From kidnapping a twelve-year-old to force her into marriage, to bleeding the country dry with his army of tax enforcers, Robert Hardman has branded one medieval King as the most monstrous in English history.
On the latest episode of the Daily Mail’s Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things podcast, royal biographer Hardman revealed that King John was his pick for the worst monarch to ever wear the crown.
Alongside co-host and historian Kate Williams, Hardman argued the case against the reviled medieval ruler, explaining how he displayed each of the seven deadly sins in abundance.
You can listen to the latest Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things by clicking the player below or here
King John: The Worst King Ever?
King John ruled England from 1199 until his death in 1216, with his reign marked by catastrophic military defeats in France and a devastating conflict with the Pope that brought the kingdom to the brink of bankruptcy.
Not only did he fail abroad, but at home both peasantry and aristocracy despised him for his greedy pursuit of tax revenues and predatory sexual behaviour.
As Hardman jokes in the podcast, John achieved the impossible – uniting all England’s social classes in their shared loathing of him.
John was the brother of one of England’s most heralded Kings, Richard the Lionheart.
Richard’s surprise death in France from gangrene left the throne to John, who as the youngest son had never been prepared for kingship.
John was the brother of one of England’s most heralded Kings, Richard the Lionheart
Royal biographer Robert Hardman revealed that King John was his pick for the worst monarch to ever wear the crow. Listen here
As Hardman jokes in the podcast, John achieved the impossible – uniting all England’s social classes in their shared loathing of him
Having grown up in his older brother’s shadow, John ruled with an obstinate, vindictive streak, as Hardman explained.
He said: ‘John was the weedy brother left behind – you can see him thinking, I am going to show them. But he singularly fails.
‘John tries to throw his weight around – which comes to a head in 1207, when the Archbishop of Canterbury dies.
‘King John wants his own man to take over – a chap called John de Gray – who lent him lots of money. The monks don’t want this. They go off to Rome and the Pope sides with them against John.
‘We then have an extraordinary standoff where all the priests in England down tools and go on a sort of strike.
‘There are no bells, no religious services, no sacraments, the dead lay unburied. Nobody can go to church. It’s a long winter of discontent.
‘This ends when John loses. He’s excommunicated in 1209… his Barons team up with the French to remove him and then he suddenly caves.’
This conflict with the Pope ‘turned John nasty’ and he launched a series of brutal tax measures against the Church in response.
These measures led much of the clergy to flee from England, causing a sort of medieval brain drain.
To compensate, John then unleashed equally harsh policies on the peasantry and aristocracy to fill the royal coffers.
‘John bled his country dry with his fines and confiscatory taxes’, Hardman said.
‘The King scoops up all this ecclesiastical property. He thought nothing of having priests beaten up, taxed and imprisoned.
‘He and his own sort of Gestapo, going around the country taxing everybody, landlords, the local Toff, any peasant who refused to give over a few tithes of grain.
‘People would have their sheds or houses burnt down if they refused to comply. Even the Barons, who controlled the knights – they were told that for every knight that didn’t go to war, they had to pay a pound.
‘This really affected everyone, rich down to the very poorest. We’re all in it together – as thirteenth century England didn’t say.’
Already fracturing relationships by taxing the elite in English society to the hilt, King John brought his Lords to the brink of outright rebellion with his nighttime activities
Perhaps the only lasting achievement of John’s reign was that widespread hatred of his rule forced the creation of Magna Carta
Already fracturing relationships by taxing the elite in English society to the hilt, King John brought his Lords to the brink of outright rebellion with his nighttime activities.
John was firm believer in an ancient right, known in French as the droit du seigneur (right of the Lord).
‘This essentially gave the King the right to have sex with any female subject who caught his eye – particularly on their wedding night’, Hardman said.
‘Imagine all the stress and strain of your wedding day and on top of that, you’ve got King John turning up going, I’m jumping into bed now.
‘He had a string of illegitimate children by various mistresses.
‘One noble worried so much that John was going to make moves on his wife that he went so far as hiring a prostitute to put in their bed in her place.
‘He was married twice. The second time around, he married Isabel of Angouleme, who was just twelve at the time.
‘John kidnapped her to stop her marrying someone else. By all accounts, it ended up a tempestuous marriage that precipitated a war.’
Perhaps the only lasting achievement of John’s reign was that widespread hatred of his rule forced the creation of Magna Carta.
This groundbreaking document placed legal limits on royal power and established fundamental principles of justice and governance.
John died of dysentery in 1216 and was succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry III. A regency government led by the respected knight William Marshal successfully stabilised the realm.
To hear Kate Williams argue the case for Richard III being the worst monarch in history, search for Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things now.
