[October 19] John, king of England

Surnamed: "Lackland" (sanz Terre)
Parents: Henry II, king of England, and Eleanor, duchess of Aquitaine
Born: 24 December 1166
House: Plantagenet
Spouse(s): (1) Isabel, daughter of William, earl of Gloucester, and Hawise de Beaumont, then (2) Isabella, daughter of Aymer, count of Angoulême, and Alice of Courtenay
Predecessor: Richard I

Reign: 1199 – 1216
Brief: No other English monarch is less understood than King John. Demonized by romantic sagas such as Robin Hood, and praised as the establisher of the Magna Carta, few of the stories of John's life are entirely true. His rise to power came at the cost of his agnatic senior, Arthur, duke of Brittany, the son of John's elder brother, Geoffrey. When Richard I died, Arthur was to become king, but John seized the throne. In 1202, the king of France declared all John's French possessions to either be forfeit or Arthur's. While Arthur himself was captured in 1203 and died under mysterious circumstances, Normandy was completely lost to the French. By 1204, only Aquitaine remained as an English possession on the continent.

For the next decade, John campaigned and rallied support for his war to retake Normandy. In 1209, John was excommunicated for heavy interference in church lands within England and only reconciled in 1213. The fame of John's reign derives from the First Barons' War that was a direct result of the French wars. At a meeting near Windsor Castle in 1215, King John signed a peace agreement that gave the barons large independent powers from the king. It became the Magna Carta, "Great Charter," but it did not last for long. John contacted the pope who excommunicated the entire baronial assembly, and the Barons' War continued for another year. The king of Scots, Alexander II, and Llywelyn the Great of Wales both joined the barons in the rebellion, but the barons were still losing, so they invited Prince Louis, the French heir, to England and offered him the throne. Louis quickly conquered much of the south while John was in the north, but then began to lose the support of the barons. When John finally died of dysentery in October of 1216, the war only lasted another year. Louis abandoned his claim to the throne at the 1217 Treaty of Lambeth and the Magna Carta was reissued for the reign of the child Henry III.

Date of Death: 19 October 1216
Successor: Henry III

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Urban III, pope of Rome (1187)
• Francesco I, grand duke of Tuscany (1587)
• Louis, king of Portugal (1889)

[September 7] Geoffrey V, count of Anjou

Surnamed: "The Handsome" (Le Bel) and "Plantagenet"
Parents: Fulk V, count of Anjou, and Ermengard of Maine
House: Anjou
Born: 24 August 1113
Spouse(s): Matilda, daughter of Henry I, king of England, and Edith of Scotland

Predecessor: Fulk V

Reign: 1129 – 1151
Summary: Although born to a French count, his father became king of Jerusalem suo uxoris when Geoffrey was in his late twenties. This prestige mixed with a lifetime of good fortune that culminated with his son, Henry, eventually naming his dynasty after Geoffrey. Not a lot is known about Geoffrey before his betrothal to the widowed Empress Matilda, daughter of King Henry II of England. He was only fifteen-years-old at the time and was knighted in England prior to the wedding. Matilda was the heir to the English crown by this point, and Geoffrey should have become king consort upon her coronation. In 1128, Geoffrey became the count of Anjou since his father had left for Jerusalem to be crowned king alongside his wife.

Geoffrey ruled as a happy and handsome ruler, though some sources claim he was cold and selfish. When Henry died in England, Matilda claimed the English throne and, with Geoffrey, moved on Normandy. While parts of Normandy declared for her, the majority declared for Stephen of Blois, whom the English nobles had proclaimed king. Geoffrey began negotiating with counties that bordered Normandy in the hope that an alliance could be built against Stephen. Meanwhile, Matilda went to England in 1139 with a small army and was besieged at Arundel. Stephen was captured by Matilda's forces two years later and Matilda was proclaimed "Lady of the English." Stephen escaped and was also reproclaimed king. In Normandy, Geoffrey was conquering the entire duchy and assumed the title "Duke of Normandy" in 1444. He and his wife ruled as duke and duchess until 1149, when they gave over control to their son and heir, Henry. King Louis VII of France recognized the cession in 1150. Geoffrey was constantly at war with his own barons in Anjou, which hurt his position in Normandy and forced him to remain in France while Matilda was in England. Stephen died suddenly in 1151, although he was administered his last rights and gifted much of his private possessions to charities. Henry was proclaimed the English heir two years later and succeeded to the throne in 1154 as the first of the Plantagenet dynasty.

Date of Death: 7 September 1151

Successor: Henry I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Claudius Silvanus, usurper of Rome (355)
• Ferdinand IV, king of Castile (1312)
• Frederick II, elector of Saxony (1464)
• Ferdinand II, king of Naples (1496)
• Guru Angad Dev, Sikh guru (1552)
• Susenyos, emperor of Ethiopia (1632)
• Tekle Haymanot I, emperor of Ethiopia (1708)
• Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, king of Thailand (1809)

[July 16] Charles I, king of Hungary & Croatia

Parents: Charles, duke of Anjou, and Klementia of Habsburg

Date of Birth: 1288
Royal House: Capet-Anjou-Hungary
Spouse: (1) Maria, daughter of Casimir of Byton and Helena, then (2) Beatrix, daughter of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor, and Margaret of Brabant, then (3) Elisabeth, daughter of Wladyslaw I, king of Poland, and Hedwig of Kalisz

