Loading summary
Transcript12 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hello friends. We're back for the final chapter of the Plantagenets. Buckle up for a wild, bumpy and bloody ride. Now for those of you new to this Is History, this is a gentle reminder that everyone who subscribes to the show gets episodes one and two straight into their feed at the start of every season. That means subscribers stay a week ahead. Subscribers, also known as My Royal Favourites are also get ad free listening to hundreds more main and bonus episodes stretching right back to Henry II's day. It's all there for you to discover on patreon.com thisishistory and now let season 10 begin.
- [00:45]
B
Study and play come together on a Windows 11 PC and for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the unreal college deal, everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PC. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more@windows.com studentoffer while supplies last ends June 30th terms at aka mscollegepc.
- [01:15]
C
You survived the Miami weekend, nailed the speech and maxed out your credit card in the name of friendship. Now you've got one hangover, four pastel dresses and zero reasons to wear them again. Sell them on Depop. Just snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest and you at least get some of your dignity money back. Someone on Depop wants what you've got. Start selling now Depop Where Taste Recognizes taste.
- [01:49]
A
Pembroke Castle is a grey, forbidding fortress which sits by the water on the southwest tip of Wales, whipped by the gales that blow in from the Atlantic Ocean in late January 1457. It's as bleak as it gets. Not only is this the coldest time of the year today, the castle is also taught with the tension of a young woman giving birth. She's a very young woman. Margaret Beaufort is 13 and a half. That's perilously young to be laboring a child in any age. And Margaret isn't just young, she's also physically tiny. The rooms she's lodged in at the castle have been comfortably set up for childbirth, the fires stoked and the windows and doors sealed to prevent dangerous vapors from getting in. There's a full staff of female midwives and attendants on hand to help Margaret through her ordeal, but there's no ignoring the fact that her body and even her life are in real danger. Not that Margaret's panicking. She's a determined girl and she's putting on a brave face. Others may worry about her safety, but she's only concerned for one thing. Her child. In the nine months that she's been carrying this baby, plague has been sweeping around South West Wales. It killed her husband, Edmund Tudor, striking him down last November at the age of 26. If plague gets into the birthing chamber, all Margaret's toil is going to be in vain. She can't let that happen. Why not? Well, as well as the fierce maternal instinct that's alive in young Margaret, this baby will have royal blood in its veins. Margaret is a granddaughter of John of Gaunt, legendary prince of the Plantagenet dynasty. That means she's a member of the Lancastrian clan headed by the useless, shambling king Henry vi. The child's late father, Edmund Tudor, was also part of the royal family. So the child about to be born will join the small inner circle of the Lancastrian royal house. Which is good, because right now, that family could use a bit of freshening up. As the pangs of childbirth grip Margaret's little body, all thoughts of family trees are forgotten. The women of the chamber gather round to help her through a very long and difficult labor. When the baby is eventually delivered, it seems like a miracle. Margaret has suffered so much that she'll never have another child. But she's alive. And so is her son. There's some debate about what to call him, but Margaret is in no doubt. This boy is going to be named Henry. Henry Tudor. And though the circumstances of his birth are not very promising. A teenage widow for a mom, a remote Welsh coastal castle for a home, fate has decided that he's destined to for a very big future indeed. Because outside these castle walls, the Plantagenets have entered the first spasms of a war that's going to burn the whole dynasty to the ground. Out of the ashes will rise a new family, the Tudors. And in this, the explosive final season of our Plantagenet saga, we're going to follow the astonishing story of their rise to power. I'm dan jones, and from sony music entertainment, this is history. Season 10 of a dynasty to die for, Episode one, a new hope. Whether you've been following this podcast since the beginning or you're just joining us for the first time today, I want to remind you of a golden rule of Plantagenet history. Anything can happen. In the three centuries we've covered, we've seen kings rise from total obscurity to absolute power. And we've seen rulers who seemed untouchable come hurtling down to earth with a splat. It pays to remember one of my favourite medieval chroniclers quotes by good old Gerald of Wales back in the 12th century. Gerald, a sensible man ought to consider that fortune's favor is variable and her wheel is ever turning. Although the merciful Creator is long suffering and patient, he is likewise severe in executing punishment and vengeance upon the stubborn and willful, and usually begins to exact that punishment here on earth. And yes, sure, I don't think we're going to squeeze that down to fit it on a slogan T shirt, but it seems to capture beautifully the topsy turviness of the Plantagenet cinematic universe. One minute the world is eating out of your hand, the next it's sinking its fangs into your glutey eye. Maximi which brings us to where we left our story last season. In season nine, we heard how England went from the triumphs of Henry V's reign to the nadir of Henry VI's. After a promising start, the king went mad, the nobles went feral, and eventually, after much tussling