When war with France broke out again in 1202, John achieved early victories, but shortages of military resources and his treatment of Norman, Breton, and Anjou nobles resulted in the collapse of his empire in northern France in 1204. He spent much of the next decade attempting to regain these lands, raising huge revenues, reforming his armed forces and rebuilding continental alliances. His judicial reforms had a lasting effect on the English common law system, as well as providing an additional source of revenue. An argument with Pope Innocent III led to John's excommunication in 1209, a dispute he finally settled in 1213. John's attempt to defeat Philip in 1214 failed because of the French victory over John's allies at the battle of Bouvines. When he returned to England, John faced a rebellion by many of his barons who were unhappy with his fiscal policies and his treatment of many of England's most powerful nobles. Although both John and the barons agreed to the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215, neither side complied with its conditions. Civil war broke out shortly afterwards, with the barons aided by Louis VIII of France, which soon descended into stalemate. John died of dysentery contracted whilst on campaign in eastern England during late 1216; supporters of his son Henry III went on to achieve victory over Louis and the rebel barons the following year.
Contemporary chroniclers were mostly critical of John's performance as king, and his reign has since been the subject of significant debate and periodic revision by historians from the 16th century onwards. Historian Jim Bradbury has summarised the current historical opinion of John's positive qualities, observing that John is today usually considered a "hard-working administrator, an able man, an able general". Nonetheless, modern historians agree that he also had many faults, including what historian Ralph Turner describes as "distasteful, even dangerous personality traits", such as pettiness, spitefulness, and cruelty.
Lions had already been emblems of kings and higher nobility for many years. King Richard I was, of course, nicknamed 'The Lionheart'. Advances in armour, such as the barrel helmet, were making identification in battle more important and more problematic during the 12th century and so a more organised system of what became heraldry became more important than just 'emblems'. Whilst the dragon banner had long been associated with England, the use of Lions was becoming more popular within Continental Europe and the family and allies of the Normans. Two gold Lions on red have been the Arms of Normandy for many centuries now. They were attributed to William the Conqueror, Richard and John's notable ancestor, and it is conjectured that their father, King Henry II, took these two Lions and added the single Aquetaine Lion of his wife Eleanor to make up the now distinctive Shield of England. This, however, is all conjecture.
John had opposed the men Richard had appointed as regents in his absence on his Crusade, and had rebelled. On the Lionheart's return a number of other things happened. Firstly, Richard reconciled himself with John and appointed him his heir in place of their nephew Arthur. This may have been to ensure more control over John as Richard also confiscated his lands. Richard also went through a second Coronation on 17th April 1194, some say to to nullify the shame of his captivity whilst on Crusade when he was handed over to Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI and ransommed off. Some say it was to ensure he was the recognised ruler of the Kingdom.
Two Lions passant (i.e. walking) were associated with King Henry II, whether they were guardant (looking out) or not. They were certainly John's Arms as Prince and Lord of Ireland, and also associated with his rebel supporters, especially in the period 1194 and 1195. It was therefore not enough for Richard just to inherit his father's Arms, but a necessity to build on them to again emphasise his position. King Richard I's second Great Seal, produced sometime between May and Michaelmas 1195, shows the first evidence of the change to three Lions.
In turn, when Richard died in 1199, John had a choice. Up until then, succession to the English Throne had been no easy matter. Since the Conquest, William II and Richard I had been the only Anglo-Norman Kings who had directly succeeded their fathers. This instability may well have been reflected in the ruling house's late adaptation of a single, hereditary Shield, in comparison, for instance, with France. Thus, John's adoption of his brother's three Lions, whilst not a foregone conclusion, was a wise move in indicating he had come into his elder brother's full inheritance.
The rest, as they say, is history...
John's tomb (the oldest royal effigy in England) in Worcester Cathedral (shown here in photographs from the author's personal collection) shows the English Arms on its stone plinth. However, this plinth was a later addition, made in the 16th century at the same time as the nearby magnificent monuments to Prince Arthur, Prince of Wales, brother of King Henry VIII..
He remains the only English/British King of that name, not helped by the fact that John Baliol, King of Scotland a little while later, is thought of as a largely ineffectual King. Only two other members of the British Royal Family have been given the name - HRH Prince Alexander John of Wales (youngest son of the later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) and HRH The Prince John (youngest son of Alexander John's elder brother King George V and Queen Mary). Alexander John was born prematurely in 1871 and died 24 hours later. Prince John is famous as the 'Lost Prince'. He was epileptic and was kept from the public eye at Sandringham until he died after a severe seizure in 1916 at the age of only 13. His illness was disclosed to the wider public only after his death.
