JOHN I. (1358-00). King of Castile from 1379 to ]390. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his father. Henry 11. To defeat the schemes of John of Gaunt. (q.v.). Duke of Lan caster, who had assumed the title of King of Castile. and of Ferdinand of Portugal. he at tacked Portugal. Ferdinand submitted in 1382. and made peace by giving his slaughter Beatrice, the heiress of Portugal, to John. On Ferdinand's death John again made war upon Portugal in support of the claims of Beatrice. and Inter fought against .Tohn I., who had been elected King of that country, but failed the first time on account of a pestilence, and the second time was defeated at Aljuharotta, in 1385.
JOHN (c.1167-1216). King of England from 1199 to 1216. He was the youngest son of henry II. by his wife, Eleanor of Guienne, and was born probably on December 24, 1167. His lather called him 'Lackland' early, probably, be cause Henry had divided his dominions among his elder sons, and thus left John without a por tion. John was appointed in a council, held at Oxford in 1177, King of Ireland, and in April, 1185, he went over to take the reins of govern ment, but ruled so badly that he was recalled the following September. John united with his brothers in their repeated rebellions against their father, and it was the sudden communication of the news of his having joined his brother Richard's uprising that caused the death of Henry. When Richard I. succeeded to the crown, Ile conferred upon his young brother earldoms which amounted to nearly one-third of the King dom. This did not. however, prevent John from endeavoring to seize the crown during Richard's captivity. John was, nevertheless, pardoned on Richard's return and treated with great clem ency, and is said to have been designated by his brother on his deathbed as his successor. John hastened, at his brother's death, to obtain the support of the Continental barons, and then re turned to England, being crowned at Westmin ster May 27, 1199. Arthur (q.v.), the son of his elder brother Geoffrey, was, according to modern laws of heredity, the lawful heir to the crown, hut at this time the rules of succession to the crown were still imperfect. The claims of Arthur were supported by the King of France, but John bought off the latter's influence. In 1200 he obtained a divorce from his first wife, Avice of Gloucester, and married Isabella of Angouleme, who was betrothed to Hugh le Brun, son of Hugh, Count of La Marche, one of his vas sals. In revenge Le Brun stirred up the nobles of Poitou against him, and embraced the cause of young Arthur. In the war which ensued, Arthur,
who was again assisted by France, was taken prisoner, and confined in the Castle of Rouen, where, according to tradition. he was put to death. As a result of the war, the English mon arch lost to Philip Augustus of France Normandy, Touraine. Maine, Anjou, and Poitou. In 1207 John quarreled with the Pope concerning the ap pointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury, and, as a result, the Kingdom was placed under an interdict in 120S; .Iohn in return confiscated the property of the clergy who obeyed the inter dict, and banished the bishops. He also com pelled William, King of Scotland. who had joined his enemies, to do him homage (1209), put down a rebellion in Ireland (1210), and sub dued Llewelyn, the independent Prince of Wales (1211). The Pope, in 1212, solemnly deposed John, and absolved his subjects from their al legiance, and commissioned Philip Augustus of France to execute his sentence. .John, denounced by the Church, and hated for his cruelty and tyranny by his subjects. found his position un tenable, and was compelled, in 1213, to make abject submission to Rome, and to hold his king dom as a fief of the Papacy. Philip Augustus, nevertheless, proceeded with his scheme of in vasion, though no longer approved by Rome; but the French fleet was totally defeated in the har bor of Damme. Subsequent events. however, proved more favorable to France. and John's strength was crushed in 1214 by the defeat at Bouvines (q.v.). At length the English barons saw the opportunity to end the tyranny of John; they drew up a petition demanding the redress of abuses in the government and the administration of justice and the issuance of a charter of liber ties modeled on that of Henry I. This was re jected by the King. and became the signal for war. The army of the barons assembled at Stam ford and marched to London: they met the King at Runnymede, and on June 15, 1215, was signed the great charter, Magna Charta (q.v.), the basis of the English Constitution. The Pope soon after annulled the charter, and the war broke out again. The barons now called over the Dauphin of France to be their leader, and Louis landed near Sandwich, May 21, 1216. In crossing the Welland John lost his regalia and treasures and part of his baggage and army. He was taken ill. and died at Newark Castle October 19, 1216. Consult: Norgate, England Under the Angevin Kings (London. 1SS7) ; Stubbs, Consti tutional History of England, vol. i. (6th ed., Oxford, 1897) ; Pauli. Geschichte con England, vol iii. (Hamburg, 1553) ; Norgate, John Lac• land (New York, 1902).