Listen free for 30 days
-
King John
- Treachery, Tyranny and the Road to Magna Carta
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £22.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Fears of Henry IV
- The Life of England's Self-Made King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 22 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
King Henry IV survived at least eight plots to dethrone or kill him in the first six years of his reign. However, he had not always been so unpopular. In his youth he had been a great chivalric champion and crusader. In 1399, at the age of 32, he was greeted as the saviour of the realm when he ousted from power the tyrannical King Richard II. But Henry had to contend with men who supported him only as long as they could control him; when they failed, they plotted to kill him. Adversaries also tried to take advantage of his questionable right to the crown.
-
-
I learned a lot about two Reigns
- By Kirstine on 27-03-19
-
Magna Carta: The Making and Legacy of the Great Charter
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the summer of 1215, King John of England had lost control of his kingdom. In June his rebellious barons forced him to attach his regal seal - under oath - to a remarkable document. The so-called 'Great Charter' established an Englishman's right to habeas corpus and set limits to the exercise of royal power. For the first time, an English king had agreed to a document that limited his powers by law and protected his subjects' rights.
-
-
Recommended
- By Mister Peridot on 02-06-16
-
Queens of the Crusades: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Her Successors
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Plantagenet queens of England played a role in some of the most dramatic events in our history. Crusading queens, queens in rebellion against their king, queen seductresses, learned queens, queens in battle, queens who enlivened England with the romantic culture of southern Europe - these determined women often broke through medieval constraints to exercise power and influence, for good and sometimes for ill.
-
-
Eleanor of aquitaine
- By grannie on 23-07-21
-
1415: Henry V's Year of Glory
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 25 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this ground-breaking audiobook, Ian Mortimer portrays Henry in the pivotal year of his reign. Recording the dramatic events of 1415, he offers the fullest, most precise and least romanticised view we have of Henry and what he did. At the centre of the narrative is the campaign which culminated in the battle of Agincourt: a slaughter ground intended not to advance England’s interests directly but to demonstrate God’s approval of Henry’s royal authority on both sides of the Channel.
-
-
Impressively scholarly but dull at times
- By Kirstine on 02-04-19
-
William Wilberforce
- Life of the Great Anti-Slave-Trade Campaigner
- By: William Hague
- Narrated by: Steve Hodson
- Length: 22 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hague shows how Wilberforce, after his agonising conversion to evangelical Christianity, was able to lead a powerful tide of opinion, as MP for Hull, against the slave trade, a process which was to take up to half a century to be fully realised. Indeed, he succeeded in rallying to his cause the support in the Commons Debates of some the finest orators in Parliament, having become one of the most respected speakers of those times.
-
-
Fantastic
- By VeniVediVocali on 24-11-12
-
A Great and Terrible King
- Edward I and the Forging of Britain
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king. Edward I is familiar to millions as 'Longshanks', conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace ('Braveheart'). Edward was born to rule England, but believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign was one of the most dramatic of the entire Middle Ages, leading to war and conquest on an unprecedented scale and leaving a legacy of division that has lasted from his day to our own.
-
-
Great stuff
- By Anonymous User on 27-10-21
-
The Fears of Henry IV
- The Life of England's Self-Made King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 22 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
King Henry IV survived at least eight plots to dethrone or kill him in the first six years of his reign. However, he had not always been so unpopular. In his youth he had been a great chivalric champion and crusader. In 1399, at the age of 32, he was greeted as the saviour of the realm when he ousted from power the tyrannical King Richard II. But Henry had to contend with men who supported him only as long as they could control him; when they failed, they plotted to kill him. Adversaries also tried to take advantage of his questionable right to the crown.
-
-
I learned a lot about two Reigns
- By Kirstine on 27-03-19
-
Magna Carta: The Making and Legacy of the Great Charter
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the summer of 1215, King John of England had lost control of his kingdom. In June his rebellious barons forced him to attach his regal seal - under oath - to a remarkable document. The so-called 'Great Charter' established an Englishman's right to habeas corpus and set limits to the exercise of royal power. For the first time, an English king had agreed to a document that limited his powers by law and protected his subjects' rights.
