His Story
Born in 1166, one hundred years after the Norman Invasion in the line of the Angevin Kings, John Plantagenet took the throne after the death of his more popular brother, Richard. It was the time of Robin Hood and the Crusades. The Angevins were French speaking Kings from the Anjou region who ruled England, Normandy, and eventually through marriage Southern France. Shakespeare’s play The Life and Death of King John, begins when John is King and chronicles his attempts at controlling and holding onto areas in France while the throne is contested by his nephew Arthur.
It is the first of Shakespeare’s ten History plays, by chronology. Some of Shakespeare’s Tragedies are set in earlier historic periods in England, Rome and Greece. But King John is the first of the British Kings to be chronicled in the History plays.
The Life and Death of King John is a lesser-known play, performed rarely, but King John is a character in non-Shakespearian plays and in film. He was portrayed by Claude Rains as the villainous Prince John in the 1938 production of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn. And as the youngest son of the warring royals Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine portrayed by Peter O’Toole and Katherine Hepburn. King John was a supporting character in his own life. Considered by many historians to be one of the worst Kings of England, and he had a lot of competition. He signed the Magna Carta and his son, Henry III was the longest reigning monarch, holding the throne for 56 years until Queen Elizabeth II surpassed him with a reign of more than 70 years.
King John was also a fairly early play for Shakespeare, written when he was in his late 20s or early 30s. It was not his first history play. He wrote parts of Henry VI and Henry IV earlier, but it feels simpler, and this may be because he adapted other popular plays and didn’t revise them as scrupulously as he did the Henrys. Or it may be that Shakespeare considered the historical time of the play and created characters who were simpler, more, primitive and the plots and complications in the story were written to evoke the mind of characters living in the dark ages, when kingdoms were really tribal and local.
The first act of King John is a since scene, there are two puzzles that John and his mother Eleanor have to figure out and resolve. Then they are off to battle in France in the second act which is also a single scene having to do with succession and birth order and who is rightful heir to the throne. Eventually John would sign the Magna Carta turning England briefly into a Constitutional Monarchy with the rule of law to determine who takes the throne.
Plantagenet Name
The name derived from the Common Broom plant called Genista in Latin, Planta Genista, because it was worn on the hat of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and father of Henry II.
The Plantagenets
King John was the youngest of the seven children of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Their marriage added a large region of Southern France to the lands already under Plantagenet rule: England, Anjou, Maine and Touraine.
Eleanor had been Queen of France. When she failed to produce an heir to the French throne, Louis VII divorced her, and she married Henry Plantagenet.
Henry II was the first to be crowned King of England rather than “King of the English.” In addition to rebellions at home in the British Isles, Henry routinely traveled to his lands in France to maintain sovereignty.
His brother Geoffrey challenged his rule in the French Territories, indicating that Henry I their father had only given England to his eldest son. Their mother the Empress Matilda was attempting to broker a peace when Geoffrey was named Count of Nantes and Southern Brittany.
Shakespeare’s play begins with a challenge from Constance the wife of John’s brother, also named Geoffrey, suggesting that his elder brother’s eldest son Arthur is heir to the throne, rather than John Lackland, the youngest child of the King. He was called Lackland because the youngest rarely inherits land.
John inherited the throne from his brother Richard I Coeur de Lion or Lion heart. Richard was a crusader, fighting for Jerusalem. John held the throne in his brother’s absence. When he died, John was coronated King of England.
At the end of ACT I, Eleanor, and her royal son, travel to France with her newly discovered grandson, Philip the Bastard, son of Richard. For the Plantagenets, travel to France, was travel to their ancestral homes.
The Norman Conquest of 1066, put William the Conqueror on the English Throne and established a line of Francophone Kings in England with additional lands in France. King John ascended to the throne in 1199. Uniting this Kingdom that spanned from Southern to Scotland was more increasingly difficult and John was notorious in England for losing territory in France, territory that would be conquered again two hundred years later in the Battle of Agincourt by Henry II’s namesake Henry V.
PERFORMANCE HISTORY
The Life and Death of King John was one of Shakespeare's post popular plays in the 1700s on Drury Lane and in Covent Garden in London, but it has not been staged on Broadway since 1915. The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Oregon Shakepeare Festival, The Utah Shakespeare Festival and The Delacorte Theatre in New York City have staged King John in the last decade, but it is a Rare Bird for Shakespeare enthusiasts and Canon Completers. It's also a fun story for younger audiences and Shakespeare newcomers, with lots of action, set in the Time of Legends.
Nepoticide
Nepoticide is the murder of a nephew, something that haunted the Plantagenets. John sends Hubert to kill his young nephew, Arthur of Brittany.
Hubert de Burgh was King John's Jailer, a historical figure, but Dan Jones, in his book, "The Plantagenets," speculates that Arthur may have been killed by John's own hand.
King John's nepoticidal mania parallels the last Plantagenet King, Richard III, who was undone by the murders of his two nephews in the Tower of London.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jones, Dan. The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England. Penguin Books, New York, NY. 2012.
Hubbard, Ben. The Plantagenets. Amber Books. London. 2018.
The Favorite
John was his Henry II, father's favorite, because he was the only family member not to rebel and attempt to take the throne in 1173.
The rebellion began when his father arranged six-year old Prince John's marriage and assigned him three castles: Chinon, Loudon and Mirebeau.
The eldest son, Henry "The Young King," enlisted his brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, and most importantly their mother Eleanor of Aquitaine to take up arms against their father in an alliance with Louis VII King of France.
Pembroke
William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke and Lord Protector was considered a great knight and baron under Henry II. He sided with Henry when his sons rebelled and had a chance to kill Richard, but showed him mercy and later served Richard I, John and Henry III.
THE MAGNA CARTA and THE END OF JOHN
King John lost territories in France to Philip II and returned to England in disgrace. Pope Innocent put the country under an interdict which forbid Catholic ceremonies, including baptism and Christian burial. This compounded John's unpopularity with the people and the barons who eventually demanded that he sign The Magna Carta in 1215. It confirmed the rights of feudal barons and stated that the King was subject to the rule of law. It was the first step toward England becoming a constitutional monarchy. Pembroke was one of the few loyalists who signed the Magna Carta.
In his final battle against the Dauphin who landed at Dover, King John and his cavalcade sunk into a marsh where he lost his treasure and the Crown Jewels. They have never been recovered. John died at 49 and was buried at Worcester Cathedral.
The Kings
John was crowned in 1199, 200 years before Henry IV would become king. And nearly 400 years before William Shakespeare would write this play.
