‘The people known as the Jews, had always to the English Crown paid their dues! Now John behaved in a way that gave every child of Israel, a particularly nasty case of the blues!’ In his desperate quest for money, John turned to England’s Jewish community and taxed them mercilessly. In 1210 he had the …
‘Now that John’s French empire had been disastrously lost! He turned west in an attempt to recoup the enormous cost’! Ireland had been the first land bequeathed to John,and for a while it was expected that it would be the only one that he would inherit. ‘To John, the youngest son, a mere morsel of land! …
In 1215 the English barons forced King John to sign Magna Carta (Great Charter) at Runnymede. This document was an important turning point in the history of the English monarchy. The king did not want to agree to its provisions so why did he sign it? The reason lay in John’s own character. Losing Normandy …
‘You know Johnny you are sliding back to being: I, John lack land’! ‘Johnny, you forgot that you have to keep faith with your original loyal band’! ‘But Johnny…. you didn’t, well, perhaps you couldn’t! So your huge inherited empire eventually turned into sand’! News of John’s appalling and foolish conduct in Normandy was music …
‘The King of England, John, may be my uncle! But to me he is nothing more than an obnoxious carbuncle! My thanks to you, King Philip for granting me this, my promised inheritance of land! I acknowledge you as my rightful liege, King Philip Augustus, so high and most grand!’ So say, Arthur, Duke of …
A good life! John before the avalanche of strife! Fortune now afforded a time of solace in the life of John, the spectre of discord, military disaster and territorial losses could not have been further from his unbalanced mind as he reclined with the divine Isabella in the royal bedchamber. The prince who was expected …
Now begins a reign which for this particular king, would end in shameful pain! For Phil ‘disgusting’ Augustus, it was gain and gain over and over again! John was never expected to be king, so his father Henry II who had actually given him the nickname ‘Lack land’, decided to establish him as king of …
King John. 1166-1216. Richard’s decision to name John as his successor was not greeted with unanimous approval. The word on the street was: ‘Richard left everything, you mean, the entire outfit to John, his kid brother?’ The only living son of Queen Eleanor, the royal mother! ‘You got to be kidding!’ ‘There’s more than a …
Swinging London, and how the citizenry did cheer and the church bells ring! Joyful at their king’s return, of blessed, brave Richard and his deeds, they did sing! The streets of London were adorned with banners befitting the return of a king. Richard basked in the adulation of his subjects, but circumstances precluded a lengthy …