Original subtitles

[Music]

the story of the kings and queens of

England is more surprising than you

might think it's a fine drama a thousand

years of tales of lust and betrayal of

heroism and cruelty of mysteries murders

tragedies and triumphs but there's more

than that this episode begins with a

king of England who ruled for over a

year but who simply vanished from the

record and it ends with a boy whose

claim to the throne was based on

fictions that became historical

orthodoxy we begin in the year 1216 in

the reign of King Louie of England

yes King Louie not the most famous King

of England at the request of the Barons

and with the enthusiastic support of the

population of London he'd come to

England from France to take over the

crown from John and John struggling to

fight back had fallen ill and died Louie

who'd been acclaimed King at a mass in

some Paul's Cathedral now had the throw

to himself he had no coronation as the

bishops had been excommunicated

but rulers are created in England by

acclamation not coronation which is why

the uncrowned Edward the eighth was a

king and Lady Jane Grey who did have a

coronation was not Queen and Louie got

rubbed out of the list of England's

monitor because his acclamation was with

hindsight withdrawal that was because

the Barons have not expected Louis to

appoint his friends from France and

Flanders and his chief councillors

they'd expected to be given much more

control over what went on and then they

thought there's a better option John had

a nine-year-old son Henry of course no

child had ever been King but there's a

first time for everything and if the

king was a child and one of the barons

was Regent then the Baron Twitty won't

be running things

of course Louie controlled London but

the child was at Corfe castle and they

could at least get him to the nearest

Abbey Gloucester to crown him of course

they didn't have the crown but they

could use his mother's gold neck band

actually they didn't have an archbishop

available to do the coronation nevermind

the Bishop of Winchester was available

and had the keys to the Treasury it

wasn't a well attended ceremony not even

all of John's executives could get there

but it would have to do naturally little

Henry the third was not actually

exercising the powers of King that was

the job of a baron the Regent the chap

that got the job was a 70 year old Earl

of Pembroke William Marshall a safe pair

of hands if ever there was one Old

Faithful Marshall had long ago been a

bold young knight in the days of Henry

the first the Charles grandfather

he'd worked his way up the greasy pole

of advancement by the simplest very

unusual principle of loyalty to his Lord

and total trustworthiness everyone

trusted him and now the Barons expected

him to get rid of Louis and rule on

behalf of little Henry and who he was

roundly defeated in the end he agreed to

go back to France and agree he never

been king of England at all and all the

barons and bishops who had claimed him

as King decreed that they've never done

anything of the sort

everyone became patriotic for the first

time since the Norman Conquest the

French were being described as

foreigners looting the English the

Barons all spoke French and they had

nothing in common with the villains on

their lands but they were beginning to

feel

and William Marshall reissued Magna

Carta and said that all the old laws and

rights of England were exactly what

Henry the third wanted to uphold William

Marshall died grand old hero of England

in 1219 and Henry was given a proper

coronation at Westminster the following

year as Henry grew up the barons and

bishops had no intention of letting him

get away from them he learns to do as he

was told and that pretty much defined

him as a king what the Barons of the

bishops hadn't thought about was that

one day he would be listening not to

them but to his wife perhaps one of them

should have married him instead in 1236

he married Eleanor a younger daughter of

the count of Provence he was 29 she was

about 19 and she wrapped him round her

finger she arrived with her uncle who

immediately started running the King's

life and cart his huge amounts of

treasure off to his homeland

then she got another uncle installed the

Archbishop of Canterbury her physician

became the Bishop of Durham and large

sums of money supposedly going to her

mother were actually funding the Wars of

her brother-in-law that you could Anjou

she was inevitably staggeringly

unpopular and however little money the

King had he always seemed able to

support her relatives abroad paying for

their courts and their armies in 1263

