Lesson video

Hello, and welcome.

My name is Mr. Madeley, and this is lesson two of six in the inquiry, why did kings struggle to rule England? This lesson follows on from the first lesson about King John, and we're going to be looking at the First Barons' War and a really important document called Magna Carta signed in 1215.

Today, you're going to need pencil or pen, some paper, and you're going to need to find a nice quiet spot so you can really think hard about what we're going to be looking at in today's lesson.

So if you need to go and find that space or go and collect your pen, pencil, or paper, then I suggest you pause this video right now.

Excellent.

Now, to crack on with today's lesson.

I hope you've got the title down by now.

If you haven't, I'm going to give you a few seconds more in order to get it done.

Well done.

So let's crack on with the lesson.

Today's lesson is going to start off with a recap from the previous one.

I really hope that you haven't just jumped straight to this one to find out what happened without doing the earlier work.

It's like reading a book and reading the last page to see what happened at the end before you've actually read the rest of it.

You need to go on the journey first.

So once we've done the recap, we're going to look at the timeline that I've done, and that just summarises John's reign.

Then we have the main event, Magna Carta, 1215.

And the aftermath, the First Barons' War and its consequences.

So I'm going to quickly disappear.

I'm going to go do the recap.

It's a simple true or false.

So true or false.

I'm going to read out the statements, and then I would like you to pause the video, write them down, write a T or an F for true or false, and correct the ones you think that are false.

So statement A, King John was ruler of the Angevin Empire.

B, John kept all parts of the Angevin Empire together for his whole reign.

C, John made sure that the people of England paid only a small amount of tax.

D, John and the Pope argued over who should be the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

And E, John was ordered to hand England over to the Pope.

So pause the video now for about minute or two, just write those sentences down.

Say whether they're T for true, F for false, and make any alterations.

So pause video now.

Brilliant.

Well done.

I'm sure you're going to get five out of five.

And then you look at this and go, oh, that was really easy.

So here are our answers.

A was true.

He was the ruler of the Angevin Empire.

B was not.

It was false.

He lost most of the Angevin Empire in France, including Normandy.

Remember that Normandy had been part of England since 1066 when the Duke of Normandy had captured England and become its king.

C was also false.

John did not make sure that the people paid only a small amount of tax.

He did the opposite.

He taxed them heavily and made them poorer.

D was true, the Pope and John did argue over the Archbishop of Canterbury.

And remember, that led to John getting excommunicated.

And E, John was not ordered, so wasn't ordered to hand over England.

So it's false.

John willingly handed England over to the Pope in order to make peace with him.

So really well done.

I'm sure you got five out of five with that.

So let's have a look at the timeline just to summarise John's reign.

So here it is.

And I'm going to appear back on your screen, so I'm sorry for that.

We have 1199, John becomes king of England.

And he replaces the person we briefly looked at last lesson, Richard, his older brother.

In 1204, that really important event, John lost Normandy.

So this is where his lands in France, the lands of the Angevin Empire start to tumble and John loses control of them.

1209, things are getting worse for John.

He shows that he's struggling to rule England because he gets excommunicated by the Pope.

That's the argument over the Archbishop of Canterbury.

To show the extent of John's struggle to rule England, two of his barons in 1212 plot, so that's when they worked together in secret, they plot to kill him and replace him as king of England.

If a king didn't struggle to rule their country, then there'll be no need to get rid of them.

Then the big, the important, the vital day is 1215.

Magna Carta, something that is vital today as it was back then.

So Magna Carta and the First Barons' War.

Then we finish with, unfortunately, John's death and the consequences of the First Barons' War, which will then set us up beautifully for the second lesson in this, or third lesson in this, which is going to be on John's son, Henry III.

So here we go.

Why did the barons dislike John? What I'd like you to do is just pause the video for a couple of minutes and just bullet point down why you think John was disliked by his barons.

So pause the video now.

I bet you've worked really, really hard on those answers.

It's good to recap on what we looked at the previous lesson.

If you didn't do that, it doesn't matter.

Think about what you did on the true or false and what I said on the timeline to use as the answers.

Again, you may not have all of these, you may have more, but well done on trying.

So this is what I have said.

John used cruel punishments.

He didn't make his barons love him, so he used debt.

