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Hello, friends. Now, I hate to break it to you, but this episode is going to seem rather contemporary because we're delving into medieval conspiracy theories. This one's a pivotal one. And if you want to know more about how and why fake news also kept people talking in the Middle Ages, give this week's bonus episode a listen. Plus, I'll be giving producer Al a crash course in contemporary British slang. That's for you to discover by becoming one of our royal favourites on patreon@patreon.com thisishistory as well as bonus episodes. You get all episodes on video ad, free access to chat rooms and updates from me. I'll see you there. Now, on with the show after this short break. It's a freezing February day in 1447 when Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and a big group of his attendants ride into Bury St Edmunds. This provincial town, named after St. Edmund, an old English king who was tied to a tree and shot with arrows by the Vikings back in the day, is in the east of England. When the wind whips in off the North Sea, it gets into your bones. They're all half frozen. So as soon as they arrive at their lodgings, Humphrey's servants hunt. Hustle him next to the fire. The guy is shivering. He's 56, but seems like a much older man these days. They're eight days late for the parliament that's been summoned. Humphrey couldn't move any faster. Not that any of them were very keen to come. There's no real need for a parliament right now. No tax to raise, no new campaign to fight. What there is, however, is a row to be had. The royal government of Henry VI is doing its best to secure a permanent peace with France in the Hundred Years War. To close the deal, they've decided to give up huge swathes of lands in France, including the sensitive county of Maine. Humphrey isn't having that and he doesn't care who knows it. His opposition to peace with France has already got him in big trouble. A few years back, his enemies on the Royal Council, led by the Marquess of Suffolk, brought down his now ex wife on charges of heresy and necromancy. Or, put simply, she got in trouble for trying to commune with the dead. She's languishing in jail now, God knows where. But this proud brother of Henry V is still free and up for the fight. In fact, despite his poor health and fatigue from the long, cold journey, Humphrey wanted to go and see the King as soon as they arrived. The King wasn't taking visitors, but no matter. As Humphrey and his advisors get some warmth back into their limbs, they try to work out what the government will say at Parliament, what their opponents could be plotting, and what their own lines of attack will be. They tell each other England's future rests on what happens over the next week or so. They tell each other that if they get this right, they can turn the realm's disasters around. They have no idea just how far behind the political game they've fallen, or that this could be the last Parliament that some of them ever see. I'm dan jones and from sony music entertainment. This is history season 9 of a dynasty to die for episode 6 the ambush. These days you often hear people mutter that the news is fake, that politics is a con, that everything presented to the world as real is stage managed by shadowy players behind the scenes. You could call it the conspiracy theory state of mind. It boils down to a suspicion that the truth is buried beneath a spun narrative. Whether that's true or not, here's one thing you can say for nothing about the mindset is new. The conspiracy theory state of mind isn't an anxiety born of the Internet era. People are complaining about exactly the same thing in the Middle Ages. And what happens to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, at Bury in 1447 is a very good example of it. It's also the place where you start to see the deadly calculus of the wars of the Roses emerge. But more on that later this season. For now, let's get back to cold as Tits. Bury St Edmunds in February 1447, where Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, has shown up looking for a showdown. As I said a few minutes ago, the fact that there's a Parliament right here, right now is very fishy. There's no serious business outstanding, there's no tax required and no sign off needed on any big policy decisions. Nor is there any obvious reason to be in Bury. In his opening speech, the Chancellor of England claims Parliament has been called to discuss security arrangements for King Henry VI if he goes to meet the French King Charles VII for peace talks. But honestly, that's a zoom for about three people. It certainly doesn't merit dragging hundreds of lords, knights and MPs 80 miles from London for three weeks. So already this is pretty sus. And then you look at who's actually here and it gets more so. The Commons have been packed with an unusually high number of members of King Henry's household. That means men who can be relied on to vote for whatever the King, or rather his chief advisor, William de la Pole, Marquess of Suffolk tells them not only that, but the most senior judges in England have been told to suspend all hearings and get themselves up to Parliament too. Oh, and just in case your WTF radar isn't pinging hard enough, let's ask ourselves, who's the most powerful landowner in the region around Bury St Edmunds? You've guessed it. William Delapole, Marquess of Suffolk. To cut a long story short, on the surface this is just another parliament. But take a closer look and you'll see it's lining up to be a political hammer. A hammer that's about to be smashed double hard right on Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester's soft dangly bits. But why? Well, that we can guess. As we've seen already in this season, Gloucester is a lifelong hothead, a shoot first, think later advocate for attacking the French at any cost. Of course, that's somewhat to be expected. Our Humphrey is a guy of a certain age and