and some truly savage battles, an 18 year old giant called Edward, Earl of March, slashed his way to the top. Edward destroyed his enemies at the monstrous Battle of Towton, crushing a massive Lancastrian army seemingly from nowhere. He then took the throne as Edward iv, becoming the first King of the House of York. If you're a newbie or want to recap, there's all that and more than 200 other episodes available in our archive. To get them ad free, sign up@patreon.com thisishistory the trouble is, it isn't easy at the top. So that's where we're going to pick up our story. At the start of this episode, we were with Margaret Beaufort as she gave birth to Henry Tudor in 1457. Now, I promise we're going to come back to Margaret and baby Henry as this season goes on. But right now we're going to fast forward four and a half years to join Edward IV. In the summer of 1461, he's proven himself on the battlefield at Towton, suggesting that God is down with his claim to kingship. In June, he's been crowned in London by battle and now by coronation in England, has a new king. But if Edward wants to hang on to his crown, he's going to have an almighty struggle. So, to get our story going, let's get to know Edward. He was born in April 1442 in Rouen in Normandy, when his dad, Richard, Duke of York, was in charge of what was Then an English ruled chunk of Norman northern France. Richard fathered a big brood of children and at the time of Edward's coronation, he has three sisters and two brothers. A lot more on them shortly. In person, Edward's mighty impressive. He stands well over six feet tall and as well as being a handy warrior, he's a handsome, charming young man. He's got the characteristic long Plantagenet nose, piercing eyes and a small mouth that seems to have a smile playing at its corners. He also has quite a fancy for the ladies. In fact, this guy sniffs out hot damsel like a wild hog rooting for acorns, a trait that'll cause him quite a lot of trouble as time goes by. But more of that in a moment. For now, Edward's charm is a positive virtue. A propaganda song composed in the aftermath of the Battle of Towton hails Edward as the Rose of Rouen. That refers not only to his birthplace and his incredible riz, but also to his heraldic badge. One of the symbols of Edward's royal House of York is a white rose. And the song makes great play on this. It goes, that rose stands alone the chief flower of this land. Blessed be the time that ever God spread that flower. Well, maybe that's laying it on a bit thick, but whichever way you look at it, Edward IV is an upgrade on Henry vi. In the aftermath of Towton, the old king is in exile in Scotland and many people would agree that England has traded up. Those who would agree most strongly with that assessment are the people who helped Edward win his crown. Chief among them is Edward's right hand man, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, 33 years old in 1461, Warwick has plenty of military experience and no shortage of ambition. He's been at Edward's side for several years and he fancies himself, with some justification, as the power behind the throne. Yorkist propaganda produced around the same time as the Rose of Rouen calls Warwick the flower of manhood. So clearly there's a general horticultural flower theme at play. But more important than flower power are the lands and titles that Warwick accrues as a result of betting long on the House of York. After Edward's coronation, Warwick is showered with rewards. He already holds four, yes, four noble titles. On top of that, he gets renewed in his post as Captain of Calais. That's the English military garrison in northern France, which he made his stronghold during the wars in Henry VI's reign. And on top of that, he pockets a whole portfolio of new officers. Edward makes him constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports. Those are the most important trading towns on England's southeast coast. Effectively, this means Warwick owns the whole English Channel, the key military and trade seaway with Europe. And that's just the beginning. He also is appointed as Warden of the north, meaning he has oversight of the turbulent Scottish border. He's put in charge of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of York. Those are the two huge private estates that owned by the Crown. Then there's a massive tranche of land confiscated from nobles who sided with Henry VI at Towton. Especially the Percy family, who are the long term opponents of Warwick's Neville family in northern England. The financial value of all this makes Warwick the richest non royal noble of all time. The political heft puts him virtually on a par with the King. Foreign diplomats describe him as being the governor of all England. One French observer writes to the King of France that the English have but two rulers. Monsieur le Warwick and another one whose name I have forgotten. Obviously that's a joke. The French can be amusing sometimes, but like all good one liners, it's got a sharp sting of truth to it. Warwick is more than a decade older than Edward and he's been around the block. He reckons with some justification, that if it wasn't for him, there would be no House of York. So if the world wants to see him as a second king, that suits Warwick down to the ground. But if Warwick is going to enjoy all the riches and the influence that being a kingmaker brings, then it's going to fall on him to make sure Edward stays secure in his crown. And it's not long before he has to do exactly that. Because within two years of Edward's coronation, there's a serious assault on the kingdom. Royal spies find out that a plot is being hatched between renegade Lancastrians in England and foreign enemies outside pulling the strings is a person who's nursed more hatred towards the House of York than anyone else. The old Queen of England, Margaret of Anjou. You know what?
