How Did King John Influence England

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Before John was King of England, for many years, the kings defended English territory within France by using English men and money. King John acted in this similar way but his military campaigns were unsuccessful. England and France were constantly at war. By 1204, he had lost his lands in northern France; this included his family’s ancestral land in Normandy and Anjou to Philip II. In order to continue battling France, the King forced from his barons greater taxes and additional military services, this angered the barons because he did not consult them before raising taxes; this was a violation of feudal law and custom. On top of angering the barons, King John also angered the citizens and the church as well. He was using unnecessary military force and demanded a ridiculous amount of taxes. Disagreements between Pope Innocent III, King John, and the English barons about the Kings rights were how the Magna Carta came to be written. A new Archbishop was to be elected; the candidates were the monks of Canterbury, and the other candidate was someone that the king favored, the Pope had the election take place in front of him, to see fair play. He discovered that King John was cheating; the monks confessed that the King persuaded…show more content…
The Magna Carta was a demand for a better future and an indictment of King John. The Magna Carta of 1215 contains 63 clauses. Promises were made by King John in the clauses to be less harsh on the barons and to protect their baronial liberties. The Magna Carta was in effect an enormous list of everything that was wrong with the government. It also limited King John’s feudal powers, judicial powers, and other governmental powers. The Magna Carta had a great amount of strength, “the document establishes the principle that no person, not even the king, is above the
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