Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/670

 650 JOHN II. (FRANCE) JOHN II. (POLAND) as soon as lie could raise a foreign force, aided by the pope, who regarded the barons as rebels against himself, he resumed the war with suc- cess. The barons applied to France for aid, offering to make the dauphin Louis king of England. Louis entered England at the head of an array. John was about to fight a battle for his crown, when he lost his baggage, trea- sure, &c., in "the Wash." This affected his mind, and as he was ill at the time of the loss, his sickness so increased that he soon after died. His death was attributed to poison, and also to dysentery brought on by partaking freely of peaches and new cider. Modern England dates from the reign of John, whose cowardice and imbecility led to the loss of the greater part of the French possessions of his family, and so caused the Norman portion of the inhabitants of the island to regard the English as their countrymen. He was suc- ceeded by his son Henry III. JOHN II., surnamed LE BON (the Good, or rather the Gallant), king of France, the second of the Valois family, born about 1319, died in London in 1364. Succeeding his father Philip VI. in 1350, he indulged in such extravagant expenditures to celebrate his accession to the throne that he soon found the royal treasury exhausted, and had to summon the states gen- eral for a grant of money. His first measures were marked by despotism and cruelty. By his orders the great constable Raoul, count of Eu and Guines, whom he suspected of treach- erous dealings with the English, was arrested and beheaded without any form of trial, while his office and property were given to Charles of Lacerda, a Spanish prince. The latter having been murdered at Laigle, Normandy, by Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, a friend of Raoul, King John came unexpectedly to Rouen, where Charles was entertained by the dauphin, made him a prisoner with his own hand, and caused four of his followers to be decapitated on the spot. Philip, brother of Charles of Navarre, and the count of Harcourt, uncle of one of the victims, appealed to Edward III. of England for vengeance. The English invaded France at once. King John met one of their armies, nnder the Black Prince, at Maupertuis, near Poitiers, and, elated by his superiority in num- bers, attacked him imprudently, was defeated, Sept. 19, 1356, and carried prisoner first to Bordeaux, and then to London, his conquer- ors treating him with courtesy and distinction. During his captivity violent dissensions broke out in France, and the dauphin (afterward Charles V.), who had assumed the regency, was for a while unable to contend against the rising power of the third estate. At the end of three years John tried to regain his freedom by a humiliating treaty with Edward III., which was rejected by the states general of France. The disastrous peace of Bretigny (1360), how- ever, provided for the liberation of the French king by the sacrifice to the English of some of the best French provinces and the payment of a ransom of 3,000,000 crowns. On his return home, John, coming by inheritance into pos- session of the duchy of Burgundy, bestowed it on his fourth son, Philip the Bold, as a reward for his gallantry at the battle of Poitiers. Another son, the duke of Anjou, whom he had given as a hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty of Bretigny, having forfeited his word by running away from England, John thought himself in honor bound to return to captivity, saying, "If good faith were banished from earth, it ought to be still found in the hearts of kings." He consequently returned to Lon- don, and there died. JOHN II. CASIMIR, king of Poland, born March 21, 1609, died in Nevers, France, Dec. 16, 1672. He was a younger son of Sigismund III., of the house of Vasa, by an Austrian princess, who was baffled in her schemes to procure him the throne by his loyal adherence to his elder half brother Ladislas, who after the death of Sigismund was elected king (1632). In 1638 he embarked at Genoa for Spain to negotiate a league with Philip III. against France ; but suffering shipwreck on the coast of Provence, he was seized and by order of Richelieu imprisoned at Vincennes, where he remained two years, and was only released on promise of his brother the king of Poland never to wage war against France. He then travelled through various countries of western Europe, entered the order of Jesuits in Rome, was made cardinal by Innocent X., but after his return to Poland again became a layman, and, having succeeded his brother in 1648, married his widow Maria Luisa Gonzaga. His reign commenced amid the confusion and disasters caused by the great revolt of the Cos- sacks under Chmielnicki, who had advanced into the very heart of Poland. The power of the king had been stripped of almost all its prerogatives by the growing influence of the nobles. Russia and Sweden, which had long been active enemies of Poland, availed them- selves of its distracted condition, and renewed their attacks. George Rakoczy of Transylva- nia, too, invaded the Polish territory, while diet after diet was dissolved by abuses of the liberum, veto. Charles Gustavus of Sweden tri- umphantly marched through the country, and occupied Cracow (1655), John Casimir having fled to Silesia. Before Czenstochowa, however, the Swedes met with an unexpected check, and a confederation of the nobles against all ene- mies of the country having been formed, Czar- niecki won a series of victories over the Swedes, Transylvanians, Cossacks, and Rus- sians. The wars with the Swedes and Rus- sians were terminated by treaties involving considerable cessions of provinces on the Bal- tic and the Dnieper on the part of Poland, which also lost its sway over the Cossacks, who put themselves under the protection of the czar. During these long disturbances John Casimir, though feeble and of a peaceful dis- position, frequently proved his patriotism and