Death of King John

On 19th October 1216 King John of England (age 49) died at Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire [Map]. His son Henry (age 9) succeeded III King of England.

John Monmouth (age 34) was present.

On his deathbed, John appointed a council of thirteen executors to help Henry reclaim the kingdom and requested that his son be placed into the guardianship of William Marshal 1st Earl Pembroke (age 70).

King John's will is the earliest English royal will to survive in its original form. The document is quite small, roughly the size of a postcard and the seals of those who were present at the time would have been attached to it. Translation of the will taken from an article by Professor S.D. Church in the English Historical Review, June 2010:

I, John, by the grace of God king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, count of Anjou, hindered by grave infirmity and not being able at this time of my infirmity to itemize all my things so that I may make a testament, commit the arbitration and administration of my testament to the trust and to the legitimate administration of my faithful men whose names are written below, without whose counsel, even in good health, I would have by no means arranged my testament in their presence, so that what they will faithfully arrange and determine concerning my things as much as in making satisfaction to God and to holy Church for damages and injuries done to them as in sending succour to the land of Jerusalem and in providing support to my sons towards obtaining and defending their inheritance and in making reward to those who have served us faithfully and in making distribution to the poor and to religious houses for the salvation of my soul, be right and sure. I ask, furthermore, that whoever shall give them counsel and assistance in the arranging of my testament shall receive the grace and favour of God. Whoever shall infringe their arrangement and disposition, may he incur the curse and indignation of almighty God and the blessed Mary and all the saints.

In the first place, therefore, I desire that my body be buried in the church of St Mary and St Wulfstan at Worcester. I appoint, moreover, the following arbiters and administrators: the lord Guala, by the grace of God, cardinal-priest of the title of St Martin and legate of the apostolic see; the lord Peter bishop of Winchester; the lord Richard bishop of Chichester; the lord Silvester bishop of Worcester; Brother Aimery de St-Maur; William Marshal earl of Pembroke; Ranulf earl of Chester; William earl Ferrers; William Brewer; Walter de Lacy and John of Monmouth; Savaric de Mauléon; Falkes de Bréauté.

The signatories were:

Guala Bicchieri (ca 1150 - 1227) Papal Legate.

Bishop Peter de Roches, Bishop of Winchester.

Richard le Poer (? - 1237), Bishop of Chichester.

Sylvester of Worcester, Bishop of Worcester.

Aimery de St-Maur (? -?1219), Master of the English Templars.

William Marshal 1st Earl Pembroke.

Ranulf de Blondeville Gernon 6th Earl Chester 1st Earl Lincoln (age 46).

William Ferrers 4th Earl of Derby (age 48).

William Brewer (? - 1226), 1st Baron Brewer.

Walter de Lacy (ca 1172-1241) Lord of Meath.

John: (1182 - 1248) Lord of Monmouth.

Savaric de Mauléon (? - 1236) Seneschal of Poitou from 1205.

Falkes de Bréauté (? - 1226) Seneschal of Cardiff Castle.

Annals of Tewkesbury. King John of England dies at Newark on the day after [16th October 1216] the feast of St. Lucy the Virgin¹. Peter of Worcester is made abbot of Tewkesbury on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Guala, the legate of the lord Pope, arrives in England and excommunicates Louis and all his accomplices. Pope Innocent dies, and Honorius succeeds him. All the barons of King John, except the Earl of Chester and a few barons of the Marches, turn away from him and submit to Louis. The city of Worcester, having used bad counsel, submits to Louis and receives in his name William Marshal the Younger. However, on the day of St. Kenelm, the Earl of Chester, Falkes, and other faithful followers of the king, arriving, burst into the city not faithfully guarded through the castle, captured it, seized the cathedral church, and took Hugh Poitou there, demanding also three hundred marks from the monks.

Johannes rex Angliæ obiit apud Newerk, in crastino Sanctæ Luciæ virginis. Petrus de Wigornia factus est abbas Theokesberiæ ad Nativitatem beatæ Mariæ. Gwala legatus domini Papæ applicuit in Angliam, et excommunicavit Ludovicum et omnes complices suos. Innocentius Papa obiit. Honorius successit. Omnes barones Johannis regis, excepto comite Cestriæ et paucis baronibus Marchiæ, diverterunt ab eo, subdiderunt se Ludovico. Civitas Wigorniæ malo usa consilio, subdidit se Ludovico, et recepit nomine ejus Willelmum Marescallum juniorem; sed die Sancti Kinelmi supervenientibus comite Cestriæ, Falchisio, et aliis fidelibus regis, ipsam per castrum non usquequaquam fideliter observatum irruperunt, et urbem ceperunt, et ecclesiam cathedralem deprendaverunt, et Hugonem Pontium ibidem ceperunt, sed et ccc. marcas a monachis exegerunt.

Note 1. Feast of St. Lucy of Catania's Feast Day is the 15th of October. Other sources describe King John dying on the 19th of October.

Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. The king, learning that the barons had ceased from pursuing him, turned his reins and returned to Lynn, and there he placed Savaric de Mauleon, a Poitevin, in charge, and began to strengthen the town of Lynn¹. But there, as it is said, through excessive gluttony, for his belly was ever insatiable, having gorged himself to the point of surfeit, he was released by indigestion of the stomach into dysentery. Afterwards, when the flux had somewhat abated, he was blood-let at a village in Lindsey which is called Laxton. Then, when messengers came from those shut up in the castle of Dover and explained the cause of their coming, the sickness flared up again from the grief he conceived. Moreover, he was sorely afflicted with great distress because, on that journey, he had lost his chapel with its relics, and some of his sumpter-horses with various furnishings, near Wellstream, and many of his household were drowned in the sea-waters and swallowed up in the quicksands there, because they had rashly and hastily pressed forward before the tide of the sea had receded. But his illness, increasing over a few days, carried him off intestate at Newark Castle on the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist [18th October 1216]. His body, disembowelled, was brought to Worcester and there buried in the church. But his household plundered everything he had with him, and fled from him in headlong flight, leaving nothing with the corpse from which the body could be decently covered; but the castellan of the place, so far as he could, took care of the exenterated and naked body.

Rex, comperto quod barones cessassent ab ejus insecutione, conversis habenis, reversus est ad Len, et præfecto ibidem Savarico de Malo-leone, Pictavino, cœpit firmare Len. Sed ibidem, ut dicitur, ex nimia voracitate qua semper insatiabilis erat venter ejus, ingurgitatus usque ad crapulam, ex ventris indigerie solutus est in dysenteriam. Postea vero cum paululum cessasset fluxus, phlebotomatus est apud villam in Lindessi, quæ dicitur Lacford. Huc ergo cum venissent nuncii inclusorum castri Doveræ, et intimassent causam adventus sui, morbus ex dolore concepto recruduit. Præterea maximus dolor eum angebat, quod capellam suam cum suis reliquiis, et quosdam summarios suos cum varia supellectili, in itinere illo amiserat apud Wellestrem, et multi de familia ejus submersi sunt in aquis marinis, et in vivo sabulone ibidem absorpti, quia incaute et præcipitanter se ingesserant, æstu maris nondum recedente. Ægritudo autem ejus per dies paucos invalescens, apud castellum de Neuwerc intestatus decessit, in festo Sancti Lucæ evangelistæ, cujus corpus exenteratum delatum est Wigorniam, ibique in ecclesia sepultum. Familia autem ejus, omnia quæ secum habuerat, diripuerunt, et concito cursu ab eo diffugerunt, nihil cum corpore relinquentes unde cadaver honeste operiri posset; sed castellanus ejusdem, in quantum potuit, de corpore exenterato et nudo procuravit.

Note 1. On Sunday, 9th October 1216, the king arrived at King's Lynn from Spalding, and remained until the following Wednesday, when, having passed through Wisbeach, he reached Swineshead. He spent Thursday in the same place, and Friday and Saturday at Sleaford. On Sunday, 16th, we find him at Newark, where he spent the following two days, and there died on St Luke's day, 18th October 1216.

Chronica Majora. The king, however, having scarcely escaped with his army, spent the following night at the abbey which is called Swineshead. There, as was thought, from distress of mind over the loss of his goods swallowed up by the floods, he fell into such deep sorrow that he began to grow seriously ill, being seized with a sharp fever. But the severity of his sickness was increased by his harmful gluttony, for on that night he had gorged himself excessively on peaches and on new ale made from fresh beans, and so greatly inflamed and intensified the feverish heat within him. Nevertheless, at dawn he departed from there with difficulty, and went to lodge at the castle of Sleaford. There, being overcome by great bodily weakness, he came on the next day, carried on horseback, to the castle of Newark. And in that place, as his illness grew worse, he received the counsel of confession and the Eucharist from the abbot of Croxton. Then he appointed his eldest son Henry as heir to his kingdom, and caused the kingdom of England to swear fealty to him. He also sent letters sealed with his own seal to all the sheriffs and castellans of the realm, commanding that each of them should henceforth be obedient to him. And when these things had been done, the abbot of Croxton asked him, since it was clear he must die, where he would choose to be buried. To whom the king, replying, said: “To God and Saint Wulfstan I commend my body and my soul.” And afterwards, in the night [18th October 1216] which followed the day of Saint Luke the Evangelist, he departed from this life.

Rex tamen cum exercitu suo vix elapsus nocte sequenti apud abbatiam, quæ Suenesheved dicitur, pernoctavit. Ubi, ut putabatur, de rebus a fluctibus devoratis tantam mentis incurrit tristitiam, quod acutis correptus febribus cœpit graviter infirmari. Auxit autem ægritudinis molestiam perniciosa ejus ingiuvies, qui nocte ilia, de fructu persicorum et novi ciceris potatione nimis repletus, febrilem in se calorem acuit fortiter et accendit. Veruntamen summo inde diluculo, licet cum labore recedens, ad castellum de Laford hospitaturus perrexit. Ubi maxima corporis prægravatus molestia, in crastino vis ad castellum de Newerc equo vehente pervenit. Quo in loco invalescente morbo, ab abbate de Crocstuna consilium confessionis et Eucbaristiam suscepit. Deinde Henricum filium suum primogenitum regni sui hæredem constituit, regnumque Angliæ illi jiu'are fecit. Litteras etiam sigillo suo munitas ad omnes vicecomites regni et castellanos direxit, præscipiens ut ei essent singuli intendentes. Et his ita gestis, sciscitavit ab eo abbas de Crocstuna, si ipsum mori contiugeret, ubi vellet eligere sepulturam. Cui rex respondens dixit, "Deo et sancto Wlstano corpus et animam nieam commendo." Qui postea, in nocte quæ diem sancti Lucæ Evaugelistæ proximo secuta est, ex hac vita migravit.

Note 1. The Feast Day of St Luke the Evangelist is the 18th October.