Loading summary
Transcript9 lines
- [00:00]
Dan Jones
Now, friends, over the course of this podcast, you would know that history sometimes turns on three important B words, but breezes and boners aren't to blame. In the coming episode, though, booze does make an appearance. Plantagenet England is about to get very messy, and in this week's bonus episode, I'll be zooming in on a vividly written letter from the period reflecting on England's descent into mob rule. You can listen to that ad free by becoming one of our royal favourites on patreon.com thisishistory plus all that other fun stuff, chat rooms, updates from me, and all episodes available to watch on video. Oh, and in case you missed it, just for you, we've released one of my favourite bonus episodes from this season so far. You'll meet Henry VI in all his pitiable glory. And I've got more details about whether or not Queen Margaret of Anjou was a spy. To listen to that for free, hit the last episode before this one in the this Is History podcast feed. But for now, it's time to meet the mob after this short break.
- [01:11]
Podcast Advertiser 1
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 with Venmo.
- [01:40]
Podcast Advertiser 2
Stash A taco on one hand and ordering a ride in the other means you're stacking cash back with Venmo stash. Get up to 5% cash back when you pick a bundle of your favorite brands. Earn more cash when you do more with Stash Vemo Stash Terms exclusion supply match $100 cash back per month see terms of Venmo ME Termsterms.
- [01:58]
Dan Jones
Bishop Adam Mullins closes the door of the church and leaves the racket of the Portsmouth street behind him. It's been a long day. Portsmouth, a military town on England's south coast, is heaving with English sailors and soldiers getting ready to head out to Normandy, or what little England has left of it as of today, January 9, 1450. That's not much. For a long time, Mullins has served the Plantagenet King Henry VI as a money man and diplomat, which hasn't been the easiest job to say the least. Last month, exhausted and feeling his age, he retired from government duties. Today is supposed to be his last job before he heads off on a pilgrimage, but it's gone about as well as every other day in the last 10 years. Mullins was asked to pay some of the soldiers waiting to go to Normandy, but when he met them to hand out their wages, they cut up rough. Some of them quibbled the amount that turned into a pylon, with him copping the blame for the disastrous military situation across the Channel, which has seen England give away Maine and lose huge swathes of Normandy. He had to make a sharp exit before things got really nasty. Still, at least now he's done that job, he can start looking forward to his pilgrimage. A commotion at the church door breaks Mullins out of his brief moment of peace. He gets up to see what's happening, but he barely has time, time to stand before they're swarming in. He recognizes faces from earlier, soldiers and sailors. They're yelling stuff about money and France and the whole lot of idiots in charge being corrupt. Then it's all just noise. The mob take hold of Mullins, drag him out of the church and bundle him down to the seafront. As a chronicler later puts it, with boisterous language, they fell on him and cruelly killed him there. For years, Mollins has been a central figure in the government of Henry vi, an experienced diplomat and a senior bishop, a key ally of the power broker nobleman William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. Now his body lies broken on the seashore, a victim of mob justice. As England's public order falls apart, as 1450 unfolds, the body count is only going to rise. I'm dan jones and from sony music entertainment, this is history, season nine of a dynasty to die for, Episode 7, cayde's rebellion. One of the questions I get asked a lot when I'm out and about doing book tours and such like is, as a historian, if you had a time machine, what year would you go back to? I always find that question a bit tricky to answer. Are we talking about a time I'd like to be alive? Like an age in which to set up a second home? Or are we just talking about dipping in to bear witness on the understanding that the time machine is definitely a return journey, not a one way ticket? I have different answers to those two versions of the question. If you want to hear them, jump on our bonus episode this week. And if you want to offer up your choices, our royal favourites on Patreon are going to be discussing it. Sign up@patreon.com thisishistory for now though, let me just say that under no circumstances whatever would I want to be in my magic time travelling phone box on my way to the year 1450. Because in the Billboard chart of totally terrible years when bad things happened in England, 1450 is definitely