King John was certainly greedy, ruthless, fiery-tempered and untrustworthy. But so was his brother, Richard the Lionheart, and his father, Henry II, who are both remembered as successful kings. The difference between John and his predecessors was that they were dynamic and effective military leaders; John was such a failure in war that he was nicknamed "Softsword".

When he came to the throne, in 1199, John inherited a vast empire in France, comprising Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Poitou, Aquitaine and Gascony. By the time of his death, in 1216, he had managed to lose all these lands except Gascony to the French king, Philip Augustus.

Making enemies

John's greatest talent was in making enemies. In 1200, he married his second cousin, Isabella, who was already betrothed to a powerful French baron, Hugh of Lusignan. John further angered Hugh by seizing some of the baron's lands to give to his new father-in-law. Hugh appealed for justice to King Philip, John's overlord for his French territories, who summoned him to his court to explain his behaviour. The English king refused to go, giving Philip the excuse to declare that all John's lands in France were confiscated.

Arthur of Brittany

Another powerful enemy was John's nephew, Duke Arthur of Brittany. As son of John's older brother, Geoffrey, Arthur had a strong claim to the English throne. In 1202, Arthur rose in rebellion, joining forces with the French king, who promised him John's lands in France.

John reacted swiftly and surprised and captured his nephew - one of his few military successes. Arthur was kept a prisoner at Rouen, where he died, in mysterious circumstances, in 1203. A Welsh chronicle gives a probable version of what may have happened:

"After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison for some time, at length, in the castle of Rouen, after dinner on the Thursday before Easter, when he was drunk and possessed by the devil, he killed him with his own hand, and tying a heavy stone to the body cast it into the Seine."

This murder of his nephew would be remembered as John's greatest crime. Its effect was to turn almost all the French nobles against him, leading to massive insurrections. The result was that, in 1203-4, King Philip was able to capture Normandy.

Quarrel with the Church

In 1207, John made an enemy of the Church, by refusing to accept the Pope's choice of a new Archbishop of Canterbury. The Pope reacted by placing the whole of England under an "Interdict" - in effect closing all the churches. From 1208-14, no church services were held in the country. Priests were unable to say the mass, whose regular performance was believed to protect everyone from the devil. The dead, forbidden burial in consecrated ground, were buried in woods and ditches. John eventually backed down, but this time would not be easily forgotten. The quarrel with the Church damaged John's later reputation, for it was monks who would write the history of his reign.

Disaster at Bouvines

John was desperate to recover his lost lands in France, mounting new campaigns in 1206 and in 1214. The second campaign ended in a disastrous defeat at Bouvines, on July 27, 1214, John returned to England with his prestige as a military leader finally destroyed. He would now have to face his angry barons, many of whom had also lost lands in France. John had failed in his central duty as a king, which was to defend the lands of his subjects.