How and Why Has King John Been Represented in Different Ways?

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How and Why Was King John portrayed in history? King John was born on the 24th of December in the year of 1167 to King Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. John was the youngest of five sons to his father, and had been nicknamed “Lackland” by Henry as all of his elder brothers had received a certain share of dominion apart from John alone, however, John seemed to be his father’s favourite. In 1173, a marriage proposal was set up by Henry for his beloved youngest son to Humbert III’s daughter, meaning that John will have the right to a lot of lands but sadly, the wedding didn’t happen. His brothers did not seem very fond of that idea and they rebelled. John continued to be favoured by his father and in 1177, Henry granted his son the Lordship of Ireland. In 1185, John visited Ireland and during his stay he partied a lot, causing a dent in his reputation amongst the Irish people but amazingly, Henry still preferred his last born, which angered Richard, who had had enough. Instead of sticking by his father’s side, John smartened up and teamed up with Richard against his father. When Henry died in 1189, the throne was passed on to Richard. Richard being generous gave his younger brother rewards of several lands in England and he also made John the Count of Mortain in France. Whilst he was planning to go through a series of wars, Richard did not want his brother to enter England and he forced John to promise that he wouldn’t and John kept his word until he found out that Richard was intending to give the role of successor to the throne to their nephew. John felt that he should be king and he entered England, breaking his promise and tried to persuade the English people in order to gain the throne but the English woul... ... middle of paper ... ...hat people thought about him. John may not have been a bad King but due to there not being more information and sources that represent him in a better way than there is evidence of the good King John. Only several people have indentified john as a good king, including D. M. Stenton but many including Disney and Shakespeare has portrayed the king in an unpleasant way. All of these things, especially Disney’s Robin Hood, which is watched by young children have a great influence on what other people thought the king was like. Works Cited • http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/king_john.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudor_dynasty • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_England • http://www.kingjohn.co.uk/robinhood/ • http://www.robinhoodloxley.net/mycustompage0026.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_England http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_John

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