Was King John really such a bad king (Short Animated Documentary)
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Date: 2025-08-02
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Comments and reviews: 20
jacobparry177
Fun fact: One of John's illegitimate daughters, Joan, was married off to the King of Gwynedd and Princeps of Wales, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (aka Llywelyn Fawr: The Great. When tensions brewed between John and Llywelyn, Joan would write letters to her dad to try to reconcile the disputes.
She also ended up having an affair with one of Llywelyn's enemies in the Welsh king's own bed The guy she had an affair with was killed, and things were slowly patched up between her and Llywelyn.
Apparently, before that point, she'd been quite popular in Wales. But I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for Joan to be thrust into a foreign royal court, in a country which spoke only Welsh (and spoke welsh as a majority language until 1911. Like, her husband would have spoken Welsh and Latin, but probably wouldn't have been able to speak her native language of French, making the relationship, both personal and political, even more fraught.
That being said, she has been immortalized in Welsh Poetry and theatre (idk how well known she is in England. The best example of which being the play, 'Siwan' (See-wan, or Shee-wan, the Welsh version of the name Joan) written by Saunders Lewis, an influential Welsh-language writer, born in Liverpool.
Also, the Big Charter has provisions for returning Welsh people held vaptive in England to their native kingdom.
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Fun fact: One of John's illegitimate daughters, Joan, was married off to the King of Gwynedd and Princeps of Wales, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (aka Llywelyn Fawr: The Great. When tensions brewed between John and Llywelyn, Joan would write letters to her dad to try to reconcile the disputes.
She also ended up having an affair with one of Llywelyn's enemies in the Welsh king's own bed The guy she had an affair with was killed, and things were slowly patched up between her and Llywelyn.
Apparently, before that point, she'd been quite popular in Wales. But I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for Joan to be thrust into a foreign royal court, in a country which spoke only Welsh (and spoke welsh as a majority language until 1911. Like, her husband would have spoken Welsh and Latin, but probably wouldn't have been able to speak her native language of French, making the relationship, both personal and political, even more fraught.
That being said, she has been immortalized in Welsh Poetry and theatre (idk how well known she is in England. The best example of which being the play, 'Siwan' (See-wan, or Shee-wan, the Welsh version of the name Joan) written by Saunders Lewis, an influential Welsh-language writer, born in Liverpool.
Also, the Big Charter has provisions for returning Welsh people held vaptive in England to their native kingdom.
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Daniel-y6q4u
My favorite John story: he was supposed to stay in Ireland while Richard was fighting in the holy land. He quickly broke this promise and usurped power. Upon hearing of Richard’s eventual release from imperial prison one of John’s companions wrote to him, look to yourself, the devil is loose. After Richard made it back, John throws himself at Richard’s feet and begs forgiveness to which Richard is to have said/done the king lifted up by the hand his natural brother and kissed him, saying John, have no fear. You are a child, and you have had bad men looking after you. Those who thought to give you bad advice will get their just desserts! Get up, and go and eat. (He had a salmon if anyone was curious)
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My favorite John story: he was supposed to stay in Ireland while Richard was fighting in the holy land. He quickly broke this promise and usurped power. Upon hearing of Richard’s eventual release from imperial prison one of John’s companions wrote to him, look to yourself, the devil is loose. After Richard made it back, John throws himself at Richard’s feet and begs forgiveness to which Richard is to have said/done the king lifted up by the hand his natural brother and kissed him, saying John, have no fear. You are a child, and you have had bad men looking after you. Those who thought to give you bad advice will get their just desserts! Get up, and go and eat. (He had a salmon if anyone was curious)
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JohnShuba
Yes, he was. Henry II and Richard I were, let's face it, terrifying. They were tough, ruthless, and superb military leaders. The barons were nearly all tough and ruthless and also greedy. You had to be insane to keep that lot, even partially in line. John was not tough, but he thought he was, and he was getting his rear end kicked in France. His extortionate taxes combined with losing the wars paid for with those taxes undermined him completely. He was weak and incompetent in an era that demanded strength and success.
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Yes, he was. Henry II and Richard I were, let's face it, terrifying. They were tough, ruthless, and superb military leaders. The barons were nearly all tough and ruthless and also greedy. You had to be insane to keep that lot, even partially in line. John was not tough, but he thought he was, and he was getting his rear end kicked in France. His extortionate taxes combined with losing the wars paid for with those taxes undermined him completely. He was weak and incompetent in an era that demanded strength and success.
