Nicholas Vincent - John An Evil King?

THE HOUSES OF WESSEX AND DENMARK
Athelstan	Tom Holland
Aethelred the Unready	Richard Abels
Cnut	Ryan Lavelle
Edward the Confessor	David Woodman
THE HOUSES OF NORMANDY, BLOIS AND ANJOU
William I	Marc Morris
William II	John Gillingham
Henry I	Edmund King
Stephen	Carl Watkins
Henry II	Richard Barber
Richard I	Thomas Asbridge
John	Nicholas Vincent
THE HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET
Henry III	Stephen Church
Edward I	Andy King
Edward II	Christopher Given-Wilson
Edward III	Jonathan Sumption
Richard II	Laura Ashe
THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK
Henry IV	Catherine Nall
Henry V	Anne Curry
Henry VI	James Ross
Edward IV	A. J. Pollard
Edward V	Thomas Penn
Richard III	Rosemary Horrox
THE HOUSE OF TUDOR
Henry VII	Sean Cunningham
Henry VIII	John Guy
Edward VI	Stephen Alford
Mary I	John Edwards
Elizabeth I	Helen Castor
THE HOUSE OF STUART
James I	Thomas Cogswell
Charles I	Mark Kishlansky
[Cromwell	David Horspool]
Charles II	Clare Jackson
James II	David Womersley
William III & Mary II	Jonathan Keates
Anne	Richard Hewlings
THE HOUSE OF HANOVER
George I	Tim Blanning
George II	Norman Davies
George III	Amanda Foreman
George IV	Stella Tillyard
William IV	Roger Knight
Victoria	Jane Ridley
THE HOUSES OF SAXE-COBURG & GOTHA AND WINDSOR
Edward VII	Richard Davenport-Hines
George V	David Cannadine
Edward VIII	Piers Brendon
George VI	Philip Ziegler
Elizabeth II	Douglas Hurd

Now in paperback

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First published by Allen Lane in 2020

Copyright Nicholas Vincent, 2020

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover design by Pentagram
Jacket art by Gosia Herba

ISBN: 978-0-141-97770-6

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

. John (bottom left), his father Henry II, his elder brother Richard I (with sword) and his son and successor Henry III (bottom right), as depicted by the chronicler Matthew Paris c. 1240. Note the crown slipping from Johns head.. John as depicted in the fourteenth century, a mighty huntsman, but pursuing a sport itself often synonymous with violence and tyranny.. Johns great seal, front and back, our only contemporary portrait of him. Note the role of the king in dispensing justice and in vigorously defending his realm. In neither function was John to distinguish himself.. Angers on the Loire, cradle of the Angevin dynasty, yet one of the great cities of northern France that John was to abandon in 1204 and thereafter to strive unsuccessfully to recover.. Arthur, Johns young nephew, here shown proudly displaying his titles as ruler not only of Brittany but of Aquitaine, bestowed on him by the French king in a deliberate challenge to John.. A digital reconstruction of Dublin Castle. John first came to maturity in Ireland, where the harsh realities of colonial rule were to impact upon his later rule as king. Note here the vast stone fortress and walls (much still extant), built using the slave labour of the colonized.. Queen Isabella, Johns second wife, heiress to the southern French county of Angoulme. In marrying her, John provoked rebellion by the lords of Poitou, in due course leagued with King Philip of France.. Corfe Castle in Dorset. Here various of Johns state prisoners are reputed to have been brutally mistreated. The castle itself was ruined in the seventeenth century, in the later English Civil War.