-
-
Recommended
- By Mister Peridot on 02-06-16
-
Queens of the Crusades: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Her Successors
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Plantagenet queens of England played a role in some of the most dramatic events in our history. Crusading queens, queens in rebellion against their king, queen seductresses, learned queens, queens in battle, queens who enlivened England with the romantic culture of southern Europe - these determined women often broke through medieval constraints to exercise power and influence, for good and sometimes for ill.
-
-
Eleanor of aquitaine
- By grannie on 23-07-21
-
1415: Henry V's Year of Glory
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 25 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this ground-breaking audiobook, Ian Mortimer portrays Henry in the pivotal year of his reign. Recording the dramatic events of 1415, he offers the fullest, most precise and least romanticised view we have of Henry and what he did. At the centre of the narrative is the campaign which culminated in the battle of Agincourt: a slaughter ground intended not to advance England’s interests directly but to demonstrate God’s approval of Henry’s royal authority on both sides of the Channel.
-
-
Impressively scholarly but dull at times
- By Kirstine on 02-04-19
-
William Wilberforce
- Life of the Great Anti-Slave-Trade Campaigner
- By: William Hague
- Narrated by: Steve Hodson
- Length: 22 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hague shows how Wilberforce, after his agonising conversion to evangelical Christianity, was able to lead a powerful tide of opinion, as MP for Hull, against the slave trade, a process which was to take up to half a century to be fully realised. Indeed, he succeeded in rallying to his cause the support in the Commons Debates of some the finest orators in Parliament, having become one of the most respected speakers of those times.
-
-
Fantastic
- By VeniVediVocali on 24-11-12
-
A Great and Terrible King
- Edward I and the Forging of Britain
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king. Edward I is familiar to millions as 'Longshanks', conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace ('Braveheart'). Edward was born to rule England, but believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign was one of the most dramatic of the entire Middle Ages, leading to war and conquest on an unprecedented scale and leaving a legacy of division that has lasted from his day to our own.
-
-
Great stuff
- By Anonymous User on 27-10-21
-
Powers and Thrones
- A New History of the Middle Ages
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 24 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of The Templars, Dan Jones' epic new history tells nothing less than the story of how the world we know today came to be built. Across 16 chapters, blending Dan Jones' trademark gripping narrative style with authoritative analysis, Powers and Thrones shows how, at each stage in this story, successive Western powers thrived by attracting - or stealing - the most valuable resources, ideas and people from the rest of the world.
-
-
A stunning recounting of the past (and probable lesson for the future)
- By Myh on 10-10-21
-
The Anglo-Saxons
- A History of the Beginnings of England
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteen hundred years ago, Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Grand cities and luxurious villas were deserted and left to crumble, and civil society collapsed into chaos. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders from across the sea and established themselves as its new masters. The Anglo-Saxons traces the turbulent history of these people across the next six centuries. It explains how their earliest rulers fought relentlessly against each other for glory and supremacy and then were almost destroyed by the onslaught of the Vikings.
-
-
Informative and entertaining
- By Ambrose Duffy on 28-05-21
-
Isabella
- The She-Wolf of France
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
- Length: 21 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the first full-length biography of a much maligned but astonishingly colourful Queen of England. In Newgate Street, in the city of London, stand the meagre ruins of Christ Church. On the same site once stood a royal mausoleum set to rival Westminster Abbey in the 14th century. Among the many crowned heads buried there was Isabella of France, Edward II's queen - one of the most notorious femme fatales in history. But how did she acquire her evil reputation? And is it justified?
-
-
Excellent Historical Work
- By Gregory on 18-02-11
-
The Norman Conquest
- The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Frazer Douglas
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An upstart French duke who sets out to conquer the most powerful and unified kingdom in Christendom. An invasion force on a scale not seen since the days of the Romans. One of the bloodiest and most decisive battles ever fought.
