June 15

Following as he did Richard the Lionheart as King of England, King John had a very hard act to follow. That is a bit like any band having to follow Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. On the 15th in 1215, however, King John gave it a shot. That is the day he placed his seal on the Magna Carta. For the first time, an English monarch had at least some limitations placed on his power. It doesn’t matter, as far as King John’s reputation is concerned, that virtually all of the provisions in the document have been since been repealed. He Q rating at the time had to be pretty high. What also, in all likelihood, had a bit of a drag on King John’s career path was that returning from some place or other he lost all of the crown jewels that he had been foolish enough to bring with him. He lost them when the party carrying them misjudged an incoming tide as they passed through The Wash in East Anglia and the entire collection was lost. Combine that with King John contracting dysentery at the same time, from which he would quickly die, and it would be safe to say that he wasn’t having a particularly good time.