132 Facts About John Lackland

1.

John Lackland lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empire and contributing to the subsequent growth in power of the French Capetian dynasty during the 13th century.

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2.

The baronial revolt at the end of John Lackland's reign led to the sealing of, a document considered an early step in the evolution of the constitution of the United Kingdom.

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3.

John Lackland was the youngest of the four surviving sons of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine.

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4.

John Lackland was nicknamed John Lackland because he was not expected to inherit significant lands.

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5.

John Lackland was appointed Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England and on the continent.

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6.

John Lackland unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion against the royal administrators of his brother, King Richard, whilst Richard was participating in the Third Crusade, but he was proclaimed king after Richard died in 1199.

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7.

John Lackland came to an agreement with Philip II of France to recognise John's possession of the continental Angevin lands at the peace treaty of Le Goulet in 1200.

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8.

When war with France broke out again in 1202, John Lackland 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.

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9.

John Lackland spent much of the next decade attempting to regain these lands, raising huge revenues, reforming his armed forces and rebuilding continental alliances.

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10.

When he returned to England, John Lackland 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.

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11.

John Lackland 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.

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12.

Shortly after his birth, John Lackland was passed from Eleanor into the care of a wet nurse, a traditional practice for medieval noble families.

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13.

John Lackland was probably, like his brothers, assigned a magister whilst he was at Fontevrault, a teacher charged with his early education and with managing the servants of his immediate household; John Lackland was later taught by Ranulf de Glanvill, a leading English administrator.

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14.

John Lackland spent some time as a member of the household of his eldest living brother Henry the Young King, where he probably received instruction in hunting and military skills.

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15.

John Lackland enjoyed reading and, unusually for the period, built up a travelling library of books.

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16.

John Lackland enjoyed gambling, in particular at backgammon, and was an enthusiastic hunter, even by medieval standards.

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17.

John Lackland would become a "connoisseur of jewels", building up a large collection, and became famous for his opulent clothes and, according to French chroniclers, for his fondness for bad wine.

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18.

John Lackland had spent the conflict travelling alongside his father, and was given widespread possessions across the Angevin empire as part of the Montlouis settlement; from then onwards, most observers regarded John Lackland as Henry II's favourite child, although he was the furthest removed in terms of the royal succession.

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19.

In 1185 John Lackland made his first visit to Ireland, accompanied by 300 knights and a team of administrators.

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20.

Henry had tried to have John Lackland officially proclaimed King of Ireland, but Pope Lucius III would not agree.

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21.

John Lackland infamously offended the local Irish rulers by making fun of their unfashionable long beards, failed to make allies amongst the Anglo-Norman settlers, began to lose ground militarily against the Irish and finally returned to England later in the year, blaming the viceroy, Hugh de Lacy, for the fiasco.

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22.

John Lackland initially remained loyal to his father, but changed sides once it appeared that Richard would win.

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23.

John Lackland set about raising the huge sums of money required for this expedition through the sale of lands, titles and appointments, and attempted to ensure that he would not face a revolt while away from his empire.

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24.

John Lackland was made Count of Mortain, was married to the wealthy Isabella of Gloucester, and was given valuable lands in Lancaster and the counties of Cornwall, Derby, Devon, Dorset, Nottingham and Somerset, all with the aim of buying his loyalty to Richard whilst the King was on crusade.

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25.

In return, John Lackland promised not to visit England for the next three years, thereby in theory giving Richard adequate time to conduct a successful crusade and return from the Levant without fear of John Lackland seizing power.

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26.

John Lackland exploited this unpopularity to set himself up as an alternative ruler with his own royal court, complete with his own justiciar, chancellor and other royal posts, and was happy to be portrayed as an alternative regent, and possibly the next king.

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27.

John Lackland's position was undermined by Walter's relative popularity and by the news that Richard had married whilst in Cyprus, which presented the possibility that Richard would have legitimate children and heirs.

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28.

John Lackland began to explore an alliance with King Philip II of France, who had returned from the crusade in late 1191.

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29.

John Lackland hoped to acquire Normandy, Anjou and the other lands in France held by Richard in exchange for allying himself with Philip.

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30.

John Lackland was persuaded not to pursue an alliance by his mother.

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31.

John Lackland intervened, suppressing Longchamp's claims in return for promises of support from the royal administration, including a reaffirmation of his position as heir to the throne.

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32.

When Richard still did not return from the crusade, John Lackland began to assert that his brother was dead or otherwise permanently lost.

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33.

John Lackland seized the opportunity and went to Paris, where he formed an alliance with Philip.

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34.

John Lackland agreed to set aside his wife, Isabella of Gloucester, and marry Philip's sister, Alys, in exchange for Philip's support.

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35.

John Lackland retreated to Normandy, where Richard finally found him later that year.

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36.

