This date in 1216 saw the death of King John. 10 facts about King John of England.
Many sources say he was born on Christmas Eve 1166, although because he was the youngest of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine’s eight children, he wasn’t expected to be all that important and so the recording of his date and year of birth may not have been all that accurate.
He wasn’t expected to inherit much in the way of land, let alone the throne. His father gave him the nickname “John Lackland”, reflecting this.
Later on, though, some of his brothers staged a revolt against Henry, which failed, but it meant John was now Henry’s favourite. He was granted land in both England and on the continent, and made Lord of Ireland.
In due course, Henry’s eldest son Richard succeeded him and became Richard I (The Lionheart). While Richard was off fighting in the Crusades, John decided to try and take the throne off him. Although his lands and titles had come with a promise not to enter England while his brother was away, he did it anyway. On hearing Richard had been taken prisoner, John negotiated with his brother’s captors to keep him in prison. His bid didn’t succeed, but Richard seemed to forgive him, saying: “Think no more of it, John; you are only a child who has had evil counsellors.” On his deathbed, Richard named John as his successor.
John wasn’t a very popular king, however. He was known as “Bad King John“. Within five years of John becoming king, the French took Normandy. In 1214, John launched a campaign to get it back, which failed. The English barons, meanwhile, were sick of funding John’s military campaigns and rebelled. It was this rebellion which led to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.
John was married twice, and both his wives were called Isabella. The first was Isabella, heiress to the earldom of Gloucester. He married her in 1189, but ran into trouble because they were actually third cousins and the church didn’t allow third cousins to marry. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Baldwin of Forde, forbade John from seeing Isabella. The interdict was removed by the papal legate John of Agnani, but permission for the marriage was never officially given. When John was crowned, Isabella was not; she was deemed a consort, not a queen and in 1200 the marriage was annulled because they were too closely related.
The same year John wed Isabella Angoulême, who was no older than 14 at the time of their wedding. It was a political move; Isabella was already betrothed to a French count, so the marriage sparked off an armed conflict with France. She was the mother of Henry III, who succeeded John.
Although Richard I had named John his heir, there was another claimant, John’s nephew, Arthur of Brittany. The aforementioned barons preferred Arthur but were eventually persuaded otherwise. During a rebellion, Arthur, then 16, was captured by John’s forces. A rumour spread that John had killed Arthur while in a drunken rage and thrown his body in the Seine.
John was excommunicated by Pope Innocent III for four years between 1209 and 1213, due to a disagreement over who should be Archbishop of Canterbury. John wanted to shoehorn one of his supporters into the role. They’d ironed out their differences by 1215, however, as the Pope was willing to help John as he tried to wriggle out of accepting the Magna Carta.
John died during a campaign to put down a rebellion, but he died of dysentery rather than in battle. That’s the official story – there were rumours he died because someone poisoned his Beer or fed him poisoned Plums, or that he’d died of a "surfeit of Peaches". If he was indeed born on Christmas Eve 1166, he was 49 years old when he died.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
No comments:
Post a Comment