in his heyday, whack the baguette munching bastards was government policy. But times have moved on. Money's run out and the prevailing attitude towards war among England's politicians is less I should cocoa and more General John and Yoko, Suffolk and others around King Henry are desperate for peace. And if it means handing over Maine, so be it. If you want to know more about why Maine is so important, listen to this week's bonus episode where producer Al says I also have to explain what I should coco means. The trouble is, Suffolk and co know the common people hate this surrenderism. They've had to keep the policy secret and they're extremely nervous about what'll happen when news of it gets out. So Duke Humphrey is a problem, not least because he's technically still next in line to the throne. Although Henry VI has been married a couple of years, he hasn't had any children. The only thing that seems to get his doughy little pecker hard is perving over blueprints for his latest collegiate chapel. That means Humphrey is still heir presumptive. To get this main deal over the line, Henry and his queen Margaret of Anjou may well need to go to France and sign it all off in person with Charles vii. And Humphrey as heir presumptive could well claim the job of Regent. That's a one way ticket to clusterfuck city population, no one sane. And so to get at last to my point, that's why the great and good of England all find themselves in Bury in February 1447. The official line is that this is royal business as usual, but actually Suffolk and His allies are going to use this parliament to shut down Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and make sure he can't obstruct their plans. Humphrey knows on some level that he's coming for a showdown. What he doesn't know is that he's already walked into a trap.
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For kings in the Middle Ages, indecision is likely to equal death. King Henry vi, a prime case in point. Today he'd be hiding behind his keyboard and if I were him, I'd be using all the tools at my disposal to turn overwhelm into action. Like Shopify, it's an e commerce platform that gives you all the tools you need to get your product into the hands of those who need it most. From custom designed templates to easy to run marketing campaigns, Shopify is here to help you help your business grow. And if you get stuck, Shopify has an award winning 24 hour customer support team. So don't be like Henry. End that analysis paralysis. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify and Start. Sign up for your one pound per month trial today at shopify.co.uk dynasty go to shopify.co.uk dynasty. That's shopify.co.uk dynasty.
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Duke Humphrey has finally defrosted. He's sitting down at the dining table in his lodging house having a bite to eat, but he's barely taken a mouthful when the heavies turn up and barge their way in. They're led by a guy called John Lord Beaumont. He's not a major player, but as anyone in the political game knows, at this Parliament he's been appointed as steward, which sets alarm bells ringing from time to time. Parliaments are used for state trials. It's a lord's right in particular to have any legal accusations heard, quite literally, before a jury of his peers. In a case like that, it would be the steward who formally presided over proceedings. There's only one reason why the steward of Parliament would be here. Mob handed and for avoidance of doubt, Beaumont gives it to Humphrey straight. He's under arrest. When he gets to Parliament, he'll be turning up as the defendant in a criminal case. And it's not just him. More government goons stomp into the building and start arresting Gloucester's attendants. The charges are crazy. They're claiming to know about some plot cooked up in Greenwich last month with the aim of killing the King. It makes no sense. But calm and reason left the building the moment Beaumont marched in. Gloucester's attendants are carted off to be imprisoned, awaiting trial. Gloucester himself is told that he's going to be kept under house arrest until Parliament is ready for him. He's introduced to three burly members of the King's private guard, who to explain that they'll be seeing that no harm comes to him. Translation, you're going nowhere, sonny, and if you try, we'll break your legs. As the reality of the situation dawns on Gloucester, he turns a very funny colour. He seems genuinely not to have foreseen anything like this happening to him. Not now, not ever. The shock of his arrest poleaxes him, and at some point, the sources aren't clear as to whether it's right away or a little later, he collapses. Aged 59 and in poor health, he just short circuits. And because of that, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, never makes it to trial in Parliament at Bury. Three days after his arrest, he's dead. Exactly how he dies will be a vigorously contested matter in the days, weeks and months to come. The official word is he just dies. It may have been a heart attack. One chronicler says he dies of grief. But for many people, this is all just too convenient. Remember, even in the Middle Ages there the news is fake. It doesn't take long for all sorts of lurid rumours to start flying about what really happened to Gloucester. Some people say he was smothered to death in bed, others that he had a red hot poker shoved where the sun don't shine. Edward II style. You can find out more about him in season five of A Dynasty to die for the truth is probably not as exciting. Humphrey most likely just dies from the shock of being arrested, which sets off illnesses he's already suffering. But a London chronicler sums up what a lot of people are really thinking. He writes them that were governors and had promised the county of Maine caused the destruction of this noble man, for they dread him that he would have impeached that deliverance. The government maintains the