flirting with the top 10. At least it is if you're a member of the useless King Henry VI's government. In case you've been dozing through the first half of this season, let's do a quick recap. Henry VI, who just turned 28 years old, is a hapless vapid buffoon with about as much charisma as an HB pencil. Throughout his long minority and adult reign, he's been totally dependent on other people to do his governing for him. To begin with, it was his uncles, Cardinal Beaufort and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Both of them are now dead. Beaufort of natural causes and Gloucester, well, who knows? Popular opinion holds that he was murdered with Henry's loose connivance at the bury Parliament in 1447. In their place, the man with his hand on the tiller of the leaky ship of state has been the Duke of Suffolk. His master plan for getting England out of the Hundred Years War was to marry Henry to a French princess and then start giving back French lands. This hasn't proven enormously popular with the great English public, surprisingly enough, because giving up a bit of hard won French land has just encouraged the French King, Charles vii, to start helping himself to the rest. The whole house of cards is now tumbling down. French soldiers are rampant in Normandy. No one in England seems able to stop the rot. And the hunt is on for people to blame. That's how we met Adam Mullins, Bishop of Chichester, getting his brains beaten out on the Portsmouth seafront. Now, anyone who's been to Portsmouth, particularly when Pompey are playing at home, will know that this sort of thing isn't totally unknown. It's not called the south coast's toughest town for nothing. Nothing. It was rough in Mullin's day too, but his murder is a sign of just how angry the English people are with their government. And Molin's scalp isn't squashing the nation's collective beef with the higher ups. In the weeks leading up to Mullin's death, there have been protests and riots in Kent and London. Parliament is gripped by a mood of crisis. Less than two weeks after Mullins dies, the Duke of Suffolk is forced to stand up in Parliament and give a speech defending his job. The argument he falls back on is that it's hardly been him on his own running the shitshow. Plenty of other nobles have had a hand in government. He doesn't see why he should eat all of the blame. But that's not enough for the irate Commons in Parliament. They want a scapegoat for all England's problems. And since attacking Henry VI is off the menu, Suffolk is going to have to do. After a week of getting barracked in Parliament, the other lords convince Henry VI that his man is going to have to go to the Tower of London to answer for treason the rumour mill has delivered. Mullins allegedly used his dying breath to accuse Suffolk of having been to blame for everything. Another story goes around that Suffolk has been conniving with Charles VII not only to give up all the French lands, but also to help him invade England. There are plenty of accusations of financial mismanagement, too. In March, Suffolk is brought out of the Tower to answer the charges. Most of them. He's able to deflect whatever faults the guy has. He isn't planning to help the French take over England, but there's enough hostility and enough substance to the lesser charges to ensure that he's sacked and sentenced to five years banishment from the realm. His goodbye is set for May 1, 1450. As Suffolk prepares to leave England, he draws up one of the most poignant documents in late medieval English history. It's a letter to his 8 year old son John, in which he advises him to be a good man, obey God, take good advice from trustworthy friends and hope to escape unscathed from all the great tempests and troubles of this wretched world. Remember, if you want to hear more about that letter, listen to this week's bonus episode. As Suffolk writes this letter, you have to wonder whether he's expecting the worst. And if he's not, he should be. On May 1, he boards a ship headed to Flanders to begin his banishment. But the next day, while he's at sea, a ship called the Nicholas of the Tower intersects his vessel. The crew storm aboard, snatch Suffolk and put him through a mock trial. Then they behead him on the deck with a rusty sword. His body is dumped on the shore and is found on the beach near Dover. Next to it is a pole on which is impaled his head. Whatever anyone thinks or thought of Suffolk, it's clear that the wheels are coming off English politics. Normandy is all but gone. At home, the government has lost control and the bodies are piling up. One corpse of a royal councilor butchered and left on a beach is bad luck. Two is starting to look like carelessness. The Plantagenet realm is sliding into mob rule, and it's not at all clear whether chaos is going to end.
