10 Unclaimed Treasures That Would Make You Filthy Rich

6. The Lost Crown Jewels Of English King John 'The Bad'

Modern Value: $70 Million King John of England (also known as John Lackland or Bad King John), ruled from 1199 to his death in 1216. Frankly, he was a terrible king, unprepared for the pressures of ruling and untrained in diplomacy, warfare or regality as he was the youngest son of Henry II and not expected to inherit much land or power at all, as he had four older brothers. It is the same King John who is regularly lampooned in the Robin Hood mythos, and Disney films as being a coward, a thief and a idiot, which from the evidence we have, he was. He was also the youngest brother of Richard the First (Richard The Lionheart), whom John attempted to unsuccessfully rebel against whilst Richard was fighting the Third Crusade. He overtaxed his people and his lords and barons, leading to the rise of outlaws like the fictional Robin Hood (which was a medieval term for outlaw, not a man's name), and studiously insulted his ruling nobility so much that they rebelled and created the Magna Carta, forming the earliest parliamentary democracy in the world and outlining the rights of a free man for the first time in history above the power of a King. Were these failings not enough, Bad King John also managed to lose the crown jewels of England shortly before his death. Whilst travelling from Bishops Lynn in the east of England to Newark Castle, King John took the safe route around a swampland known as The Wash, as he was dying of dysentery. However, his soldiers and carts of personal possessions took the riskier but faster path through the swampland. Included in the personal possessions of the king were the priceless crown jewels which were inherited from the Empress of Germany. As the tide rose higher, the soldiers were drowned in their armour and the heavy carts sank into the water and soft mud. The treasure, corpses, and possessions of the king were lost in the soft earth and have still not been recovered. King John died a few days later. Hundreds of millions in treasure and historical artefacts, perfectly preserved in the shallow mud around the English coast, just waiting to be found.