Lesson Y7-U04-L01

Y7-U04-L01 King John A Good or Bad King Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 4

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y7-U04-L01, King John A Good or Bad King: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 4: Year 7: King John, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. How many main jobs did a good medieval king have?

    • Two
    • Four
    • Three
    • Six

  2. Which of these was one of the four jobs of a good medieval king?

    • Collecting taxes from every village in the kingdom
    • Building as many castles as possible across the country
    • Keeping justice by making fair laws and settling quarrels
    • Writing letters to other kings across Europe each year

  3. Why did a medieval king need to respect the Church?

    • The Church ran all the courts and decided the verdicts of every trial
    • The Church controlled every castle and could seize it at any time
    • Being on good terms with the Pope made a king look chosen by God
    • The Church collected taxes that the king could not gather himself

  4. What might happen to a medieval king who failed at his job?

    • He was paid a larger sum of money by his barons to step down
    • Powerful men might turn against him
    • He was sent to live in a monastery for the rest of his life
    • He was automatically given a second crown by the Church

  5. Who was King John's older brother and a famous warrior-king?

    • Henry Tudor
    • Edward the Confessor
    • Richard the Lionheart
    • Harold Godwinson

  6. Who was John's father, from whom he inherited a huge empire?

    • Edward I
    • William I
    • Henry VIII
    • Henry II

  7. In which years did King John rule England?

    • 1216 to 1272
    • 1199 to 1216
    • 1066 to 1087
    • 1154 to 1189

  8. What three powerful enemies did John inherit trouble from?

    • The Witan, the Church and the Danelaw
    • The Danes, the Welsh and the Irish
    • His barons, the King of France and the Pope
    • The Vikings, the Scots and the Normans

  9. What was 'scutage'?

    • A penalty paid by a murderer to the family of his victim
    • A tax on every peasant's harvest paid to the local lord each year
    • Money that barons paid to the king instead of fighting in his army
    • A fee paid to the Church each time a new castle was built

  10. Why did John tax his barons so heavily?

    • He wanted to pay off the Pope's debts from the Crusades
    • He wanted to build a palace in London for his own family
    • He wanted to buy the loyalty of the peasants in every village
    • He needed huge sums of money to fight his wars

  11. How did John treat some barons he distrusted?

    • He sent them to fight the Vikings in the north of England
    • He gave them extra land and invited them to his court
    • He made them priests in the Church and sent them abroad
    • He took their lands and held their children hostage

  12. What did the barons come to think of John?

    • That he was a Viking who had no right to be king
    • That he was too holy and gave too much to the Church
    • That he was greedy and unfair
    • That he was too generous with their land and money

  13. How did most people judge King John's treatment of his barons?

    • He left them alone and never asked them for money or support
    • He taxed them heavily and treated some cruelly, so they came to distrust him
    • He gave away all his lands to them so they had no reason to complain
    • He rewarded them generously and they remained loyal to him

  14. John lost which important French lands in 1204?

    • Flanders
    • Brittany
    • Aquitaine
    • Normandy

  15. Who was the clever King of France who attacked John's French lands?

    • Philip II
    • Henry the Lion
    • Charles the Bald
    • Louis IX

  16. Why was losing Normandy so damaging for John?

    • It allowed John to remove all the taxes from his barons
    • It cost the barons land and money, which made them more hostile to him
    • It made John the most popular king in the history of England
    • It gave John more money from the Church to fund his war

  17. What did John's wars with France lead to at home?

    • A large new harbour built in every port of the kingdom
    • Brutal taxes and heavy demands on the barons
    • Peace across England and a reduction of all taxes
    • The end of the Church's power over the king's council

  18. Why did John's reputation suffer?

    • He was a Norman who refused to speak English to his subjects
    • He was weak and lazy, and never took any decisions as king
    • He was suspicious and cruel, even though he was clever and a good organiser
    • He was generous and kind, but always lost his battles in France

  19. Which of these best sums up John's first big problem?

    • He gave the Church all of his land and money in the north
    • He squeezed his barons for money and treated some cruelly
    • He refused to fight any wars and let the French keep Normandy
    • He gave his barons too much land and too many castles

  20. Which of these was NOT one of the four jobs of a good medieval king?

    • Treating the barons fairly and listening to their advice
    • Building as many new monasteries as possible across the kingdom
    • Winning wars to defend the kingdom and its lands
    • Keeping justice by making fair laws and settling quarrels

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