Richard declared that John Lackland—despite being 27 years old—was merely "a child who has had evil counsellors" and forgave him, but removed his lands with the exception of Ireland.

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37.

John Lackland allied himself with the leaders of Flanders, Boulogne and the Holy Roman Empire to apply pressure on Philip from Germany.

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38.

In 1195 John Lackland successfully conducted a sudden attack and siege of Evreux castle, and subsequently managed the defences of Normandy against Philip.

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39.

The following year, John Lackland seized the town of Gamaches and led a raiding party within 50 miles of Paris, capturing the Bishop of Beauvais.

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40.

In return for this service, Richard withdrew his towards John Lackland, restored him to the county of Gloucestershire and made him again the Count of Mortain.

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41.

John Lackland was supported by the bulk of the English and Norman nobility and was crowned at Westminster Abbey, backed by his mother, Eleanor.

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42.

John Lackland, in turn, abandoned Richard's former policy of containing Philip through alliances with Flanders and Boulogne, and accepted Philip's right as the legitimate feudal overlord of John Lackland's lands in France.

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43.

John Lackland's policy earned him the disrespectful title of "John Lackland Softsword" from some English chroniclers, who contrasted his behaviour with his more aggressive brother, Richard.

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44.

Just as John Lackland stood to benefit strategically from marrying Isabella, so the marriage threatened the interests of the Lusignans, whose own lands currently provided the key route for royal goods and troops across Aquitaine.

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45.

Rather than negotiating some form of compensation, John Lackland treated Hugh "with contempt"; this resulted in a Lusignan uprising that was promptly crushed by John Lackland, who intervened to suppress Raoul in Normandy.

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46.

Hugh did exactly this in 1201 and Philip summoned John Lackland to attend court in Paris in 1202, citing the Le Goulet treaty to strengthen his case.

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47.

John Lackland was unwilling to weaken his authority in western France in this way.

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48.

John Lackland argued that he need not attend Philip's court because of his special status as the Duke of Normandy, who was exempt by feudal tradition from being called to the French court.

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49.

John Lackland initially adopted a defensive posture similar to that of 1199: avoiding open battle and carefully defending his key castles.

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50.

John Lackland's operations became more chaotic as the campaign progressed, and Philip began to make steady progress in the east.

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51.

John Lackland's forces caught Arthur by surprise and captured the entire rebel leadership at the battle of Mirebeau.

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52.

De Roches was a powerful Anjou noble, but John Lackland largely ignored him, causing considerable offence, whilst the King kept the rebel leaders in such bad conditions that twenty-two of them died.

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53.

John Lackland attempted to convince Pope Innocent III to intervene in the conflict, but Innocent's efforts were unsuccessful.

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54.

In late 1203, John Lackland attempted to relieve Chateau Gaillard, which although besieged by Philip was guarding the eastern flank of Normandy.

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55.

John Lackland attempted a synchronised operation involving land-based and water-borne forces, considered by most historians today to have been imaginative in conception, but overly complex for forces of the period to have carried out successfully.

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56.

John Lackland successfully devastated much of Brittany, but did not deflect Philip's main thrust into the east of Normandy.

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57.

John Lackland's only remaining possession on the Continent was now the Duchy of Aquitaine.

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58.

John Lackland's predecessors had ruled using the principle of, taking executive and sometimes arbitrary decisions, often justified on the basis that a king was above the law.

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59.

John Lackland inherited a sophisticated system of administration in England, with a range of royal agents answering to the Royal Household: the Chancery kept written records and communications; the Treasury and the Exchequer dealt with income and expenditure respectively; and various judges were deployed to deliver justice around the kingdom.

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60.

John Lackland was very active in the administration of England and was involved in every aspect of government.

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61.

John Lackland was in England for much longer periods than his predecessors, which made his rule more personal than that of previous kings, particularly in previously ignored areas such as the north.

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62.

John Lackland increased the professionalism of local sergeants and bailiffs, and extended the system of coroners first introduced by Hubert Walter in 1194, creating a new class of borough coroners.

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63.

John Lackland continued to try relatively minor cases, even during military crises.

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64.

John Lackland's reforms were less popular with the barons themselves, especially as they remained subject to arbitrary and frequently vindictive royal justice.

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65.

John Lackland derived income from fines, court fees and the sale of charters and other privileges.

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66.

John Lackland intensified his efforts to maximise all possible sources of income, to the extent that he has been described as "avaricious, miserly, extortionate and moneyminded".

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67.

John Lackland used revenue generation as a way of exerting political control over the barons: debts owed to the crown by the King's favoured supporters might be forgiven; collection of those owed by enemies was more stringently enforced.

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68.

John Lackland levied scutage payments eleven times in his seventeen years as king, as compared to eleven times in total during the reign of the preceding three monarchs.

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69.

John Lackland continued to sell charters for new towns, including the planned town of Liverpool, and charters were sold for markets across the kingdom and in Gascony.

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70.

John Lackland created a new tax on income and movable goods in 1207—effectively a version of a modern income tax—that produced £60,000; he created a new set of import and export duties payable directly to the Crown.

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71.

John Lackland found that these measures enabled him to raise further resources through the confiscation of the lands of barons who could not pay or refused to pay.

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72.

At the start of John Lackland's reign there was a sudden change in prices, as bad harvests and high demand for food resulted in much higher prices for grain and animals.

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73.

At those times when John Lackland was preparing for campaigns in Normandy, for example, huge quantities of silver had to be withdrawn from the economy and stored for months, which unintentionally resulted in periods during which silver coins were simply hard to come by, commercial credit difficult to acquire and deflationary pressure placed on the economy.

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74.

John Lackland attempted to address some of the problems with the English currency in 1204 and 1205 by carrying out a radical overhaul of the coinage, improving its quality and consistency.

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75.

John Lackland now had the additional ability to "cripple his vassals" on a significant scale using his new economic and judicial measures, which made the threat of royal anger all the more serious.

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76.

John Lackland was deeply suspicious of the barons, particularly those with sufficient power and wealth to potentially challenge him.

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77.

John Lackland had at least five children with mistresses during his first marriage, and two of those mistresses are known to have been noblewomen.

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78.

None of his known illegitimate children were born after he remarried, and there is no actual documentary proof of adultery after that point, although John Lackland certainly had female friends amongst the court throughout the period.

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79.

John Lackland married Isabella whilst she was relatively young—her exact date of birth is uncertain, and estimates place her between at most 15 and more probably towards nine years old at the time of her marriage.

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80.

John Lackland did not provide a great deal of money for his wife's household and did not pass on much of the revenue from her lands, to the extent that historian Nicholas Vincent has described him as being "downright mean" towards Isabella.

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81.

Chroniclers recorded that John Lackland had a "mad infatuation" with Isabella, and certainly the King and Queen had conjugal relationships between at least 1207 and 1215; they had five children.

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82.

John Lackland's preferred plan was to use Poitou as a base of operations, advance up the Loire Valley to threaten Paris, pin down the French forces and break Philip's internal lines of communication before landing a maritime force in the Duchy itself.

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83.

John Lackland spent much of 1205 securing England against a potential French invasion.

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84.

John Lackland built up a strong team of engineers for siege warfare and a substantial force of professional crossbowmen.

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85.

John Lackland had already begun to improve his Channel forces before the loss of Normandy and he rapidly built up further maritime capabilities after its collapse.

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86.

John Lackland adopted recent improvements in ship design, including new large transport ships called buisses and removable forecastles for use in combat.

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87.

In 1206 John Lackland departed for Poitou himself, but was forced to divert south to counter a threat to Gascony from Alfonso VIII of Castile.

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88.

John Lackland used some of this money to pay for new alliances on Philip's eastern frontiers, where the growth in Capetian power was beginning to concern France's neighbours.

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89.

John Lackland was forced to postpone his own invasion plans to counter this threat.

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90.

John Lackland launched his new fleet to attack the French at the harbour of Damme.

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91.

John Lackland hoped to exploit this advantage by invading himself late in 1213, but baronial discontent again delayed his invasion plans until early 1214, in what was his final Continental campaign.

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92.

John Lackland began his reign by reasserting his sovereignty over the disputed northern counties.

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93.

John Lackland refused William's request for the earldom of Northumbria, but did not intervene in Scotland itself and focused on his continental problems.

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94.

John Lackland invaded Scotland and forced William to sign the Treaty of Norham, which gave John Lackland control of William's daughters and required a payment of £10,000.

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95.

John Lackland made no efforts to reinvigorate the Treaty of Falaise, though, and William and his son Alexander II of Scotland in turn remained independent kings, supported by, but not owing fealty to, John Lackland.

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96.

John Lackland drew on the country for resources to fight his war with Philip on the continent.

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97.

John Lackland stopped short of trying to actively enforce this charter on the native Irish kingdoms, but historian David Carpenter suspects that he might have done so, had the baronial conflict in England not intervened.

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98.

John Lackland took a close interest in Wales and knew the country well, visiting every year between 1204 and 1211 and marrying his illegitimate daughter, Joan, to the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great.

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99.

John Lackland's invasion, striking into the Welsh heartlands, was a military success.

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100.

John Lackland wanted John Lackland de Gray, the Bishop of Norwich and one of his own supporters, to be appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, but the cathedral chapter for Canterbury Cathedral claimed the exclusive right to elect the Archbishop.

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101.

John Lackland forced the Canterbury chapter to change their support to John Lackland de Gray, and a messenger was sent to Rome to inform the papacy of the new decision.

