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Hello gang, and welcome to another instalment of the great Plantagenet soap opera on Steroids. This time we have pirates, battles, swords, castles, flags, obscure genealogies and a slightly sexy acronym dating back to World War II. Don't you ever tell me history is boring. Now, if you want an even deeper dive into Plantagenet history, there are some very fine looking signed special editions of my books, the the Plantagenets and the Hollow Crown, available for worldwide delivery via Millennia Books. Go to the Show Notes for links and remember, royal favourites get a discount. Head to our Patreon for details of how to grab that. And while you're on the Patreon, don't forget to leave us a voice note telling us about your favorite historical failures for our miniseries, History's Greatest Fails, which I co host with the great Elizabeth Day. Alright, that's enough preamble. I promised you swords and sexy acronyms. So swords and sexy acronyms are what you're going to get. Damn it. After this short break. You know what? 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. 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 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. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Ever wondered what it feels like to be a gladiator facing a roaring crowd and potential death in the Colosseum? Find out on the Ancients podcast from History hit twice a week. Join me, Tristan Hughes, as I hear exciting new research about people living thousands of years ago, from the Babylonians to the Celts to the Romans, and visit the ancient sites which reveal who and just how amazing our distant ancestors were. That's the Ancients from History Hit. The 28 Spanish ships sail at a leisurely speed through the English Channel, sitting low in the water. It's the summer of 1458 and they're laden down with valuable goods. On the defensive platforms at the ship's prows, lookouts keep watch. It's a nice summer's day, but on these seas you never know when trouble is going to come knocking. As they sail onwards, trouble suddenly moves into view. The lookouts are yelling that there's another fleet heading towards it's smaller but equally tooled up for a fight. These ships also have wooden fighting platforms and they're packed with sailors who don't look like they're just out to feel the wind in their hair. The really bad news, this fleet is coming from the direction of the English garrison at Calais, which means it's been sent by the Captain of Calais. His name is Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. He's in charge of the military base at Calais, supposedly on behalf of the Lancastrian King Henry vi. But in the last few months, Warwick has gone rogue. He's basically become a pirate, robbing and plundering any foreign ships he can lay his hands on. His justification is that the English government is isn't funding Calais properly and he needs to make up for the shortfall. The truth is, this guy just loves a tear up. And now his men are coming for this Spanish convoy. The Spanish scramble to action stations, but before they know it, the English are on them and a vicious sea battle has begun. Arrows and crossbow bolts are flying, grappling hooks are hurled and gangplanks thrown. Ships are boarded and there's hand to hand fighting on the decks. Over the hours that follow, hundreds of sailors are killed and the sea foams pink with their blood. The English take heavy losses, but the Spanish fair much worse and lose a whole load of their goods. As one contemporary writes, there's not been so great a battle on the sea for the past 40 years, but it won't be the last. Over the next few months, Warwick's ships attack convoy after convoy. Some of these are under enemy flags, some are English allies. Warwick doesn't care. He's having the time of his life. But someone does care. Back in England, the main political power in the Realm is Henry VI's savvy and hard nosed wife, Queen Margaret of Anjou, and she has had enough. Margaret has little time for Warwick as it is. He's a stalwart ally of her most hated rival, Richard, Duke of York. Now he's embarrassing the realm. Margaret decides to do something. In November 1458, she sends orders for Warwick to get his piratical ass back over to England on the double and and present it for a good, hard, queenly thrashing. Margaret is right that Warwick needs dragging into line, but if she thinks she's going to change his ways on her say so, she's as wrong as can be. And what starts with a row about piracy is going to ramp up into a wholesale shattering of England's fragile peace. The next shocking phase of the wars of the Roses is about to come roaring in. I'm dan jones and from sony music entertainment. This is history, season nine of a dynasty to die for. Episode 11 the pact. When was the last time that you let a small argument swell up and turn into a big one? I suppose it happens to the best of us. You think you're having a principled difference of opinions about one thing and suddenly that escalated quickly. I can think of a few examples from my own life, including one which escalated from a harmless parking ticket into a Henry II grade tantrum where I was shouting at a council officer that I would rather serve life imprisonment with no parole than bow to their tyrannical demands. But I'll save the details for producer. Although on this week's bonus episode, Royal Favourites, feel free to jump on our Patreon and chip in with your favourite that escalated quickly. Moments from history or from real life? For now, there's an awful lot of wars of the Roses to get through, so I'm going to keep things strictly 15th century, with