History Essay on The Reign of King John

King John was the son of Henry II. John had a brother named Richard the Lionheart. After Henry's death, Richard became very popular and successful. However, King John was quite the opposite; he was unsuccessful and immensely unpopular.

One way King John was unpopular was taxes. John had to raise the taxes of his barons. Evidence to show this includes the war against France: John increased taxes to pay for these to continue. This caused the Barons to feel unhappy and extremely annoyed. They already supplied John with soldiers and great quantities of money and yet, the King demanded more.  Furthermore, the Barons had to give up land just to help John pay for war. This shows that John is selfish and is inconsiderate of the Barons.

Another way King John was unpopular was church closures. Regularly, John argued with the church, just like his father. Evidence to support this was John contending for himself to choose the next Archbishop of Canterbury. The Pope, however, would not let him. This argument between John and the Pope got so tense that the Pope was forced to close all the churches in England. Therefore, everyone blamed King John for this mess. Due to the closure, weddings and baptisms were all put on hold meaning that people were even more outraged at this mess. Moreover, people apprehended death since they believed that if they were not buried on holy ground (church cemeteries) they would go to hell. King John was once again the centre of attention and took the blame of many.

A final way John was unpopular the way he acted. For example, John's nephew, Prince Arthur, was entitled to the throne. However, John winced at the fact of Arthur seizing his title thus he imprisoned Arthur. Following this eventful ordeal, rumours spread that King John killed the Prince in exasperation, nevertheless, we later find that this was not the case. In fact, John tied Arthur's body to a rock before throwing him into a river. This meant that John was not only unpopular, but a murderer. The public was outraged.

To conclude, I think the main reason why King John was unpopular was church closures. I think this because it offended many people by making them fear the worse for their after-life. He became extremely unpopular as several believed he interfered with their lives.

King John truly was quite the opposite of his brother...