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DanSaunders-xq8rj
The fascination about King Arthur being king of England is so frustrating! As the legend goes, he was famous for fighting the Saxons, who later united to become the English.
Therefore, would have been an enemy of the English & hero of the Britons. The Britons later becoming the Welsh & Cornish regions. Cornwall not being a Saxon area so not English in the period of the legend
Again, king of the Britons, not king of England or English
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The fascination about King Arthur being king of England is so frustrating! As the legend goes, he was famous for fighting the Saxons, who later united to become the English.
Therefore, would have been an enemy of the English & hero of the Britons. The Britons later becoming the Welsh & Cornish regions. Cornwall not being a Saxon area so not English in the period of the legend
Again, king of the Britons, not king of England or English
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anderskorsback4104
Calling the Magna Carta the end of absolute monarchy isn't really accurate. The de facto power of the preceding kings was far from absolute, due to the nature of feudalism. It's more that the extent of the King's legitimate authority was not codified, and thus a grey area, so effectively came down to the actual balance of power. The Magna Carta and its successors rather sought to clarify the matter.
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Calling the Magna Carta the end of absolute monarchy isn't really accurate. The de facto power of the preceding kings was far from absolute, due to the nature of feudalism. It's more that the extent of the King's legitimate authority was not codified, and thus a grey area, so effectively came down to the actual balance of power. The Magna Carta and its successors rather sought to clarify the matter.
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DistantRainbow
And yet. He wasn’t the worst king England/UK had.
As bad as he was, he wasn’t a traitor in chief. As bad as he was, he didn't constantly, knowingly try to undermine the good of his country.
At least John's wrongdoings can be blamed on sheer incompetence(and sheer bad luck in a very few cases, so there can be a tiny amount of pity to be spared on him.
Unlike some other king I know.
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And yet. He wasn’t the worst king England/UK had.
As bad as he was, he wasn’t a traitor in chief. As bad as he was, he didn't constantly, knowingly try to undermine the good of his country.
At least John's wrongdoings can be blamed on sheer incompetence(and sheer bad luck in a very few cases, so there can be a tiny amount of pity to be spared on him.
Unlike some other king I know.
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history_matters
To summarize, [name] didn't get the best start. However, they sucked and so made it all much, much worse and many of the problems of their reign went away the second they died.
That's honestly the worst way you could describe someone's tenure. Resembles a villain playthrough where you eventually die and the world is relieved that your tyranny is over
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To summarize, [name] didn't get the best start. However, they sucked and so made it all much, much worse and many of the problems of their reign went away the second they died.
That's honestly the worst way you could describe someone's tenure. Resembles a villain playthrough where you eventually die and the world is relieved that your tyranny is over
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nikamakharadze3241
Can you make a video about why did US allowed USSR to have eastern europe when they had nuclear weapons and soviets didn't (1945-1949. Why didn't they threaten soviets to bomb them if they didn't leave eastern europe like they did with Iran (north Iran or south Azerbaijan) when they threatened soviets. And then soviets left Iran.
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Can you make a video about why did US allowed USSR to have eastern europe when they had nuclear weapons and soviets didn't (1945-1949. Why didn't they threaten soviets to bomb them if they didn't leave eastern europe like they did with Iran (north Iran or south Azerbaijan) when they threatened soviets. And then soviets left Iran.
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education
King Richard the Lionheart wasn't better than John, he was the one that got the country into debt, and he also quit crusades instead of winning them.
He failed at crusades, and failed to win the war in france, he also lost money to England.
Both were terrible rulers. Richard only saving grace was that he was a decent army leader.
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King Richard the Lionheart wasn't better than John, he was the one that got the country into debt, and he also quit crusades instead of winning them.
He failed at crusades, and failed to win the war in france, he also lost money to England.
Both were terrible rulers. Richard only saving grace was that he was a decent army leader.
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U2QuoZepplin
No. Apparently he wasn't such a bad king at all. In fact if it's true that King Richard went off to the holy land to fight in the crusades then he did England a big favour by letting his brother John serve in his place. I don't know if it's a myth or not that Richard ever returned but it might have been better that he didn't.