Warwick in Calais, Queen Margaret in England, Henry VI wandering around looking at the sky and burbling to himself and and Richard, Duke of York, on manoeuvres in the background. Let's begin with Warwick. First question. What's he doing in Calais? Well, think back to the aftermath of the 1455 Battle of St Albans. After York and Warwick slaughtered Edmund, Duke of Somerset, and his allies, York became protector and Warwick was rewarded with the captaincy of Calais. It's a critical military and commercial post. Calais is the only English military stronghold left in France and it controls a massive amount of English imports and exports. Even after York's protectorate falls to bits in 1456, Warwick is left in post. Partly that's because removing him would cause a political ruckus. Partly it's because Calais is a basket case, constantly in debt and hard to manage. Warwick has a neat answer to the problem. Part of his job as captain is to police piracy in the seas. But there's a thin line between policing crime and joining the ranks of the criminals. You can think of Warwick as Vic Mackie in the Shield. And if you haven't watched the Shield, what a Sad little life you've led until now. It's not too late to turn things around. My point is that Warwick goes full pirate. Maybe a bit too full, because he starts knocking off Spanish fleets and merchant ships belonging to England's allies in the Hanseatic League. At that point, he's becoming a bit of a problem. The people of southern England think he's a hero, smashing foreigners and looking after England's own. The Royal government have a nervy bee every time they hear about his latest exploits. That's why, in November 1458, Queen Margaret hauls him back to England to face the music. Unfortunately, facing the music doesn't work out so well. The peace that's been holding in England since Henry VI's non genius hand holding exercise known as the Love Day, is fragile at best. No one from the Royal Lancastrian side trusts anyone from the York and Neville side one bit. The feeling is mutual. When Warwick is at court to explain his actions in Calais, there's a punch up between some of his retainers and some loyal to the Crown. Warwick reads this not as a brawl, but as an attempt on his life. He storms out of court and goes back to Calais. Before he goes, he convinces York and the rest of his faction that sooner or later, the Queen is coming for the lot of them. Back in Calais, Warwick gets on with his privateering. In England, his allies start quietly arming themselves for a war. In response, the nobles loyal to Queen Margaret also start making preparations to fight. By the summer of 1459, things are coming to a head. In June that year, the Queen summons a great council of nobles to her base in Coventry. York and the Nevilles steer clear and they're condemned for their disobedience. A parliament is summoned to meet in the autumn and there's no invite for York and the Nevilles. It seems a certain bet that the Queen is planning to use the Parliament to declare them traitors, confiscate their lands and remove their titles. And if anyone was in any doubt, in October, the Queen shows her hand. She cancels Warwick's commission as Captain of Calais and gives it to Henry Beaufort, son of her old favourite, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Young Henry Beaufort is told to get over to Calais, kick Warwick out and get the place back in line. But before any of that can happen, there's trouble on the mainland. By early October, the Duke of York, Warwick's dad, the Earl of Salisbury, and Warwick himself have got together an army they're committed to using to remove the traitors around the King in other words, they're gunning for a rerun of 1455 where they killed anyone they didn't like the look of and put themselves in charge of royal government. Not very surprisingly, the royal court is having none of this. But crucially, nor are any of the other nobles in England. There's a major gathering of English noblemen with their retainers who take to the field and march against York and Warwick. In September, there's a big set to at Blaw Heath in the Midlands as a royal army tries to intercept Warwick's dad, Salisbury, as he brings troops to join up with the main Yorkist army. Salisbury wins the clash and kills the royal commander, Lord Audley. But that's just the pre drinks before the main party. Two weeks later, on the night of October 12, York and Warwick take up a position with their troops at Ludford Bridge, near York's magnificent castle of Ludlow in the Welsh Borders. This time they're faced by a much bigger royal force, with the King and Queen present and the royal troops commanded by the elder statesman, the Duke of Buckingham, who'd been in charge at st Albans in 1455. The night before the battle, the two armies camp near the banks of the river Team, preparing to fight the next day. But in the night, a lot of York's men lose their nerve. The royal flag is flying over the Lancastrian army and some of the troops are getting very jittery at the prospect of fighting against their king. It's not that he's scary, he's the same old weapons grade doofus he ever was, but it's still flirting with treason to take on a royal army. So in the night, about 600 of the men Warwick brought over from Calais defect and they cross over to the Lancastrian side. They take very vital numbers and even more vital intelligence about the field tactics York and Warwick are planning. When York and Warwick find out what's happened, they have a horrible decision to make. Do they stand and fight now with the odds stacked heavily against them, or do they cut and run? It's not a very long discussion. None of them are