King John

King John
King John was the last of the Angevin kings. John was the archetypical Angevin, the autocratic ruler of a vast territory. His story is a story of failure. The purpose of this report is to show how John rose to power, and what he did to lead his subjects to impose the Magna Carta.
John was the fourth son of Henry II. His brothers were, Henry the Younger, Geoffrey, and Richard. John being the youngest of four meant that the expectations from his father were not as clear as was with his three older brothers. John was destined to be married and live off land from his father until the death of his oldest brother Henry the Younger in 1183. Then Henry II began to use John in his plans. Henry the Younger’s death threw a problem into King Henry’s plans. Then Henry II began to use John in his plans. So to solve the problem Henry asked his son Richard to turn over his authority in Aquitaine to John. Eventually Henry forgot about his problems with Richard and worr...