King John

Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta

By: Marc Morris

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

King John is familiar to everyone as the villain from the tales of Robin Hood - greedy, cowardly, despicable, and cruel. But who was the man behind the legend? Was he a monster or a capable ruler cursed by bad luck? In this new book, best-selling historian Marc Morris draws on contemporary chronicles and the king's own letters to bring the real King John vividly to life. John was dynamic, inventive, and relentless but also a figure with terrible flaws. In two interwoven stories, we see how he went from being a youngest son with limited prospects to the ruler of the greatest dominion in Europe, an empire that stretched from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees. His rise to power involved treachery, rebellion, and murder. His reign saw oppression on an almost unprecedented scale: former friends hounded into exile and oblivion; Wales, Scotland, and Ireland invaded; and the greatest level of financial exploitation since the Norman Conquest. John's tyrannical rule climaxed in conspiracy and revolt, and his leading subjects famously forced him to issue Magna Carta, a document binding him and his successors to behave better in future.

©2015 Marc Morris (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The result is a traditional politics-and-war biography: a relentless succession of intrigues, quarrels, battles, sieges, negotiations, truces, and betrayals illuminated by lucid writing." ( Kirkus)

Not The King John from Robin Hood

Let’s face it, John was a bad, bad king and you’ll certainly believe if after listening to this one.

Very good indeed.

Informative, not entertaining

I started this thinking that it was an historical fiction (like war of the roses), but it’s really a narrative of the life of King John and lays out the background to the creation of the Magna Carta. It was interesting enough to complete the book, but just barely. The performance was good, but the reader speaks in a bit of a halting pattern which grated on my nerves at times.

Outstanding narration makes it compelling

Well researched nonfiction and historical import are often read dryly. Lister’s narration of this thorough and fair assessment of a difficult king and his reign presents a solid and mostly lively presentation of all the issues.

Loved it

First of all, the narrator was superb. There was so much information and with it being read to me I enjoyed it immensely.

A solid account.

This book lets John off the hook for his extreme and well documented cruelty, pettiness and mismanagement, but is otherwise a great blow by blow of his life and reign. Well worth the listen.