Keltic hero, had been urged as a rival claimant for the English throne.
Shakespeare has not exaggerated the cruel fate of this boy, whose
monstrous uncle really purposed having his eyes burnt out, being sure
that if he were blind he would no longer be eligible for king. But
death is surer even than blindness, and Hubert, his merciful protector
from one fate, was powerless to avert the other. Some one was found
with "heart as hard as hammered iron," who put an end to the young life
(1203) at the Castle of Rouen.

But the King of England, was vassal to the King of France, and Philip
summoned John to account to him for this deed. When John refused to
appear, the French provinces were torn from him. In 1204 he saw an
Empire stretching from the English Channel to the Pyrenees vanish from
his grasp, and was at one blow reduced to the realm of England.

When we see on the map, England as she was in that day, sprawling in
unwieldy fashion over the western half of France, we realize how much
stronger she has been on "that snug little island, that right little,
tight little island," and we can see that John's wickedness helped her
to be invincible.

The destinies of England in fact rested with her worst king. His
tyranny, brutality, and disregard of his subjects' rights, induced a
crisis which laid the corner-stone of England's future, and buttressed
her liberties for all time.

[Sidenote: Magna Charta, 1215]

At a similar crisis in France, two centuries later, the king (Charles
VII.) made common cause with the people against the barons or dukes. In