John I (15 November 1316 – 19 November 1316),[note 1] calledthe Posthumous (French:Jean I le Posthume,Occitan:Joan I lo Postume), was theKing of France andNavarre, as the posthumous son and successor ofLouis X, for the four days he lived in 1316. He is the youngest person to be king of France, the only one to have been king from birth, and the only one to hold the title for his entire life. His reign is the shortest of any undisputed French king. Although considered as a king today, his status was not recognized until chroniclers and historians in later centuries began numberingJohn II, thereby acknowledging John I's brief reign.[4]
John reigned for four days under theregency of his uncle,Philip V of France, until his death on 19 November 1316. His death ended the three centuries of father-to-son succession to the French throne. The infant king was buried in theBasilica of Saint-Denis. He was succeeded by his uncle, Philip, whose contested legitimacy led to the re-affirmation of theSalic law, which excluded women from the line of succession to the French throne.
Thechild mortality rate was very high in medieval Europe and John may have died from any number of causes, but rumours of poisoning spread immediately after his death (including one which said that he had been murdered with a pin by his aunt),[5] as many people benefited from it, and as John's father had also died in strange circumstances. The cause of his death is still not known today.[6]
The premature death of John brought the first issue of succession of theCapetian dynasty. WhenLouis X, his father, died without a son to succeed him, it was the first time sinceHugh Capet that the succession from father to son of the kings of France was interrupted. It was then decided to wait until his pregnant widow,Clementia of Hungary, delivered the child. The king's brother,Philip the Tall, was in charge of the regency of the kingdom against his uncleCharles of Valois. The birth of a male child was expected to give France its king. The problem of succession returned when John died four days after birth. Philip ascended the throne at the expense of John's four-year-old half-sister,Joan, daughter ofLouis X andMargaret of Burgundy.
Various legends circulated about this royal child. First, it was claimed that his uncle,Philip the Tall, had him poisoned. Then, a strange story a few decades later started the rumor that the little King John was not dead. During the captivity ofJohn the Good (1356–1360), a man named Giannino Baglioni claimed to be John I and thus the heir to the throne. He tried to assert his rights, but was captured inProvence and died in captivity in 1363.[7]
InThe Man Who Believed He Was King of France, Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri suggests thatCola di Rienzo manufactured false evidence that Baglioni was John the Posthumous in order to strengthen his own power inRome by placing Baglioni on the French throne. Shortly after they met in 1354, di Rienzo was assassinated, and Baglioni waited two years to report his claims. He went to the Hungarian court whereLouis I of Hungary, nephew ofClementia of Hungary, allegedly recognized him as the son of Louis and Clementia. In 1360, Baglioni went toAvignon, butPope Innocent VI refused to receive him. After several attempts to gain recognition, he was arrested and imprisoned inNaples, where he died in 1363.[7]
Maurice Druon'shistorical novel seriesLes Rois maudits dramatises this theory and develops it as a major plotline throughout the series. InLa Loi des mâles (1957), the infant John is temporarily switched with the child of Guccio Baglioni and Marie de Cressay as adecoy byHugues de Bouville, former chamberlain toPhilip IV and protector of the child, and his wife. This child, mistaken for John, is subsequently poisoned byMahaut, Countess of Artois, in order to place John's uncle (and Mahaut's son-in-law),Philippe, Count of Poitiers, on the throne. Marie is coerced into secretly raising John as her own son, named Giannino Baglioni. An adult Giannino was portrayed by Jean-Gérard Sandoz in the 1972French miniseries adaptation of the series, and by Lorand Stoica in the 2005 adaptation.[citation needed]
^These are the dates given by the continuator ofGuillaume de Nangis.[1] TheChronique Parisienne Anonyme de 1316 à 1339 gives 13 and 18 November. His burial took place on Sunday 20 according to the same source,[2] although the 20th was actually a Saturday.[3]
