How will these resources help you?

The chronicler Matthew Paris, writing in the 1230s, said: ‘England reeks with John’s filthy deeds; the foulness of Hell is defiled by John.’ But can this interpretation of the reign be considered fair? While Richard I is a glamorous figure who is easy to characterise, John is more opaque. In his biography of John, F. L. Warren says: ‘the historian, for most of the time, follows John at a distance, unable, quite, to catch up with him.’ Superficially, it is easy to cast John purely as a villain. However, more recent publications have suggested there is a lot more substance to him, both as a person and as king, making it possible to develop a better understanding of his reign.  These resources offer a more rounded picture, providing you with the evidence to support a more nuanced interpretation. It is clear that John was an energetic administrator, but also that he was an unsuccessful ruler. These resources offer lots of evidence that will enable your students to investigate John themselves. The central picture that emerges is that John was often quite a proactive king but had a tendency to throw away his advantages. Blame for this tends to settle on the flaws in John’s personality.