Was John really the Worst King of England? | Magna Carta | 4 Minute History

[Music] fouled as it is Hell itself is defiled by the foul of presence of John this was the verdict of the monk Matthew Parris writing in the 12 30s from Shakespeare to Hollywood John has been portrayed as a fool weak and incompetent King but was he really that bad judged by modern standards many medieval kings were capable of acts that seemed cruel and unjust most also embarked on costly Foreign Wars for which they taxed their subjects heavily to determine whether John was an especially bad King we have to judge him by the standards of the day not ours and ask what was expected of a medieval King Kings had many duties they were supposed to uphold the law protect the church display wealth and honor and they were expected to be good warriors on these terms how should John be judged John certainly took a close interest in the law and thanks to the reforms of his father Henry the lawgiver Royal Courts now had a significantly larger role to play in resolving local disputes John often intervened in cases directly which some see as evidence of his taking seriously his duty to administer justice however John's justice was for sale with courts being routinely used to raise money through bribes and fines [Music] John's relationship with the church has turbulent while John would end his reign with the papers and Ally at the beginning of his reign their relationship was poor tensions have been increasing for some time between the crown and the church particularly over who should appoint bishops the death of Hubert Walter Archbishop of Canterbury in 1205 led to a crisis local monks John and Pope Innocent the third all disagreed over who should replace him John wanted to appoint one of his own allies John to gray while the Pope's preferred candidate was Stephen Langton Langton had studied in Paris and was an outspoken critic of those he viewed as bad Kings when John blocks liked him from coming to England the dispute escalated the Pope ordered the churches of England and Ireland to be closed for six years and excommunicated the king and his court the crisis only ended when John submitted to the Pope to avoid a French invasion where John excelled was in raising money his court was suitably lavish and he was known for his love of jewels however John's methods for raising money were extremely unpopular he charged the City of London three thousand marks to confirm liberties they already possessed charged his barons high inheritance fees and across the country his sheriff's ruthlessly collected private debts so unpopular will his sheriff's the one remains infamous to this day the Sheriff of Nottingham Philip mark whilst John's wealth impressed visitors the Kings conduct did not this was an age of chivalry where Kings were expected to act or ibly it was common for Kings to have mistresses but John's mistresses included the wives and daughters of his barons John was also cruel vindictive and paranoid and widely suspected of killing his own nephew Arthur the most important test of medieval kingship though was on the battlefield henry ii and richard the lionheart were great military leaders however aside from one victory at the beginning of his reign John's record was a string of disasters the loss of Normandy which began in 1204 and the poor treatment of his allies saw the unraveling of John's inheritance in France by August or Zhu and Potter had fallen leaving John with only a quarter John's efforts to reclaim these lands for which so much money had been collected as such a high political cost ended in failure at the Battle of bovi and 1214 so judged by the stances of the time and not just today John was a bad King perhaps Disney had it right in the song from Robin Hood too late to be known as John the first he's sure to be known as John the worst you