- [12:45]
Podcast Advertiser 1
I'm Tara Palmieri. I'm an investigative reporter and I've spent a lot of my career reporting on the worst of the worst. I'm the new host of Broken Jeffrey Epstein. But forget Epstein. He's dead. This season isn't about him. It's about the people who are still alive, the victim seeking justice, and his co conspirators and enablers who are trying to hide. Listen to Broken Jeffrey Epstein wherever you get your podcasts.
- [13:20]
Podcast Advertiser 3
Taxact can think of a million things more fun than filing taxes. TaxAct is going to name some now. Sitting in traffic, folding a fitted bedsheet, listening to your co worker talk about his fantasy team digging a hole. Digging an even larger hole next to that original hole. Unfortunately, TaxAct's filing software can't make taxes fun, but TaxAct can help you get them done. Taxact, let's get them over with.
- [13:53]
Dan Jones
Early June, a crowd of ordinary folk from the villages of Kent marched down the road towards towards London, belting out the words of a song. God be our guide and then shall we speed. Whoever say nay false for their money ruleth truth, for his tale spoileth God send us a fair day Away traitors away. Alright, so it's probably not going to go viral on TikTok in 2026, but with England spiralling into uproar, it's certainly the summer anthem of 1450. It's a rebel song and the Kentish men who are on the march are in full on revolt against the government. They're led by a fellow who goes by the name of John Mortimer, although history will know him as Jack Cade. Not much is really known about Cade today, but we can say he's a highly effective military captain and has a bit of political nous about him too. He's chosen the alias of John Mortimer to try and imply that he's associated with the King's relative Richard, Duke of York, who has the blood of the Mortimer family in his veins. That isn't true. Cade has nothing to do with York. But you know what they say kids, fake it till you make it. By the middle of June the place Cade has made it to is Blackheath, just outside London. Keen eared listeners will know that in 1381 that was where the rebels of the Peasants Revolt also camped. Go back and listen to season 7 episode 3 if you want to remind yourself how that went down. Like the rebels of 1381, Cade's mob is hyped up on righteous anger. They're determined to get to London and serve some vengeance on the ministers they blame for running the country into the ground. Unlike the rebels of 1381, Cade has a serious political manifesto that goes beyond equal rights and kill all enemies of the revolution. When Shakespeare later reimagines Cade's rebellion, he'll make Cade's something of a crude buffoon. But in fact, the real Cade has thought carefully about the political reforms he wants. He wants official reassurance that the men of Kent aren't going to be blamed for Suffolk's grisly abduction and murder, even though the Duke of Suffolk's body was found on the beach in Dover in Kent, Cade also repeats a general complaint that the King has been misled by his advisors into granting away too much royal land. Popular wisdom holds that this is why the crown is so short on cash and it's become trendy to call for an act of resumption. In other words, the King should pass a law taking back any land he's granted out so that he can reclaim the revenues. There are other complaints about the inadequacy of the King's counsellors, obstructions to the justice system and problems with tax and parliamentary elections. And there's a shout out to Richard, Duke of York. The rebels say he should be brought home from Ireland and installed as a royal advisor. It's a sophisticated political shopping list for a peasant rebellion. And it shows just how much the ordinary people, people of England, have been drawn into the political world since the first peasants revolt of 1381. But it would all be hot air and bluster were it not for the fact that the rebels are up in arms and on the march. By late June, Cade is knocking on the gates of London. Inside London, in Henry's inner sanctum, it's less keep calm and carry on and more crap our pants and run away. I mean that almost literally. On June 25, the Royal Council lose their nerve and decide to flee London. Henry and a group of his close counsellors ride off as fast as they can to the Midlands, where they set up emergency camp in Kenilworth Castle. A few stay behind to keep an eye on things from the Tower of London. We should note that Queen Margaret also has enough bottle to stay near London. She sits tight in her manor in Greenwich. When news of the King legging it gets out, the rebels get even more confident. They take over Southwark on the south bank of the Thames at the foot of London Bridge. All the while, there are messages going back and forth between Kenilworth Castle and the Tower and the rebels. And on July 3rd, Henry, or rather his advisors, make a disastrous decision to try and appease the rebels. They send word that if they like, they can set up a special tribunal to try people they think are traitors. All the rebels need to do is get into London and they'll be able to start the witch hunt. But it's time to storm the city gates.
