the two kings patch up a peace.
Arthur's claim is set aside. King John's niece is to marry the
French King's son.

At this point the Pope's legate causes the French King to break off
the negotiations. The war begins again. King John captures Prince
Arthur, and gives order that secretly he be put to death. England
is in a disturbed condition. The French resolve to attempt the
conquest of England.

The report that Arthur has been murdered by the King's order sets
England in turmoil. The French land in Kent. The lords find
Arthur's dead body outside Northampton castle. They are convinced
that King John has caused him to be murdered.

King John finds that he cannot fight longer. He makes his
submission to the Pope's legate, trusting that the legate may make
the French King come to terms. The French King cannot be moved to
peace. John summons up his forces, and gives successful battle to
him. The English lords, who have allied themselves to the French
King, break off and make their submission to King John. Without
their help, the army is too weak. The French invasion comes to
nothing. The Pope's legate makes peace. King John dies of poison
given to him by a monk.

Like the best Shakespearean tragedies, _King John_ is an intellectual
form in which a number of people with obsessions illustrate the idea of
treachery. The illustrations are very various. Perhaps the most
interesting of them are those subtle ones that illustrate treachery to
type, or want of conformity to a standard imagined or established.

In the historical plays, Shakespeare's mind broods on the idea that our
tragical kings failed because they did not conform to a type lower than
themselves. Henry V conforms to type. He has the qualities that impress
the bourgeoisie. He is a success. Henry VI does not conform to type. He
has the qualities of the Christian mystic. He is stabbed in the Tower.
Edward IV conforms to type. He has the qualities that impress the
rabble. He is a success. Richard II does not conform to type. He is a
man of ideas. He is done to death at Pomfret. King John does not conform
to type. His intellect is bigger than his capacity for affairs. He is
poisoned by a monk at Swinstead.

King John presents that most subtle of all the images of treachery, a
man who cannot conform to the standard of his own ideas. He fails as a
king because his int