By 1215, King John of England was in a bit of a pickle. The Anglo-French War of 1202-1214, where England and France fought for the domination of northern France, ended with a victory by the French in 1214. Returning to England, King John soon ran into a confrontation with the feudal barons who had financed his largely mercenary army. By 1215, fed up with the onerous taxation, the rebel barons renounced their allegiance to King John and captured the city of London. In June 1215, the King and the rebel barons met on a battlefield in southern England where the barons made their formal peace with King John in return for his seal on a document that came to be known as the Magna Carta.
Viewed as a peace treaty, as it was intended, the Magna Carta was a spectacular failure. Soon after placing his seal on the Magna Carta, King John asked Pope Innocent III, the Overlord of England, to annul it. The rebel barons, in turn, refused to surrender control of London. By September 1215, both King John and the barons had repudiated the Magna Carta, leading to the First Baron’s War.
