King John Resources

We've got the 411 on everybody's favorite cod-piece-lovin' playwright.

Read the play, or just your favorite characters' lines.

All the dirt on the historical King John.

Be sure to check out the article "John and Richard I: Brothers and Rivals" if you want the backstory on how John got the crown.

This website provides background information on Shakespeare's famous plays about English history—otherwise known as the "Histories" or "History Plays."

This silent film of King John is the first-ever movie adaptation of a Shakespeare play. Check out the "Videos" section of this module to watch a clip from this historic film.

This play hasn't exactly inspired a bunch of Hollywood blockbusters. That said, this is a solid adaptation of Shakespeare's play.

Here is the famous document that King John I's nobles forced him to sign. This Magna Carta signing doesn't actually happen in Shakespeare's play, but his audience would have known all about it.

This site lets you get a good look at the first page of the first printed edition of King John.

This clip—from 18 flippin' 99—shows the first-ever filmed scene from a Shakespeare play, and believe it or not, it's from King John. Based on the writhing and contortions of the main actor, we're going to guess that this depicts John's death scene from Act V, Scene vii.

Want to see how scary Act IV, Scene 1 can be? Take a look at this awesome performance and thank your lucky stars no one's rushing at you with hot pokers to put out your eyes.

An actor performs Cardinal Pandolf's monologue from Act 3, Scene 1, lines 179-186, 189-223.

This medieval image shows the historical King John I, out hunting.

On this website, you can see images from a 1950s production of Shakespeare's play.