the population of London rose in

rebellion their targets were Flemish

bankers Jewish financier

and Queen Eleanor she was in the Tower

of London London's Royal Palace and got

away from the Watergate to slip down the

Thames to Windsor as her boat approached

London Bridge

she was pelted with missiles by a crowd

shouting drown my wedge she managed to

get back to the second tower the kingdom

had become uncover nerble at least by

this king and queen this was not the

same country it had been in 1066 towns

had grown traded Rome London had rose

with the Barons losing influence and

Londoners angry

the crown itself was in danger England

was on the edge of revolution enter the

revolutionary a Frenchman on the make

the charming clever younger son of a

powerful and ruthless Norman Lord a

chancer with style Simon de Montfort

France was now ruled by King Louie's

widow on behalf of their young son she

was a shrewd woman who decided the young

Simon was dangerous stuff and forced him

to escape abroad he'd come to England in

1231 when he was about 23 intending to

recover land his family had lost years

ago and he was really good at it he

became the best of friends with the

impressionable Henry in no time and

Henry's sister fell for him in 1238 they

were married and he was given back those

lost family lands he was Earl of

Leicester the English was suspicious of

foreigners so Simon completely converted

into an Englishman

in 12:39 Henry and Ellen I had a son

Simon sponsored the baptism they chose

the name Edward after the great

anglo-saxon King Edward the Confessor

this French royal family had adopted

English patriotism but as the political

crisis deepened Simon became

increasingly committed to the total

reform of government eventually the

crisis became a full-blooded civil war

and by the time the war ended in 1264

Henry and his son Edward was Simon's

prisoners and he took over the country

Simon now set about inventing an

entirely new form of government one

which was based on the deeply rooted

English principle of consent in 1265 he

summoned the meeting of the country of

Parliament at Westminster to endorse his

government he summons not only barons

and bishops but also to Knights from

each Shire and most extraordinary

representatives from all the boroughs

the towns he said he was acting in the

King's name but the King didn't have

much to do with what was going on in

fact silent it established what we might

see as a modern state there was a

written constitution a symbolic King a

powerful leading Minister and there was

a parliament with representatives of the

church the countryside represented by

great landowners and gentry and of towns

we might see it like that they didn't to

most people at the time this was clearly

the tyranny of Simon de Montfort by now

five years old and it was his job to

overthrow this tyranny and restore the

crown first of course he had to escape

imprisonment at herebut castle

the prince was allowed to exercise his

force on the common so he wore out his

guards horses racing with them and then

jumped onto a fresh horse with a member

all for the purpose and disappeared into

the distance what followed is known as

the Battle of Evesham at the end of

which Simon de Montfort was chopped up

into pieces

Henry was back on his throne but it was

Edward who was now running the country

this tall muscular warrior he was called

Longshanks had the military skill to

crush the remaining rebels and the good

sense not to punish them afterwards he

understood how to make peace and

accepted the proposition that the king

must respect legal limits on his power

and consult with the nation he also

habitually spoke English the first royal

to do so since 1066

Parliament made him the steward in

England the mosfets revolution had left

his mark the old King died in 1272

having reigned for 56 years

Edwards main interest in life was

chivalry and water his natural costume

was armor

it had instances of the child when Henry

died

Edward was out of the country on from

safe

he came home to be crowned with his

cream yet another Eleanor in 1273 the

daughter of the king of Castile had

already born Edward six children they

would have ten

England now had something like a settle

system of government edward confirmed

the existing charges including magna

carta and was able to leave the business

of government and justice for his

counsel and judge his main concern was

how to gather the money to conduct his

military interests without provoking

more rebellions he hit on a brilliant

policy he invented nationalism to

demonstrate that his kingship was rooted

in English tradition he and Elinor

conducted the most remarkable ceremony

at Glastonbury in 1278 and 9t the monks

of Glastonbury had found graves which

were believed to be those of King Arthur

and Queen Guinevere the bones had been

placed in the Lady Chapel now 88 years

later King Edward carried the bones of

Arthur and Queen Eleanor those of

Guinevere they put the legendary remains

in a magnificent tomb in the main church

Edward presented himself as a new Arthur

all this was part of a wider campaign to

give his kingship the power of myth and

so unite the country behind him this

unity was going to be needed when he

claimed supremacy over all Wales it

worked when the Welsh princes rejected

his claim he was able to raise the money

to make an enormous military effort he

became the first English King to totally

concur this mountainous territory one of

its princes guellen was killed in battle

his head was mounted on the target the

other David was put on trial for treason

before Parliament and sentence to be

drawn hanged beheaded and quartered this

was a savagery previously unknown the

English system of shires and hundreds

was now extended to cover or wail and

the conquest was emphasised by huge

state-of-the-art royal castles like this

one at Canal and which war chest was

based on a new source of royal finance

in 1275 Parliament granted him the right

to charge customs duties on war see how

useful it was having a parliament with

merchants

to agree to taxes nevertheless popular

rhymes suggested trouble was brewing the

king he wants to get our gold the Queen

would like our lands to hold his war

chest had come from Jewish moneylenders

but now they had no more to give never

mind

the Jews could serve another purpose

Italian bankers would provide advances

on the customs duties and collect the

taxes themselves and Edward could unite

the country behind him in persecuting

the Jews six hundred and fifty years

later the Third Reich would adopt his

entire program-- first ed would decreed

that they were a threat to the country

their movements and activities were

restricted to identify them easily or

Jews were obliged to wear a yellow patch

in the shape of a star next he arrested

all the heads of Jewish households over

300 were taken to the Tower of London

and

while others were murdered in their

homes

finally in 1290 the king banished all

jews from the country by now the armored

overlord was a national hero when his

wife Queen Helena died in the same year

worn out by childbirths his own grief

was turned into a major display of

national mourning her body was

ceremonially carried from Lincoln to

Westminster and the memorial cross

erected at every one of the twelve

resting places including here at Charing

in London Charing Cross it was time to

enlarge the Kingdom again in 1296 he led

an army to enforce his claim to Scotland

Edinburgh was seized and the King of

Scotland stripped of his crown was

imprisoned in the Tower of London

Scottish Kings were crowned enthroned on

the stone of school or stone of destiny

Edward had it moved to London and put in

the coronation chair in Westminster

Abbey Edward appointed a trio of

Englishmen to run the country actually

his rule in Scotland was not noticeably

harsh or unjust but that was beside the

point his own conjuring of the demon of

nationalism was turning against him

ordinary Scots began to discover a

feeling of national identity a popular

Scottish resistance movement grew led by

William Wallace better known nowadays

outside Scotland at least as Braveheart

most of Scotland had broken free before

he was defeated and then in 1306

rebellion began again and Robert the

Bruce was crowned King of Scotland by

now Edward the hammer of the Scots was

old and sick he tried to lead an army

back into Scotland but it became obvious

he'd never get there a few miles north

of Carlisle on his deathbed he gave

instructions to his 23 year-old heir

Edward Prince of Wales a hundred Knights

were to crusade carrying his heart the

army should carry his bones to defeat

Scotland and the prince was not to have

anything further to do with his very

very close friend piers Gaveston the

King was dead edward ii was ready to

party

edward was physically tall and muscular

but his similarity to his father ended

there he had no interest in being

warlord his father had taken him on

campaign but the Prince traveled with a

pet lion and a troop of Genevieve's

Fiddler's Edward the first had tried to

change his character by assigning him a

charismatic Squire who was good at

tournaments this had backfired

spectacularly Edward and piers Gaveston

at

[Music]

