John I of England

King of England

Henry IV, Duke of Brittany

(In the Duchy of Brittany)

William I, Count of Anjou

(In the County of Anjou)

Isabella I, Countess of Auvergne

(m. 1170 d. 1191)

Joan, Lady of Wales

Henry IV, Duke of Brittany

William I, Count of Anjou

Isabella, Countess of Hainaut

Joan, Countess of La March

Katherine of England

Matilda of England

Mary, Countess of Ulster

Illegitimate:

Margaret FitzRoy

Joan FitzRoy

Henry FitzRoy

Edmund FitzRoy

Isabella FitzRoy

Elizabeth FitzRoy

Mary FitzRoy

Margaret FitzRoy

Edmund FitzRoy

**John I of England** (C. 1134 - 1206) was the youngest son of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England, Historically, John was known as "**John Lackland**" because of the lack of land he was left to inherit when his older brother Henry the Young and Richard the Lionheart took. John was his father's favourate for his interest in science and politics, 2 passions his father was fond of, but his older brothers and sisters mostly hated John's father, and in 1143, John's older brother convinced John to turn against his father, John agreed because of the money he could get, when his older brother became king, John was not next in line if Richard died childless, John's niece Mary of England was next in line as a promise Richard the Lionheart made, but John usurped the throne and he and his French wife who was also his grand-niece were crowned King and Queen of England, Mary was very unhappy, she started a revolt, John tried to pay her to stop, but Mary wanted her crown, John also was a very unpopular king, he murdered Thomas Becket who was a cardinal, at the time and even today, kings are not in the role to insult/execute/murder a churchmen, Thomas Becket was made saint 1 month after his death, John wanted to avoid getting execomunicated by the church, he was publicly whipped and humbled by a priest, when John's wife Marie of Provence died, the people of England cheered as she was a very unpopular Queen. 2 years after her death John was involved in the first Barons war, the Barons wanted to help the king and what they meant by "Help" was control, John in fury executed 6 barons, the barons also very angry told John either they chose his next wife, or John will be forced to hand all his power to the Barons, John wanted to chose his own wife, but he gave in and allowed the barons to do the job, the barons discussed Phillipa of Lorraine, but Phillipa mother Joanna of Limburg did not wan't her daughter marrying someone who killed a saint, then another Princess Eleanor of Charolais, but Eleanor sent herself to a convent to avoid being married to John, at last a French Countess Isabella I, Countess of Auvergne who was Countess of Auvergne in her own right agreed to marry John, unlike John, Isabella was loved by the people for her charity, the barons also liked her and welcomed her with open arms, John was weary of his new bride and did not trust her, he still missed Marie of Provence. Isabella gave birth to many children with John, John had many mistresses to forget the fact his wife was Isabella, the Barons were so sick of John coruption of power, they offered the throne to a French noble named Louis I of Lippe, but Louis died while traveling to England. The barons instead forced John to sign the Magna Carta, which created the "Privy Council" which is filled with elected nobles, the nobles would help the king with his ideas, John hated this idea, but he knew better then to mess with the Barons, John died after being poisoned, his son with Marie of Provence became the next king.

## Early Life

### Birth

John was born Prince John, at St. Marie's Castle, in Normandy. John was the third son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and the 6th child of the pair, John was probably named after St. John the Baptist. John was never meant to ever become King of England, his older brother Henry the Younger who was co-king was meant to. John was brought to England 1 week after his birth.

### England

John was raised by his father in London, his father was very fond of the boy and thought him science, war, and politics, John was never known to be his mothers favourate, as her mother favored John's older brother Richard. John had many siblings, which included, Henry, Richard, Constance, Isabella, Eleanor, and a few younger siblings whom were Joan, Matilda, and Margaret, John had a few half-siblings, whom were Alix, Louis VIII of France, Blanche, Marie, and St. Agnes of France. John was never raised with any of his siblings, and was raised alone, his father spent a lot of money training John to be a warrior.