Predecessor: Béla V
Reign: 1312 –  1342
Summary: As circumstances go, Charles' claim to the Hungarian crown in 1312 was strong, but distant. His grandmother was the sister of Ladislaus IV. When he died, she claimed the crown but a distant cousin, Andrew III, was given it instead. Fearing that Hungary was not ready to crown a female its monarch, Mary designated her son, Charles Martel, her heir in 1292. He was also the heir to Naples. He died in 1295 and Charles inherited the rights to Hungary. Meanwhile, King Charles II of Naples appointed his younger son, rather than his elder grandson, Charles, his heir, thereby dividing the Anjou inheritance before they could ever be combined. Charles trucked around Central Europe for most of his life. In 1300, a Hungarian magnate invited him to Hungary to take the crown since no king had been universally recognized since the death of Ladislaus IV in 1290. When the rival king, Andrew III, died the next year, Charles was crowned king of Hungary, but the majority of the magnates chose Wenceslaus instead. Despite King Wenceslaus fleeing Hungary in 1305, the magnates would still not support Charles' rule. Wenceslaus abdicated in favor of Otto III, duke of Bavaria, and Otto was crowned in December. Meanwhile, Charles began aggressively conquering Hungary, seeing no other option left to them. Otto eventually fled to abandoning Hungary to the House of Anjou, yet still the magnates would not give up the Holy Crown. Eventually Pope Clement V had to force some of the major magnates to support him, and even had a replacement crown made since the prince of Transylvania would not release the official crown. Charles was crowned for a third time in 1310. By 1312, he was recognized by much of the kingdom, though some segments of society still rebelled against his authority. In 1316 he had to face a rival claim but they were put down by the next year. When Máté Csák died in 1321, Charles could finally go about the business of running his kingdoms.


Once secure in power, Charles began by restoring certain royal prerogatives to avoid future problems with the aristocracy. He created an honor system of rewards to faithful servants that could be withdrawn if he became displeased. Charles controlled inflation by creating new and creative taxes and minting some coins. By the 1330s, Hungary was minting more gold coins than any country in Europe. He worked with Poland and Bohemia to establish a mutual defense agreement against Habsburg aggression. The Congress of Visegrád where the final details were established was also one of the first joint congresses of European monarchs. He also worked with Poland and the Papacy to ensure that one of his sons inherited Poland while another inherited Naples once the current monarchs died. He attempted to secure his borders by pushing into Wallachia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Bosnia, and then converting its residents to Catholicism from Greek Orthodoxy. This backfired in the long run, though, as Wallachia went into open rebellion and the other three states had smaller disputes. Charles moves in the Balkans helped the Ottoman Empire capture much of the region fifty years later because Charles decentralized and divided the people.  Charles died in 1342 and his son, Louis, succeeded him.

Date of Death: 16 July 1342
Successor: Louis I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Inoocent III, pope of Rome (1216)
• Go-Uda, emperor of Japan (1324)
• Yu Gu, pretender to Korea (2005)

[May 12] Joan I, queen of Naples

Parents: Charles, duke of Calabria, and Marie of Valois

Date of Birth: 1328

House: Capet-Anjou
Spouse: (1) Andrew, duke of Calabria, then (2) Louis, prince of Taranto, then (3) James IV, king of Majorça, then (4) Otto, duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen

Predecessor: Robert

Reign: 1343 – 1382

Summary: Joan was the granddaughter of Robert, king of Naples, and as such she was second-in-line after her father, Charles. Her mother was the sister of Philip VI of France and thus Joan was both French and Neapolitan. When she was seven, she was betrothed to another member of the house of Anjou, Andrew, whose claim to the throne of Naples was nearly as strong as her own. When her grandfather died in 1343, he bequeathed the whole of the kingdom to Joan, not even mentioning her husband. The crown was to pass to her sister, Maria, if she were to die without issue. Joan was crowned the sole monarch of Naples in 1344 but after a petition from her mother-in-law, she allowed Andrew to be crowned king consort the next year. Unfortunately for Andrew, he was murdered in 1345 before he could receive his crown. She was pregnant at the time of his murder and the queen quickly found a new spouse in her cousin, Louis. Joan's reign was off to a politically hostile start.

Her reign was dominated by rivalries between the Neapolitan and Hungarian branches of the House of Anjou. The murder of Andrew, of the Hungarian branch, brought a Hungarian army to Naples. Joan only survived by fleeing to France and then selling her rights to Avignon to the pope, thereby ensuring his support. A new trial was arranged regarding Andrew's assassination and Joan was acquitted. Louis was finally crowned king consort in 1353. When the Western Schism broke out within the Papacy, Joan supported the French, adopting Louis, yet another cousin and the son of King John II of France, as her heir. This choice caused the legitimate pope, Urban VI, to declare her a heretic and he forfeited her kingdom to Charles of Durazzo, her niece's husband. Joan decided to remove Louis from the succession and replace him with another Louis, this one the brother of King Charles V of France. But Charles Durazzo felt increased safety in this decision because Louis could not mount a proper attack at the time. Durazzo went on to become king of Naples in 1381 as Charles III, in opposition to Joan who was still alive at the time. Joan's fourth husband, Otto, failed to hold off the Hungarian troops as they marched on Naples. She finally was forced to surrender the city to Charles in August 1381. Fearing an uprising, Charles had Joan killed in 1382 for her murder of Andrew. Her death prompted a century of recurring warfare in Naples over the lawful succession to the throne. She left no children

Date of Death: 12 May 1382

Successor: Charles III

Other Monarch Deaths:

Silvester II, pope of Rome (1003)

Sergius IV, pope of Rome (1012)

Thomas, despot of Morea (1465)

Adolf Frederick II, duke of Macklenburg-Strelitz (1708)