But in his inner soul John was the worst outcome of the Angevins.

He united into one mass of wickedness their insolence, their selfishness, their unbridled lust, their cruelty and tyranny, their shamelessness, their superstition, their cynical indifference to honour or truth.

In mere boyhood he tore with brutal levity the beards of the Irish chieftains who came to own him as their lord.

His ingratitude and perfidy brought his father with sorrow to the grave.

To his brother he was the worst of traitors.