of John of Arragon) to Isabella, daughter of John and sister of Henry of Castile, united the two crowns. The eldest son of John, Charles—better known as the prince of Viana—was entitled to the crown of Navarre on the death of his mother. This prince was for some time engaged in hostilities with his father in assertion of his claim; but the latter was compelled to cede to him half the revenues of Navarre, and the Castilian subjects of John compelled him to invest the prince with sovereign authority in that province. The prince died in 1461, not without suspicions of having been poisoned. The death of John in 1479 left the way open for the union of the whole of Spain under the sceptre of Ferdinand and Isabella.—F. M. W.
KING OF BOHEMIA.
John of Luxemburg, surnamed the Blind, was the son of the Emperor Henry VII., and was born in 1295. At the age of fourteen he was a successful competitor for the throne of Bohemia, in opposition to the duke of Carinthia. John was a valiant and skilful soldier, and acquired great distinction in the Italian and Lithuanian wars; he conquered Silesia, and subsequently obtained the crown of Poland. John lost his life in the famous battle of Crecy (26th August, 1346), fighting on the side of the French against the English under Edward III. He was old and blind, but on hearing that his son was wounded and forced to abandon the field, and that the Black Prince was carrying everything before him, he resolved to charge in person. Placing himself between two knights, whose bridles were interlaced on either side with his, the brave old man charged gallantly on the victorious enemy, and fell along with his companions. His crest—three ostrich feathers, with the motto, "Ich dien" (I serve)—was adopted by the Black Prince, and has ever since been born by the Princes of Wales.—J. T.
DUKES OF BRITTANY.
John V., born in 1338; died at Nantes, 1399; was the son of John de Montfort, and in the wars of the period took part with the English. On this account he was driven out of his duchy, and took refuge in England. The French attempting to take possession of Brittany, the duke was recalled, received with acclamation at Rennes, and reinstated. He married Mary, daughter of Edward III. of England; and afterwards a daughter of the earl of Kent; and later Joan, daughter of Charles the Bad, king of Navarre. Joan afterwards married Henry IV., king of England.
John VI., called the Good, or the Wise, was born 24th December, 1389; died in 1442. In the wars between the French and English he took the French side, and in 1415 raised ten thousand men, but was too late for the battle of Agincourt. For his service he obtained the town of St. Malo. In 1416 he was employed to summon the duke of Burgundy, and also acted as negotiator to procure peace with the English, having obtained a truce for his own duchy. In 1420 he was confined to the castle of Clisson, when his duchess summoned his vassals and procured his release. After this he endeavoured to preserve his duchy in peace, sometimes acknowledging Charles VII. and sometimes the English. He is described as the handsomest prince in Europe, splendid in dress and equipments, just and charitable in disposition, and agreeable in manner. By his wife, Jeanne of France, he had three sons and a daughter.—P. E. D.
DUKE OF BURGANDY.