in the business of becoming martyrs and if any of their enemies on the royal side get hold of them, it won't be a quick, easy death. York, Warwick and Salisbury tell their remaining men they're going to have a meeting in Ludlow Castle and they'll be back in the morning. But back in the morning is very much the opposite of what they have planned. As soon as they're round the bend in the road, they're saddling up and getting the hell out of dodge. York scoops up one of his sons, the 16 year old Edmund, Earl of Rutland, who's the second oldest. He scarpers towards Wales, gets on a ship and goes to Ireland. He used to be lieutenant there, has plenty of estates and is likely to be beyond the long arm of even Queen Margaret's royal law. Warwick heads in the other direction. He takes his dad, Salisbury, and York's eldest son, the 17 year old Edward, Earl of March, back to his pirate lair in Calais. They get there just in time to slam the gates on the Queen's pick for the top job there, Henry Beaufort. They're safe for now. But what about everyone they've left behind at Ludford Bridge? Well, they're standing there with their pintles in their palms. When dawn breaks, the Yorkist army has no choice but to go to King Henry, fall to their knees and beg for forgiveness. A bit later on that day, a forlorn looking family are found standing in the market square at Ludlow. It's York's wife, who's also Warwick's aunt, Cecily Neville. She's there with three of her remaining children, her sons George and Richard, and one of her daughters, Margaret. Now, things aren't so savage that women and children are in danger of being butchered. But Cecily and her kids are still in a pretty pickle. They're sent off to be taken care of by the trusty old Duke of Buckingham and his wife. As they go, royal troops are breaking into their home at Ludlow Castle, plundering. Seems as though the Yorkists have bitten off more than they can chew. But never forget, Henry VI is a world class chok.
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I want to tell you guys about a podcast that is near and dear to my heart. And I cannot believe it already came out a year ago. And you can all go listen to it ad free by subscribing to the binge podcast channel. What podcast, Corinne? Tell us. Oh, it's called Blink Jake Handel Story. I created it about a man named Jake who I met, who is the only survivor of a terminal brain illness brought on by heroin use. But there is a lot of mystery and medical malpractice and true crime elements that are very shocking and surprising and even some supernatural elements. So this is definitely an amazing story and very unique. Did such an incredible job telling the story and sharing it with the world. So if you have not listened to it yet, my goodness, where have you been? Because Blink is so freaking good. Thank you. Search for Blink Wherever you listen. And subscribers to the binge will get the entire season ad free. Plus you'll get exclusive access to the over 60 other true crime stories on the binge podcast channel. Hit subscribe on Apple Podcasts or head to getthebinge.com Sabrina Corrine I have been listening to a new show from the binge called Fatal Fantasy. I am obsessed. Oh my. Wait, I need to know more. Tell me. Tell me everything. Okay, I will. So it's very shocking. It's this like ultra weird crime story of a murder for hire plot that. Yeah, wait for it. Leverage the dynamics of the underworld and underworld being a medieval fantasy game. Wait, so it's liveaction role playing gone wrong? Horribly wrong. And you can binge all episodes now? Oh my God, that sounds so good. I know what I'm doing. On my drive home today, search for Fatal Fantasy and subscribe to the binge podcast channel on Apple podcasts or@getthebinge.com and then once you're done, you can listen to one of the over 60 true crime and investigative podcasts a part of the channel while you wait for the next month's drop. I really need to know what happens. Selfishly, you do, so that we can talk about it. So whenever you listen, search for Fatal Fantasy and hit subscribe to the binge to get all episodes all at once ad free.
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The ship's sails unfurl and billow as it leaves port in Dublin. On board Warwick, he has a lot to think about. It's March 1460, six months since he cut and ran from Ludford Bridge. And though things have been at a pretty low ebb since, there are reasons to be hopeful, there are also reasons to be pretty nervous. Since running away from Ludford Bridge, Warwick and York's son, the 17 year old Edward, Earl of March, have managed to keep Calais loyal and defended from the Queen's troops. They've even scored a big counter strike against their royal enemies. In January, they got word that there was a major expedition planned against them. Ships were mustering at the southern English port of Sandwich. Warwick and Edward sent over a few ships of their own in in a surprise attack, killed a lot of the royal troops, took the commanders captive and towed most of the ships back to Calais. So in Calais, they're sitting pretty and now they have a mega fleet of ships they could use for any purpose they like. Set against. That though, is the fact that in England they are dead men walking. Literally. The Queen has used Parliament to pass acts of attainder against Them, meaning their lands and titles are confiscated, their families will never inherit them. They're legally struck from the record, which is a problem. And that's why Warwick has been over in Dublin. Richard, Duke of York, is holed up there, similarly out of reach from the Queen's forces, but similarly stuck when it comes to returning to England. Neither