250 



JOHN. 



March 2 ; but, Miirch 20, he fled, secretly, from 

 I'oiNtance to iv'haffhausen, and revoked his resig- 

 nation. He was cited before the council, but not 

 appearing, he was suspended, and finally deposed, 

 May s?9, for seventy crimes (malice, tyranny, incest, 

 licentiousness of all kinds, intercourse with his 

 brother's wife and with 300 nuns, simony, murder, 

 &c.), attested by thirty-seven witnesses. He was 

 confined in the castle of Gottleben, near Constance. 

 The elector of the Palatinate was then charged with 

 his safe keeping, and he remained at Manheim and 

 Heidelberg, under custody. Four years after, he 

 was released, on the payment of 30,000 gold guilders, 

 went to Italy, and threw himself at the feet of pope 

 Martin V., in Florence, who pardoned him, and 

 made him cardinal, bishop of Tuscoli, and dean of the 

 college of cardinals. He died soon after, in Novem- 

 ber, 1419. 



JOHN, king of England, born in 1166, was the 

 youngest son of Henry II., by Eleanor of Guienne. 

 Ireland being intended for his appanage, he was sent 

 over, in 1185, to complete the conquest; but such 

 was the imprudence and insolence of himself and his 

 courtiers, that it was found necessary to recall him. 

 Although his father's favourite, he joined his brother 

 Richard in his last unnatural rebellion, and partook 

 with him the curse pronounced by the heart-stricken 

 king and parent on his deathbed. He was left without 

 any particular provision, which procured for him the 

 name of Sans Terre, or Lackland ; but Richard, on 

 his accession, conferred on him the earldom of Mor- 

 taigne, in Normandy, and various large possessions 

 in England, and married him to the rich heiress of 

 the earl of Gloucester. This kindness did not pre- 

 vent him from forming intrigues against his brother, 

 in conjunction with Philip of France, during his ab- 

 sence in Palestine ; but Richard magnanimously 

 pardoned him on his return, and left him his kingdom, 

 in preference to Arthur of Brittany, the son of his 

 elder brother, Geoffry. So imperfectly was the rule 

 of primogeniture then established in this country, 

 that no disturbance whatever ensued, although the 

 French provinces of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine 

 declared for Arthur, who was taken under the pro- 

 tection of the king of France. A war ensued, in 

 which John recovered his revolted provinces, and 

 received homage from Arthur for the duchy of Brit- 

 tany, inherited from his mother. In 1200, he mar- 

 ried Isabella of Angouleme, after divorcing himself, 

 on some pretence, from his first wife. In 1201, some 

 disturbances again broke out in France, whither he 

 led another expedition ; and the young Arthur, 

 having joined the malcontents, was captured, and 

 confined in the castle of Falaise, whence he was sub- 

 sequently removed to Rouen, and never heard of 

 more. The manner of his death is not certainly 

 known ; but it was generally believed that John 

 stabbed him with his own hand, and he now became 

 the object of universal detestation. The states of 

 Brittany summoned him to answer the charge of 

 murder, before his liege lord, king Philip ; and, upon 

 his refusal to appear, the latter assumed the execution 

 of the sentence of forfeiture against him, and in this 

 manner the whole of Normandy was recovered by 

 the French crown, after its alienation for three cen- 

 turies. John laid the fault of his disgrace upon his 

 English nobles, whom he harassed by fines and con- 

 fiscations ; but, after some ineffectual attempts, he 

 was obliged to acquiesce in a truce in 1206. The 

 pope at this time was the haughty and able Innocent 

 III., who, in consequence of a contested election for 

 the see of Canterbury, nominated a creature of his 

 own, cardinal Stephen Langton. John, highly en- 

 raged, acted with his usual haste and folly, and dis- 

 played so much contempt for the papal authority, that 



Innocent laid the whole kingdom vinder an interdict. 

 This quarrel lasted some years, and the king, by his 

 tyranny, depriving himself ot the support of his 

 nobles, was perplexed on every side. In order to 

 give some lustre to his degraded administration, he 

 undertook expeditions into Scotland, Wales, and Ire- 

 land, in which he was successful, and, in particular, 

 quelled all opposition to his authority in the last 

 country. In the mean time, the court of Rome ex- 

 communicated the king, personally, and formally 

 absolved his subjects from their allegiance. Pliilip 

 of France was again ready to put the sentence against 

 John into execution, and prepared an expedition in 

 the ports of Picardy, which, however, the latter was 

 enabled to oppose. So much disaffection, neverthe- 

 less, prevailed, that Pandulph, the pope's legate, 

 induced him not only to receive Langton, as archbishop 

 of Canterbury, but abjectly to resign his kingdoms 

 of England and Ireland to the holy see, in order to 

 receive them again as its vassal, with absolution. 

 This ignominious compact was executed at Dover, in 

 May, 1213 ; and the pope, now regarding England 

 as his own, and jealous of the aggrandizement of 

 Philip, required the latter to desist from hostilities 

 against a country under the protection of the see of 

 Rome. Philip received this mandate with great in- 

 dignation, but, in consequence of a victory over his 

 fleet, was gradually brought to reason. Flushed 

 with this success, John resolved to endeavour to re- 

 cover his continental dominions ; but the English 

 barons declined the service. In the next year, how- 

 ever, he carried over an army to Poitou; but, after 

 some partial successes, was obliged to return in dis- 

 grace. John had, by this time, rendered himself the 

 object of such universal contempt and hatred, that 

 his nobles, who had long felt aggrieved by the usur- 

 pation of their sovereigns, and of the reigning one in 

 particular, determined to seize upon so favourable an 

 opportunity to control his power, and establish their 

 privileges. Langton produced to them a copy of the 

 charter of rights granted by Henry I., and, at a 

 general meeting in London, in January, 1215, they 

 laid their demands before the king, which he attemp- 

 ted to elude by delay. In the mean time, lie sought 

 to ingratiate himself with the clergy and the pope, 

 with whom he lodged an appeal against the compul- 

 sory proceedings of the barons. The politic pontiff, 

 who found it his interest to support a sovereign who 

 had so far humbled himself, declared his disapproba- 

 tion of their conduct ; but, little moved by the decla- 

 ration, the latter assembled in arms at Oxford, where 

 the court then was, and, choosing a general, imme- 

 diately proceeded to warlike operations. They were 

 received without opposition in London, which so inti- 

 midated the king, that he consented to sign such 

 articles of agreement as they thought fit to dictate. 

 Such were the steps which produced the Magna 

 Churta t which was signed by John at Runnymede, on 

 the banks of the Thames, June 19, 1215. By this 

 charter the basis of English constitutional freedom 

 not only were the nobles protected against the 

 crown, but important privileges were granted to 

 every order of freemen. The passive manner in 

 which John yielded to these restrictions of his power, 

 indicated a secret intention of freeing- himself from 

 his obligations. In order to lull the barons into secu- 

 rity, he dismissed his foreign forces, but, in the mean 

 time, was secretly employed in raising fresh merce- 

 naries, and in seeking the concurrence of the pope, 

 who issued a bull, annihilating the charter, as extorted 

 from his vassal, contrary to the interests of the holy 

 see. He even forbade John to pay any regard to its 

 conditions, and pronounced a sentence of excommu 

 nication on all who should attempt to enforce it. 

 Thus furnished with spiritual and temporal arms, the 



