John, fourth and youngest son of Henry II, first (and only) of his name, was crowned King of England only after his brother Richard I (a.k.a. Richard the Lionheart) died without issue. He would have a troubled reign, being responsible for the loss of the few remaining continental possessions of the Angevin monarchy, and also being the King whose signature adorns the Magna Carta. Plus, of course, he’s the bad guy in nearly every Robin Hood story, so there’s that.
It’s hard to tell just what kind of person John actually was – historians at that time (and for some centuries after) did not trouble themselves with our modern conceptions of objectivity. What we can say for sure is that he was one of the most consequential, and most reviled, of all English kings.
Upon John’s death in 1216, his nine year old son Henry inherited his throne, with William Marshal as his regent until he came of age.