-
-
Great story, poor reading
- By Matthew on 21-11-14
-
The Perfect King
- The Life of Edward III
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Alex Wyndham
- Length: 19 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edward’s life is one of the most extraordinary in all English history. He ordered his uncle to be beheaded, he usurped his father’s throne and he started a war which lasted for more than a hundred years. He took the crown when it was at its lowest point and raised it to new heights, presenting himself as a new King Arthur, victorious across Europe. He was the architect of many English icons - from parliamentary rule to the adoption of English as the official language and even the building of a great clock tower at Westminster.
-
-
Scholarly, interesting and engaging blography
- By Kirstine on 16-03-19
-
Castles
- Their History and Evolution in Medieval Britain
- By: Marc Morris
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning with their introduction in the 11th century, and ending with their widespread abandonment in the 17th, Marc Morris explores many of the country's most famous castles, as well as some spectacular lesser-known examples. At times this is an epic tale, driven by characters like William the Conqueror, King John, and Edward I, full of sieges and conquest on an awesome scale.
-
-
Re-moat-ly Interesting
- By Amazon Customer on 11-07-21
-
William Pitt The Younger
- By: William Hague
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 23 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
William Pitt the Younger is an illuminating biography of one of the great iconic figures in British history: the man who in 1784 at the age of twenty-four became (and so remains) the youngest Prime Minister in the history of England. In this lively and authoritative study, William Hague himself the youngest political party leader in recent history explains the dramatic events and exceptional abilities that allowed extreme youth to be combined with great power.
-
-
History brought to life
- By Kirstine on 10-02-10
-
The Plantagenets
- The Kings Who Made England
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 22 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England’s greatest royal dynasty, the Plantagenets, ruled over England through eight generations of kings. Their remarkable reign saw England emerge from the Dark Ages to become a highly organised kingdom that spanned a vast expanse of Europe. Plantagenet rule saw the establishment of laws and creation of artworks, monuments and tombs which survive to this day, and continue to speak of their sophistication, brutality and secrets. Dan Jones brings you a new vision of this battle-scarred history.
-
-
Entertaining and scholarly
- By Kirstine on 23-08-19
-
Lancaster and York
- The Wars of the Roses
- By: Alison Weir
- Narrated by: Maggie Mash
- Length: 22 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lancater and York is a riveting account of the Wars of the Roses, from beloved historian Alison Weir. The war between the houses of Lancaster and York was characterised by treachery, deceit, and bloody battles. Alison Weir's lucid and gripping account focuses on the human side of history. At the centre of the book stands Henry VI, the pious king whose mental instability led to political chaos, and his wife Margaret of Anjou, who took up her arms in her husband's cause and battled in a violent man's world.
-
-
Incredible Events - Oddly Dull in Presentation
- By Alison on 04-11-14
-
Philip and Alexander
- By: Adrian Goldsworthy
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 20 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A joint biography that investigates how, during their lifetimes, Philip and Alexander transformed Macedon from a weak kingdom into a globe-spanning empire. During his short life Alexander the Great carved out an empire stretching from the Balkans to Central India, re-drawing the map of the ancient world. Yet Alexander represents only half of the story, for his success was not just the product of his own genius, restless energy and ambition, but was built on decades of effort by his father.
-
-
Very detailed, but easy to listen to!
- By Connor Sampson on 02-01-22
-
The Hollow Crown
- The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some of the greatest heroes and villains in British history were thrown together in these turbulent times: Henry V, whose victory at Agincourt and prudent rule at home marked the high point of the medieval monarchy; Edward IV, who was handed his crown by the scheming soldier Warwick the Kingmaker, before their alliance collapsed into a fight to the death; and the last Plantagenet, Richard III, who stole the throne and murdered his own nephews, the Princes in the Tower.
-
-
More unbelievable then Game of Thrones!!
- By Foxhole on 28-01-19
-
Summer of Blood
- The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 is one of the most dramatic and bloody events in English history. Starting with village riots in the Essex countryside, chaos rapidly spread across much of the southeast of England, as tens of thousands of ordinary men and women marched in fury to London, torching houses, slaughtering their social superiors and terrifying the life out of those who got in their way. The burning down of Savoy Palace, home to the most powerful magnate in the realm, marked one of the Revolt’s most violent episodes.
