Page 974 : JOHN — JOHN III
Individual articles:
temporarily lost its British population, which hurriedly withdrew. The city was occupied by Lord Roberts on May 31, 1900.
John, Eugènie. See Marlitt, E.
John of Austria was the illegitimate son of Emperor Charles V and Barbara Blom-berg, and was born at Regensburg, Germany, on Feb. 24, 1547. He was brought to Spain while a boy, and after the death of his father he was taken in charge by his half-brother, Philip II. In 1570 he was given the command of an army sent against the rebellious Moors in Granada. On Oct. 7, 1571, he gained a great victory over the Turks in the famous naval battle of Lepanto. He was made viceroy of the Netherlands by his brother in 1576. By the great battle of Gemblours, in 1577, won against William the Silent, he gained new honors. Philip, fearing that he might make himself king, became jealous of his growing fame and influence. John soon after died in camp, perhaps of poison, on Oct. 1, 1578. See Don John of Austria by Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell.
John surnamed Lackland, king of England (1199–1216), was the youngest of the five sons of Henry II, and was born at Oxford on Dec. 24, 1167. John joined his brothers in their rebellion against his father, and knowledge of this ungrateful act hastened Henry’s death (1189). Richard I succeeded but died in 1199, choosing John as his successor. Arthur, the son of Geoffrey, was the rightful heir to the crown; but he was seized, imprisoned at Rouen, and soon put secretly to death. John proved an active king. He compelled William of Scotland to do him homage, put down a rebellion in Ireland, and subdued the independent prince of Wales. Not satisfied with these activities, he quarreled with the pope and confiscated the property of the church and clergy. The pope in return placed John’s kingdom under an interdict, and in 1212 deposed the king and Jave his subjects permission to revolt, ohn was compelled to submit to Rome and hold his kingdom as a dependent of the pope. The English barons were anxious to end the tyranny of John, and drew up a petition, which the king rejected. This was the signal for war. The army assembled at Stamford, and marched to London, led by the rebel barons. They met the king at Runnymede, and on June 15, 1215, he was forced to sign the Great Charter (Magna Charta), the basis of the English constitution. The pope soon refused to sanction the new charter, and war again broke out. The barons called upon the dauphin of France to be their leader, and Louis landed at Sandwich on May 21, 1216. In attempting to cross the Wash, John lost his regalia and treasures; was taken sick; and died at Newark Castle on Oct. 19, 1216, in the 49th year of his age. See the histories by Pearson, Green and Stubbs; The Early Plantagenets in the Epochs of Modern History Series; and Norgate’s England under the Angevin Kings.
John of Gaunt (Ghent), was the fourth son of Edward III, who made him duke of Lancaster. He was born in March, 1340, at Ghent. In the French wars he served with great bravery under Edward the Black Prince. In 1370 he married Constance, daughter of Peter the Cruel, king of Castile. On Peter’s death John claimed the kingdom in the name of his wife, but the military expedition to obtain Castile proved unsuccessful. Toward the end of his father’s reign he became the chief man in the kingdom, and perhaps wished to succeed him; at any rate, the young king, Richard II, distrusted him and sent him on another wild expedition after his Cas-tilian kingdom. This resulted in a treaty between John and Henry of Trastamara, who had possession of the throne, by which John’s daughter should succeed as queen of Castile. On the death of his second wife he married Catharine Swynford by whom he had three sons and a daughter. From the oldest child was descended Henry VII. John died at London on Feb. 3, 1399.
John II of Poland was the younger son of Sigismund III. Haying embarked for Spain, to persuade Philip III to form a league against France, he was shipwrecked and imprisoned for two years at Vincennes. Being released on a promise by his brother, the king of Portugal, never to war against the king of France, he went to western Europe, became a Jesuit priest, and was made a cardinal by Innocent X. Returning to Poland, he became king after his stepbrother Ladislaus in 1648. During his reign Poland was attacked by Russia and Sweden, the war ending victoriously for Poland and several provinces being added to her territory. John surrendered the crown in 1668, and retired to France, where he died on Dec. 16, 1672.
John III (So′bieski) of Poland and one of the greatest warriors of the 17th century, was born in 1624, and received the most careful education and training. When the Poles were defeated by the Russians in the battle of Pilawiecz, the Sobieskis took up arms to restore their country. Mark fell on the banks of the Bog; John so distinguished himself by his valor that he became the hero of his countrymen. He defeated the Turks in the great battle of Kotzim, in which they lost 28,000 men. On May 21, 1674, Sobieski was elected king of Poland, and was crowned at Cracow with his wife. When the Turks besieged Vienna in 1683, John hastened thither with 20,000 Poles, and, with the German allies, gained a great victory on Sept. 12. He died of apoplexy on June 17, 1696. Sobieski was not a statesman and warrior only but a
