Using all of the evidence available in this unit, explain whether King John was a Good King or a Bad King.

This page offers some guidance about how you should go about answering this question. Once you have planned your answer, following the advice on this page, click on the link at the bottom of the page. You can then type your answer. When you have completed your answer you will have the opportunity to compare it with one that has been entered earlier. You might see things in this answer that help you to make improvements to your own work - although the provided answer is NOT a perfect response to this question and could be improved itself!

Before you start writing an answer to a question like this it is a good idea to check what information you will need to use in your answer. For this question you should be using evidence that suggests that John was a good king in some ways but a pretty poor one in other ways.

Task 1 - Open up this worksheet (your teacher may have already provided you with a paper copy of this).

Copy and paste evidence from the sources into the correct columns. Sources that suggest that John was a Good King go into one column, those that suggest he is a Bad king go into the other column. If you have a paper copy you should make a note of the Source numbers in each column or copy relevant sections of the sources into the correct column.

Task 2 - Use the information on the sites listed in the Links Page to add any further pieces of evidence that is relevant. You could also use information from your textbook or a CD ROM if you have these available.

Task 3- Now you have identified the information that you require to answer this question. Below is one way of structuring your answer. Plan your response using this structure. You will benefit from using further information to help you answer this question. These links may be of use.

Headings	What goes in this part of my answer?
Introduction	This should be a short and simple summary of the interpretations that you are going to discuss in your answer.
Ways in which John can be seen as being a good king.	This should explain the strengths of John's reign and use some of the source material to back up the theory that he was quite a good King.
Ways in which John can be seen as a bad King.	You should explain John's mistakes here and use some of the source material to support your findings.
Evaluate the strength of the two possibilities.	Compare the two different sets of evidence. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each interpretation? Is it possible to say that he was always good or always bad as a King? You could refer to sources here to show that you really understand what John's reign was like.
Conclusion.	Sum up your findings.

Done your planning? ready to answer the question? Click here to type your answer up.