-
-
Narrator was aight, Book half-aight
- By Bean on 04-11-20
Summary
The brilliantly compelling new biography of the treacherous and tyrannical King John, published to coincide with the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.
Authoritative and dramatic, Marc Morris' King John offers a compelling portrait of an extraordinary king whose reign marked a momentous turning point in the history of Britain and Europe. King John is buried in Worcester Cathedral.
More from the same
What listeners say about King John
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sparding
- 02-04-20
Tips for Listening/Reading
This might help anyone who wants to avoid wrestling with the sequence in which
the chapters are presented and to read/listen in a chronological order.
Certainly with the audio chapters, unnamed as they are, you would quite easily get lost
(still Audible - how difficult can this be ?)
Audio Chapter - Print Chapter
1 - Introduction
2 - 1 Under Attack 1203
3 - 2 The Family Empire 1120–1189
4 - 3 Refusing to Rally 1204–1205
5 - 4 A Pact from Hell 1189–1194
6 - 5 Stemming the Tide 1205–1206
7 - 6 Our Happy Success 1194–1202
8 - 7 King versus Pope 1207–1208
9 - 8 A Deed of Shame 1202–1203
10 - 9 The Enemy Within? 1208–1210
11 - 10 Tyrannical Will 1210–1212
12 - 11 The Hermit’s Prophecy 1212–1213
13 - 12 Ready for Battle 1213–1214
14 - 13 Runnymede 1214–1215
15 - 14 Fire and Sword 1215–1216
16 - Conclusion
17 - Magna Carta, 1215: A Translation
Audio chronologically :
1,3,5,7,9
2,4,6,8
10...
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Caroline
- 27-02-16
Compelling Story
Since the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta last year I have read a few books about it but this was definitely by far the best! It really set the issue of Magna Carta in its historical context so you could understand how it came about. Even better than that, though, was the author's assessment of John himself and discussion of whether he was as cruel as we are led to believe. I felt it was written very fairly and objectively and I liked how he explained why he had chosen to give more or less weight to various sources. After reading this I felt that I had a much better grasp of the whole period and the abuses which led to Magna Carta. It did make me question how monarchy could ever have survived! If you are interested in Magna Carta and this period of history, I can't recommend this book highly enough.
22 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jim
- 15-06-15
Solid
You can hear Marc Morris talking about King John on the BBC History Today podcast. He's an engaging speaker with a PhD in medieval history so I decided this was worth a listen. What you get is a nuts and bolts life of John which comes to life when Morris uses his in-depth knowledge of life in medieval Britain to show how a strange alliance of nobles from East Anglia, the north of England, Wales and Scotland collaborated with the sharp witted merchants of London to create Magna Carta. He goes on to make the case that John was just as bad as his subsequent reputation suggests.
Morris is too disciplined a historian to offer similar character portraits of other characters in the story. That's an understandable choice but John Julius Norwich's "Shakespeare's Kings", which tackles similar material was fun because he was interested in characters and willing to stick his neck out. So at times this suffered a little for me by being a slightly flat retelling of events. In addition to that, the narrator adopts a slightly irritating tone of archness throughout so just three stars for him.
