The plain Englishman's historian, or, A compendious chronicle of England from its first being inhabited to this present year 1679 but more especially containing the chief remarques of all our Kings and Queens since the conquest, their lives and reigns, policies, wars, laws, successes, and troubles : with the most notable accidents, as dearths, tempests, monstrous births, and other prodigies that happened in each of their times respectively / by H.C.

CHAP. VIII. The Reign of King John.

JOhn Brother of Richard, on Ascension-day 1199. took upon him the Crown; but Arthur the Son of his elder Brother Geofry Plantaginet, though absent in the Pro∣vince of Anjou, yet seeming to have a fairer Title, by the Aid of the King of France gave him much Trouble, till after several Tra∣verses of War he took the said Prince Ar∣thur Prisoner, who soon after died, whe∣ther drowned in the River Sein, attempt∣ing to make his Escape, as some relate, or made away as others suggest, is uncer∣tain.

After this, Discord arises between the King and several great Lords of the Land, on Pretence of Grievances, and to have the two famous Charters commonly called Magna Charta & Charta de Foresta confirmed and observed, about which the Feuds grew to that height, that the Barons sent to Phil∣lip

King of France, requiring him to send over his Son Lewis to their Aid, promising they would submit themselves to be go∣verned by him as their Sovereign; hereup∣on Lewis lands at Sandwich, and is receiv∣ed there and at London, and Allegiance sworn to him by many of the Peers and Prelates. So that though there were no great Battel fought between King John and him, yet the Nation was miserably wasted by them, two Armies being a foot at once, each of them seeking to prey upon the other, and both upon the Country.

But before things came to this Extremi∣ty, a quarrel happens between the Pope, who had nominated Stephen Langton for Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, and King John who opposed him. The Pope hereupon threatned to excommunicate the King and Interdict the Kingdom, which at last he did, and the Realm remained under that Curse above six Years, during which time there was no publick Exercise of Religion, no Church open, no Sacraments admini∣stred, Children went unbaptized, all that died were buried like Dogs in Ditches and Corners, but only such as had purchased or procured Licence from the Pope.

But at last finding the Pope too hard for him, and the French King ready to invade him, King John is forced to submit, and taking off the Crown from his head laid it at the Feet of Pandulphus the Popes Legate, who took it up and kept it three or four days before he restor'd it, all which time it might be truly said the Kingdom was without a King, as one Peter an Hermit had given out, that before such a day there should be no King in England; which though in some sort true during all that time, yet it being in some sort not true, and the King having a Prerogative of making his own Interpretation it cost both the poor Hermit and his Son their Lives for his Prophecy.

Some time after, the King coming to Walpool in Norfolke (during the War be∣tween him and Prince Lewis) and there losing all his Carriages, and a multitude of his men drowned in attempting to pass over, Anguish of mind cast him into a Fe∣ver, whereof 'tis said he died, though o∣thers confidently relate, that he was poi∣son'd by a Monk of Swinesheads Abbey, who put the Poison of a Toad into a Cup of Wine, and to avoid Suspition drank first thereof himself, whereof they both imme∣diately dyed the nineteenth of October 12 16,

King John being aged fifty one Years, and having Reigned seventeen Years and six Months.

He is noted to be somewhat Irreligiously disposed, for soon after he had made his Peace with the Pope, his Forces receiving a great overthrow in France, he said in a Rage, that nothing had prospered with him since the time he was reconcil'd to God and the Pope. Another time at the opening a fat Buck, see sayes he, how this Deer hath pro∣spered, and how fat he is, and yet I dare swear he never heard Mass. He squeez'd all sorts of his Subjects with severe Taxations, and invented strange Ways to get Money. A∣bout his time a Quarter of Wheat was usu∣ally sold for twelve Pence, and a Quarter of Beans or Oats for a Groat, nor is the Price of Silver less altered, for then an Ounce was valued but twenty Pence, whereas now 'tis five Shillings, which seems a Riddle, for seeing Scarcity makes things dear, why should not Plenty make them cheaper, it being certain we have much more Silver now than then?

In his dayes the Government of London by a Mayor and two Sherifs was first grant∣ed, or at least not till then fully settled. A fist was taken in Suffolk exactly in shape

of a man, and kept six months on Land with raw Flesh and Fish, but then because they could not make it speak, they flung it into the Sea again. In Yorkshire there were seen five Moons at once, one in the East, ano∣ther in the West, a third in the North, a fourth in the South, and a fifth in the midst of the Element; and Hailstones are recorded to have fallen as big as Goose-Eggs.