### Bethrothal

When John turned 9, he was already learning how to crusade, but most crusader royalty married young, and John was no exception, John was brought to Wales with his father after his older brother Richard found a wife, John was bethrothed to Constance of Barcelona who was 7 years old, John and Constance were ill at ease together, and other then that, Constance's father Raymond I, found a better husband for her, Henry tried again with Elizabeth of Aragon who was the daughter of the King of Aragon, but Elizabeth of Aragon married Sancho I of Portugal, to avoid marrying John, Elizabeth's sister Urraca of Aragon was on the marriage market, Henry tried to marry Urraca to John, but Urraca died of the common cold 5 days before the meeting could start, Henry did not give up yet, he tried Maria de Montferret, an Italian noblewoman, Maria was mentally unstable to become a wife, at last Henry gave up and set bethrothal dates to other times.

### Education

John was a very educated Prince, though not as smart as Richard, he was indeed a special boy, his father educated him with the best teachers in England, John was fair and the indeed the most handsome of his siblings, John was excelled in math and history, and was created knight of the Garter, John was also a great singer and dancer, he was charming but also aggresive and cruel to his enemies. John was an acceptionally smart boy.

### Family Feud

When John turned 10, his father wanted John to be the next King, John never knew why he was always being treated like a co-monarch, but it was all a part of a plot to make him the next king, but John's older brothers started a whole war against there father, John's father feared that John would be killed in his brother's jealousy, so John was sent to Normandy in the care of the Norman lords, the Norman lords wrote as John of "A sweet and incredibly handsome and witty boy." John's older brothers started taking lands in England along with there supporters, when John was 11, he was returned to England during the 5th Crusade, John did not fight in the 5th Crusade, but he was trained in his fathers army.

### 6th Crusade

12 year old John was never the best sword fighter in England, but his father still invited him on a Crusade to Hungary, John accepted in-love of lust, Henry and John wen't to the capital where John and his father happened to stumble into there brothers army, while his older brother and father were fighting each-other in a castle, John wen't with his older-half sister Blanche who was Queen of Hungary, when John returned, Henry was not fighting and the 6th Crusade was near an end, when the Crusade ended, John's father took John to Wales again to attempt another bethrothal.

### Attempted second Bethrothals

When John arrived in Coenway, Wales were John was greeted with honor, John was bethrothed to Eleanor of Cleves, who was German Princess, Eleanor was not a popular bride because of how little known she was, so John's father broke off the engagement, much to the annoyance of Eleanor's parents, Henry attempted a Princess from Kiev named Lydia of Kyiv, but Lydia's family was considered to poor for John's hand, so the bethrothal broke off again, John again attempted to marry Maria de Montferret, he had already been bethrothed to her, but the marriage broke up due to her mental illness, but Henry tried again with her, Maria's mother did not wan't Maria to marry, and offered them Maria's sister Isabella de Montferret, Isabella was considerbly charming, but did not act like a girl at all which alarmed the Welsh court, she acted like a boy by getting her dresses dirty, but Isabella had another sister named Elisabetta de Montferret, Elisabetta was already bethrothed to the Duke of Combria, and had no interest in breaking her engagement. Henry gave up and rescedueled the bethrothal date yet again.

### Betraying Henry II of England

In 1143, Henry the Young was killed in the battle of Cambridge, Henry's daughter Mary was next in line and was coronaited co-Queen of the English, but John's older brother deposed her, in extchange, Richard promised Mary the co-throne if he died childless, which meant John was now last in line for the succession, Henry II also was not happy about this point and attempted to depose Richard as co-king, so John could step-in, but Richard was supported by the people in the Empire, so Henry was forced to regonize Richard as Co-King. Richard and John's sister Constance convinced John to betray his father in extchange for money, John utterly agreed and betray his father, Henry was not informed John betray him, so Henry continued to support John's claim to the throne, in 1149 when Henry was defeated in the battle of Richmond, he was forced to read the names of Richards supporters, John's name was first, Henry never trusted John again and John moved in with Constance and Richard, John was given more money then he had been promised, but he agreed to keep it, a month later Henry died, and Richard and his wife Berengaria of Navarre were crowned King and Queen of the Angevin Empire (England.)

