King John, a history play thought to have been written before 1596, presents a different view of English history than did Shakespeare's earliest history plays, which depicted the infighting among the royals during the War of the Roses. While King John focuses on actual historical events, it does not attribute any fundamental meaning or significance to King John's reign. Rather, it treats history as an unpredictable unfolding of events, in which seemingly decisive moments become insignificant episodes in a haphazard universe.
Yet audiences who lived during Shakespeare's time may have found King John, which is set in the thirteenth century, to be a reflection on the contemporary debate about royal legitimacy that surrounded the competing claims to the throne of Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots. The parallels between the play and these debates are numerous. John's claim to the throne is based on the will of Richard the Lionhearted, his elder brother and the previous king; Elizabeth's father Henry VIII made Elizabeth his heir by will, despite disputes about the legality of appointing successors. The pope excommunicates both John and Elizabeth from the Catholic Church. For more information about the details of Queen Elizabeth's life, see her SparkNote Biography.
John's rival to the throne, Arthur, was the son of John's elder brother, as Elizabeth's rival Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII's elder sister. Succession usually passed to the offspring of the older child, so both John and Elizabeth's claims to the throne were weak. King Philip of France champions Arthur's case, and Mary's claims were supported by foreign kings as well, including King Philip II of Spain. John orders Arthur's death yet tries to distance himself from it, just as Elizabeth ordered Mary's assassination and distanced herself from the murder. Arthur's death provides an excuse for a French invasion, as Mary's death provoked Philip II to launch the Spanish Armada. As England is saved by a storm that shipwrecks the French reinforcements, so storms saved England from the brunt of the Spanish Armada. To an extent, this list of parallels oversimplifies both theater and history, but it nevertheless evokes the themes Shakespeare emphasized in this play, including the struggle with the pope, threat of invasion, and the problem of illegitimate rule.