Debt is when you owe money to somebody.

John used debt to force the loyalty of the barons.

And if you couldn't pay that debt, then he used cruel punishments to make sure that you did.

He had heavy fines, such as scutage, and that upset the barons.

John ruled without them.

He often used others, like foreign leaders, who he brought in from France.

They weren't English.

They didn't know how England was run.

And all they were interested in was getting themselves rich.

So the barons in England didn't like those people.

Obviously he lost the barons' land in France.

Remember that date, 1204, when John lost Normandy.

It comes back to him again, all that money, all that land the barons have lost mean that they really don't like him.

And with John in England, he starts to sell justice.

Now, that means that it doesn't matter if you're innocent or guilty, if you bribe John, so if you give him a gift or money, then he will agree with what you want.

So you might be guilty of a crime, but if you gave John money or horses, then John would say that you were innocent.

And that isn't the right way to rule a country.

So I'm going to get disappear, and then we're going to keep going on.

So Magna Carta.

Pause the video in a moment to write down what you think Magna Carta is.

You may have heard about Magna Carta before.

If you haven't, don't worry.

So pause the video for about 30 seconds and just write down what you think Magna Carta was.

Well done.

I'm sure you really racked your mind, put your thinking caps on in order to work out what you think Magna Carta is.

If you got it wrong, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter about making mistakes 'cause we can always correct them.

So this is what Magna Carta did.

Magna Carta meant that John could not choose who he wanted to fill jobs in the Church.

So remember that argument he had over the Archbishop of Canterbury with the Pope? Problem solved.

Magna Carta stopped John picking people for the Church so that he could not argue with the Pope anymore.

The Church became independent.

Trial had to be used to give justice.

So John couldn't sell justice anymore.

So another problem solved for the barons.

John had to rule with a counsel of 25 barons now.

This meant he can no longer rule alone or rule with his foreign favourites.

They had to have English barons in order to rule England.

So again, it's a step towards getting rid of what upset the barons.

If you think about scutage, the barons hated it.

So they stopped John from setting tax.

They now had to give John permission to write or raise taxes.

And John could no longer arrest somebody without a fair reason.

All of these, if you think back to what we've just previously done, are all reasons why the barons disliked John.

They're all reasons why John was struggling to rule England.

And Magna Carta in theory would have solved them.

Unfortunately, it has a massive impact on the power John has.

So what was the effect of Magna Carta, and how did it limit John's power? On this slide, I've given you the image of the feudal system.

You may have learned about the feudal system on previous topics and inquiries, particularly about the change between Anglo Saxon and Norman England.

So at the top, the most powerful person, the man that owned all of England was the king.

The king got their power from the amount of land and wealth that they had.

They divided and gave up some of their land to the barons.

In return, the barons would swear loyalty to the king and they would provide him with knights and soldiers for the army.

The barons had to do what the king told them to do.

If they didn't, then the king could forfeit, take off their land.

And that would mean the barons would become poorer.

So as a baron, if you wanted to keep your land, or you wanted to have more, you always did what the king wanted you to do.

You were obeyed them.

You were loyal to them.

Beneath the barons you have the knights.

The knights served the barons, and they were then given to the king to fight in his army.

The knights were given land as a reward for this duty by the barons.

And at the bottom you had the peasants who did all the hard work, really.

And they were protected by the knights, and they farmed, and they provided food for everybody above them.

Now, if we think about the feudal structure, what we now have is Magna Carta has changed it.

John, as king, has lost his authority.

He now has to rule with the barons' permission and support.

So in effect, the king and the barons are now on a same level.

The barons, and as we're going to see later on in future lessons, if there's a powerful baron, they can threaten the king directly now.

If the king took land off them, all they need to do is just rise up.

If they get enough support, then they can challenge the power of the king directly.

Magna Carta gives the barons a real say in how to run the country.

So the feudal system has started to break down.

So the king now, instead of relying on the amount of land that he owns and giving land as a reward and taking off land as a punishment, the king now has to rule with the support of the barons.

So the king, in this case, John, has lost his authority, his power.

And this now means, as we will look at in future lessons, the power of the king is going to be challenged on a number of occasions.

So Magna Carta allows a king, a good king, to rule with their barons.

And the barons will usually support them.

