then followed John’s quarrel with Pope Innocent III. over the election of an archbishop of Canterbury; the Pope consecrated Stephen Langton; John refused to receive him; in 1208 the kingdom was placed under an interdict, and next year the king was excommunicated; John on his side confiscated Church property, exiled the bishops, exacted homage of William of Scotland, and put down risings in Ireland and Wales; but a bull, deposing him and absolving his vassals from allegiance, forced him to submit, and he resigned his crown to the Pope’s envoy in 1213; this exaction on Innocent’s part initiated the opposition to Rome which culminated in the English Reformation; the rest of the reign was a struggle between the king, relying on his suzerain the Pope, and the people, barons, and clergy, for the first time on one side; war broke out; the king was forced to sign Magna Charta at Runnymede in 1215, but the Pope annulled the Charter; the barons appealed for help to the Dauphin, and were prosecuting the war when John died at Newark (1167-1216).

JOHN, the name of no fewer than 23 popes.  J. I., Pope from 523 to 526, was canonised; J. II., pope from 532 to 535; J. III., Pope from 560 to 578; J. IV., pope from 640 to 642; J. V., Pope from 686 to 687; J. VI., pope from 701 to 705; J. VII., Pope from 705 to 707; J. VIII., pope from 872 to 882; J. IX., Pope from 898 to 900; J. X., pope from 914 to 928; J. XI., Pope from 931 to 936; J. XII., Pope from 956 to 964—­was only 18 when elected, led a licentious life; J. XIII., pope from 965 to 972; J. XIV., Pope from 984 to 985; J. XV., pope in 985; J. XVI., Pope from 985 to 996; J. XVII., pope in 1003; J. XVIII., Pope from 1003 to 1009; J. XIX., pope from 1024 to 1033; J. XX., Anti-Pope from 1043 to 1046; J. XXI., Pope from 1276 to 1277; J. XXII., Pope from 1316 to 1334—­a learned man, a steadfast, and a courageous; J. XXIII., Pope in 1410, deposed in 1415—­was an able man, but an unscrupulous.

JOHN, EPISTLES OF, three Epistles, presumed to have been written by the author of the Gospel, from the correspondence between them both as regards thought and expression; the occasion of writing them was the appearance of Antichrist within the bounds of the Church, in the denial of Christ as God manifest in flesh, and the object of writing them was to emphasise the fact that eternal life had appeared in Him.

JOHN, KNIGHTS OF ST., a religious order of knights, founded in 1048, and instituted properly in 1110, for the defence of pilgrims to Jerusalem; established a church and a cloister there, with a hospital for poor and sick pilgrims, and were hence called the Hospital Brothers of St. John of Jerusalem; the knights consisted of three classes, knights of noble birth to bear arms, priests to conduct worship, and serving brothers to tend the sick; on the fall of Jerusalem they retired to Cyprus, conquered Rhodes, and called themselves Knights of Rhodes; driven from which they settled in Malta and took the name of Knights of Malta, after which the knighthood had various fortunes.