Wednesday 30 November 2011

#76 King John

W. L. Warren, 259 pages.

This is an amazing biography, even though it was written decades ago.  I just watched Ironclad, which is what happens in the latter half of 2015, just months after signing the Magna Carta of June 15.  The movie portrayed John as an evil ruler willing to kill anyone who disagreed with him, or just for malicious fun, which isn't what John was about.  I think Warren summed him up perfectly in the last sentence of the book.  "He had the mind to be an intelligent king, but the inclinations of a fickle tyrant."  No monarch had kept better records of the going on of the kingdom before him, he is the start of comprehensive records in England, making him a favorite start of English history.  Granted, he was a terrible king, but his portrayal seems to be over the top bad in movies like Ironclad, Robin Hood, and Men in Tights.  I look forward to reading Shakespeare's portrayal of John when I get back to Yellowstone in 10 days.

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