If they believe in them, if they trust them, the barons will support the king.

But if the barons don't trust the king, then Magna Carta means that the king will struggle to rule England because the barons will stop them from effectively ruling.

So what do you think John did once he signed Magna Carta? Now, I just want to point out some things on the image I've given you on this slide.

John is the one sat down.

He's signing Magna Carta.

Now, if you look, the people standing around, on the left, you have the barons in their armour carrying their swords and their shields.

On the right, you have the Church.

If you were John, what would you do when signing Magna Carta? What do you think he would do? So I want you to pause the video and to have 30 seconds just thinking what he did.

Well done, I'm sure you've worked really hard and put that thinking cap back on in order to come up with some answers.

Doesn't matter if you didn't get the right ones.

But this is what John did.

John asked the Pope to help him.

Remember, John has given England to the Pope.

So John here is in essence running to the Pope and going, "Please, please, please.

These horrible, horrible barons have made me sign this and it's limiting my power.

It's making me struggle to rule England." So now the Pope has to decide whether to support John or support the barons.

He began to build up his army and supplies.

Remember I told you about the barons in their armour with their shields.

It shows they are ready to fight.

In the background of the picture you have tents where the baron soldiers were camped.

So John knew that if the Pope supported him, he would be going to war against the barons, and he wanted to win it quickly.

So with Magna Carta being signed, John was already thinking about what he would do in the future.

And this is what he does.

He sparks the First Barons' War.

Notice that it's the first.

In the next couple of lessons after this, we're going to look at the Second Barons' War in which his son will face similar problems to John.

And this is the problems that sparked the First Barons' War.

John refused to follow Magna Carta.

He had no intention of following it.

So he kept his foreign soldiers, who were only loyal to him because he paid their wages, in England, ready to fight.

By going to the Pope, John was able to get the Pope to say that Magna Carta was illegal.

So just think, when John challenged and had an argument with the Pope, he got excommunicated, the worst possible punishment to a Christian person.

They were cut off from the Church.

Now, if anyone tried to make John follow Magna Carta, they were going against the Pope as well.

So they would be excommunicated.

Are the barons going to risk everything by going against the Pope and John and risk their soul to hell? Well, I think we all know the answer, because it's the First Barons' War.

They are.

They've been pushed so far and they cannot take any more, so they are going to go to war.

If John will not sign Magna Carta and follow it, then they will turn to force as their only option left.

But war might not've been such a good idea for the barons.

So if we look, this is the two sides.

The barons are now rebels.

That means they are fighting against the rightful ruler.

They are rebelling.

They're going against the king.

Now at the beginning of this First Baron's War, you've got to see John's in a really good position.

He's an experienced fighter.

He may have been called Soft Sword, but actually he's still got lots of experience fighting.

He's got money to fight.

He's paying these foreign soldiers to fight for him.

He's got plenty of castles and weapons stored.

He's ready for the war and he's got the Pope supporting him.

By contrast, the rebels, because they paid scutage, they haven't gone and travelled to Europe and to France to fight with John, so they are inexperienced.

Because of the taxes, they have little money, they have few castles, so it's easier to go and catch them and take the land off them.

But the rebels held two important trump cards.

They held London, the most important and richest city in England.

They also could appeal and ask the king of France to help them against John, and the king of France was always willing to do anything to reduce the power of the king of England.

It was the king of France who had captured Normandy in 1204.

So this might be a price well worth helping the rebels for.

So let's have a quick look.

Was John going to be able to rule England correctly, defeat the rebels, and then ensure that the last part of his reign was good? Well, it all started off quite well.

As you can see on the map, John started on the South Coast near Dover, and within a few months, he had marched all the way up to Scotland, capturing rebel castles, causing the barons that were against him to run away or to surrender to him.

So by early 1216, there was really only London holding out against John.

He was on the cusp, on the edge of victory.

If he could only capture London, then he could wait for any potential invasion of England.

Well, he couldn't capture London, so things changed.

By mid 1216, the king of France had heard and received the plea, the begging of help by the rebels.

So the king of France sent his son, Prince Louis, over to England with an army to go and become the new King of England.

Louie landed.

John didn't try to stop him landing with his army.

And soon, the entire South of England was in the control of Louis and the rebels.

