Quoting Stanley Holloway:-
I'll tell of the Magna Carta
that was signed at the Baron's command
on Runnymede Island, in't middle of Thames
by King John, who was known as Lackland.
Lackland because he didn't stand to inherit any of his father's vast territories (they'd already been promised to his older brothers); Soft-sword because he ran away from almost every battle he got anywhere near.
Although I've said I'm quoting Stanley Holloway, these monologues (Magna Carta, Albert and the Lion, etc) were really written by Marriott Edgar, but it was the Stanley Holloway recordings that became famous.