King John

King John
	The Castle of Loches - one of John's last Norman strongholds

King John was thirty-two when he succeeded his brother, Richard as king. England, Normandy and Aquitaine at once recognized John, but initially Brittany, Anjou, Touraine and Maine supported Arthur of Brittany - the twelve-year-old son of John's elder brother, Geoffrey.
[See family tree].

John added to his list of enemies by abducting and marrying Isabelle of Angoulême in August 1200. Isabelle was already betrothed to Hugh of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, but when he complained, John invaded the Lusignan family's lands.

War soon broke out (1202) between John and Philip of France who as John's and Hugh's feudal overlord pronounced against John in their dispute, declaring John's French lands forfeit, with Normandy to go to Philip and the rest to Arthur.

Arthur with the help of the Lusignan family besieged the aged Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was holding the castle of Mirebeau in Touraine on behalf of John.

John's forces captured Arthur (1202) at Mirebeau and killed him soon afterward. (Arthur's sister, Eleanor was also captured and imprisoned for the rest of her life.)
[John's treatment of Arthur produced immediate revulsion and long-term distrust. It was common for rebellious vassals to give their children as hostages for their future good behavior; after this incident, no lord would willingly give a child into John's tender care.]

	Philip invaded and seized Normandy (1203-4), Anjou, and other territories (1204-5). In 1204 Eleanor of Aquitaine died and many barons there switched allegiance to Philip. The French completed the conquest of Poitou in 1224. 0f Henry II's empire only part of Aquitaine (southern Saintonge and Gascony) and England remained to John.
Eleanor was buried in Fontrevault Abbey, where Richard I's body lay

	The lords of Normandy showed no reluctance to change allegiance and join Philip. Not only was John personally disliked and distrusted, but the Norman aristocracy increasingly regarded itself as having more in common with France than England.
	Norman lords who adhered to Philip risked losing landholdings in England, and English lords who supported John might forfeit their French estates. This severance of ties served to increase the differences in outlook between the two groups.

Poitou

John mounted an expedition to Poitou in 1206. This was partly to gain a base of operations from which he could regain Normandy, and partly because he had many good friends amongst Poitevin soldiers. Poitou finally fell to the French in 1224.

The most powerful of John's Poitevin advisors was actually a cleric - Peter des Roches (ob. 1238). Des Roches had already grown powerful during Richard I's reign, and in 1205 he became Bishop of Winchester. John appointed him justiciar in 1213.