King John "Lackland" of England ^{1 2}

   Other names for John were John King of England and John "Lackland" King of England.

  Research Notes:

From Wikipedia - John of England :

John (24 December 1166 - 19 October 1216 [1]) reigned as King of England from 6 April 1199 , until his death. He succeeded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I (known in later times as "Richard the Lionheart"). John acquired the nicknames of "Lackland" (French : Sans Terre) for his lack of an inheritance as the youngest son and for his loss of territory to France , and of "Soft-sword" for his alleged military ineptitude.[2] He was a Plantagenet or Angevin king.

Apart from entering popular legend as the enemy of the fictional Robin Hood , he is also known for acquiescing to the nobility and signing Magna Carta , a document that limited his power and that is popularly regarded as an early first step in the evolution of modern democracy .

Born at Beaumont Palace , Oxford , John was the fifth son and last of eight children born to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine . He was almost certainly born in 1166 instead of 1167, as is sometimes claimed.[3]
He was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France , his mother's children by her first marriage to Louis VII of France , which was later annulled. He was a younger brother of William, Count of Poitiers ; Henry the Young King ; Matilda, Duchess of Saxony ; Richard I of England ; Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany ; Leonora, Queen of Castile ; and Joan, Queen of Sicily


Early life
While John was his father's favourite son, as the youngest he could expect no inheritance . His family life was tumultuous, as his older brothers all became involved in repeated rebellions against Henry . Eleanor was imprisoned by Henry in 1173, when John was a small boy.

As a child, John was betrothed to Alys (pronounced 'Alice'), daughter and heiress of Humbert III of Savoy . It was hoped that by this marriage the Angevin dynasty would extend its influence beyond the Alps , because John was promised the inheritance of Savoy , the Piemonte , Maurienne , and the other possessions of Count Humbert. King Henry promised his young son castles in Normandy which had been previously promised to his brother Geoffrey, which was for some time a bone of contention between King Henry and his son Geoffrey. Alys made the trip over the Alps and joined Henry's court, but she died before being married.

Gerald of Wales relates that King Henry had a curious painting in a chamber of Winchester Castle , depicting an eagle being attacked by three of its chicks, while a fourth chick crouched, waiting for its chance to strike. When asked the meaning of this picture, King Henry said:

The four young ones of the eagle are my four sons, who will not cease persecuting me even unto death. And the youngest, whom I now embrace with such tender affection, will someday afflict me more grievously and perilously than all the others.

Before his accession, John had already acquired a reputation for treachery, having conspired sometimes with and sometimes against his elder brothers, Henry, Richard and Geoffrey. In 1184, John and Richard both claimed that they were the rightful heir to Aquitaine, one of many unfriendly encounters between the two. In 1185, John became the ruler of Ireland , whose people grew to despise him, causing John to leave after only eight months...

Death

Retreating from the French invasion, John took a safe route around the marshy area of the Wash to avoid the rebel held area of East Anglia . His slow baggage train (including the Crown Jewels ), however, took a direct route across it and was lost to the unexpected incoming tide. This dealt John a terrible blow, which affected his health and state of mind. Succumbing to dysentery and moving from place to place, he stayed one night at Sleaford Castle before dying on 18 October (or possibly 19 October ) 1216 , at Newark Castle (then in Lincolnshire , now on Nottinghamshire 's border with that county). Numerous, possibly fictitious, accounts circulated soon after his death that he had been killed by poisoned ale, poisoned plums or a "surfeit of peaches".

He was buried in Worcester Cathedral in the city of Worcester .
His nine-year-old son succeeded him and became King Henry III of England (1216-72), and although Louis continued to claim the English throne, the barons switched their allegiance to the new king, forcing Louis to give up his claim and sign the Treaty of Lambeth in 1217.

