Overnight Accommodation

It is presumed that King John exercised some personal choice in the selection of the locations listed in his itinerary. In addition, changes in his travelling distance might be seen if he deviated to reach specific type of accommodation, even if he has the ultimate option of camping en route. The identification of the precise ownership of each location at the time of King John's visit is only possible in England because of the wealth of historical information still available and in the public domain. The analysis of 1204 was therefore chosen as it is the first full year when King John was solely resident in England.

The pie chart results demonstrate the predominance of both the "crown estate" (76%) and the land held by the church and religious orders (45%).(Figure 15) "Old money" and "New money" distinguishes between established noble families and those whom King John " [r]aised from the dust." and who became a focus of discontent in the latter years of his reign. (Turner, 1988) "Held" accommodation was legally held by the king but not owned by him e.g. during the minority of the rightful heir or as Terra Normannorum - the land settlement after 1204.

Pie chart presenting the frequency of different accommodation types based on ownership and visited by King John during 1204. It shows the predominance of crown holdings and the hospitality of the monasteries. King John legally "held" but did not own some locations e.g. during the minority of heirs or before transferring Terra Normannorum.

225 31

12

14 6 7 2 1

Figure 15: Ownership of Accommodation: King John's itinerary1204 England (n=298)

Royal Monastery Old money Church Town Held New money Queen

74 8 Religious Festivals

The requirements of celebrating either Christmas or Easter may have influenced King John's itinerary, enforcing a time of less travelling, perhaps at a prearranged venue. The observance of Lent and the celebration of Easter each last approximately six weeks (46 days). Comparable to Lent, Advent is also a period of fasting that starts 4weeks before Christmas. However as the Christmas festival lasts only 12 days, this timeframe was used for comparison.

 Easter

Figures 16 and 17 demonstrate that the number of journeys started during Lent ( changes in location) was always greater than that during Easter (46days) throughout King John's reign. This suggests that, although the celebration of Easter curtailed King John's travelling, he often continued with his administration.

Graph of number of location changes during Lent (blue) and number during Easter (red) (y-axis) plotted against the year ( x-axis), showing that King John consistently made fewer journeys during Easter.

Graph of number of administration days during Lent (blue) compared to the number during Easter(red) (y-axis) plotted against the year (x-axis), showing a variable pattern.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207 1208 1209 1210 1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 Change in Location Year

Figure 16: Change in Location by King John: Lent vs Post Easter (46days)

MOVES LENT Moves Easter

10 20 30 40 50 1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207 1208 1209 1210 1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 Number of Admin days Year

Figure 17: Administration Days : Lent vs Easter ( 46days)

75



Likewise, if the twelve days of Christmas had been celebrated then it should have been different from the preceding and following 12 days. (See Figures 18 and 19) Compared to the pattern for Lent/Easter, the observance of Christmas for both journeying and administration was found to be much more variable.

Graph of number of court moves before (blue), during (red) and after (green) Christmas plotted against the year (x-axis) showing a variable pattern.

Graph of number of adminstration undertaken by King John before (blue), during (red) and after (green) Christmas plotted against the year (x-axis) showing a variable pattern.

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Changes in Location Years Figure 18: King John's Changes in location in 12 days before, 12 days

during and 12 days after Christmas (if Christmas was celebrated, red line should be lowest)

moves before Moves during moves post

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Admin days Years Figure 19: Administration days in the 12 days before,

12 days during , and 12 days after Christmas ( if Christmas was celebrated, red line should be lowest)

76

3.4 Summary of Descriptive Analysis

Primary Parameters

The description of travelling activity demonstrated annual differences, whether displayed as calendar or regnal years. (Figures 4&5)

Statistical analysis using Spearman Rank two tailed test showed that there was a significant association between the documentary data and the source availability suggesting that the bimodal pattern reflects the pattern of survival of the sources that undepin the itinerary. Likewise an association was found between the pattern of documentary data and the annual distance that King John travelled. However, there is no obvious connection between these two parameters, unless the annual distances are being influenced by journey numbers, which are linked directly to the pattern of documentary data.

There was no evidence of an association between the documentary data and the variability of the regnal year length, suggesting that such slight changes in year length were not influential. Moreover, there was no association between travelling distance and the no-record days, suggesting that no-record days do not arise from the need to recover from journeying.

This means that the study analysis must be tested against the documentary data to determine the extent of any correlation between them i.e. whether the changes are arising from the patterns of change in the documentary data or are independent of them.

Secondary Parameters

The descriptive analysis of the secondary parameters show a king who appears to have some regular habits e.g. starting journeys mostly at the end of the week (Wed-Fri). It is likely that the greater distance associated with these weekdays is a reflection of the greater number of journeys. Equally, the king's administration mirrors the start day of journeys, with Wednesday appearing to be the day of most change. Starting a journey on Sunday was nearly as common as on Saturday, with some annual variations, suggesting that the king did not consistently keep it as a day of rest. As expected, the king travelled most distance in summer, although it is perhaps surprising to find how much he travelled in winter and how little in Spring, perhaps reflecting external factors such as road conditions or rivers in spate. (Figure 12)

Analyses of other secondary parameters note that aging does not appear to be a significant factor in King John's travelling; that, as the "crown estate" was so extensive, it was unlikely that this would have accounted for significant diversions and therefore changes in the

77

itinerary; and that King John consistently avoided travelling during the Easter Season ( Easter Sunday to Ascension Day) in contrast to his variability at Christmas. Further details of more general interest e.g. maps describing geographical variables are presented in Appendix 5.

This means that King John shows evidence of habit and consistency and therefore unusual activity or inactivity might evoke comment in the historical record.

80