John II (1319–1364)

King of France from 1350. He was defeated and captured by the Black Prince at Poitiers (1356) and imprisoned in England. Released in 1360, he failed to raise the money for his ransom and returned to England in 1364, where he died.

John II (1455–1495)

King of Portugal. He curbed the power of the Portuguese feudal nobility during his reign. He continued the tradition of giving patronage to Portuguese explorers, encouraging Diogo Cam , who discovered the mouth of the Congo in 1484 and Bartholomeu Diaz, who discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. He concluded the Treaty of Tordesillas with Spain in 1494. By this treaty the boundary lines were drawn between possessions lately acquired by the two countries in the New World.