- [16:10]
D
You gotta feel sorry for King Henry vi, because he wouldn't be anybody's personality hire and he was just as bad at HR as at kingship. He's the guy who forced all his warring nobles to hold hands in the Love Day parade. If only Plantagenet England had indeed sponsored jobs with indeed, you can spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all the right boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of my show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com thisishistory just go to Indeed.com thisishistory right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.comthisishistory Terms and conditions apply.
- [17:05]
A
Need a hiring hero?
- [17:06]
D
This is a job for Indeed. Sponsored Jobs
- [17:11]
E
Good sleep is everything. That's why Ollie's science back support is made with a blend of melatonin and L theanine for both kiddos and grown ups. So when your mind won't switch off, you've got something that can help your racing thoughts and restless nights won't stand a chance. Find Ollie Sleep Solutions for the whole family@ollie.com that's O L L Y do.
- [17:37]
A
An ill and tired 60 year old shuffles towards the chopping block. An expectant crowd gathers around. They've all made it to Tower Hill, the area immediately surrounding the Tower of London. It's London's top spot to go and see a lively show, assuming you're into public executions. In late February 1462, it's John de Vere's turn. The Earl of Oxford has been around the political scene in England for decades, but it's a wonder the guy hasn't already died from a bad case of splinters in the backside, given how much of his life he spent sitting on the fence. For most of the wars between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, Oxford avoided committing to either side. Then, with incredibly bad timing, just before the Battle of Towton, he did pick a team, and unfortunately, it was the wrong one. He went for Queen Margaret and King Henry, and that decision has now come back to haunt him. Oxford survived the accession of the new king, Edward iv, but he forgot to update his settings to political reality. Having chosen the Lancastrian side, he stuck with it and got himself caught up in a web of intrigue aimed at bringing down the new king. The plot that Oxford's got himself mixed up in has more moving parts than a swinger's party. The schemas include a hotch potch of exiled Lancastrian aristocrats. They're backed, with varying degrees of seriousness, by foreign royals, including the rulers of Scotland, France, Brittany, Aragon, Portugal and Denmark. Putting it all together is Queen Margaret of Anjou, who's been shuttling between Scotland and and the courts of Europe, trying to whip up support for a comeback for her and old King Henry. Yorkist propaganda accuses Margaret of wanting to destroy the realm to pervert the royal succession and bring robbery and vengeance. She would say she's just trying to get back what's hers by right. Her plan is, or rather was, to launch a three pronged invasion with armies hitting the Yorkist regime from Wales, southern England and the north, while insurgents within the realm rose up to create civil disturbance, overwhelming the new King's capacity to resist only, well, self Evidently, the whole thing has unravelled. Loose lips have sunk ships and key figures in England, like Oxford, have been betrayed. Six days ago, Oxford's eldest son was divorced from his head on this very spot outside the Tower of London. Now it's the older man's turn. If anyone thinks there might be mercy given Oxford's obvious ill health, they're dead wrong. The old geezer is brought forward, offered any last words, then made to kneel down and it's sayonara, sunshine. The wars of the Roses have claimed their latest noble head. As the axe comes down on Oxford, the heat goes out of the wider plot. He was party to smelling failure. The foreign backers mostly lose interest. Mostly, but not totally. Queen Margaret, trying to salvage something from the mess, keeps on lobbying foreign rulers to help her out. In the autumn of 