Transcript
A (0:00)
Hello and welcome to another episode of this Is History. I'm glad to have you here. Before we begin, just a gentle reminder that you can join our royal court on Patreon where you can become one of my royal favourites. It's a great way to expand your understanding of the history behind each episode and amplify your general medieval history knowledge. Thanks to our thriving community of medievalists. Special thanks go to our royal favourites from Portugal, Sonia and Michelle, who've kindly updated our travel thread with some excellent medieval Portuguese castles and of course, royal favourites. Get early ad free access to every Thisishory main and bonus episode. Hit patreon.com thisishistory to sign up now on with the show. When I was a little boy in the Middle Ages, I loved window shopping at the market. The sharp clink of the blacksmith making the day's most fashionable armour plates. But the next week, the stall disappeared. I was devastated. If only I had a magic portal to help me retrace my steps. Thankfully, Shopify does just that. If you've ever found yourself scrolling an online store with that purple shop button glowing in the corner, that's Shopify. It's an online commerce platform that makes buying and selling super easy. Shopify gives everyone that extra push to make that final purchase with one magic button. It saves all of those last minute details like payment and shipping information, so you don't have to plug them in every time. So if you want fewer people abandoning your cart, give Shopify a try. Sign up for your pound one per month trial and start selling today at shopify.co.uk thisishistory Go to shopify.co.uk thisISHistory that's shopify.co.uk thisIShistory.
B (1:53)
The new Popeyes and Hot.
A (1:54)
Ones menu is fire flavor. Trust me, because I'm about to eat it. That hits right away. Attempt the Popeyes Hot Ones menu in stores. Love that chicken from Popeyes limited time.
B (2:06)
And participate in U.S. restaurants.
A (2:16)
Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales, walks along the road from London to Canterbury, listening to the cheerful chatter of pilgrims going in the same direction. Muted sunlight is breaking through an overcast sky and his boots crunch on dried leaves. Up ahead inside Canterbury's city gates, bells are ringing and the refrain of hymns carries on the gentle breeze. As he passes through the crowds In Canterbury streets, 17 year old Henry looks at the magnificent Gothic towers of Canterbury Cathedral. He raises a hand gently to touch his cheek. It's a miracle he's alive to hear these bells and see this beautiful house of God coming into View. It's September 1403. A couple of months ago, Henry was lying on an operating table in England's Midlands at Kenilworth Castle, where the surgeon, John Bradmore, cut an arrowhead out from somewhere deep inside his head. It was a horrible, painful, long and frightening experience. The surgery and recovery took a month. But somehow, not only did Henry not die, he's made a full recovery. Instead of being lowered into an early grave, he's walking about as though nothing happened. It's like God wants him alive for some reason, which is why Henry's here in Canterbury. He's come to pray at the tomb of Thomas Beckett. Beckett was an Archbishop of Canterbury who was hacked to death in his own cathedral back in the day of Henry's Great, Great. A Few More Greats, Granddad Henry ii. Go back to season one if you want to catch up on that. These days, TB is England's favourite saint, some guy called Geoffrey Chaucer, a vague relative of Henry's granddad. John of Gaunt has even written an epic poem about pilgrims visiting his shrine. Now Prince Henry enters Canterbury Cathedral, which is filled with solemn chanting of cathedral cannons and the hiss of burning candles. He waits in a line of shuffling pilgrims, kneels before Becket's tomb and whispers thanks to God for keeping him safe. Then he gets up and goes back outside on to his next pilgrim destination, a shrine to the Virgin Mary at Walsingham in Norfolk. As he goes, he might reflect that although things have been hairy in England since his dad became king, at least it's not as bad as it was in 1170 when Becket was chopped down. But what Prince Henry doesn't know is, is that in Plantagenet, England, things often get worse before they get better. God never enjoys having his churchmen hacked up like dog meat. And that's a lesson this generation of Plantagenets is going to have to learn the hard way. I'm Dan Jones and from Sony Music Entertainment. This is history Season 8 of A Dynasty to Die For Episode 2 Whack a Mole how much does God interfere in human affairs? People have answered that question in different ways over the centuries. In the 21st century, many of us like to think we're super rational, post enlightenment beings who understand enough about science and statistics to put God to