KING JOHN’S

Lost Crown Jewels

Overview

King John was arguably one of the most well known kings that England has had. He reigned as King of England between 1199 until his death in 1216 but his journey to becoming king was not a swift and easy one. He had four older brothers who would have to all become king before the throne was his. Becoming king and inheriting significant lands was seen as being highly unlikely for John which is why he was nicknamed John Lackland.

However, through a turn of surprising events between his birth in 1166 and 1199 Each of the brothers would meet an untimely death and John would have his place at the throne. King John is known for many things: His unusual ascent to the throne, the Magna Carta, his reputation as king, but perhaps most importantly to archaeologists and treasure hunters alike is the loss of his baggage trains containing the English crown jewels in what is known as the Wash in October 1216 shortly before his death at Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire. Many have tried and failed to locate the famous lost treasures but maybe all of that is about to change.

Portrait of King John painted in the 1600’s by an unknown artist.

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Background

King John is one of England’s most infamous kings. His reputation at the time of his death and afterwards was so disastrous that in the 800 years after his death, no other English king has taken the name John. John was born in 1166 and his parents were a power couple of their time. His father was Henry II of England, a man who took control of the throne after the death of his cousin Stephen. Henry’s mother, Empress Matilda, had been heir to the throne but upon her father’s death Stephen had stolen the throne from her. Matilda did not want to give up her rights as queen, and for decades England was caught in a civil war, split between the two claimants. Henry had inherited his mother’s strength.

John’s mother was just as formidable a woman. Known as Eleanor of Aquitaine, she was a rich and powerful heiress who owned vast lands in the southwest of modern-day France. She was married to a French prince and later became Queen of France through the marriage. After fifteen years together, though, the couple parted ways, and Eleanor swiftly raced to marry Henry, later making her Queen of England too.

John’s Parents, Henry II and Eleanor, holding court.

King John on a Stag Hunt.

John was the youngest of four surviving sons of the couple, and he gained the nickname Lackland because being so far low down the line of succession, it was considered he would have little inheritance and thus power in life. However, through a series of deaths and lack of male heirs, John soon became heir to the throne. In 1189 his brother Richard became king (later being known as “The Lionheart”) and John could start to see power within his grasp. His brother was rarely in England, spending most of his time on Crusade, fighting in France, or in captivity. This gave John great power in England, and in the early 1190s he even made an alliance with King Philip of France in order to rebel against those loyal to his brother in England. His rebellion was unsuccessful and upon Richard’s return to England John was forced to agree to a peace.

John finally got his wishes in 1199 when his brother died. Still, though, his path to power was not clear cut. There was another claimant to the throne, the oldest son of another of John’s brothers, but inheritance law was unclear on who should take precedence for the throne. Despite his misbehaviour during Richard’s reign, the majority of the English and Norman nobility supported his claim, and he won out. John had become king.

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Conflicts As King

John’s reign has often been seen as a series of disasters. Whilst his father, brothers and ancestors had gathered huge swathes of territory across modern-day France, John lived up to his Lackland name and instead lost huge pieces of land. Whilst fighting his nephew and the French king, he became known for his cruel treatment of prisoners which led to the death of many of them.

When these important prisoners were fellow nobles, this behaviour was seen as reprehensible to his contemporaries, including his own people. This, combined with his tendency to ignore the opinions of his powerful allies, quickly lost him much support.

King John presenting a church by Mathew Paris 1250-1259.

Silver King John Penny.

Across 1202-3 many of these allies started to abandon him, reducing the power of his army. By 1204, the King of France had taken control of Normandy, an important territory that had been part of English-controlled lands since its Duke took the English throne in 1066. King Philip quickly took control of other English territories in France, including Anjou and Poitou. John’s reign had now seen the collapse of the English empire in France. John was to spend the rest of his reign trying to reclaim these lost lands.

As the 1210s arrived, John started to face increasing hostility from his own nobles. This culminated in 1215 with the famous Magna Carta, a “Great Charter” of peace which addressed the barons’ complaints and was a proposal for general political reform to prevent discontent in the future. Though Magna Carta was intended to be a peace deal, both John and his barons quickly reneged on the deal, with John securing the excommunication of the rebel barons from the Pope. All-out war was now on the horizon.