1462, she manages to scrape together enough donations and troops to take a few dozen ships and 800 mercenaries to northern England, where her men invade the coast of Northumbria and take control of a few castles. This isn't enough to threaten to collapse Edward's rule completely, but it is still a bloody nuisance. So now is the moment that Edward's heavily rewarded right hand man, the Earl of Warwick, has to step up and show his worth. Across the winter of 1462-63, he works his way around the castles Margaret's men are holding and kicks the rebels out of them. By March 1463, he seems to have got the job done. And although he can't lay his hands on Queen Margaret herself or the feeble old Henry vi, he manages to split them up. When it becomes clear that their plot has fizzled out, Margaret hightails it to France, taking with her her nine year old son. Will she ever see old Henry again? Does she ever want to? She's got to have mixed feelings about that one. Either way, this is very much round one to King Edward IV and the Earl of Warwick, and they follow up round one by taking rounds two and three. In the spring of 1464, there's another attempt by renegade Lancastrian nobles to incite rebellion in the North. The instigator this time is one of Queen Margaret's closest allies, Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. He gets around 5,000 men together and starts raising hell in northern England. Once again, Edward and Warwick have to respond. And they do. They're already working hard through diplomatic channels to persuade the French and Scots to stop backing their enemies. And when it seems like diplomacy isn't getting the message through to the Lancastrians in England, they send an army out into the north. It's led by Warwick's brother, John, another old school veteran of England's civil wars, which by the looks of things, are still very much on. John Neville wastes no time. He runs the Lancastrian rebels to ground, engaging them in two battles known as the Battle of Hedgeley Moor and the Battle of Hexham. At Hexham, in May 1464, John Neville scores a crushing victory. He puts the Lancastrian army to flight and kills its leader, the Duke of Somerset. With that, the last embers of Lancastrian rebellion in the north of England are finally snuffed out. Queen Margaret has no chance of rallying another insurgency anytime soon. And though King Henry is still a free man, the old duffer isn't much of a threat to anyone on his own. It's taken three years, but by the summer of 1464, Edward and Warwick look like they've survived. The Lancastrian threat has been reduced to Margaret of Anjou fuming with her son somewhere on the continent. Henry vi, who's AWOL but not considered a very active threat, and some minor characters who don't seem very threatening to anyone, like the seven year old Henry Tudor. But he and his mother, Margaret Beaufort, have been placed under genteel house arrest with a loyal Yorkist family in South Wales. And honestly, they don't seem like a big problem. So now Edward and Warwick can pour themselves a drink, take a deep breath and start to think about plans for the rest of Edward's reign. When they do that, there seems to be one issue that matters above all others. Securing the succession. They need to take a grip on the long term future of the family. For that, Edward needs to get married, make a sensible foreign alliance and get to work on producing some Yorkist princes and princesses. The last bit at least, feels like a job he's up to. So Warwick adds a new job to his ever lengthening resume as the King's right hand man and puppet master. He's now a matchmaker. It's time to find the Rose of Rouen, a hot piece of medieval marriage material material to make into the first ever Yorkist queen.
- [26:54]
F
This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking, maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing. It's built to help you find and own a home with agents who close twice as many deals. When you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get started@redfin.com own the dream.
