King John

King John
By Marc Morris
Published in October 2016
400 Pages
Thibault’s Score: 3/5

King John is a solid biography of England’s worst king.

The writing style was clear, the pacing was good, and I never got lost. This book was neither overly vague and simple; nor academic and pedantic. I always appreciate well written history books.

I recently read Dan Brown’s Magna Carta. If you wanted to learn more about the Magna Carta, I would point you to that book first. This book is about the same topic, and is quite similar. However, there is a major difference. Dan Brown’s book focuses more on the Magna Carta itself and its legal importance. On the other hand, this book focuses on King John’s family, life, reign, and non-Magna Carta consequences. If you want to learn more about the man, then this book is better.

Usually when trying to find information on King John, you only get information about the Magna Carta. This book covered the Magna Carta adequately, but managed to avoid focusing on it. In retrospect, the Magna Carta is clearly the most important consequence of King John’s reign. However, that would only become apparent centuries later. During King John’s own life contemporaries would have instead pointed to his loss of Normandy, inept financial management skills, or numerous military failures.

Like all biographers, Morris has some sympathy for his subject. But this book is not revisionist or apologia for John’s incompetent rule. It is a clear eyed history and analysis of King John’s life and reign.

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