Publisher's Synopsis
The play begins as a French ambassador enters King John's court. His request is dramatic, the ambassador demands on behalf of King Philip of France that John renounce his throne. King Philip believes his nephew Arthur has claim to the throne that King John occupies. While John presides over a dispute over inheritance between Robert Faulconbridge and Philip the Bastard, his older brother, it becomes evident that Philip the Bastard is the first illegitimate son of King Richard I and therefore John's half-brother.