- [27:29]
A
The ambassadors from Castile have been hanging around in the chamber in Westminster palace for some time. They've been waiting and waiting and waiting. Then England's charming young King Edward IV bursts into the room. He seems a little out of breath, and when he has time to sit and everyone has a drink in their hands, he explains that he's just dashed 60 miles from Cambridge to meet them. This being the king business, what a job. You need to be everywhere all at once. But Edward's very glad the ambassadors waited, because he's been told they have quite a proposal for him. Which is right, the ambassadors explain. They've been sent to England to make Edward the offer of a wife. And not just any wife. The king of Castile is Enrique iv and he wants to suggest that Edward marries his sister Isabella. That's not a bad offer. Castile is a major kingdom. Isabella is just approaching her 13th birthday, but as Margaret Beaufort could have told them, the medieval marriage market takes a remarkably liberal view of that sort of thing, and she is assuredly a top rank European princess. Edward listens to the ambassador's proposal and then makes a big show of rewarding them for their generosity in even delivering this wonderful message. He gives them a free pass to bring some trading ships to England under his protection anytime in the next year to trade as much wine as they like in exchange for as much English produce as they can carry. It's a nice little sweetener, but then again, it needs to be. Because actually, for all Edward's enthusiastic demeanour, he's already decided that he isn't going to take them up on this marriage offer. There are a few reasons. One is that there's something of a stain hanging over Isabella's family. Her brother, King Enrique, who's making the offer, is nicknamed Enrique the Impotent. That's a direct reference to his own first marriage, which Enrique found himself unable to consummate despite years of trying. Henrique claims that someone had, hard to know how to phrase this politely, laid a curse on his royal wiener. This was a special sort of curse that only affected his ability to get it on with his wife and not with any number of mistresses and sex workers, several of whom were called to give evidence to that effect in a court case to annul his marriage. Anyway, the ins and outs or not of that episode don't need to concern us here. The fact is that marrying the sister of Enrique the Impotent doesn't fill Edward with much confidence. And more to the point, he has other irons in the fire. Or rather, his consigliere, the Earl of Warwick, does. For the past three years, Warwick's been putting feelers out around Europe for potential wives for Edward, and there are a number of plausible candidates. The Duke of Burgundy has a sister. She's one possibility. Then there's Mary of Gelders, the widow of James II of Scotland, who's been sheltering Queen Margaret of Anjou and Henry vi. Mary of Guelders is older than Edward, and although there are many rumors about her exciting love life since she's been widowed, a Scottish alliance might not be the worst idea in the world, especially given Mary's current Lancastrian inclinations. Then there's France. Warwick has put a word in with the recently crowned French King, Louis xi, wondering if he has any daughters who might make a suitable English queen. Since Louis daughter is only three, he's nixed that idea. But he's offered up another option, his sister in law, Bona of Savoy, on the grounds of her name alone. Old Bona is the opposite of Enrique, the impotent sister, and a French alliance has been a reliable route in international marriage diplomacy for generations, stretching all the way back to Edward I's day. For more on Edward I, listen back to season four of A Dynasty to Die For. I'd start with episode four, A New Arthur. The point is, Warwick has plenty of options, and if anything, the problem is choosing which of these eligible young European princesses is going to be the match most fitting for King Edward and the House of York, now that their problems with the Lancastrians are starting to recede. By the end of summer 1464, Warwick is leaning towards a French match and he's about to send a diplomatic delegation to the town of Saint Omer, south of Calais, to get serious about thrashing out details. It looks like Warwick's first, first big coup on the international stage is about to materialize and all he needs is for Edward to sign off on it. The House of York will be properly up and running as a royal dynasty. A meeting is fixed for September 1464. There, Edward and Warwick can do the big reveal and tell the rest of the English nobility just. Just which lucky lady is going to be England's new queen. But as the date for the public announcement approaches, Warwick starts to get a funny feeling that not everything is as it should be. For the first time, there seems to be a distance between what he's thinking and what the King is doing. Edward's not exactly leaving Warwick on red, but he's not responding with the same gusto he used to. Is Warwick imagining it or could the King really be getting cold feet? Either way, Warwick is right to be worried. What he doesn't know is that his protege Edward has indeed been up to something. It's a plan utterly of his own devising and so audacious that that when he reveals what it is, it's worthy of its own reality TV show. What he's done is. Well, I'll save that for next time. To find out just what Edwards got on his mind and what Warwick has now got on his political plate, stick around and listen to our next action packed episode of this Is History. Well, if I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, there are few more potent moving forces in history than boners. And if you want to find out whether it is Boner of Savoy or someone else entirely who's caught Edward's roving eye, then you can listen to episode two right now. By signing up to become a royal favourite, as well as getting every episode a week early and ad free, you'll have access to lively chat rooms, discounts on my books and video updates from me every week. So go on, join the royal court@patreon.com
- [35:50]
F
thisishistory spring just slid into your DMs. Grab that boho, look for that rooftop dinner, those sandals that can keep up with you, and hang some string lights to give your patio a glow up. Spring's calling, Ross, work your magic.