Isabella of Angoulême
John's first marriage, to heiress Isabella of Gloucester, had been annulled shortly prior to his accession due to consanguinity. She was also a descendant of Henry I, although her grandfather was that King's illegitimate son. The marriage was doomed as, despite his father making Isabella sole heiress to the Gloucester lands, John lost them on the annulment. John soon became infatuated with another Isabella, Isabella of Angoulême (c. 1186/1188 – 4th June 1246). She became Countess of Angoulême in 1202, a couple of years after marriage at about 12 or 14 years of age and her elaborate Coronation in Westminster Abbey on 8th October 1200. However, she had been betrothed to Hugh IX le Brun, Count of Lusignan, and, a result of John's temerity in taking her as his second wife, King Philip II of France confiscated all of their French lands, and armed conflict ensued. John was really living up to his nickname by now! |
In the Spring of 1220, Isabella married Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, by whom she had another nine children. Hugh was the son of her former fiancé and was actually promised to Isabella's daughter Joan. The mother still retained the beauty which had entranced John and so Joan was promised to the King of Scotland. Unfortunately, Isabella did not seek permission from the King's Council to re-marry and so, like her first husband, had lands and her pension as Queen Dowager taken off her.
Isabella was possessed of a fiery temper, which had been the equal of her first husband, but meant she didn't take kindly to being a virtually penniless countess in France. Some of Isabella's contemporaries, as well as later writers, claim that she formed a conspiracy against King Louis IX of France in 1241, after being publicly snubbed by his mother, Blanche of Castile, for whom she had a deep-seated hatred. In 1244, after the plot had failed, Isabella was accused of attempting to poison the King when two cooks confessed to having been in Isabella's pay. To avoid arrest, she sought refuge in Fontevraud Abbey, where she died two years later.
Isablla's family Arms - Lozengy or and gueles - are shown on the tomb of her son by her second husband, William de Valance, Earl of Pembroke in Westminster Abbey.
Richard, Earl of Cornwall
Between then and 1238 he frequently opposed his brother, King Henry III, by joining the barons in several crises. However, he never proceeded to rebellion but always made Henry pay heavily for reconciliation. He took the cross in 1236 and led a small English force to the Holy Land from June 1240 to January 1242, refortifying Ascalon and negotiating an advantageous treaty. During Henry III’s disastrous Poitevin campaign in France in 1242, Richard’s prompt retreat at Saintes and his persuasive diplomacy at Taillebourg saved Henry from capture. While acting regent of England during Henry’s Gascon visit (1253–54), Richard summoned knights to represent the shires at the critical Easter Parliament of 1254. Reputedly the richest magnate in England, he refused Pope Innocent IV’s offer of the Sicilian crown (1252–53), saying, according to Matthew Paris, “You might as well say, ‘I make you a present of the moon - step up to the sky and take it down’.” Instead, his brother King Henry purchased the kingdom for his own son Edmund. Richard accepted imperial candidature in 1256. Purchasing four of the seven electoral votes, Richard was elected King of the Romans and was crowned at Aachen on 17th May 1257. By lavish bribery he gained recognition throughout the Rhineland, returning home in January 1259.
Richard helped Henry to overthrow the Provisions of Oxford, but from June to October 1260 he again visited Germany, then discovering the impossibility of his hopes of the imperial crown.
He again helped Henry invaluably against the rebel barons (1263–64) but was captured at Lewes on 14th May 1264 and was imprisoned at Wallingford and then at Kenilworth until the overthrow of Simon de Montfort at Evesham on 4th August 1265. He then worked ceaselessly to obtain the relatively moderate settlement of the Dictum of Kenilworth on 31st October 1266. His fourth and last visit to Germany from August 1268 to August 1269 is notable only for his third marriage, to Beatrice of Falkenburg.
Richard's claims to Gascony and Poitou were never more than nominal, and in 1241 King Louis IX of France invested his own brother Alphonse with Poitou. Richard and Henry were encouraged to recover Poitou by their stepfather, Hugh X of Lusignan, but the expedition turned into a military fiasco after Hugh betrayed them. Having said that, Richard did not take on a version of the English Arms but those of Poitou, namely:
Argent, a Lion rampant gules within a Bordure sable bezanty.
It is also argued that they are 15 gold coins to represent a ransom paid to the Saracens to release Richard from captivity.
However, James Planché (Somerset Herald in the 18th century) discovered a neglected manuscript later called the Planché Roll after him which showed that the Bezants (the golden balls) originated in Poitou and not the other way round. In reality, they represented golden peas (pois in French) and were so a pun on the name Poitou. The Arms of Cornwall were actually designed in the 15th century, based on Richard's Arms.
When he was elected and crowned King of the Romans, he placed his Poitou Arms as a dynastic Inescutcheon onto the breast of the Imperial Eagle.
The Poitou/Cornwall Arms were used by Richard's surviving son, Edmund, by his second wife (Sanchia of Provence) as second Earl. Edmund, however, died with no issue and so Edmund's entire estate passed to the Crown, excepting a dower for his widow, Margaret, sister of Gilbert de Clare.