The Life and Death of King John, which appeared in the First Folio of 1623, was first performed sometime before 1598, according to Wits Treasury by Francis Meres. As usual, our data concerning the provenance of this play is muddy, because another version of the events depicted in King John appeared at almost exactly the same time. The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England was published anonymously in 1591, and is so close to King John that one must have been copied from the other, but scholars disagree on which came first. Other historical material at Shakespeare’s disposal came from Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587) and Edward Hall’s The Union of the Two Noble and Illustrious Families of Lancaster and York (1548).

Today King John of England is best known for two things: inspiring a renegade archer in Sherwood Forest to steal from the rich and give to the poor, and provoking his nobles to band together to force him to sign the Magna Carta, a landmark document limiting the powers a king may wield. Neither of these two legends has a presence in Shakespeare’s play, The Life and Death of King John. In the case of Robin Hood, that’s not surprising; there’s no evidence such a person ever existed, and the stories associated with him wouldn’t surface for another hundred years. It is remarkable, however, that Shakespeare chose not to include the signing of the Magna Carta, since John’s unpopularity with his nobles is the theme that runs through the entire play.

As we saw earlier in Henry VI, the practice of hereditary monarchy is complicated when the sitting king dies without having an eldest son as heir apparent. According to the custom, called primogeniture, the rule would then revert to the second oldest son of the PREVIOUS king, then the third, and so on. Such was the case more than a century earlier, when the second son of Henry II, Richard I, died and left the throne to his brother John, the fourth son of Henry. However, Constance of Brittany, the widow of Henry’s THIRD son, Geoffrey, argued that her son Arthur should have succeeded to the throne, and her family was influential enough to provoke military action over this point. In the ensuing trouble, Arthur was killed. There is no firm evidence that John was behind the boy’s death, but people drew that conclusion anyway, and eight hundred years before the internet, John was unable to “control the spin.”

And his troubles didn’t stop there. In one respect the legends about Robin Hood were correct; King John constantly raised taxes to support his wars to regain territory in France, which of course made him public enemy number one. Then on top of everything else, he lost the wars! He also clashed with the Catholic Church, at a time when the Pope exercised considerable political power in England. When Henry refused to accept the Pope’s choice for Archbishop of Canterbury (then as now the most influential religious post in England), the Pope excommunicated Henry and declared all religious activity in England to be invalid. This meant that every marriage, every baptism, every funeral would be unapproved, and anyone who died in that state would not go to heaven! Finally John gave in, rather than face a revolt from his God-fearing subjects.

Don’t be confused by the citizens of the French city of Angiers (now Angers) such as Hubert de Burgh swearing loyalty to the English king. Remember that for centuries England and France have alternated controlling huge swaths of each other’s territory. At the time of John large portions of northwestern France were still English possessions, and would be until the end of the Hundred Years War, when Henry VI lost them once and for all.

De Burgh historically played a significant role in England’s affairs. (See the references at the end of this essay for more information.) Our old friend Vincent, who started the Shakespeare group sometime in the last millennium, has this to say about de Burgh:

One of the characters in the play, Hubert de Burgh, is a relative of singer Chris de Burgh (“The Lady in Red”, “Spanish Train”, others). I posted the question on a fan site, and Chris de Burgh himself confirmed this.

Vincent

Plantagenet was a nickname of the royal family for centuries, based on an ancestor’s mundane habit of putting a green sprig in his hat. Philip gives this name to Arthur to boost his claim to the throne, just as Richard Duke of York would two hundred years later. King John goes further; once he’s convinced that Falconbridge is the bastard son of Richard the Lion-Hearted, and therefore John’s nephew, he renames him Richard Plantagenet to make him a true member of the nobility.

Falconbridge takes an instant dislike to Limoges, the Duke of Austria, insulting him to his face in public. This is primarily due to a misunderstanding on Shakespeare’s part, that the Duke, whose real name was Leopold, was responsible for the death of King Richard, Falconbridge’s father. In fact, Richard was briefly imprisoned by Leopold during the Crusades, but was killed later by a stray arrow while attacking the castle of Widomar, the Viscount of Limoges. Here Shakespeare was repeating the mistakes of his source, The Troublesome Reign. In the scene, the Duke wears a lion skin coat to boast of his victory over Richard the Lion-Hearted.

Shakespeare repeats the gossip of his day that John died of poisoning, although there is no evidence that it was true.