Whilst the rebel barons quickly captured Rochester Castle, John was actually at an advantage at the start of the war. He had a pool of money to pay mercenaries with, and he still had the support of several powerful nobles with their own significant forces. The rebels, on the other hand, did not have enough siege equipment required to take John’s many royal castles. By January 1216, John was on the winning foot and numerous rebels had been captured. Desperate to prevail, the remaining barons turned to the French prince Louis for help.

Louis was interested in the offer, as it could give him the very appealing throne of England, eventually uniting England and France into one powerful kingdom. Louis landed in Kent in May and joined up with the barons, whilst John retreated to gather his defences. With Louis’ help, the rebels took control of the south-east and parts of the north of England. Finally, in September John attacked, eventually moving to King’s Lynn to order more supplies. Here, disaster struck: he contracted dysentery.

The French victory at the battle of Bouvines which doomed John’s plan to retake Normandy in 1214.

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The Treasure

St Edward’s Crown.

Sick, with Prince Louis prowling nearby and the King of Scotland invading the north (taking advantage of the turmoil in England), John left Kings Lynn and moved north. This proved to be a costly mistake, as recounted by the chronicler Roger of Wendover: “… in crossing the river Wellester, he lost all his carts, waggons, and baggage horses, together with his money, costly vessels, and everything which he had a particular regard for; for the land opened in the middle of the water and caused whirlpools which sucked in every thing, as well as men and horses, so that no one escaped to tell the king of the misfortune. He himself narrowly escaped with his army” Different chroniclers record the story to varying degrees, but it has usually been suggested that amongst John’s lost belongings were the English Crown Jewels.

One item that might have been swallowed up was the Sword of Tristram, a ceremonial sword used as regalia which is last mentioned in official records in 1207. Others suggest that very little may have actually been lost, the story exaggerated by chroniclers, and that perhaps simply a few horses and carts were lost – not any great treasures. Some historians say that the Sword of Tristram is actually the same sword as one known in Henry III’s time as Curtana, and that it was not lost at all.

The crossing where John supposedly lost his significant riches was The Wash, a bay and estuary in the north-west of East Anglia. The land is flat, low-lying and marshy, filled with deposits of sediment and is ever-changing.

The town of King’s Lynn, where John had stayed, was, at his time, on the coast of the Wash – today, it is a distance inland. There are a number of large sandbanks which are exposed at low tide. The crossing at Wellstream (Wellester, as Roger named it) was only usable at low tide and so it is thought that the quickly rising incoming tide is what caused John’s wagons to get trapped and ultimately lost.

The jetty at Snettisham RSPB reserve in The Wash.

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Conclusion

Newark Castle in 2012.

Ultimately, John’s time was short. He was unable to fight off his dysentery and he only made it as far as Newark Castle in Nottinghamshire until he could travel no more. He died on the night of the 18 th /19 th October. His 9-year-old son was proclaimed King Henry III, and he came under the protection of some of John’s most powerful barons. Eventually, the King’s protectors defeated Prince Louis in 1217 and he gave up his claims and returned home. John’s son Henry went on to be the longest-reigning medieval English king.

But what of John’s lost treasure? Whilst debate remains of what exactly was lost at The Wash, it is true that lists of royal regalia in Henry III’s reign mention very few items of John’s, leading credence to the idea it was buried beneath the sand.

Likely little of it would have survived to today, with the wooden carts, the luxurious fabrics and other pieces disintegrating in the sand and water. Only the solid metals could have lasted these 800 years, and they may be scattered across the bay now. The ever-changing tides, shifting sand, and the fact that the items were dispersed across several carts rather than purposefully buried in a hoard would make it difficult to ever find all the items.

This has not stopped people searching, lured by the call of one of the greatest pieces of treasure that could be found. In fact, just last summer a treasure hunter named Raymond Kosschuk claimed to have discovered the riches at a site in Sutton Bridge. He said that readings of magnetic fields from his specially designed equipment suggested a significant deposit of gold and metal at his site. Just this month, Kosschuk announced he had begun digging on the site. Could this solve the mystery of the treasure once and for all?

The Tomb of King John in Worcester Cathedral.

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Written By

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GEMMA HOLLMAN

Guest Writer

Gemma Hollman is a historian and author who specialises in late medieval English history. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, her first book Royal Witches was published in 2019 and her second book The Queen and the Mistress which was released in November 2022.

She works full-time in the heritage industry whilst also running her historical blog, Just History Posts, which explores all periods of history in more depth.

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