John and the Loss of the French Lands

John is by common repute the worst king that ever ruled in England. Loved by his father, who had sought to find for his son a kingdom in Ireland, be had deserted Henry at the critical moment and gone over to the side of Philip. He proved equally thankless to Richard, who had given him control over five shires in England to compensate him for having been left without fiefs at his father's death. His character was base, his temperament sensual, and his motives of the lowest sort. He had neither the ability of his father nor the heroism of his brother, and though he was energetic and resourceful, he lacked sagacity and gave way to passionate impulses. A man of this type was no match for the patient, cautious, and persistent Philip Augustus.

Philip was but waiting to drive the Angevins out of France. Aiding the younger Henry against Richard, Richard and John against their father, and John against Richard, he was now ready to wage bitter war with John himself, and to support the cause of Arthur, who claimed the English throne as son of Geoffrey, John's elder brother.

For the moment, however, Philip was compelled to wait. His kingdom had been placed under interdict by Innocent III in 1200,' and he found it wiser to turn away for the moment from Arthur and negotiate a treaty with John, at Goulet, in that year. The time of waiting was short. John, putting aside his wife, Avice (Hawisia), married on August 30, 1200, Isabella of Angoul6me, the betrothed of Hugh de la March, his vassal. Hugh in anger appealed to Philip, who, as John's superior lord, seized this opportunity to obtain a legal sanction for an attack on the Angevin lands. Philip summoned John to answer for his conduct before a court of the feudal lords. John delayed, promised, and again in delayed. In 1202 the court, in accordance with feudal law, declared him guilty of felony, which meant forfeiture of his fiefs in France. Philip now took up the cause of Arthur, who through his mother was count of Brittany. He gave to him his daughter in marriage and received from him homage for his county. This was an affront to John, who, as lord of Normandy, claimed the feudal superiority over Brittany obtained by Henry II. The war that followed between John and Arthur resulted in the capture of the latter, July 31, 1202. At this juncture Arthur disappears from history, probably slain by John's own hand at Rouen in April, 1203. The murder of Arthur gave Philip the desired opportunity of carrying out the judgment of the court of 1202. He seized Normandy, Anjou,

JOHN.

From Vertue's engraving, based on the effigy of the king at Worcester.

Maine, and Touraine, and added these fiefs to the French kingdom. Though John, as we shall see, made a desperate attempt to recover his lands, the Angevin possessions were practically lost to the English kings.