Quotes About King John

The contemporary Matthew Paris wrote that, 'foul as it is, hell itself is defiled by the foulness of King John'. A bard sang that 'no man may ever trust him, for his heart is soft and cowardly'. Yet this evil was catalyst for a greater good, Magna Carta.

King John won't need any persuading that the French have a hand in this. From what I've heard, if a bean gives him a bellyache he swears it was a French one.

The original "Articles of the Barons" on which Magna Carta is based exist to-day in the British Museum. They were sealed in a quiet, short scene, which has become one of the most famous in our history, on June 15, 1215. Afterwards the King returned to Windsor. Four days later, probably, the Charter itself was engrossed. In future ages it was to be used as the foundation of principles and systems of government of which neither King John nor his nobles dreamed.

Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain, that brave Hungarian peasant girl who forced King John to sign the pledge at Runnymede and closed all the boozers at half past ten? Is all this forgotten? No. My friends, it is not John Harrison Peabody who is on trial here today but the fair name of British justice. I ask you to send that poor boy back to the loving arms of his poor white-haired old mother... a free man. I thank you.