However, overall it's worth a listen on the basis of an interesting life illuminated by many interesting details of medieval life alongside a fascinating dissection of magna carta
36 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J. Whittle
- 12-08-20
More than just the Magna Carta
Without the context before King John's reign, without an understanding of how he alienated his barons, and his attempts to break the Magna Carta afterwards, students of history simply understood John to be a poor king, and a dishonorable man. This book takes our understanding of the making of that man, the specifics of the barons grievances, and the risks these men took to secure a degree of judicial independance and the suffrage of 25 noblemen. Many times in the future kings would forget the oaths and obligations of the Magna Carta. In Henry VII and VIII's cases they got away with it. In Charles I a king paid the ultimate price. James II ultimately ensured the Magna Carta was updated and improved by the Bill of Rights in 1689 under Mary II. John is not alone as a disappointing ruler, they are the rule, not the exception, and a better understanding of his brother Richard's poor home record reduces the contrast which other historians have attempted to make between the good and the bad brothers. Henry II had 4 spoiled sons whose ruthless quests for power present us with an uncomfortable image. Rather than of a fight between good and evil, a lionheart and a villain, we see a long line of disappointing men who have brought so much misery to the populace. In each case the mistaken view that the populace serve them, rather than the other way round sits at the heart of the problem. Our present Queen stands almost alone in history in her understanding of the true nature of this relationship.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kirstine
- 19-12-18
Detailed review of a disastrous reign
Hitherto my impression of King John comes from Shakespeare and from childhood memories of the Robin Hood series in the late 1950s with Richard Greene as Robin ("riding through the glen") as a fictional supporter of Richard I against his conniving younger brother, John. My bad impression of the latter is reinforced by this biography which details his cruelty, extreme even by medieval standards, his misguided and costly wars and his excessive demands for money at every opportunity that in the end lead to the Baron's Revolt. Far from Magna Carta being his mitigating final gesture to fairness it was rung from him by force of arms.
The early structure of the book is confusing. I thought that the early chapters had been compiled in the wrong order as narrative jumped from Henry II's reign to John and then back to Richard I . So one has the strange experience of a king who was deceased in the previous chapter reappearing in the following one. I gather that this non-chronological approach was intended. Once the book finally moves back to John's reign the story is more or less chronological. There is a long section later on in the book describing endless battles in France that I found tedious but the story takes off again with the Baron's Revolt and the production of Magna Carta..
It's bleak period in English history that lends no credit to monarchy or the church. It often surprises me that the monarchy has survived and wasn't swept away as in France.
The narrator is excellent
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Vash
- 21-06-15
Deeply informative
Deeply informative and interesting, especially in this year of Magna Carta commemoration. Well written and read but suffers from being a bit ponderous at times.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Kaz
- 27-02-17
King John
A fascinating history of his reign. Reality being so gripping that one wonders why film makers find it necessary to rewrite & invent.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Vonnie Morse
- 22-08-20
Brilliant Book
Excellent content and enjoyed the narration by Ric Jerrom. Would highly recommend this book Audible should however show the titles of each chapter so the listener knows what the content is prior to listening to recording.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anthony Saville
- 07-04-18
An odd double tale
In a physical book, it might have seemed like a weird and clever idea to follow two strands in King John's life, ping-ponging back and forth chapter by chapter, but in an audio book it simply does not work.
Good, solid historical information. Not, sadly, helped by a voice too proud of its own exaggeration.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shed End Girl
- 18-05-16
Maybe read it rather than listen!
Would you try another book written by Marc Morris or narrated by Ric Jerrom?
Yes, but I'd read it myself rather than have an audio book
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
His voice was quite dull ... I'm sure he can't change his speaking voice, but I'd have liked the book to sound more exciting and less like a dull lecture.
If this book were a film would you go see it?
Yes!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 28-04-21
A delight for history buffs!
Wonderfully written and wonderfully narrated!! This was my first book about King John and I've enjoyed every single sentence. Interesting from the very beginning until the end!!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Robyn
- 23-06-15
Requires concentration
Having enjoyed Marc Morris's biography of Edward I and it being Magna Carta year, I started this book with great enthusiasm. At first I thought I must have accidentally set the reading speed to half pace but I soon came to appreciate Ric Jerrom's sedate narration because there is a lot to take in. But I found my mind wandering and the need for frequent rewinding and picking up the thread again is irritating. At least part of the problem for me is Morris's decision not to structure the book chronologically - with so many characters and battles and shifting alliances it is difficult enough to keep all the facts in the right place without the unnecessary complication of going backwards and forwards in time - someone who's dead and buried is suddenly back on the scene, alive and plotting. I accept that the problem is mine: Morris's command of the language and Jerrom's narration can't be faulted and I especially appreciate Jerrom's correct pronunciation of the many French nouns. I will definitely return to the book and give it another try at some time.