Bad King John - The Most Evil Men And Women In History (part 1 of 2)

Bad King John (1166-1216)

He murdered his nephew, inspired the legend of Robin Hood and caused the creation of Magna Carta.John (24 December 1166 -- 19 October 1216) was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death. He acceded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I, who died without issue. John was the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and was their second surviving son to ascend the throne; thus, he continued the line of Plantagenet or Angevin kings of England. Prior to his coronation, he was Earl of Cornwall and Gloucester, but this title reverted to the Crown once he became King.

During his lifetime John acquired two epithets. One was "Lackland" (French: Sans Terre), because, as his father's youngest son, he did not inherit land out of his family's holdings, and because as King he lost significant territory to France. The other was "Softsword" signifying his supposed lack of prowess in battle.

Apart from entering popular legend as the enemy of Robin Hood, he is perhaps best-known for having acquiesced —to the barons of English nobility— to seal Magna Carta, a document which limited kingly power in England and which is popularly thought as an early step in the evolution of limited government.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• The
• Most
• Evil
• Men
• and
• Women
• in
• History
• Bad
• King
• John
• sirgrowalott

[pryan96]

i don't understand how John is on the Most Evil men in history list. He was evil but not that evil. And I haven't heard of him being called "bad" King John. i have read a lot of stuff about him and none of them call him that.

[000000poizen000000]

@smithbrain Oh, yes, and religious fanatics are oh-so holy, aren’t they?

[KelticWoman1]

David Cameron - boy do I hate even giving him capital letters in his name - plonker has no idea about real life is fucking up society, would probably - allegedly - fry his own mother to keep his job - is the most vile in my opinion - prime minister I've seen in my life time and I'm nearly half a century in 50 years he is screwing Britain big time for his own gain - he doesn't give a shit if your baby is dying, you are struggling to feed your family - he wants what he wants and you are all tools.

[TheMzgoldie]

02:29 Did he just say he was just an awful shit!?!?!

[mauserbrothers]

@pryan96 betraying family, murdering with your own hands, and starving families makes him evil enough to be on this show. P.S he's been called evil king John since Robin Hood.

[carlag2506]

@pryan96 yes, I personally think there's a lot more to be uncovered about John. It's hardly surprising the clergy wrote all that stuff about him considering he was constantly at odds. It's just a shame that they were the first ones to write!!!!!

[victoria1987f]

Eleanor was locked up. his sons wanted more power even though the king was alive Eleanor backed her oldest sons against the king as he had a mistress Rosalind. she and her sons were pushing for power and the crown while king henry was still alive. Also Eleanor was rumored to have slept with henrys father before they wed, she was a lot older than henry, they hated each other towards the end of there marriage. Alison Weir book lol

[topgunexcel]

What the hell is this?? I thought Eleanore was locked up for some infraction, then turned Henry's children against him, Richard couldn't speak english and spent more time out of the country than in it and John was the first king of the Norman dynasty to be buried in England. Is history being re-written??

[Nelsonhojax15]

@pryan96 I will say that it's hard to judge a man who lived in much different times. That said, he really is possibly the worst King of England and what I'm really against is rehabilitating his image. He's not some Richard III who was defeated and then defamed, his son had one of the longest reign's in English history and his decedents ruled till the time of Henry VII. So I'm really just against it when people try to make him a good guy, when he's not. But you're right, he's no Hitler.

[pryan96]

@Nelsonhojax15 True, but comparing him to the very worst men in history (men like Hitler, Stalin, Attila, Mao, Ivan) though is foolish.

[Nelsonhojax15]

@pryan96 He raped the wives of his nobles and blackmailed them into paying him to avoid shame and scandal. He lost almost all of English lands in France, killed his nephew to gain the crown, I'd say that's pretty evil!

[juliebonaduce]

@pryan96 - 'Bad King John' comes from a memorization song/poem used to teach British children the historical lines of succession.