Stephen Church

No English king has suffered a worse press than King John: By his death in 1216, he had lost almost all that he inherited, and had come perilously close to losing his English kingdom, too. Stephen Church tells John’s story – from boyhood and the succession crises of his early adulthood, to accession, rebellion and civil war. In doing so, he reveals exactly why John’s reign went so disastrously wrong and how John’s failure led to the cornerstone of Britain’s constitution: Magna Carta. Vivid and authoritative, this is history at its visceral best from one of our foremost medievalists.