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102.

John Lackland was incensed about what he perceived as an abrogation of his customary right as monarch to influence the election.

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103.

John Lackland complained both about the choice of Langton as an individual, as John felt he was overly influenced by the Capetian court in Paris, and about the process as a whole.

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104.

John Lackland barred Langton from entering England and seized the lands of the archbishopric and other papal possessions.

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105.

John Lackland treated the interdict as "the equivalent of a papal declaration of war".

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106.

John Lackland responded by attempting to punish Innocent personally and to drive a wedge between those English clergy that might support him and those allying themselves firmly with the authorities in Rome.

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107.

John Lackland seized the lands of those clergy unwilling to conduct services, as well as those estates linked to Innocent himself; he arrested the illicit concubines that many clerics kept during the period, releasing them only after the payment of fines; he seized the lands of members of the church who had fled England, and he promised protection for those clergy willing to remain loyal to him.

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108.

John Lackland simply tightened his existing measures and accrued significant sums from the income of vacant sees and abbeys: one 1213 estimate, for example, suggested the church had lost an estimated 100,000 marks to John Lackland.

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109.

Innocent benefited from the resolution of his long-standing English problem, but John Lackland probably gained more, as Innocent became a firm supporter of John Lackland for the rest of his reign, backing him in both domestic and continental policy issues.

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110.

John Lackland paid some of the compensation money he had promised the Church, but he ceased making payments in late 1214, leaving two-thirds of the sum unpaid; Innocent appears to have conveniently forgotten this debt for the good of the wider relationship.

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111.

In 1214 John Lackland began his final campaign to reclaim Normandy from Philip.

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112.

John Lackland was optimistic, as he had successfully built up alliances with the Emperor Otto, Renaud of Boulogne and Ferdinand of Flanders; he was enjoying papal favour; and he had successfully built up substantial funds to pay for the deployment of his experienced army.

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113.

John Lackland besieged the castle of Roche-au-Moine, a key stronghold, forcing Louis to give battle against John Lackland's larger army.

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114.

The local Angevin nobles refused to advance with John Lackland; left at something of a disadvantage, John Lackland retreated back to La Rochelle.

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115.

John Lackland appears to have been playing for time until Pope Innocent III could send letters giving him explicit papal support.

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116.

John Lackland instructed Langton to organise peace talks with the rebel barons.

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117.

John Lackland's strategy was to isolate the rebel barons in London, protect his own supply lines to his key source of mercenaries in Flanders, prevent the French from landing in the south-east, and then win the war through slow attrition.

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118.

John Lackland put off dealing with the badly deteriorating situation in North Wales, where Llywelyn the Great was leading a rebellion against the 1211 settlement.

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119.

John Lackland took back Alexander's possessions in northern England in a rapid campaign and pushed up towards Edinburgh over a ten-day period.

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120.

John Lackland hesitated and decided not to attack Louis immediately, either due to the risks of open battle or over concerns about the loyalty of his own men.

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121.

Louis and the rebel barons advanced west and John Lackland retreated, spending the summer reorganising his defences across the rest of the kingdom.

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122.

John Lackland saw several of his military household desert to the rebels, including his half-brother, William Longespee.

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123.

In Lynn, John Lackland contracted dysentery, which would ultimately prove fatal.

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124.

John Lackland returned west but is said to have lost a significant part of his baggage train along the way.

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125.

John Lackland's body was escorted south by a company of mercenaries and he was buried in Worcester Cathedral in front of the altar of St Wulfstan.

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126.

Historical interpretations of John Lackland have been subject to considerable change over the centuries.

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127.

Reliable accounts of the middle and later parts of John Lackland's reign are more limited, with Gervase of Canterbury and Ralph of Coggeshall writing the main accounts; neither of them were positive about John Lackland's performance as king.

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128.

Kate Norgate, for example, argued that John Lackland's downfall had been due not to his failure in war or strategy, but due to his "almost superhuman wickedness", whilst James Ramsay blamed John Lackland's family background and his cruel personality for his downfall.

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129.

Jim Bradbury notes the current consensus that John Lackland was a "hard-working administrator, an able man, an able general", albeit, as Turner suggests, with "distasteful, even dangerous personality traits", including pettiness, spitefulness and cruelty.

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130.

Nineteenth-century fictional depictions of John Lackland were heavily influenced by Sir Walter Scott's historical romance, Ivanhoe, which presented "an almost totally unfavourable picture" of the King; the work drew on 19th-century histories of the period and on Shakespeare's play.

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131.

An extreme version of this trend can be seen in the 1973 Disney cartoon version, for example, which depicts John Lackland, voiced by Peter Ustinov, as a "cowardly, thumbsucking lion".

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132.

John Lackland had more than ten known illegitimate children, of whom the best known are:.

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