## Marriage

Richard was very fond of John, and appointed John minister of the council, Richard also looked for possible brides for John, something Henry had failed to give John, the 19 year old Prince wanted to keep the Anglo-Franco alliance against the Ottoman empire, so Richard chose a grand-niece named Marie of Provence, who was the grand-daughter of John's older sister Princess Constance, Marie was only 5 years old at the time but John married her anyways, because at the time age did not matter, only power. Marie was not the most popular bride in England, as her family had revolted against the English during the 3rd French Revolt, but Richard still adored his new bride. They were married by proxy in Poiters, but the marriage was not suppose to be real until Marie reached the age of 10.

## Revolt's against Richard

Though John was Richard's favourate brother, Richard was John's least favourate sibling, while Richard was on campain in Paris, John led an unpopular revolt and sieged control of Normandy, his wife now 8 years old wen't with John, John's older sister Constance who hated Richard more then John agreed to help John raid Brittany, when Richard returned he captured Constance and sent her to Sicily in exile, but Richard loved John to much to kill him, so Richard only briefly restricted John's powers as Lord Minister of England. Constance was imprisoned and sent letters to John begging him to free her, Constance being John's favourate sister, John marched to Sicily were the Sicilian people cheered John for saving Constance who was dowager Queen of Sicily, Constance road back to Normandy and led a second revolt, Richard once again easily won and forced Constance back into exile, this time John had no choice, but to leave his sister in exile, but this time Constance was not imprisoned.

## King of England

Constance freed herself from exile and invited herself back to England, John welcomed Constance back with open arms, around this time John's wife gave birth to a daughter named Eleanor, named after John's mother. During the 8th Crusade, John was in the Holy lands trying to reclaim Jerusalem, but in the late 1150's Richard was captured and sold to Constance, Richard's wife Berengaria was left in charge, but John had a plan to murder Queen Berengaria, with the King of France's support, John rode with some of his friends, and they killed the guards, Queen Berengaria was forced to flee her Palace to York, but John followed Berengaria's boat and kidnapped Berengaria, Berengaria was strangled to death by John's right-hand man Lord Doune, and John was not technically *de facto* king of England, but that was not enough, he asked Constance to murder Richard and break of the deal with the late Queen, Richard was strangled to death of Jerusalem, and his body was brought to Oxford, the English people were devastated, but John and his 18 year old wife were celebrating, 3 days after Richard's death, John was crowned King of England, Duke of Aquitaine, Normandy, and Brittany, Count of Anjou, Nantes, Poiters and Angouleme, and lastly Lord of Ireland. His wife was crowned Queen that same day. The people cheered John in hopes for a second King Richard, but John was no King Richard, he was a greedy, evil tryant.

## Disputes with Mary of England

When Mary (Who was also Countess of Gloucester in her own right) heard Richard was dead, she was rightfully the next Queen, she sailed from Gloucester to London, there many people rallied around Mary to avoid having John as there King, John exiled Mary, but the people re-invited Mary back, Mary's husband John I, Count of Alsace declared himself King of England by *de facto*. But John refused to hand over his long awaited crown and stated they either except him as King, or be executed, but Mary and John did not fear death, they continued to fight against John even when they were refused the Crown.

## Children with Marie of Provence

John had 8 children with Marie, which only 4 survived adulthood.