one side when we're explaining the vagaries of life. But sometimes we're maybe a little bit more like medieval people than we imagine. Watch a soccer match and you'll see players sign themselves with the cross and point to the skies when they Score a goal. If someone sneezes, it's still considered good form to say bless you, as though the big man upstairs is weighing up whether to turn that sneeze into a fatal dose of the plague. And let's just say, if you're a heavyweight world politician who survived an assassination attempt, it's not totally unlikely you'll be telling everyone afterwards that you're alive. Thanks to divine intervention, the Middle Ages may not be so far away as we think. So let's dive back into the Middle Ages and take a look around England where we left it at the end of the last episode. Henry IV had won the Battle of Shrewsbury. His son, Prince Henry, somehow survived being shot in the face with a longbow, but needed the best surgeon in the land, John Bradmore, to keep him alive. The operation is a success. Bradmore gets the arrowhead out, sews Henry's face up, and I reckon he prescribes a potion of his own devising to make sure Henry doesn't have a monstrous scar on his face. This is my theory anyway, and I know lots of people will disagree. But I'll explain it in more detail on today's episode of this Is History. Plus, head over to our Patreon to hear that when young Henry is back up on his feet, he goes and gives thanks to God at Thomas Becket's tomb in Canterbury. Then he goes on to see the Virgin Mary in Walsingham. We don't know exactly what he says when he prays, but we can speculate that he asks God to show him why he's been saved. We can also guess that young Henry asks God to spare some consideration for his dear old dad, King Henry iv, because ever since he became king, the old geezer's problems have been mounting up and they don't show all that many signs of dissipating. The list of issues is long and gets longer by the month. Wales remains in uproar, convulsed by a rebellion started by the guerrilla leader Oweng Glyndur. Prince Henry's post pilgrimage intrey is daunting. He has to beat the Welsh into submission, win back castles and punish those rebels he can lay his hands on Ireland, where Richard II had tried to stamp some royal authority in the waning days of his reign, is showing no signs of obedience. Henry IV has sent his second son, Thomas, across the Irish Sea to be the figurehead of royal efforts to bring the place under English control. But Thomas and his advisors get nowhere. They have to pawn their valuables just to cover their costs. Of living. Thomas is incredibly unimpressed with the whole caper and not at all keen to stay there. Scotland is another royal pain in the hind quarters. The Scots are as keen as they ever have been to raid across the English border. They're also quite fond of encouraging the rumor that they're harbouring Rich II somewhere or other. Rumors of the old King's miraculous escape from death at Pontefract Castle just will not go away. Scotland is an extra painful thorn in Henry IV's side because of the political ag it gives him domestically. In an ideal world, he'd love to send his third son John up there to get some experience in charge of peacekeeping, but he has to walk on eggshells because of the Percy family. The Percy's are the noble dynasty who were behind the rebellion against Henry IV that led to the Battle of Shrewsbury. Henry Hotspur and Thomas Percy were the prime culprits there. Those two got spaghetti bolognese as punishment for their insurrection. But Hotspur's dad, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, is sitting pretty in northern England and kind of untouchable. He wasn't involved in the Battle of Shrewsbury and he claims he knew nothing about the plot that caused it. He's also the holder of almost all the key castles and lands in the north of England that hold the line against the Scots. And he fancies himself as the kingmaker who put the Lancastrians in power in 1399. Much as it would suit Henry IV to get rid of him, he can't. Northumberland is capable of causing him way too much trouble. So King Henry has to bite his tongue, plaster on his fakest grin and make nice with the old bastard. All of that would be quite enough, but just a heap on the misery. The King is also forced to deal with an apparently endless succession of plots, schemes and subterfuges against his crown. He may have thought his win at the Battle of Shrewsbury would stick a fork in rebellions against the Lancastrians. No such luck. It's like whack a mole out there. There are so many attempts on Henry's throne, in fact, that he'd be forgiven for thinking that someone has it in for him. Is it God? The Earl of Northumberland or someone else? Whichever it is, as 1403 turns into 1404, then 1405, Henry IV, the put upon King of England, is starting to run very short on patience.