, John, to become king of England, he invaded (1216) England, although his action caused his excommunication by Pope Innocent III. The death of John and the accession of Henry III as king of England lost Louis much support among the English nobility. After his defeat (1217) at Lincoln, he withdrew. In 1224 he conquered Poitou from the English. To make his peace with the church, he pledged to go on crusade, and in 1226 he resumed the Albigensian Crusade and conquered most of Languedoc. He continued his father's policy of strong central authority.
He married Blanche of Castile, in 1200.
They had one child:
| 35539306 | i. | Robert |
71078613 Blanche of Castile.
Died in 1253.71078614 Henry II of Brabant.
Died on 1 Feb 1247/8.He married Marie of Swabia, in 1215.
They had one child:
| 35539307 | i. | Matilda (-1288) |
71078615 Marie of Swabia.
Died abt 1240.Also known as Mary of Hohenstauffen.
71078618 Thomas de LONDON. Died bef 1221. Title: Lord of Kidwelly.
Child:
| 35539309 | i. | Hawise (-1273) |
71078620 William de BEAUCHAMP. Title: 5th Baron Beauchamp of Elmly Castle, co. Worcester, England.
He married Isabel MAUDUIT.
They had one child:
| 35539310 | i. | William (1237-bur. 1298) |
71078621 Isabel MAUDUIT.
71078622 Sir John Fitz GEOFFREY.
Died on 23 Nov 1258. Occupation: Justiciar of Ireland (1245-1256). Of: Shere and Farnbridge.He married Isabel BIGOD, aft 1230.
They had one child:
| 35539311 | i. | Maud (-~1301) |
71078623 Isabel BIGOD.
71078624 Humphrey de BOHUN V.
Born bef 1208. Died on 24 Sep 1275. Occupation: Constable of England, Sheriff of Kent. Title: 2nd Earl of Hereford, 7th Earl of Essex.He married Maud de LUSIGNAN.
They had one child:
| 35539312 | i. | Humphrey (-1265) |
71078625 Maud de LUSIGNAN.
Died on 14 Aug 1241.Also known as Maud d'Eu.
71078626 William de BRAIOSE. (Same as ahnentafel number 46694478.)
71078627 Eva MARSHAL. (Same as ahnentafel number 46694479.)
71078628 William de FIENNES.
Died in 1241.Also known as Guillaume. He first married Isabel N. He second married (abt 1203) Agnes de DAMMARTIN.
Child:
| 35539314 | i. | Ingelram |
71078636 Alfonso IX.
Born in 1166. Died in 1229. Title: King of Leon.He conquered from the Moors several cities in Estremadura and was frequently at war with Alfonso VIII of Castile. His marriages with Teresa of Portugal and Berengaria of Castile were both annulled by the pope. He defeated (1230) the Moors at Mérida. His son by Berenguela, Ferdinand III, reunited (1230) León and Castile.
He married Berengaria of Castile.
They had one child:
| 35539318 | i. | Fernando III (1191-1252) |
71078637 Berengaria of Castile.
Died in 1244.71078638 Simon de DAMMARTIN.
Died in 1239. Title: Count of Aumale.He married Marie of Ponthieu, abt 1209.
They had one child:
| 35539319 | i. | Joan (-1279) |
71078639 Marie of Ponthieu.
Died in 1250. Title: Countess of Ponthieu.71078648 Sir Gilbert de CLARE.
Born abt 1180. Died on 25 Oct 1230 in Penros, Brittany. Title: 7th Earl of Clare, Earl of Hertford and Gloucester.He was a Magna Charta Surety (1215).
He married Isabel MARSHAL, on 9 Oct 1217.
They had one child:
| 35539324 | i. | Richard (1222-1262) |
71078649 Isabel MARSHAL.
Died on 17 Jan 1239/40 in Berkhampstead.Original content © 1997-2004 W. H. Merklee. All rights reserved.