he nor Warwick can be captured, but they can't go anywhere either. Something major needs to change if they're to pull victory from this very sticky situation. At the Dublin summit, these two have agreed a strategy to get them out of trouble. It's a top secret plan which they're only going to share with one other person, Edward, Earl of March. If it works, they're going to come up, pardon the pun, smelling of roses. If it doesn't, they'll be feeding the rock roses. When Warwick's ship comes back into port in Calais, he goes straight to young Edward, Earl of March, and sits him down to explain the plan. How this strapping lad who stands a colossal 6 foot 4 tall, takes to it will say a lot about his character. When Edward hears what's cooking, he's excited. He later remembers that what Warwick tells him brought the greatest joy and consolation earthly. The game is on. In the spring, Warwick and Edward, Earl of March, get to work. They start hitting the south east of England with pamphlets and propaganda, denouncing the Queen's regime and stressing the need for reform. They rake up old scuttlebutt, including allegations that Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was murdered back in 1447. They extrapolate this means the Queen wants York dead too. They denounce the latest lords around the Queen who they hate. Then in June, using the ships they snatched in the Sandwich raid, they set sail with 2,000 men. Warwick and Edward land at Sandwich on June 26, 1460, with what one chronicler calls a strong and mighty navy. They find Kent still as anti establishment as it was in the days of Jack Cade's rebellion. With men streaming to their side, they march on London, arriving in the city on July 2. In London, Edward and Walter Warwick go to St Paul's Cathedral to swear oaths of loyalty to the King, which is by now an absolutely standard play. They put Warwick's dad, the Earl of Salisbury, outside the Tower of London to stop any funny business from the Royal troops stationed there. Then they marched their army out of London to go and find the King and Queen in Coventry. The speed and audacity of Warwick and Edward's march catches the Royal Court napping. They have to scramble men out of Coventry, but they don't have nearly as many as they might like. They send an underpowered army out to try and stop Warwick in his tracks. But this time it feels like a much more even fight. For the third time in five years, the royal army is commanded by old Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham. You must be wondering if he gets paid enough for this crap. The King and Queen are once again along for the ride, but kept firmly away from the action. The armies meet on July 10th near the town of Northampton. In the pouring rain, Warwick asks to see the King. The Duke of Buckingham, incredibly out of patience with these yorkers. Goofballs refuses to negotiate and lines his men up to give Warwick and Edward a world class spanking. The Earl of Warwick shall not come to the King's presence and if he comes, he shall die, he says. He soon finds out that his men are less keen on doling out spankings than he is. In a reversal of what happened at Ludford Bridge, there's a major defection from the Lancastrian side to the Yorkists early on. Combined with the heavy rain, there's panic and disaffection in the royal lines. Warwick expertly plays on the rank and file's lack of enthusiasm about yet another battle. He lets it be known that he's not interested in killing commoners. He just wants to punish the Lord and nobles who've been misleading the King. Then he goes to the playbook that served the Yorkists at st Albans in 1455. Hit squads are sent around the battlefield looking for nobles. In less than half an hour, they manage to take out four of the key royal lieutenants. The Earl of Shrewsbury and Viscount Beaumont are key key allies of the Queen. They're hacked to bits. So is one of the senior Percy lords, known as Lord Egremont. And finally, the big beast, Duke of Buckingham is cut down. He's the only guy who's managed to tread the line of loyalty without being seen as an evil counsellor. And now he's gone. So this is a huge and thumping victory for Warwick and Edward. And what's more, they pull off the same feats that Warwick and York managed at St Albans. Queen Margaret and her six year old son, Prince Edward flee and head for safety in Wales. But towards the end of the battle, Henry VI is captured in his tent. Once again, he's taken into the hands of his Yorkist enemies who cart him off to London as their puppet king. From being down and out, it looks like the Yorkists are riding sky high. Warwick and young Edward, Earl of March are a dream team and now they can send to Ireland to bring back Richard, Duke of York, to join the fun. What's more, when York comes back over to England, they can press the button on the next phase of the plan he and Warwick hatched in Dublin. It's a plan that's going to shake Plantagenet England to its core. This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Co. