JohnArticle Free Pass John, byname John Lackland, French Jean
Sans Terre (born Dec. 24, 1167, Oxford—died Oct. 18/19, 1216,
Newark, Nottinghamshire, Eng.), king of England from 1199 to
1216. In a war with the French king Philip II, he lost Normandy
and almost all his other possessions in France. In England,
after a revolt of the barons, he was forced to seal the Magna
Carta (1215). Youth and rivalry for the crown John was the
youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry’s plan
(1173) to assign to John, his favourite son (whom he had
nicknamed Lackland), extensive lands upon his marriage with the
daughter of Humbert III, count of Maurienne (Savoy), was
defeated by the rebellion the proposal provoked among John’s
elder brothers. Various provisions were made for him in England
(1174–76), including the succession to the earldom of
Gloucester. He was also granted the lordship of Ireland (1177),
which he visited from April to late 1185, committing youthful
political indiscretions from which he acquired