John, King of England

About John, King of England

King John of England (1166–1216) is ranked highly by the Pantheon project at #186 for his pivotal, albeit turbulent, reign. As a key political figure of the High Middle Ages, his historical significance is primarily cemented by his forced sealing of Magna Carta in 1215. This document fundamentally limited the monarch's power and is widely regarded as a foundational text for modern constitutional law and liberty, marking a critical turning point in English political development.

Despite this foundational importance, John's modern digital footprint is less commanding. He garnered 1.4 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. This level of attention translates to an Attention Gap score of +3x, indicating he is three times overrepresented in current internet attention relative to his historical rank. For comparison, this is significantly less attention than that given to modern politicians like Joe Biden (#329 importance) who received 10.6M views, though he is still drawing more attention than the vastly more historically significant scholar Huang Xianfan (#130 importance, 19K views).

Encouragingly, John's online interest shows positive momentum, with a 4.9% year-over-year increase in views and a 6% positive momentum shift between Q1 and Q3 of 2025, suggesting his story, likely driven by anniversaries or media, is currently resonating with the contemporary internet audience.