Page:History of the Kings & Queens of England.pdf/8

 JOHN,

Born 1165. Began to Reign April 6, 1199. Died Oct. 7, 1216. Reigned 7 Years.

Surnamed Lackland, fourth son of Henry II., and brother to Richard I., by the will of his brother ascended the throne. By his pride and cruelty, and the putting to death of his nephew Prince Arthur of Brittany, he soon rendered himself odious to his subjects. The barons, who had all along been forming a conspiracy, at length marched to Brackley, near Oxford, where the king resided, and having chosen Robert Fitzwalter their general made war against the king, which ended in the granting of the famous Magna Charter. John, however, by the recklessness of his character, soon raised his subjects to a second rebellion. On his road to suppress the insurgents, he was seized with a fever, and died. at Newark in the fifty-first year of his age.

Eminent men in this reign : --Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury; Robert Fitzwalter, general of the Barons' army.