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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.