John Lackland of England--

John of England
@Wikipedia

John of England

(1167-1216)

King of England

1199-1216

Lord of Ireland

1177

Son of: Henry II of England & Eleanor of Aquitaine.

" The youngest of the nine children of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor, John was born into a dynasty already at war over titles and inheritance. Shortly after his birth he was sent, along with his sister Joan, to Fontevrault Abbey. Neither of his parents had any involvement in his upbringing and it is thought that a future in the church was encouraged. x x x. John is thought to have been the favorite son of King Henry II and there is much evidence to this fact. . . ."(Anglotopia)

Husband of:

 1. Isabel, Countess of Gloucester (bef. 1176-1217?), mar 1189, div 1199, daughter of William, Earl of Gloucester & Hawise de Beaumont.

" . . . King Henry II transferred ownership of three prominent castles and estates into John’s name. In 1176 King Henry had the sisters of Isabelle of Gloucester disinherited so that he could betroth her to John, securing for him her vast fortune. . . ." (Anglotopia)

" . . . John was crowned King of England on April 7th 1199 at Westminster Abbey. John’s ten year marriage to Isabel of Gloucester was childless so once he became King he quickly had the marriage annulled. . . ." (Anglotopia)

2. Isabelle, Comtesse d'Angouleme (c1187-?), mar 1200, daughter of Aymer Taillefer, Count of Angouleme & Alice de Courtenay.

" . . . John kidnapped Isabella of Angouleme from her fiancée Hugh IX le Brun, Count of Lusignan, and married her in a ceremony on 24th August 1200. Isabella was between nine and twelve years old at the time she became Queen of England, young even for medieval standards, but the King was thought to be besotted by her. . . ." (Anglotopia)

"Between the years 1207 and 1215, Isabella bore John five healthy children who all lived into adulthood and took up powerful positions in the English nobility. John also acknowledged up to 12 illegitimate children, many of whom were the result of him seducing the wives and children of his barons. Incredibly, following John’s death, Isabella returned to Angouleme to marry her original fiancée, Hugh IX le Brun, with whom she gave birth to a further nine children." (Anglotopia)

John's spouses.

"When John, the youngest of the Plantagenets, had been called Lackland because all his father's possessions had been promised to his older brothers, it was arranged to improve his lot by a rich marriage. Avisa, the heiress of the Earl of Gloucester and granddaughter of the great Robert of Gloucester who had been Stephen's chief opponent in the years of the anarchy, was the greatest catch in England. She was a handsome young woman with huge estates in the West, extending into Glamorgan. John had no financial worries after his marriage to Avisa, but when suddenly and unexpectedly he became King of England and saw by an unhappy mischance the radiantly lovely Isabella of Angouleme, he put pressure on the high churchmen of the kingdom and secured a divorce on the grounds of consanguinity, Robert of Gloucester having been an illegitimate son of Henry I. It is perhaps needless tp state that King John kept a large part of the Gloucester estates for himself. With what was left, however, Avisa made her second husband, Geoffrey de Mandeville, the richest peer in England; a match which John arranged himself and for which he collected from the bridegroom a fee of eighteen thousand marks. Avisa was a widow again when Hubert de Burgh's wife Beatrice died, and she was no longer young. Certainly she had reached the stage where continual childbearing had played havoc with the figure and the usual trouble with teeth had begun. . . By the most favorable reckoning Avisa was in her middle forties and older than Hubert de Burgh. It is said that she was still attractive; and certainly she was the possessor of broad acres and fine manors and large herds of cattle." (The Magnificent Century)

John lost all English territories in France, his treasure, his crown and his life.

"King John is thought to be the antithesis of King Richard, the Lionheart who preceded him. If Richard was tall, strong, brave and an accomplished military leader, John was short, weak, cowardly and completely unskilled in the art of war. After attempting to steal the English crown from his brother Richard, who had entrusted John to look after his Kingdom while he led the Third Crusade, John legally inherited the throne in 1199 when Richard was killed in battle. King John’s is remembered today for his sealing of the Magna Carta, a document sealed under pressure to avoid a full scale civil war. John lost all English territories in France, his treasure, his crown and his life aged just 49." (Anglotopia)

A life of lust.
"But even though John may not have impregnated women after his second marriage, there is no indication that he stopped hitting on them. Some of his lovers have been identified.There was the 'widow Hawise,' a woman named Suzanne, and another named Clementia. In 1212, the king sent a chaplet of roses, plucked from his justiciar's garden, to an unnamed mistress. John was also rumored to have lusted after the wife of one of his vassals, Eustace de Vesci, but the woman cleverly hired a professional prostitute to take her place in the bed. Eustace de Vesci was one of the nobles who took up arms against John in the baronial uprisings of 1212-1216, so it's possible that the king's libido had something to do with de Vesci's hostility." (Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds)

A reputation for lasciviousness.

"John had a reputation for lasciviousness. 'He deflowered the wives and daughters of his nobles: not a woman was spared if he was seized by the desire to defile her in the heat of his lust'--so wrote the Cistercian chronicler of Meaux. A French chronicler claimed that John lusted after beautiful women greatly, and thereby caused shame to the great men of his realm, by whom he was hated. Neither of these writers was unbiased, but John certainly had many mistresses and at least seven bastards . . . (T)here is little doubt that, while few if any of his seven or eight bastards were born after 1200, John continued to take mistresses to the end of his life." (Given-Wilson & Curteis, 1984, p. 127)

A plot to murder the king for seducing baron's women.