Louis even went and marched into London, opened up the gates, and people welcomed him with cheering.

Seeing that Louis was so successful in the South, the king of Scotland decided to invade the North.

So now if you're looking at how John is struggling to rule England, he has so far lost the Angevin lands in France mostly, he's now lost the South of England to the French, he's lost the North of England to the rebels and to the king of Scotland.

So it's only the middle of England really that he actually controls.

He is struggling to rule England.

In fact, he's basically almost lost England.

He's almost lost the Crown.

Therefore you can say he's struggling to rule England.

And things look dire.

They look really, really bad for John.

And unfortunately, the bad news for John, but the good news for England, is that he dies By dying, the reason for the barons' rising up, rebelling against, him ends.

So John leaves a nine-year-old son.

He leaves a council to rule with his son.

That council very quickly reissues Magna Carta, and the nine-year-old king, Henry, John's son, agrees to rule within Magna Carta.

So the rebels no longer have a reason to fight against the king.

However, if we look at John's reign, John struggled to rule England.

He started with a strong, rich, powerful country that was stronger than France.

He left it in a weak position.

The French controlled the South, the Scots controlled the North.

He had rebel barons controlling parts of the North and East Anglia.

The power of the monarchy was really, really reduced.

So John struggled to rule England, and he left it in a weak and vulnerable position.

So what we're going to do now, is we're going to look at doing a little bit of recap.

So all we need you to do is look at the options.

You can either point or you can shout out or you can write down which option the answers are.

There could be one answer.

There could be more than one answer.

So I'm going to ask you to pause the video to answer how did Magna Carta limit John's power? So pause the video now.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Did you pick the right answers? Only one of these was wrong.

So Magna Carta limited John's power, as he had to rule with a council of 25 barons.

It limited his power on justice, so he could no longer sell it.

And it limited his power on taxes.

He had to have the barons' agreement.

What about this one? Which shows why John struggled to rule England? Again, there might be more than one answer.

So pause the video to write down or shout out or point at your answer.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Did you get it right? I'm sure you did.

Well done.

John struggled to rule England because he fought against his own barons.

He had the First Barons' War.

He argued with the Pope and got excommunicated.

He was unsuccessful in defending his lands, French lands in the Angevin Empire.

Normandy was lost.

The South of England was lost to the French.

The North of England was lost to the Scots.

All of this shows John's struggle to rule England.

So he upset his barons, the Church, and war, three really important reasons.

Now, our glossary.

As always, it's really important that you know these terms. So, rebel, someone who fights against the ruler.

Debt.

If you borrow money, then you are in debt.

You owe money to somebody and you have to repay it.

Sell justice.

Someone who takes money to rule a certain way.

So John sold justice, he took bribes.

Foreigners.

People who come to someone else's country.

So John used foreigners to help him rule England.

He brought people from France who were really just interested in agreeing with John and telling him what an amazing, brilliant job he was doing, despite the fact he was upsetting people, because he was going to make them rich.

And a council.

A group of people who work together to make decisions.

So that's what a council is.

So a council of 25 barons means that John, with 25 barons, formed a council, and then they would work together to make decisions on how to rule England.

So now we're on to our comprehension questions.

What made the barons dislike John? What was the result of the Plot of 1212? How did Magna Carta reduce John's power? What's caused the First Barons' War? Now, I think you're going to smash those questions.

You're going to be excellent at them.

So I've set you a slightly more challenging, a slightly more difficult question here, but I know that you are definitely going to do this and you're going to be really, really good at it.

So question five.

Why did the barons want Louis to be King of England? Remember, Louis is Prince of France.

So I've given you a starter sentence.

The barons wanted Louis to be King of England because.

Now, you are going to work tremendously hard.

And I know you will have done excellent answers.

So to help you with our inquiry, remember our inquiry, that this is the second of six lessons for, is why did John struggle to rule England? And that is based on the inquiry question, why did kings struggle to rule England? So you are using a specific example now to answer that broad inquiry question.

I'd like you to pause the video, read the worksheet slides on the laptop or phone or whatever device you are using.

If you've printed it out, brilliant, but you don't need to.

And answer the comprehension questions.

Once you're finished, you need to resume this video.

So all the best.

I know you're going to be absolutely brilliant.

So pause the video now.

Really, really well done.