John, surnamed Sans Peur, eldest son of Philip the Bold and Margaret of Flanders, was born at Dijon, 28th May, 1371. At the death of his grandfather, the count of Flanders, he received the title of Count of Nevers, which he bore during the lifetime of his father. While quite a youth he was distinguished for the energy and activity with which he raised subsidies for the wars of the duke with the great towns of Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres. Appointed lieutenant-general of Burgundy, he threatened to confiscate the property of the clergy, and compelled them to bear their part in the repayment of forty thousand livres borrowed from the states of Dijon. In 1385 his marriage was celebrated with Marguerite, daughter of Albert duke of Bavaria. In 1396 he left Paris to place himself at the head of the brilliant army employed against the Turks. Hungary was menaced, and Bajazet was vaunting that he would march through Christendom, and feed his horse on the high altar of St. Peter's. The crusading army was full of hope, but the defeat at Nicopolis, 28th September, 1396, destroyed the expectations of the christians, and left John a prisoner only to be released on payment of an enormous ransom. From the war he only brought home his new title Sans Peur (the Fearless), by which he has been known in history In 1401 Philip the Bold divided his dominion between his sons, in the fear that discord might arise in the event of his death. John was to have Burgundy, and after his mother's death the counties of Flanders and Artois, with some minor lordships. The rest of the states were given to the two other children. Duke Philip died in 1404, and John proceeded to Paris to do homage to Charles VI. of France. There his daughter Marguerite was espoused by the duke of Guienne, and his eldest son was affianced to a French princess. John soon became involved in the internal troubles of France, and took the opposite side to the duke of Orleans. He was extremely popular with the people, and gained the goodwill of the citizens of Paris by allowing them once more to carry arms, to place chains across their streets, and to re-establish the gates of the city. In 1406 he was appointed guardian of the dauphin and of the king's younger children, but his rivalry with the duke of Orleans was not allayed. On the 23d November, 1407, the duke of Orleans was assassinated in the streets; and after various investigations John confessed that, "tempted by the devil, he had devised the murder." He fled to Lille, avowed the crime, and found himself supported by his barons and vassals. He even had the temerity to return to Paris, and made a triumphal entry into the city at the head of eight hundred horsemen. His object was to justify himself before the king, and some of the strangest arguments were used for his defence. He was first pardoned, then the pardon was revoked, and again he was able to make his peace; but vengeance overtook him at last. On the 10th September, 1419, when passing on to the bridge of Montereau where he was to meet the dauphin, he was cut down by a battle-axe and died under the assassin's hand at the age of forty-eight. He left one son, Philip, who succeeded him—P. E. D.
KINGS OF CASTILE.
John I., born in 1358, succeeded his father, Henry of Transtamara, in 1379. He was for some time engaged in war with Portugal, but at length (1384) concluded peace, and married Beatrice, daughter of Ferdinand of Portugal, who had been previously affianced to each of the two sons of John by his previous wife, Eleanor of Arragon. But the claim which he thus gained to the throne of Portugal was set aside by the popular voice.—(See John I. of Portugal.) The king of Castile had afterwards to defend his crown against John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster; but a peace was concluded in 1388. John I. died in 1390.
John II., born in 1405, was proclaimed king upon the death of his father, Henry III., in 1406. Throughout his reign he was completely under the influence of the celebrated Alvaro de Luna.—(See this name.) His reign was distinguished by contests with the king of Navarre, and with his own son Henry, indignant at the usurpation of the favourite. When at last, by the influence of his second wife, John was obliged to consent to the execution of De Luna, his chagrin was such that he died the following year (1454). His daughter became celebrated in history as Isabella the Catholic.—F. M. W.
KING OF DENMARK.
John, born in 1455, eldest son of Christian I., succeeded to the united crowns of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, at his father's decease in 1481. His reign was long and tempestuous. Perhaps the principal incident that distinguished it was the attempt he made, in the year 1500, to subdue the wild and independent inhabitants of the territory of Dithmarsch. But the latter completely baffled the invading Danes; and John, with the wreck of his army, was obliged to retire into Holstein. The disastrous termination of this war greatly impoverished Denmark. John's general ability and prudence, however, and his patriotic love of everything Danish, justly endeared him to his subjects. He died at Aalborg on the 20th February, 1513.—J. J.
KING OF ENGLAND.
John, surnamed Sans Terre or Lackland, on account of his being still a minor at the death of his father, and therefore incapable of holding a fief, was the fifth son of Henry II. by his queen Eleanor of Guienne, and born at the king's manor house, Oxford, on the 24th December, 1166. He succeeded to the crown in 1199 by appointment of his brother Richard I., although Arthur, then in his twelfth year, and the son of Geoffrey, King Henry's fourth son, was living. He had been created Earl of Montague in Normandy by his father, and when ten years of age was contracted in marriage to Johanna, youngest daughter of William, earl of Gloucester, who in conse-