"On 16 August 1212 at Nottingham, John suddenly learnt of a baronial plot either to murder him or leave him to his fate during the campaign in Wales. Of the two known conspirators one was the cagey, independent Eustace de Vesci, the lord of Alnwick in Northumberland. The other was Robert fitz Walter, lord of Little Dunmow in Essex and Baynards Castle in London. . . Fitz Walter nursed grievances over debts and thwarted claims to Hertford castle. He also put it about that John tried to seduce his daughter. Vesci, if the later story can be believed, resented similar attentions to his wife. Both Henry I and Henry II had been promiscuous, but never with political repercussions. In John's case accusations that he tampered with the wives and daughters of his magnates were widespread and not always without foundation. An entry on one of the chancery rolls reveals John apparently joking with his mistress, the wife of Hugh de Neville, over what a night back with Hugh was worth; the answer, a ridiculous 200 chickens. Together with his murders such activities show why hostility to John too on such a personal hue. They do not explain Magna Carta, but they were a major factor in the rebellion which led up to it." (The Struggle for Mastery: Britain, 1066-1284: 285)

Physical  appearance & personal qualities.

"John was undoubtedly Henry;s favourite legitimate son. Now sixteen, he was about five feet six inches tall and favoured his brother Geoffrey in looks, having thick, dark red, curly hair and a strongly built body, which, as he grew older, became portly as a result of over-indulgence in good food and wine. We do not know what John really looked like: his effigy in Worcester Cathedral is a stylised representation that was sculpted some years after his death and cannot be termed a portrait in any sense of the word." (Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England: 238)

Small of stature, with the appearance of a toad, and the nature of a weasel.

" . . . A contemporary described John as 'small of stature, with the appearance of a toad, and the nature of a weasel. Isabelle probably made comparison between middle aged King John and her former fiance, seventeen-year-old Hugh de Lusignan, and arrived at conclusions unfavorable to John." (Lives of England's Reigning and Consort Queens:106)

"It was said that unlike his tall and handsome brothers, John was short and stocky. . . ." (The British Chronicles, Vol 1: 319)

" . . . He was spoilt in childhood by his parents, and he grew up without morals or any sense of responsibility or duty and was totally self-indulgent. He clowned during solemn ceremonies, was tactless and insulted foreign ambassadors by laughing at their unfamiliar appearance, and never missed a chance at cheating someone." (The British Chronicles, Vol 1: 319)

"Richard I's reign was followed by Henry II's youngest son, John, who had always been Henry's favorite. King John, known as John Lackland, ruled England from 1199 to his death 17 years later. During his reign, England lost the Duchy of Normandy to King Philip II of France. John is credited for the Magna Carte, a document which is believed to be the beginning of the constitution of the United Kingdom. He has been chronicled as an able administrator and general, but had personality flaws: pettiness, spitefulness and cruelty. His worst fault however was said to be his lustful lack of piety. While married to his first wife, Isabella of Angouleme, he had many mistresses and some of them married noblewomen, which was considered to be unacceptable." (Time of Castles: A Search for Ancestors: 61)

John Lackland's lovers were:

1) Adela de Warenne (c1168-1186)

Daughter of Hamelin de Warenne, 4th Earl of Surrey & Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey.

Natural offspring:

a. Richard FitzRoy

2) Agatha de Ferrers (c1168-1216)

Daughter of William de Ferrers, 3rd Earl of Derby & Sybil de Braose

3) Clemence le Boteler (1170-1216)

Daughter of: Philippe le Boteler.

Wife of: Sir Nicholas de Verdun

4) Clemence Pinel (1170-1216)

Also known as:

Clemence d'Arcy

Clementia, Clementina.

Daughter of: Geoffroy d'Arcy & Agnes d'Arcy.

Wife of: Henry Pinel.

Natural offspring:

a. Joan Plantagenet (d.1237), Lady Snowdon, mar Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of Wales (1173-1240). Had issue.

5) Hawise Fitzwarin (c1167-c1217)

Natural offspring:
a. Oliver FitzRoy.

6) Hawise d'Aumale.

7) Hawise de Tracy.

Natural offspring:
a. Oliver (d.1290)

8) Matilda Gifford.

Lover in 1190.

9) NN de Warenne.

10) Susanna.

Natural offspring:

a. Richard FitzJohn of Dover, Baron of Chilham, Kent (d. 1442/53), mar Rohese (d. by 1232), daughter of Fulbert of Dover. Had issue.

John Lackland's natural offspring by unknown mothers:
1. Osbert Gifford (d. after 1216)
2. Geoffrey FitzRoy (d. 1205)
4. John FitzJohn or Courcy (d.1242), a knight, perhaps a clerk at Lincoln
5. Odo or Eudo FitzRoy (d.1242?)
6. Ivo (confused with Odo?)
7. Henry, he married a minor heiress
8. Richard, Constable of Wallingford Castle
9. Matilda (?), Abbess of Barking
10. Isabella la Blanche (?)