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in the crowd or manning the snack table, Athletic Brewing fits right in with a full lineup of non alcoholic beer styles you can enjoy bold flavors all game long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stock the fridge for tip off with a variety of non alcoholic craft styles. Available at your local grocery store or online@athletic brewing.com near beer fit for All Times. Richard, Duke of York, and Cecily Neville haven't seen each other since Richard scarpered from Ludlow in October 1459. Now, in October 1460, they're parading together into London. A marching band keeps time and above them, banners fly. They're kind of strange banners, though. The arms on them look awfully like the Royal Plantagenet Arms of England. For Cecily, this is yet another moment in their topsy turvy marriage. One minute the guy's leaving you with the kids in the market square while he bails on charges of treason. The next he's back after a year away and treating you like a queen. When I say a queen, I mean a queen. To be fair, things have been looking up for Cecily ever since her son, Edward, Earl of March and the Earl of Warwick, won that storming victory at the Battle of Northampton. That means Cecily and her younger kids are no longer under house arrest with the Duke of Buckingham, he being dead, and she can prepare for her old man coming home. And before York does cross from Ireland, her old man sends specific instructions for how he wants to be received, asking that Cecily meets him in their house at Abingdon, sitting on a grand chair covered in blue velvet. Well, as reunion instructions go, it beats the old acronym Norwich. I'll leave you to decipher that one on the Internet. But it's a clue that York has bigger things in mind. For the last 10 years, he's been pitching himself as a reformer and a loyal friend of Henry VI's government. Now things are different. The clues seem to be everywhere. The velvet covered chair is one, the banner they're marching under is another. The fact that as they Head towards London. There's a fellow bearing a great sword. In front of them is a third. The fact that York has stopped using Henry's regnal year to date his documents is a fourth. Add these up and what do you get? York is no longer posturing as the remedy to the Crown's bad advice. He's pitching himself and Cecily as an alternative king and queen. A power couple in waiting. King Richard and Queen Cecily. So now the substance of the secret plan that Warwick and York cooked up in Dublin last year is revealed. Until now, only those two men and Cecily's son, Edward, Earl of March, have known about it. They're about to try it out on the whole realm. By the second week of October, York and Cecily have taken up residence in London, where there's a Parliament gathered at Westminster to try and puzzle out how to deal with everything that has recently gone down in political life. On October 10, York sweeps into Westminster to appear before that Parliament. Once again. He has a sword borne before him as though he were already a king. He's also prepared a load of family trees to hand out, showing that he has a better right to the throne than Henry vi. It shows that his blood goes all the way back to Henry III and makes the case that his descent from Edward III's second and fourth sons trumps the Lancastrian claim through John of Gaunt. All he needs is for the Lords and the Commons in Parliament to accept that he is a far better bet than hapless Henry VI and that he has enough royal blood in his veins to make that acceptable. It's not a million miles away from the argument that Henry iv staked in 1399 when he tipped Richard II off the throne and installed the House of Lancaster. The question is, will the Lord stomach it? The answer is the Lords are extremely lukewarm about all this. Deposing kings when they've been as tyrannical as Richard II can sometimes be necessary. But no one could possibly accuse Henry VI of being a tyrant. He's just useless. And uselessness is a very hard quality to pin down, let alone one worth blowing up the Plantagenet dynasty for. On the other hand, something has to be done. So in the end, what the parliament in October 1460 figures out is a version of another political deal from days gone by. Years ago, when Henry V was on the warpath in Normandy, France's King Charles VI was useless and occasionally mad. So Henry V pitched himself as the better bet. For more on that episode, listen to our miniseries, the Glass King. Now England is saddled with a king who is useless and occasionally mad. So York is stepping up to the plate. What that adds up to is a version of the Treaty of Troyes of 1420. Rebooted and refitted for England in 1460. Parliament agrees that Henry VI isn't going to be deposed right away. Instead, York will become the heir to the throne, to be followed by his sons, Edward, Earl of March, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, George and Richard. In theory, this will allow for a smooth transition of power from the House of Lancaster to the House of York, without putting King Henry through the ultimate indignity of losing his crown. Everyone's a winner. Except everyone is not a winner. Because just as it was in 1420s France, there's an awkward loser. King Henry has a son. Prince Edward may only be seven years old, but he's the rightful heir. And sticking the Yorks into the succession disinherits him. The 7 year old isn't going to be able to do much about it, but his tiger mum might. Queen Margaret of Anjou is still at large in the kingdom and she's going to fight tooth and nail to resist York's dirty little deal to steal her son's crown. So whatever Parliament might say, the fight for the throne of England is far from over. Come back next time for the final showdown in our season nine finale of this Is History. Well, I didn't call her the she Wolf of France for nothing. Or should I now say she Wolf of England? Either way, you're going to meet a formidable Queen Margaret this time next week. Now she's on my mind because her dragging Warwick in to heel for piracy has escalated into a full blown succession crisis. So, royal favourites, I have to ask, what are your favourite that escalated quickly moments from history or from real life? I'll share my Henry II grade tantrum in this week's bonus episode.