1. Eleanor of England, married the Earl of Leicester, had Issue
2. Isabella of England, died 6 hours after birth
3. Henry III of England, became King of England
4. Joan, Lady of Wales, married Llywelyn the Great
5. Margaret of England, died 8 minutes after birth
6. Isabella of England, died a day after birth
7. Stillborn son, died before being born
8. Matilda, Countess of Clarence, married Robert, 2nd Earl of Clarence

Matilda of England is the least important daughter of king John, mainly because she spent more time in Clarence then England.

## Unpopular taxing system

2 weeks into John's reign, John invented the new very unpopular taxing system, John wrote a bill noting, the King does not have to pay tax, the nobles don't have to pay tax (Unless there enemies of the King), and the people have to pay tax, if they refuse they are subjected to execution. This bill unsuprisingly was very unpopular, the people revolted and John was forced to lower the tax to 100 pounds. Following that year, the 9th Crusade was over, John returned to find his wife very ill, John was devastated.

## Death of Marie of Provence

Marie had caught yellow fever from the local Lords of the court, her sister Sancha of Provence rushed to England to see her dying sister, Marie was only 20 years old and very ill, John called a trusted nobleman named Thomas Becket, to attempt make John feel better, Thomas was John's friend for over 13 years, despite the fact he was 26 years older then John. John's 10 year old son Henry shock Marie 8 times when she died to see if she was alive, when the nobles and people heard of Marie's death, they were not sheding any tears, Marie was a very unpopular Queen, many people celebrated her death in secret. Marie was buried in Westminister abby, next to William the Conquerer, many people argued Marie did not deserve to be buried next to an English hero. Sancha of Provence did not shed a tear either, in fact she wanted to marry John to kill Marie's son and have a son with John, so that it could become the next King, but John never married Sancha, the nobles also did not wan't John to marry her.

## Murder of Thomas Becket

1 year after Marie of Provence's death, the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury died of typhoid fever. The King at the time had some say over who could be Arch-Bishop, and made his dear friend Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, but Thomas changed after he was appointed Arch-Bishop, he became a Pious man, and he refused to answer to John's orders, Thomas believed John was corupting the Church was "Stupid and Foolish orders." So Thomas instead refused any Bishop John appointed into the Church, he took away a lot of power the King had over the Church, John was angry, Kings had used to have a lot of say over Bishops, John was very unhappy with Becket's changes, and removed him of his noble title of Knight of the Garter and Baron de Ros, Thomas Becket did not care, because he did not consider himself a nobleman after he became Arch-Bishop, Thomas thought of himself as a teacher of the people, which was indeed true, John threatened to take away Thomas's title as Arch-Bishop if he did not listen to him, John refused and had the Pope's support to keep his Church position, John was very tired of Becket acting on his own, so John called 4 of his most loyal knights to go murder Becket, the knights marched to Canterbury Cathedral were Becket was praying, the knights held Becket down as he continued to Pray, and they stomped on his neck, Becket was not dead but severly wounded, he continued to pray with tears in his eyes, the Knights realized stomping on Becket's neck would not work, so they stuck a sword into the top of his head, Thomas Becket was dead, many priests wrote down what happened in horror to alert the Pope.

### Reaction to Becket's Death

When the priests reported to the Pope, the Pope was horrified. The Pope alerted all royal families about the slaughter, the Holy Roman Empress, Matilda of Bavaria, alerted the king of France Louis VIII of France, the King of France alerted the other European crusader families, many royal families called for John's desposition, and they supported his 12 year old son Henry against his father, John was forced to publicly humble himself by getting publicly whipped in order to avoid execomunication.