I am sure that you produced some fantastic work that your parents and that would love to see.

You will have worked exceptionally hard.

So let's have a look at some answers.

So question one, what made the barons dislike John? An acceptable answer is just picking out the important bits, selling justice, losing land, and high taxes.

A good answer, and remember, this is what we are always going for, is going to use keywords from the question, and it's going to be full sentences.

So this is what we have here.

There are a number of reasons.

So by using a number of reasons, I'm showing that there's more than one.

I'm not just going to write down one answer.

It shows that I've learned and I know that there's more than one.

Why the barons disliked John.

So I'm using keywords from the question.

One reason I could use, the first reason, was due to the fact that he charged them high taxes and fines.

So I've added a little bit of detail.

And this made them poorer, especially, so I'm developing, I'm improving my answer, after they had lost their lands in France.

John also was not a fair judge and would sell justice, so they could not rely on him to rule properly.

So I'm giving another reason.

John even ruled without their help and support and used foreigners who knew nothing of England to help him rule, this upset the barons.

So I've given three reasons there, but I've added a little bit of detail for each one.

This gives a more detailed answer.

If you haven't got everything down like that, then it doesn't matter.

I'm sure you worked really, really hard on it.

So well done, and keep it up.

Two, what was the result of the Plot of 1212? An acceptable, simple answer would be a plan to kill King John.

A good answer's going to add a little bit more detail.

So it's not a plan by all the barons, but two barons decided to replace John as King of England.

They planned to either murder him whilst he attacked Wales, or leave him alone so the Welsh would kill him.

Simple and straightforward.

Having Magna Carta reduced John's power, for three.

Again, an acceptable answer would be it made him rule with the barons.

There were other answers that you may have chosen.

A good answer is going to develop this.

John lost many of the powers that a King of England used to have.

He now had to rule with a council of barons.

An improved answer might be a council of 25 barons, and well done if you did that.

This meant that he could not make decisions alone.

To add to this, John now had to ask the barons' permission to set new taxes.

So all of this is working on the idea of a council of barons.

This meant that, so I'm showing a bit of explanation here, that John's chances to raise money for war or any other matter was now limited.

John also lost the right for the king to choose churchmen.

This was a traditional right, but now the Church was independent.

So again, I've given a number of reasons within that paragraph using a full sentence, using this meant that to help develop and improve my answer.

What caused the First Barons' War for question four.

An acceptable, John failing to follow Magna Carta.

But a good answer would be the cause of the First Barons' War was mainly due to John's desire not to follow Magna Carta.

John got the Pope to make Magna Carta illegal so he had an excuse not to follow it.

So I'm developing my answer.

I'm giving some background to it.

John also kept his foreign soldiers in England and began preparing for war.

The result of this was that the barons were forced to start the war because they could no longer trust John to rule properly, so he needed to be replaced.

So John forced the barons into the First Barons' War.

So I'm sure you've done really, really well on those questions.

How did you get on with the challenge one? I bet you smashed it.

Why did the barons want Louis to be King of England? An acceptable answer would be, John could not be trusted to rule England properly and with Magna Carta.

The good answer, and again, notice I'm using keywords from the question here.

The barons wanted Prince Louis to be King of England because he offered them the only real chance at defeating John.

So think back, we looked at the beginning of 1216, the barons, the rebels, were on the verge of defeat.

John had almost won.

So Louis offered them the only chance to defeat him.

And the only thing they could offer Louis was the Crown of England.

Defeat John, help us out, become King of England.

Prince Louis and France could offer men, soldiers, and money, which the rebel barons did not have.

If Louis were to become king, now remember, he would become King of England, and in time, King of France.

That would mean he would spend most of his time in France.

So the barons would once again control England.

In effect, Prince Louis, when he became King of France, would spend most of his time looking after France.

So the barons, as long as they remain loyal, would be left alone in England, which is basically how they lived since 1066.

Now, we're going to have a look at the extension question.

Why did John struggle to rule England? Remember, this extension question gives you an example to answer our inquiry question.

I've given you some starter sentences.

John struggled to rule England for a number of reasons, such as.

Think back to the three reasons we looked at on the multiple choice to help you with this.

If you need to rewind the video, then do so.

This can be shown by.