Legacy

King John's reign has been traditionally characterised as one of the most disastrous in English history: it began with defeats-he lost Normandy to Philip Augustus of France in his first five years on the throne-and ended with England torn by civil war and himself on the verge of being forced out of power. In 1213, he made England a papal fief to resolve a conflict with the Roman Catholic Church , and his rebellious barons forced him to sign Magna Carta in 1215, the act for which he is best remembered...


Marriage and issue
In 1189, John was married to Isabel of Gloucester , daughter and heiress of William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester (she is given several alternative names by history, including Avisa, Hawise, Joan, and Eleanor). They had no children, and John had their marriage annulled on the grounds of consanguinity , some time before or shortly after his accession to the throne, which took place on 6 April 1199 , and she was never acknowledged as queen. (She then married Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex as her second husband and Hubert de Burgh as her third).
John remarried, on 24 August 1200 , Isabella of Angoulême , who was twenty years his junior. She was the daughter of Aymer Taillefer , Count of Angouleme. John had kidnapped her from her fiancé, Hugh X of Lusignan .
Isabella bore five children:
Henry III (1207-1272), King of England.
Richard (1209-1272), 1st Earl of Cornwall.
Joan (1210-1238), Queen Consort of Alexander II of Scotland .
Isabella (1214-1241), Consort of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor .
Eleanor (1215-1275), who married William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , and later married Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester .

John is given a great taste for lechery by the chroniclers of his age, and even allowing some embellishment, he did have many illegitimate children. Matthew Paris accuses him of being envious of many of his barons and kinsfolk, and seducing their more attractive daughters and sisters. Roger of Wendover describes an incident that occurred when John became enamoured of Margaret, the wife of Eustace de Vesci and an illegitimate daughter of King William I of Scotland . Eustace substituted a prostitute in her place when the king came to Margaret's bed in the dark of night; the next morning, when John boasted to Vesci of how good his wife was in bed, Vesci confessed and fled.
John had the following illegitimate children:
Joan, Lady of Wales , the wife of Prince Llywelyn Fawr of Wales , (by a woman named Clemence)
Richard Fitz Roy , (by his cousin, Adela, daughter of his uncle Hamelin de Warenne )
Oliver FitzRoy, (by a mistress named Hawise) who accompanied the papal legate Pelayo to Damietta in 1218, and never returned.
By an unknown mistress (or mistresses) John fathered:
Geoffrey FitzRoy, who went on expedition to Poitou in 1205 and died there.
John FitzRoy, a clerk in 1201.
Henry FitzRoy, who died in 1245.
Osbert Gifford, who was given lands in Oxfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk , and Sussex , and is last seen alive in 1216.
Eudes FitzRoy, who accompanied his half-brother Richard on Crusade and died in the Holy Land in 1241.
Bartholomew FitzRoy, a member of the order of Friars Preachers .
Maud FitzRoy, Abbess of Barking , who died in 1252.
Isabel FitzRoy, wife of Richard Fitz Ives .
Philip FitzRoy, found living in 1263.
(The surname of FitzRoy is Norman-French for son of the king.)

  Noted events in his life were:

• Crowned: King of England, 1199. King of England 1199-1216

John married Isabella of Angoulême, daughter of Aymar "Taillifer" de Valence, Comté d'Angoulême and Alix de Courtenay, on 10 May 1200. (Isabella of Angoulême was born about 1186 in <Angoulême, Angoumois (Charente, France)>, died on 31 May 1246 in Fontevrault Abbey, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, (Maine-et-Loire), Anjou, France and was buried in Fontevrault Abbey, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, (Maine-et-Loire), Anjou, France.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage: possibly, 24 Aug 1200, Bordeaux, (Gironde), Aquitaine, France.

  Marriage Notes:

Source: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis and Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr, ed. by William R. Beall & Kaleen E. Beall (Baltimore, 2008), line 153A-28 has m. John 10 May 1200, but line 117-27 has m. 24 Aug 1200.

John next had a relationship with Clemence.