line that Humphrey was up to something treasonous, that there have been a lot of dodgy Welshmen hanging around his household, and his visit from the Rosses was totally proportionate to accusations levelled against him. But support is draining away for the Marquess of Suffolk and his rabble, who seemed to be running the country in to the ground in Henry VI's name. And the trouble for that rabble is that there's worse, much worse still to come. The chapter house of the cathedral in Le Mans is packed with people, none of them at all happy. It's October 31, 1447, the day set for English ambassadors to formally hand over Maine to the French government. It's a day that's been a long time coming and has caused a lot of political fallout in England. At least now, at last, the sordid deed can be done and everyone can move on. Except when the French representatives arrive. They were told that actually the handover might not be able to happen today. The thing is, although King Henry promised ages ago that the handover would happen, and even though this date has been pushed back and pushed back, there are still a lot of things that haven't been sorted out. One of the main things is how much compensation is going to be paid to the English nobles and knights who settled in Maine after Henry V conquered it. They're being forced to give up their lands and estates and they want paying. The most senior of them, Edmund Beaufort, Marquess of Dorset, has managed to wrangle the huge promise of £10,000 out of Henry VI. But there are a good few lesser but still important landowners who stand to lose their shirts. The English ambassadors say that all their compensation bills need to be sorted before the handover happens. And that could take, well, it could take as long as the English want it to take. It's the same old, same old nonsense from the English. And on hearing all this prevaricating and excuse, making the French snap, they've had enough. The ambassadors keep their cool, but when news gets back to Charles VII of this latest tomfoolery, he flips his royal lid. He sends word that the English have three months to get their low down, worthless keisters out of Maine or he's going to send the troops in. And for the first time in a long time, that threat means something. For the last couple of years, Charles VII has been quietly reforming the French army, building up a professional reserve force to use on occasions like these when he wants to kick some ass. Using the full force of his boot, at the core of his reservists, Charles has built up a force of about 8,000 men. Known as franc archers. They carry light arms, a crossbow and a dagger, and decent armour. They're on permanent call and have to train to fight every church feast day, and they're kept sweet by being totally exempt from taxes. Plus, if they get called up, they get paid. As well as that, he has troops who are permanently on active service. So that's a standing army backed by a huge, rapidly assembled mass of infantry units. It's a game changer for Charles. It means that at any given moment, he can whip up an army of more than 10 to 15,000 men. There's nothing the English have to compete with that. So in early 1448, when Charles VII's last and final deadline to hand over Main looms, he finally has the military chops to show the English he means business. He barely even needs to flex his muscles. On the night of March 15, the English garrison in Maine's capital, Le Mans, open the city gates and march out, leaving the county behind them and heading to English territory in Normandy. It's a huge win for Charles vii. He's patiently turned the screw on the English over Maine, and now he's got what he wanted. More than what he wanted, in fact, he still hasn't had to agree a permanent peace. The English shenanigans in Maine have earned him the right to drag his heels on that matter. Back in England, the evacuation of Maine is also being presented as a win by William de la Pole. At least Henry raises him from the rank of marquis to duke to thank him for achieving peace, even if not permanent peace. Beyond that, it's a difficult one to spin. And there's one place where the mood is bleak, as bleak can be. That's Normandy. Everyone knows that at some point, Charles is going to come knocking for this place too, and that the English will be hard pressed to stop him. They have far too few troops, and they can't even afford to pay those they've got, let alone raise more. Already, word is coming from the borderlands that Charles is amassing troops ready for his invasion. The dithering over Maine, followed by its weak capitulation, is a good indication of how useless Henry VI and his government have been and how outclassed they are by Charles vii. But there's plenty more they can still lose. So whatever Henry Vill and the Duke of Suffolk are telling people, the big question in England is what's going to happen to those who had a hand in this shabby peace deal when its consequences start to emerge, public anger is going to be righteous, mutinous even. There'll be calls for heads to roll, and any noble who fancies a little spin as a populist demagogue is going to have a field day leading the opposition to the Duke of Suffolk and his hopeless cronies. Who knows, maybe the ghost of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, will have the last laugh after all. But that's for next time on this Is History. Well, that was a rather abrupt end for our friend Humphrey. Though I'd want an instant death rather than suffer the fate of his ex wife Eleanor. Remember, she's banged up for life or for reading a dodgy horoscope. But speaking of dodgy information that ties neatly into what I want to know from my royal favourites this week, which is this. What is your favourite conspiracy theory, medieval or otherwise? Drop us a line on patreon.com thisishistory to tell me exactly why the aliens must have built the pyramids. I'll see you there.
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