## 1st Barons war

John became a very unpopular King and he had to crush many rebellions against him, John became very angry at the nobles for supporting the rebellions. John also started having many mistresses which gave him many illegitimate children, he hated one noble the most named Edmund, 2nd Earl of Norfolk, who was a childhood friend of John's younger sister Margaret of England, who was the current Queen of Scotland, Edmund was a very popular men at court, for helping the Pope make Thomas Becket a Saint. John wanted Edmund to leave the English court, but Edmund was a daring noble, he was also very wealthy and strictly liberal. John who was conservative murdered Edmund by strangling him and his wife Eleanor of Nottingham and there 11 year old daughter named Joan of Norfolk, Edmund's son Richard became the 3rd Earl of Norfolk. The nobles acted in horror and led a revolt against the king who was on crusade in Hungary, John came back as soon as he heard the horrorfiying news, the Nobles held Edmund's coat of arms, John surrendered and was held hostage in Windsor Castle, the Barons forced him to sign the *Magna Carta* which was a set of rules declaring the creation of the "Privy Council" which is a group of elected officials to help the king rule, the Nobles also declared they wanted to chose who John would remarry, to avoid having another unpopular Queen, the nobles started looking for popular brides.

## Marriage to Isabella of Auvergne

John wanted a French marriage to secure the Anglo-Franco alliance, but the nobles liked John's grand-niece Constance of Castile who refused to marry John, and quickly married John's other grand-niece Andrew II of Hungary and Bohemia. The nobles reccomended Eleanor of Namur or her sister Elizabeth, but John found the slow witted, at the end John met 15 year old Isabella of Auvergne who was Countess of Auvergne in her own right. Isabella was already bethrothed to to Margrave of Tuscany, but Isabella's power-hungry mother broke of the engagement so Isabella could marry John. Isabella was deeply devastated when she had to say good-bye to the Margrave, and she set for England with her mother, Isabella and John were married in Aquitaine were they would stay for the next 2 weeks, Isabella was a very popular woman, she donated to charity unlike Marie of Provence, and she was very pious and witty. On December 3, 1170, John took his bride to England to be crowned Queen of England, the nobles greeted Isabella with delight and made many statues of her in her honor.

## Relationship with Isabella of Auvergne

John was quite fret about having Isabella as his wife, John wanted to marry Princess Swyena ap Tewdwr who was the eldest daughter of a Welsh Prince, but John had a terrible relationship with his new wife, Isabella refused to allow John access to rule her county, and she was not happy to give up marrying the Margrave of Tuscany to marry John, the 2 fought constantly and John once threatened to poison her, Isabella in fear of getting murdered by her husband, only ate food her most trusted chefs gave her. In 1171 John's sister Margaret of Scotland was murdered, though John was not close to his sister Margaret, he still blamed Isabella for her death. 3 months later Isabella gave birth to a son Henry who was the future Duke of Brittany, Isabella granted her son the title of Heir of Auvergne, but John wanted Isabella to grant his son with Marie of Provence the title of heir, but Isabella, strong-willed, refused and took her son to Auvergne as a response to his desire, Isabella was very close to Her son and spoiled him with whatever he wanted, she left him in the care of her maternal grand-mother Joan d'Châtillon, again Isabella gave birth to another son William, the same day William was born, Isabella found out that John had an affair with her lady-in-waiting, Lady Katherine de Mowbray who was pregnant with John's illegitimate child, John tried to cover to cover the affair with the term "Friend" but Isabella was a lot smarter then that. The next year Isabella gave birth to a daughter "Joan" who was the future Countess of La Marche.

## Attempted Desposition

When John made his way back from the 12th Crusade, he changed the rules to nobles have to give tax money to the king, the Nobles were not the nice nobles this time, they did not revolt, instead they offered Louis I of Lippe a Germanic-French noble the English throne, John was very angry, but Louis was very willing to become King, he was cheered across Aquitaine and Maine, but Louis died of sweating sickness when he reached Touraine, some nobles argued that the King of France should take the throne, but many nobles agreed they did not wan't to be absorbed by the French crown, so they offered John's eldest son who was very popular the crown, but John reversed the order he made before his son could be crowned. John was more careful this time.