French pronunciation is not used even for French names. Just as the city of Milan is called “MILL-en” in Tempest and Two Gentlemen of Verona, please use the following guide for French names:

“Calais” – CAL-is

“Dauphin” – DAW-fin or sometimes Dolphin!

Historical and classical references

Alcides – a nickname for Hercules. Since he also killed a lion, the name applies to King Richard as well.

Cordelion – King Richard I, known as “Richard the Lion-Hearted” (or in French, “Coeur de Lion”) According to legend, he got this nickname by reaching down the throat of a lion and killing it by ripping out its heart.

Dauphin – the heir to the French throne (sometimes spelled “Dolphin”)

Summary

ACT ONE

scene 1 

King Philip of France, through a messenger, challenges John’s right to take the throne  from his nephew Arthur. The two countries go to war.

Falconbridge, known as the Bastard for obvious reasons, learns that his father was actually Richard the Lion-Hearted. He takes John’s side, and John knights him.

ACT TWO

scene 1 

Arthur and his mother Constance are befriended by Philip and the Duke of Austria in their campaign against John.

Both armies meet outside the city of Angiers. The leader of the city, Hubert de Burgh, wisely declines to take sides, and won’t let either army into the city until they resolve among themselves which is the real king of England. The two sides fight without resolution, and when de Burgh still won’t admit either one, they threaten to unite to attack Angiers. De Burgh suggests a compromise: King John’s niece Blanch marries King Philip’s son Lewis, who also gets several key territories in France that England controls. John also agrees to give Arthur titles in England, but Constance is not pleased with the deal.

ACT THREE

scene 1 

On the day of the wedding between Lewis and Blanch, Constance bemoans the agreement that left her son Arthur with no chance of being king.

The wedding celebration is interrupted by Pandulph, the ambassador from the Pope. For refusing to accept Rome’s choice for Archbishop, he not only excommunicates John, but orders Philip to go to war with him as well.

scene 2 

Short scene. Falconbridge kills the Duke of Austria. John captures Arthur, and gives him to de Burgh for safekeeping.

scene 3 

After praising de Burgh for his obedience, John orders him to put the young Arthur to death, and de Burgh agrees.

scene 4 

Philip tries and fails to console Constance on the loss of her son Arthur.

Pandulph convinces Lewis that with Arthur dead, his marriage to Blanch will give him the best claim to Arthur’s lands.

ACT FOUR

scene 1

De Burgh changes his mind about killing Arthur, and instead decides to help him escape. 

scene 2 

John orders a hermit to be hanged, for predicting that on Ascension Day the king will “deliver up his crown.”

De Burgh lies to the king, telling him Arthur is dead. When John announces the death, his nobles immediately suspect foul play. At first John blames de Burgh for Arthur‘s death, claiming that he never ordered it. De Burgh confesses that Arthur is still alive.

A messenger informs him that Lewis is invading England, and Constance has died of a broken heart.

scene 3 

The nobles refuse Falconbridge’s request to come to an audience with the king, and decide to take Philip’s side against him. De Burgh’s news that Arthur is still alive comes tragically too late, as he had just fallen to his death trying to escape.

ACT FIVE

scene 1 

John capitulates to Pandulph: he surrenders his throne to Rome, and in return is allowed to continue being king, as long as he accepts the Pope’s orders. It’s the same day the hermit predicted that he would “deliver up his crown.”

scene 2 

The nobles pledge loyalty to Lewis in return for his written promise to respect their rights. (This is not the Magna Carta, but one of its predecessors.) Pandulph announces that John is now obedient to Rome, but Lewis refuses to call off his attack.

scene 3 

The king is sick and takes refuge in an abbey.

scene 4 

A wounded French lord warns the British nobles that Lewis plans to betray them if he wins the battle. They decide to go to John and ask his forgiveness.  

scene 5 

Lewis learns that his reinforcements have been shipwrecked in the English Channel, and John has escaped.

scene 6 

De Burgh reports that the king has been poisoned by a monk. Falconbridge reports that half of his army was drowned crossing a swamp.

scene 7

John’s son Henry visits him just before he dies. Falconbridge vows to continue fighting to keep England free.

See below for historical info, courtesy of Microsoft Encarta:

 John (of England), called John Lackland (1167-1216), king of England (1199-1216), best known for signing the Magna Carta.