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No. Apparently he wasn't such a bad king at all. In fact if it's true that King Richard went off to the holy land to fight in the crusades then he did England a big favour by letting his brother John serve in his place. I don't know if it's a myth or not that Richard ever returned but it might have been better that he didn't.
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DamonCassada345
To be fair, much of the hate around him was due to him going against British royal norms, such as striking alliances with the Middle East which Britain did not warm up to because prejudice. If King John lived today, and if he could just not be paranoid, he'd be an icon of good rule.
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To be fair, much of the hate around him was due to him going against British royal norms, such as striking alliances with the Middle East which Britain did not warm up to because prejudice. If King John lived today, and if he could just not be paranoid, he'd be an icon of good rule.
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aaronmarks9366
The most recent Prince John in the UK was Prince John Charles Francis, fifth son and youngest child of King George V and Mary of Teck. He was born in 1905 and passed away in 1919 from epilepsy. He was a younger sibling of the future Kings Edward VIII and George VI.
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The most recent Prince John in the UK was Prince John Charles Francis, fifth son and youngest child of King George V and Mary of Teck. He was born in 1905 and passed away in 1919 from epilepsy. He was a younger sibling of the future Kings Edward VIII and George VI.
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thelekevire3
The really interesting thing about King John is that despite being such an ass king he didn't get an epithet, of course, other than Lackland. He was so bad that just by hearing King John a dark cloud of anger covers the sky and you realize how trash he was.
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The really interesting thing about King John is that despite being such an ass king he didn't get an epithet, of course, other than Lackland. He was so bad that just by hearing King John a dark cloud of anger covers the sky and you realize how trash he was.
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seanpollard5809
I've always hate how Richard was portrayed as ENGLISH, and heroic. John, at least, was fluent in English. Most kings of England at that point were considered to be English with lands in France. Richard considered himself as French with lands in England
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I've always hate how Richard was portrayed as ENGLISH, and heroic. John, at least, was fluent in English. Most kings of England at that point were considered to be English with lands in France. Richard considered himself as French with lands in England
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UnleashthePhury
He throws an angry tantrum if he cannot have his way
He calls for mom and sucks his thumb and doesn’t want to play.
Too late to be known as John the First
He’s sure to be known as John the Worst!
A Pox on the phoney king of England.
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He throws an angry tantrum if he cannot have his way
He calls for mom and sucks his thumb and doesn’t want to play.
Too late to be known as John the First
He’s sure to be known as John the Worst!
A Pox on the phoney king of England.
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LunarMoods
Your videos although very interesting they are consistently difficult to listen to due to low volume audio. Please use a compressor, it will greatly improve your audio even if you just use a preset without needing to have a deep knowledge of it.
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Your videos although very interesting they are consistently difficult to listen to due to low volume audio. Please use a compressor, it will greatly improve your audio even if you just use a preset without needing to have a deep knowledge of it.
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ronanwaring3408
Had he just kept his lands in france by being a little bit humble his money problems would be over pretty quick, as at that time those parts of france they owned earned more than the entirety of britain and Ireland.
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Had he just kept his lands in france by being a little bit humble his money problems would be over pretty quick, as at that time those parts of france they owned earned more than the entirety of britain and Ireland.
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moniyanprince62019
Imagine if Henry II himself got back from the afterlife just to see his youngest son rule the kingdom he had created.
Henry II: I feared your older brothers, but you are the WORST of all monsters
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Imagine if Henry II himself got back from the afterlife just to see his youngest son rule the kingdom he had created.
Henry II: I feared your older brothers, but you are the WORST of all monsters
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Lessareve
Can you please do an episode about his son Henry III was honestly really bad as well but get forgotten, even though the Provisions of Oxford he signed can also be credited for limiting the king's powers!
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Can you please do an episode about his son Henry III was honestly really bad as well but get forgotten, even though the Provisions of Oxford he signed can also be credited for limiting the king's powers!
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kingofcards9
As much as John was an absolute knacker.
The nobility of England have very rarely acted in the interest of the people or common good.
Centralizing power was the only good course of action.
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As much as John was an absolute knacker.
The nobility of England have very rarely acted in the interest of the people or common good.
Centralizing power was the only good course of action.
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