.were often as much concerned with local gossip as with national news" (Beadles, 1979)
KingJohn failed, Dr. Mike Ibeji of the BBC writes, because: one, he lost a portion of western France that England had previously held title to; two, he lost his crown "and many valuables in the mud of East Anglia"; three, King John "drove his subjects to impose the Magna Carta"; and four, he nearly lost the entire Kingdom of England" (Ibeji, 2001)
cracked down on finances, taxing revenues, taxing the Jews, conducting investigations into the royal forests and feudal tenures," among other misguided moves, according to Snell's account. One key reason John had a rough time and got himself into trouble with many important people - including Pope Innocent III, the Lusigans, the barons and other higher-ups - was that he had a suspicious nature and did a miserable job when it came to diplomacy (Snell, 2007)