They were no longer members or participants in Church life, so few people associated with them.
He was excommunicated by the church
you are no longer able to receive the sacraments and you are in a state of mortal sin.
i smell
No, he was excommunicated from the Lutheran Church.
When a person was excommunicated, he or she was no longer in the good graces of the Church, and certain sacraments were not available, including the mass. The person often could not be buried in sacred ground. These were important points at a time when the most important thing in the lives of many people was the salvation of their souls. But even if a person did not believe, excommunication could be a serious problem. When a person was excommunicated, others who had sworn oaths to that person could be excused from those oaths, or even excommunicated themselves for trying to support the excommunicated person. In the case of a king, this meant that members of the nobility were no longer required to support them, people who might profit from the king being deposed had an excuse to try to see that it happened, enemies were excused from treaties, and friends were not obliged to provide promised support.
King John was excommunicated in England
They were excommunicated. This is still a term used today.
He became King after his brother Richard I died. As Richard I left no heirs John became King.
Martin Luther didn't determine people got to heaven, but the Catholic Church was the entity that determined who got into heaven. If they excommunicated a person that was taken away. People were in great fear of being excommunicated by the church.
I assume that you are asking about the roman catholic church. People are excommunicated daily. Abortion for example is an automatic cause of excummunication, though it can be absolved by most priests. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excommunication#Roman_Catholic_Church
An excommunicated person was denied contact with most of society.
Galileo was excommunicated by the Catholic Church in 1633 on the orders of the Inquisition. He was found guilty of heresy for supporting the Copernican view that the Earth revolves around the Sun.