John was born in Oxford on December 24, 1167, the youngest son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry provided for the eventual inheritance of his lands by his older sons before John was born. By 1186, however, only Richard I, the Lion-Hearted, and John were left as Henry’s heirs. In 1189, as Henry neared death, John joined Richard’s rebellion against their father, and when Richard was crowned, he gave John many estates and titles. John tried but failed to usurp the Crown while Richard was away on the Third Crusade. Upon returning to England, Richard forgave him. When his brother died in 1199, John became king. A revolt ensued by the supporters of Arthur of Bretagne, the son of John’s brother, Geoffrey. Arthur was defeated and captured in 1202, and John is believed to have had him murdered. King Philip II of France continued Arthur’s war until John had to surrender nearly all his French possessions in 1204. In 1207 John refused to accept the election of Stephen Langton as archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Innocent III then excommunicated him and began negotiating with Philip for an invasion of England. Desperate, John surrendered England to the pope and in 1213 received it back as a fief. Trying to regain his French possession, he was decisively defeated by Philip in 1214. John’s reign had become increasingly tyrannical; to support his wars he had extorted money, raised taxes, and confiscated properties. His barons finally united to force him to respect their rights and privileges. John had little choice but to sign the Magna Carta presented to him by his barons at Runnymede in 1215, making him subject, rather than superior, to the law. Shortly afterward John and the barons were at war. He died at Newark in Nottinghamshire on October 19, 1216, while still pursuing the campaign, and was succeeded by his son, Henry III.

Richard I, called Coeur de Lion or Lion-Hearted (1157-99), king of England (1189-99), third son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, born in Oxford. When he was an infant, Richard was betrothed to a daughter of the French king Louis VII, and in 1172 he was given the duchy of Aquitaine in France, his mother’s inheritance. His early years were spent in warring against his father to protect his own interests; he emerged a brilliant soldier. In 1189 he became king of England and shortly thereafter set out on the Third Crusade. He was accompanied by the young Philip II, king of France, son of Louis VII. The Crusade proved a failure almost from the start, mainly because of the lack of harmony between the two kings. In Sicily Richard quarreled with Philip and refused to marry Philip’s sister as planned. Instead he married Berengaria of Navarre on Cyprus, which he conquered in 1191. After capturing Acre (now ‘Akko) from the Saracens that same year, Richard executed 2700 Muslim prisoners of war. It was Richard’s personal valor in the Holy Land, however, rather than his ruthlessness, that made his name famous in legend. Conflict over policy in the Holy Land resulted in a break between the two, and Philip returned to France alone. Richard spent months in indecisive contests against Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria, before making a truce by which Jerusalem was left in Saladin’s hands. Captured en route to England by Leopold V, duke of Austria, Richard was handed over to Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. He was released in 1194 only after paying a heavy ransom. Richard returned to England and there made peace with his brother, John, later king of England, who in his absence had been conspiring with Philip to usurp the English throne. Leaving the government of England to the care of the able administrator Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, Richard went to France in 1194 to wage war against the French king. Campaigns in defense of his European lands continued for five years. Victor in most of the warfare in which he engaged, Richard was fatally wounded by an arrow during an insignificant skirmish in 1199.

As king, Richard had chosen able ministers, to whom he left most matters of administration. Under his rule, however, England suffered heavy taxation, levied to support his expeditions. Sometimes cruel, sometimes magnanimous, and always courageous, Richard was well versed in the knightly accomplishments of his age and was also a poet. He was to become the hero of many legendary tales.

Burgh, Hubert de (flourished 1197-1243), English statesman. He was in the service of King Richard I, and by 1201 he had become chamberlain to King John. According to Ralph of Coggeshall, a contemporary English chronicler, after the English subjugated Normandy (Normandie), Burgh, as jailer, refused to obey a royal order to mutilate his prisoner Arthur, duke of Bretagne. Burgh also is said to have urged John to grant the Magna Carta. In 1215 the king appointed Burgh chief justiciar, or justice, of England, an office he held for 17 years. In 1217, after Louis VIII of France had invaded England, Burgh won a naval victory that forced Louis to withdraw and renounce his claims to the English crown. From 1219 until 1227 Burgh was virtual ruler of England as regent for John’s successor, Henry III. When Henry attained his majority in 1227, he made Burgh Earl of Kent. Later the two men quarreled about a military expedition to France and royal subservience to the papacy. Charged with treason in 1232, Burgh was jailed and stripped of his title and estates. These were restored in 1234, when he received a full pardon.