Was King John an evil King?
To Judge if King John was an evil king or not really depends on the sources we use for our information.Historiography is the different ways historians of the past have interpreted a historical person or event.In medieval times not everyone was literate. People of the church, such as monks, and the ruling class were able to read and write and therefore they were the chroniclers who recorded events which were eventually used as sources by historians. Historians must be mindful that these monks were most likely to be biased.Although historians must be careful about judging King John as an 'evil King' as the chroniclers did, it is true that many of his barons thought he was a bad king.The barons had many grievances or complaints against the king. They expected him to rule in a certain way and when he did not do so, they rebelled and forced him to sign a document called Magna Carta or Great Charter. The king had no choice but to sign it because the barons would have defeated him in a war.King John was considered a bad king for many reasons. One of the main grievances the barons had with the king was the excessive taxes he imposed on them. When John became king it was a difficult time for him. His brother, King Richard,
King John had victories against the Welsh and the Scots. Although King John angered the barons several times during his reign, he also did some positive things which pleased other people that he ruled. Many of the barons had land in France which was lost when invaded by the French King. It is not likely that these will be reliable because they were badly treated by John and therefore they would obviously be biased. When the records were checked a lot of what he said was actually not true. John had a quarrel with the Pope over who should choose the next Archbishop of Canterbury. To fight these wars against France, John had to tax the barons heavily. On the whole, John was not completely a bad king. Neither John nor the Pope would give in and the Pope was so angry that he banned all Church services in England. King John did anger the barons because he raised taxes to such a level that the barons rebelled but then he wasn't entirely to blame. If the barons did not pay this they were punished by hanging their sons. The king increased this to about L600. The barons wanted a king they could be proud of.
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