Although fond of music, however, he had not inherited his dynasty’s love of poetry and troubadours, but he possessed to the full its peculiar brand of sardonic humour. The Easter he ascended to the throne, bishop Hugh of Lincoln rebuked him publicly for not receiving holy communion (something he had not done since he was a boy) and showed him a carving of the Last Judgement, pointing to a scene of damned souls being dragged down to hell by demons; John calmly pulled the saint to the other side, which represented the souls of the saved ascending to heaven, and said, ‘Let’s look at these instead – I am going to go with them.’
He delighted in shocking clerics with his frivolous and often blasphemous wit.
Source:
Seward, Desmond. “King John.” Eleanor of Aquitaine. New York: Times , 1979. 220-21. Print.
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