## Meeting with the King of France

The King of France disliked John for murdering a church official, but the king still respected John cause of the fact he was the most powerful person in Europe, when John arrived in Paris, he met the Queen, Ingeborg of Denmark who was very upset that he came un-invited, Ingeborg spoke Danish so John could feel unwelcomed, and indeed he did, Ingeborg finally let him in when John bowed down to her, Louis also did not wan't John, but Louis was a lot more polite then his wife, John greatly disliked Louis's tone and often ignored him during the meeting, John was very nice to Louis's eldest son Charles, the 2 shared ideas that Louis did not condem. Queen Ingeborg twice attempted to poison John in France, but John knew when his wine/water looked wrong, as he was an advid drinker which made him unpopular.

## More Children

Isabella gave birth to twins, Katherine and Matilda, Matilda died age 12 but Katherine wen't on to be a religious sister in Reading Abby, Isabella gave birth again to her last child Mary of England, who was named after Mary of England (John's enemy) to make peace with Mary of England who accepted. John had a mistress named Lady Mary Côté, who was a French born noblewoman who was very witty. Isabella had been jealous of Mary Côté sense her arrival in 1173. Mary gave birth to an illegitimate child Cecily FitzRoy who died under mysterious cirminstances, some sources claim the child was murdered by the jealous Queen in rage.

## Death of Queen Isabella

John had an affair once again with Isabella's ladies in waiting, Isabella was so sick of her husbands immorality, she poisoned her husband's mistresses with poisoned wine. John was angry and reckless, he murdered Isabella's lord-Minister, and Murdered Isabella's closest ladies-in-waiting, John hatred of Isabella grew when she clapped back by murdering her husband's favourate illegitimate child who was Henry FitzRoy, Henry was 18 when he was stabbed while playing outside with his friends. Isabella wasted no time murdering Henry's friends. John's fury raged and he screamed at his third son William and beat him up while he was eating, William survived but he shunned his father. Isabella inraged murdered John's best friend, Henry, 1st of Bristol, John had enough, while Isabella was in Normandy with her daughter, John ordered his most loyal local lords, to strangle Isabella to death, while Isabella was playing cards with her daughter Matilda, the Lords first strangled Isabella to death in front of Matilda, and then strangled Matilda, the Nobles were devastated, Isabella had been a very popular Queen, Isabella was buried in Westminister Castle, her tomb was next to Matilda's. The death caused scandal, one local lord wrote in French "How could a king thou to kill his own wife and daughter." Matilda's bethrothed partner the Earl of Ormond was bethrothed to Matilda's twin sister Katherine, but Katherine broke her own bethrothal off to become a religious sister in reading abby, Isabella's county was passed to her son Henry of England who became "Henry I, Count of Auvergne."

## Attempted Marriage

The now 58 year old king wanted to remarry, he tried marrying his Scottish mistress, Lady Joan Douglas, but the Pope refused to grant them a marriage or crown Joan, the Pope told John he would allow John to remarry if he married a more sutible wife, not a lesser noblewoman, he tried again with Elizabeth of Montrose an English Noblewoman who was the eldest daughter of the Earl of Montrose, but the Pope still refused, an Arch-Bishop reccomended Joan of Limburg, but Joan had no desire to marry John and swiftly married her first betrothed. John gave up, and raised his remaining children in Windsor Castle. John was to old to go on crusade so his 21 year old son wen't for him.

## Death

Though old, John was still healthy, John continued to be with his mistresses, and, he began jousting which was unusual for a king over 50. But the nobles still hated him, his son also did and wanted John to abdicate so he and his wife could succeed him. John had refused to abdicate for over 20 years, the nobles made a plot to murder John, Henry would put poison in John's wine and when he died, Henry and his wife would become king. One morning on an unknown date, John sat at the table with his mistress Lady Mary Woodville, a servent working for Henry gave John and his 13 year old mistress the poisoned wine, Mary died first, when John tried to save her, he died on the spot. Everyone cheered John's death and Henry was named King the next day.