Why Was King John A Bad King

‘King John was a bad king’

Agree or disagree

There were several reasons for and against king john being terrible, some of which are explained below.

One of the reasons people state that King John was a bad king is due to his short temper. An example of this is in Source d(Rebecca Fraser People’s history of britain), ‘it was John himself who performed the deed[murdering Arthur, his nephew]...probably in one of his famous rages.’ If it was believed that John had murdered his nephew, then the English would lose trust in their king, which may have started negative rumours.

Another reason John is portrayed as a villain is that he had an argument with the pope.

Evidence of this is shown in Source b(Kidd and Richards Power and the People), ‘The pope punished John by banning all church services...this frightened the people of England, and they hated John for bringing this about.’ Since the church played an extremely important role in medieval england, the english people hated John for doing this.

One occasion where this is shown is in Source E (D.M Stenton English society in the middle ages), ‘John sat as a judge.His lively mind and keen intelligence played upon the case.’ From this we can gather that John was intelligent and just. By having an intelligent and just King, the English would feel that no matter what happened, King John would not convict them