John of Capistrano, Saint 409Shortly afterward, after his first childless marriage
had been annulled, John married Isabella (d. 1246),
daughter of Adhémar or Aymer, count of Angoulême. His
position in France was still tenuous. Arthur remained a
focus of rebellion in Anjou and Poitou. In 1201, in the
course of a renewed dispute with John, an important fam-
ily of the LUSIGNANSappealed against him to the court of
King Philip II Augustus. John could not appear, so his
French fiefs were declared forfeit. Philip set out for
Normandy with an army to enforce the sentence. John
captured Arthur, who was perhaps blinded and then
murdered, possibly by John himself, in April 1203. He
could not stop King Philip’s advance into Normandy. By
July 1204 Normandy, essentially united to England since
1066, was controlled by the king of France.
In July John lost one of his best advisers with the
death of Hubert Walter (d. 1205), the archbishop of
CANTERBURY. The monks of Canterbury chose their sub-
prior, then the king’s nominee, as the new archbishop.
INNOCENTIII rejected both and arranged the election of
the learned Cardinal Stephen LANGTON. John declared
that his customary rights had been infringed, refused to
admit Langton, and seized the property of the monks.
The pope promptly laid the INTERDICTon England from
March 24, 1208. In November 1209 John was declared
excommunicate but not deposed. He responded by seiz-
ing more property of the clergy and by not confirming
other ecclesiastical appointments. Neither the interdict
nor the EXCOMMUNICATIONseriously disrupted the gov-
ernment of England, but heavy taxes and the capricious
treatment of a few barons and their families fostered in
1212 a conspiracy against John just as the king of
France was preparing an invasion. By a cunning bit of
negotiation he turned his papal opponent into his pro-
tector. In May 1213, having agreed to accept Langton,
he gave over England and IRELAND to the Roman
Church, only to receive them back as fiefs on payment
of an annual tribute.
ALLIANCE WITH THE PAPACYJohn now prepared an attack on Philip. In 1214, with the
emperor Otto IV (d. 1218) of Brunswick and Philip’s ene-
mies in the Low Countries, he led an army into France.
Philip won a decisive victory over Otto and John’s other
allies at BOUVINESon July 27, 1214, that destroyed hope
of recovering Anjou and Normandy and harmed his pres-
tige at home. In January 1215 John received demands for
reform. Pope INNOCENTIII’s heavy-handed attempts at
peacemaking only made things worse.
In April 1215 John heard that a large group of barons
had met at Brackley and renounced their fealty to him.
On May 17 they were admitted to LONDON. Outmaneu-
vered, John was forced to restore lands and castles to his
opponents. He made promises of new reforms and of the
observance of old customs in a comprehensive charter,
the MAGNACARTA, dated June 15, 1215, at Runnymede.
MAGNA CARTA AND DEATH
These promises were not new and were the result of
negotiations. No medieval king could submit to such
coercion. John claimed that his oath had been extracted
by force and fear. On these grounds the pope immediately
annulled it. Civil war broke out later in the summer. The
rebels adopted the idea of substitution of another king.
Louis VIII (r. 1223–26), was invited to claim the throne.
Louis arrived in England in May 1216 with some success,
but John recovered with the help of loyal barons and for-
eign mercenaries. His sudden death from dysentery, over-
work, and excessive eating and drinking at Newark on
October 19, 1216, robbed him of victory. He was buried
at his own request beside Saint WULFSTANin Worcester
Cathedral. His death made reconciliation of the rebels
easier. Within a year Louis had retired from England, and
the country settled down to the long minority of John’s
young son, King HENRYIII.
See alsoWILLIAM THEMARSHAL.
Further reading: S. D. Church, The Household
Knights of King John(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1999); James Clarke Holt, The Northerners: A Study
in the Reign of King John(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961);
Ralph V. Turner, King John(New York: Longman, 1994);
W. L. Warren, King John(Berkeley: University of Califor-
nia Press, 1978); W. L. Warren, King John(London: Eyre
and Spottiswoode, 1961).John of Capistrano, Saint(Giovanni Capistrano,
Capestrano)(1386–1456) Italian Franciscan reformer,
preacher
Born at Capistrano near L’Aquila in central ITA LYon June
24, 1386, John studied law at Perugia and became a judge
there in 1413–14. In 1415, he became an Observant
FRANCISCAN. In 1426 he helped successfully to defend his
fellow friar, BERNARDINOof Siena, against accusations of
idolatry and HERESY. In 1443 he became vicar general of
the Italian observant Franciscans and in 1446 he was in
charge of the order’s separation into the Conventual and
Observant Franciscans. He acted as inquisitor against dis-
sident Franciscan elements, the FRATICELLI, in 1426–27
and in 1449, and against later supposed adherents of the
heresy of the FREESPIRITin 1437. From 1436 he pro-
moted reform of the lay third order of the Franciscans
and of the Franciscan female Order of Poor Clares, or
Clarisses. In 1445 he wrote a new commentary on the
rule for Franciscan nuns.
A political mission to Burgundy and Flanders in
1442 and 1443 provided him with the opportunity to
spread the reformed observance in the north of Europe.
He carried these ideas in 1451–53 to AUSTRIA,GERMANY,
and POLAND. He had been sent by Pope PIUSII to work
against the spread of doctrines linked with John HUS.As
itinerant preacher in various regions of Italy, he was
intensely active in promoting the CRUSADEand domestic