That allows you to introduce evidence and add more data.

You may not wish to use it, but it's there to help.

This meant that to help explain your evidence of why you've used it, you might wish to use because.

And then a important thing for history is that we sum up our paragraphs.

So we show a line of arguments.

And one way to do that is to have a concluding sentence.

And I've given you an example.

Therefore, this shows that John struggled to rule England, because.

So if you see, the first sentence and the last sentence both contain keywords from the question.

And that way, you're always going to make sure that your paragraph answers it.

One other thing.

I said a number of reasons.

So an excellent answer would have three paragraphs.

a truly monumentally brilliant answer might have an introduction, and it would have a conclusion as well.

So you'd be writing an extended essay.

I've given you some keywords that you may wish to use.

But to help you, I've done a similar thing to what we did last lesson.

I hope you had a go at it, because it all builds up and helps you out.

Here we go.

Three reasons why John struggled to rule England.

And I've given you some examples.

War.

John was being defeated by Prince Louis.

Remember, what was John's nickname? Begins with S.

Oh, I'm sure you've got it all now.

You're shouting at the screen.

Oh yeah, that was it, Soft Sword.

I'm sure you did that lot quicker than I did.

Must be my old age.

The barons for reason two.

Many barons decided to fight against John.

Well, if he ruled England properly, why would the barons want to fight against him? And finally, the Church.

John argued with the Pope, who was the leader of the Church.

Again, if John's ruling England properly, why did he argue? I'm going to ask you to pause this video in a moment and then write down in those boxes on your sheets of paper any additional evidence that you could think of that support each of those reasons.

So pause the video for a couple of minutes now.

Amazing! I'm sure you've done really well on that, and you've got lots and lots of reasons.

Again, remember, you may not have what I have written down.

You may have more, in which case, brilliant! If you haven't, this gives you a chance now to improve and add those.

So here's what I said.

For war.

Obviously, we've got that he's losing to Prince Louis.

1216, you've got the King of Scotland as well as Louis has invaded England.

And then John lost Normandy.

John struggled to rule England because he was unsuccessful at warfare.

He was a poor soldier, and that ultimately led to his own country being invaded, being attacked by foreign rulers.

The barons for reason two.

We know that some decide to fight against him.

Some barons even went as far as to ask the Prince of France, Prince Louis, to be King of England instead of John.

You might've included that the barons, well, two of them, tried to even kill John in 1212.

If John struggled to rule England, then it was proven by the fact they tried to kill him or replace him as their king.

The barons even forced John to sign Magna Carta.

Again, showing that the barons were willing to risk everything to force John to rule in a better way with their cooperation, their support.

So they forced him to sign Magna Carta.

If John ruled England properly, Magna Carta would never have been created.

The Church is really interesting because initially it shows that John struggled to rule England.

He had the argument with the Pope.

To help get over that argument, John willingly handed over England to the Pope.

That means that John got the Crown of England not because a family member had given him the Crown, but the Pope had chosen him to be king.

So he's given up his rights.

In theory, the Pope could select and choose the next king.

Well, that shows that he struggled to rule because it should be his family, his children that automatically became King of England.

But on the positive side, the Pope, by controlling England, now supported and strengthened John's rule.

So only the Pope could make Magna Carta illegal.

So the Church is really interesting because it both showed how he struggled to rule England, but gave it a bit of strength towards the end of the reign.

So I'm going to ask you to pause the video until you've copied down all those bullet points and added them to your list.

So pause the video now.

Well done.

Final slide, almost.

I'm going to go back to the sentence starters.

I'm going to leave it on that.

I'm going to ask you to pause the video once again whilst you have a go at answering the question.

So here you go.

Pause the video and have a go at answering the question.

You have done amazingly today.

You've done absolutely brilliantly.

You've worked really, really hard.

You've struggled with some really difficult ideas.

And I'll tell you one thing, you will have smashed it.

Sure your extension answers are really, really good.

Now, if you want to, you are more than welcome to share your work with Oak National.

Please remember to ask your parents or carer to share the work for you, and on the rest of the slide, it shows you how to do it.

So pause the video and share it if you wish to.

If not, let's have a go at that end-of-lesson quiz.

And I'm definitely positive you're going to get five out of five.

So, well done today.

You've done exceptionally well.