Why did the Barons rebel against King John?
In this essay I will clarify why I think the Barons rebelled against King John. First of all what does rebel mean? I think rebel means to have a strong protest that you believe in. Some of the causes go right back to the beginning of John’s reign and had been building up. However there were some other causes that essentially triggered the rebellion. I will consider both and give details why I think that King John ignoring the rules of the Magna Carta was the most important cause.
The most important reason why I think that the Barons rebelled was that King John didn’t follow the rules documented in the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta was the first formal document stating that the King had to follow the laws of the land, and was not allowed to take people’s possessions or imprison people unfairly. Also individuals would be tried by a jury. I think the Barons rebelled because they had put a lot of effort in to writing the Magna Carta and tried to compromise with the king. Yet King John only sealed the Magna Carta to keep the peace between him and the Barons. The Magna Carta only lasted three months .The Baron were furious and this is why I think this was a short term and the trigger cause.
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“The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom” – John Locke. What I feel that John Locke is attempting to express in his quote is that society believes that by having laws in place the government is taking away from the freedom they long to endure. However, by ...
The second major reason the Barons rebelled against King John was because he raised taxes unreasonably. He charged widows £3000 for the right to stay unmarried and taxed one baron £6000 for land that was only earning £550 per year. The Barons were unhappy and angry as by 1213 he collected so many taxes that almost half of all the coins were his. This was a long term cause.
Another major reason was that John only listened to advice from a few favourite advisors. This showed that John was an arrogant leader as he was only willing to listen to people who agreed with him. Most of his advisors were not British, but instead foreign mercenaries. This would anger the Barons as the King would not be prepared to accept their ideas when making important decisions. This was one more long term cause.
Moreover as a result of his arrogance he spent taxes as he saw fit and in a wasteful selfish manner. He did not spend the money on important needs. Such as he was famously known for being well dressed. He particularly liked extremely expensive fur coats made of sable, ermine and polar bear. He also wore shining armour. This made the Barons furious as King John was spending their hard earned money on himself. This was a long term cause.
An additional reason was that John lost most of his empire in France. This showed that John was a bad leader and could not lead his army to battle. Also the Barons refused to provide soldiers. He was nicknamed ‘Lackland’ and ‘softsword’. Also he had the chance to regain his empire in the battle of Bouvines in 1214.He proved his nicknames right as his lost the battle. This was a long term cause as it built up over two battles.
A different minor reason was that John quarrelled with the Pope. John disagreed with the Pope over who should be the next Archbishop of Canterbury .The Barons were on his side. However John retaliated and seized all the church’s property. This plan backfired as the church stopped ceremonies which meant that there were no funeral or wedding services available. Also he was punished as the Pope put an Interdict ‘no services’ and John would go to hell. The unintended consequences of this were that no church service would be held or allowed.
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Throughout the English revolution of 1688, and just after the establishment of the freedom of the press in 1694, the conditions were perfect for a development of a new understanding of knowledge. John Locke, who, in the field of theology, found his starting point, like most prominent thinkers of the age, in the conflict of systems, beliefs, and practices. Out of his reflections on the known facts ...
Furthermore he imprisoned and murdered his own nephew so that there were no rivals to the throne. This made the Barons distrust him for the beginning. I think this was a long term cause.
In addition a minor cause was that John lost a lot of the Crown jewels when his baggage train sank. This shows that he did not care about the jewels so I think some people thought why would he care about the country. The Crown Jewels were some of the country’s assets; in times of need Britain could trade the crown jewels. The Barons were angry as King John had lost some of the country’s best resources. This was a short term cause. However, people would not easily forget this.
In conclusion, as listed above, King John in many instances acted in very arrogant and thoughtless ways which much of the population including powerful and influential people strongly disagreed with. His arrogance was a root cause which resulted in a lot of his disagreeable actions. This had a culminative effect and led to a rebellion by the Barons. In my opinion the rebellion was positive for generally positive for the people of the country as it made the country more fair and equal.