- [19:33]
Podcast Advertiser 3
This episode is brought to you by FX's Love Story. John F. Kennedy Jr. And Carolyn Bessette join host Evan Ross Katz on the Official podcast for FX's new series Love Story. John F. Kennedy Jr. And Carolyn Bessette. And go behind the scenes with cast and special guests featuring Sarah Pigeon, Paul Anthony Kelly, Grace Gummer and Naomi Watts. FX's love story John F. Kennedy Jr. And Carolyn Bassette. Wherever you listen to podcasts.
- [20:06]
Dan Jones
The horse thunders down London's main street of Cheapside, leaving a bloody trail behind it. It's dragging the headless corpse of Lord, say the Royal treasurer who stayed in London. Behind the slip, the mob stick Ses head on a pole and put on a grim puppet show. They make sei's head kiss the head of another official who happens to have been sei's son in law. London has dissolved into total anarchy. When cage rebels stormed London Bridge earlier in the day, they had very little bother getting in. The ropes holding the drawbridge were cut and and a London militia who tried to block the bridge were overwhelmed. So now the rebels own the streets. Cayde has been holding his kangaroo court at the Guildhall, forcing the mayor and aldermen of the city to sit in judgment on any royal officials the rebels can find. The chopping block is overworked. For the next two days, London remains in uproar as well as retribution on so called traitors. There's a lot of generalized looting, drunkenness and mayhem. Only on July 5th do the mayor and aldermen freed from their duty of signing off death notes, manage to cobble together a new militia of loyal Londoners who don't want to see their city burned to the ground. By evening they manage to drive a mass of the rail rebels back to London Bridge where a full on battle breaks out. As the setting sun glints over the River Thames, the water goes frothy. Men are forced back onto the bridge and thrown off. Cade has tried to boost his own numbers for the battle by throwing open the doors of one of the city's biggest prisons, the Marshalsea. Somehow, the city militia wins the day. They drive the rebels out of the bridge and lock the city gates. Then the Archbishop of Canterbury persuades the rebels still in the city to disperse by offering pardons to anyone who packs up and goes home. Cade survives the battle and legs it back to Kent, carrying a whole load of plunder. But he's now pretty much the most famous or notorious man in England, and there's a bounty of 1000 marks on his head. He goes on the run, but it's only a few days before his luck peters out. He's down in Sussex when a search party tracks him down. There's a skirmish and Cade is badly wounded and taken captive. He doesn't survive the journey to London to face justice, but his dead body is put on trial and executed, beheaded, before his corpse is dragged around London streets. Finally, he's chopped into portions and sent to various parts of Kent to show what happens to insurgents. In the end, judicial commissions follow behind, hunting out more rebels and hanging them. Cade's rebellion finishes the same way as the Peasants Revolt all those years before, with order restored and the rebels punished. But it's shown the depth of disaffection in England for the government of Henry VI and the mismanagement of the war. 1450 has also seen the Duke of Suffolk leave the stage, leaving royal government quite literally headless. So as the flames of rebellion are stamped out, there are a lot of questions about what happens next. It doesn't look like Henry VI is going to shape up and get a grip on his realm anytime soon. Someone else needs to step up. But the job vacancy for power behind the throne comes with a rewards package that seems to include being brutally murdered. Who would want a job like that? Well, cage rebels knew who they wanted. They did everything they could to associate themselves with Richard, Duke of York, the King's relative who's currently over in Ireland. Is York the solution to all the Plantagenet's problems? Or is the kingdom well beyond being rescued by a superman in the autumn of 1450? England is about to find out, because that September, Richard returns. Find out what happens next when we return on this Is History. Well, another day, another headless noble. Tell me something I don't know about medieval justice. Actually, that's where you can come in. Royal favourites. I want to know, if you were in charge of London's special tribunal of 1450, how would you deal with traitors? Let me know on patreon.com thisishistory and please don't come for me head.