Coronation of John of England 1199

Following the death of his brother Richard I, John the youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, on the 27th of May 1199.1

John had been with his nephew, and rival to the throne, Arthur of Brittany when Richard died. He rode immediately to Chinon and secured the treasury,2 just as Henry I had ridden to Winchester to secure the treasury in 1100 on the death of his brother William II. Having secured Chinon John then made his way to Fontevrault Abbey where Richard was to be buried.3

Shortly after his Coronation John's first marriage to Isabel, Countess of Gloucester was annulled due to consanguinity by the bishops of Lisieux, Bayeux and Avranches.4 This allowed him to marry Isabella of Angoulême a year later.

• 1. Poole, A. L. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta. The Oxford History of England (Clarendon Press 1985). p378.
• 2. Poole, A. L. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta. The Oxford History of England (Clarendon Press 1985). p378.
• 3. Warren, W. L. King John. Yale English Monarchs (Yale University Press 1997). pp48-49.
• 4. Warren, W. L. King John. Yale English Monarchs (Yale University Press 1997). p66.