THE MALIGNED MONARCH: A Life of King John of England

by Alan Lloyd ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 22, 1972

Agnostic, wanton, slothful, unjust, vindictive, cruel, cowardly"" -- such has been the historical verdict on King John whose tempestuous reign precipitated the civil war that gave birth to the hallowed Magna Carta -- that most dubious cornerstone of English liberties. Lloyd (The Spanish Centuries, 1968; Franco, 1969; The King Who Lost America, 1971) fixes the origin of most of this calumny in the monastic chronicles of Roger Wendover and Matthew Paris whose accounts of the reign are colored by strong pro-Church, pro-aristocratic biases. Conveying the texture of 13th-century English politics with remarkable verisimilitude, Lloyd -- in his best book to date -- argues that John's political embarrassments were inherited from the reigns of his brother, Richard I, and father, Henry II. Ascending to the throne in 1199 John was at once confronted with a severe fiscal crisis exacerbated throughout his rule by the need to resist French aggression against the Angevin Empire. The Empire itself (as the 100-Years' War showed) was increasingly unviable due to the growing insularity of both the English and French aristocracies. The fiscal pinch, aggravated by inflation, became the impetus for the revolt of the barons against the centralizing and rationalizing efforts of the monarchy -- and it was John's misfortune to reap the whirlwind. It is a compelling argument particularly when tied to Lloyd's own characterization of King John as an energetic and far-sighted administrator. And the author's detailed interpretation of the origin and political intent of the Magna Carta as an over-mythologized document regressively asserting feudal privilege is both valid and crucial to the understanding of the power play between the king and the baronage. The book certainly has weak spots: casting John as a champion of the ""proletariat"" is an anachronism and the manic-depressive tendencies that vitiated his domestic and foreign campaigns are discounted too summarily. But on the whole this is a surprisingly readable and fair-minded attempt to redress the historical balance so heavily weighted against King John.

Pub Date: Sept. 22, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION