King John (play)
play by Shakespeare
The Life and Death of King John (also King John), by William Shakespeare, is a history play about the reign of John, King of England (r. 1199–1216), the son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the father of Henry III. King John was written in the mid-1590s but published in 1623 in the First Folio of Shakespeare's works.
Characters
Synopsis
King John receives an ambassador from France who demands with a threat of war that he renounce his throne in favour of his nephew, Arthur, whom the French King Philip believes to be the rightful heir to the throne under primogeniture.
John adjudicates an inheritance dispute between Robert Faulconbridge and his older brother Philip, whom Robert accuses of illegitimacy. Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother to King John, notes that Philip looks very similar to her late son King Richard the Lionheart. Queen Eleanor accordingly suggests that Philip renounce his claim to the Faulconbridge estates in exchange for a non-inheriting position within the House of Plantagenet and a knighthood. After mocking Robert Faulconbridge's ugliness at length, Philip enthusiastically agrees and Queen Eleanor praises Philip as possessing "the very spirit of Plantagenet". King John knights Philip as Sir Richard the Plantagenet. Afterwards, learning Philip has renounced his inheritance, Lady Faulconbridge reluctantly confirms Queen Eleanor's suspicions about her son's secret parentage to him.
As part of his efforts to back regime change in the Angevin Empire, King Philip and his forces besiege the Angevin walled city of Angers, threatening to put them to the sack unless the citizens accept Prince Arthur as their King.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q661222. VIAF identifies the subject as 312554675. The Library of Congress control number is n84024768. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1199, 1216 and 1623.
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This entry incorporates text from “King John (play)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.