Gaveston was banished but obviously he

was now coming back Gaveston was an

elegant charming artistic man who loved

showing off his power over Edward and

could still easily beat more macho men

in tournaments this was a recipe for a

short life before his coronation Edward

married Isabella the sister of the King

of France then Gaveston was seen wearing

Isabella's wedding jewelry at the

coronation he showed up carrying the

crown wearing royal purple and buttons

some of the barons wanted to kill him on

the spot eventually of course they did

kill him here at blackwell hill in

Warwickshire having chased the King and

peers around the country and then Robert

Bruce renegade King of Scotland said

about completing his war of independence

he captured Edinburgh and besieged the

last English stronghold Stirling in 1314

edward ii set out to relieve the city

the Battle of Bannockburn just outside

the castle was a total disaster

Edwards troubles were made worse by the

fact that the climate which had been

benign for about a hundred years took a

dramatic and long-term turn for the

worse in 1315 as harvests failed as

cattle died the Baron said that his

extravagance of lack of direction was

intolerable

so the grown-ups took over the Earl of

Lancaster head of the council was now

acting as king keeping Edward on a daily

allowance of ten pounds but he still had

friends he turns a Hugh Despenser and

his son dispenser was the only nobleman

who had supported Gaveston eventually

they managed to help him break free of

the power of Leicester and the other

great Nobles but no one had a solution

to the unending run of bad harvests and

the apparent enthusiasm of the

Despenser's to enrich themselves made

Edwards rule deeply unpopular especially

with his Queen Isabella in 1325 she got

away to France and refused to come home

unless the Despenser's were thrown out

worse she'd fallen passionately in love

with an ally of Leicester who was hiding

out in front Roger Mortimer

Isabella and Mortimer gathered an army

and invaded England in September 13 26

as homophobia turned into mob rule

Isabella and Mortimer work joyously

welcome along a few months it was all

over

the elder dispenser almost 90 years old

was hanged without being given time to

take off his armor the younger and his

Kendrick cut off he was disemboweled the

object was that Isabella and Mortimer to

rule in the name of her 14 year old son

but the boy refused to accept the crown

without his father's consent so Edward

dressed in black was deposed in a solemn

ceremony the steward of his household

broke his STOVL office he broke down and

cried

he was eventually moved to Berkeley

castle where he was encouraged to die as

soon as possible he was denied

sufficient food and clothing he was

prevented from sleeping he was crowned

with a crown of hay and shaved with

ditchwater Isabella generally known as

the she-wolf of France reproved the

guards for their mild treatment since he

would not die by himself he was murdered

in his bed on the 21st of September it

said that he was raped with a red-hot

poker

his dying shrieks were heard throughout

the castle a homophobia had allowed his

Abela

and her lover Mortimer to brutally and

illegally depose Edward the second that

didn't make them heroes for long Edward

the third in whose name they ruled was

their prisoner but in 1320 when he was

18 he broke free they were staying in

Nottingham and he put together a plot to

lead a band of armed men into the castle

through an underground passage they

seized Mortimer and Isabella Mortimer

was hanged

Isabella shut away in Castle rising in

Norfolk

[Music]

and England had a king again law and

proper government would be resumed under

a handsome young man properly entitled

to the Thrones who also happened to be a

fine chivalrous Knight who spoke English

French and German and who was already

married with a baby son what could be

better than that how about a good walk

Edward decided on the most extraordinary

and significant military campaign since

the Norman Conquest he announced that by

the laws of inheritance he was the

rightful successor to the throne of

France he was rubbish wasn't but he

certainly meant to you and in 1337 he

began preparing his invasion actually

there were two genuine reasons for this

and neither had anything to do with the

Lord's accession one was that the French

were supporting the Scots and so long as

that continued the King of England would

never be master of Scotland and Northern

England would be constantly threatened

by Raiders looters and Scottish armies

the other was that England was now a

busy commercial country selling wool to

Flemish Weaver's in 1336 Philip of

France decided to take control of this

trade he arrested all English merchants

in flanders and took away the privileges

of the flemish towns and the craft

guilds english merchants pointed out

that they've lost their income the king

had lost his customs duties the kingdom

had lost its foreign trade

the coast on the far side of the channel

was vital to English security and

prosperity whatever the cost

it must be kept open the same imperative

would force Britain to war against

Napoleon against the Kaiser against

Hitler Edward was the first to have to

face him his solution was to claim fraud

and breaking this little campaign is

known to history as the Hundred Years

War but this war actually changed the

nature of the Kings job because it

required a new kind of army ever since

William the Conqueror the idea had been

that in exchange for their land holdings

lords and knights were supposed to turn

up in arms and fight for the king when

they were needed but this didn't work

very well for a war overseas firstly a

night service was only meant to be for

40 days at a time that doesn't work with

a Hundred Years War secondly many

Knights felt that they shouldn't be

obliged to go overseas at all they were

probably right and thirdly they weren't

necessarily fighting men anymore so

Edward needed to have a professional

army Knights who didn't want to serve

didn't have to they could pay a tax

called scooted that would allow Edward

to hire professionals mercenaries were

quick to see the opportunity for plunder

and ransom and joined up and freed from

the need to pander to Knightly good

manners on the battlefield and would

hired thousands of effective deadly

archers from the lower classes instead

of being a feudal warlord the king was

now a professional commander

he invaded Normandy in 1346 and his

professionals destroyed the

old-fashioned feudal knights of France

at crécy opening up that vital coast

Calais held out and when it eventually

surrendered Edward announced that it

must be punished the city keys must be

handed over by six leading Berger's

barefoot with nooses around their necks

to be hanged when they arrived the Queen

publicly fell on her knees and pleaded

for the burghers lives which of course

Edward granted this splendid pantomime

was part of the theater of royalty which

Edward was now developing to a

magnificent art the life of the king was

being turned into a public performance

his court was the home of chivalry and

his lords and knights were given parts

in the drama it was a brilliant device

for binding together war taxation and

loyalty the Queen was as important in

this as the King she led the ladies of

the court the judges of chivalric

behavior and she was the source of mercy

tempering her husband's justice this was

a religious image people were encouraged

to show devotion to the Virgin Mary the

Queen of Heaven who would intercede and

offer protection against divine judgment

intercession was desperately needed by

people who believe that God punished

them with death

death arrived at Weymouth in June 13:48

black death in less than a year the

whole country was stricken no one could

have understood what was happening once

a person was infected large

foul-smelling swellings developed in the

groin neck and armpit death followed

within two or three days the disease

killed more than a third of the

population and by 1350 the population of

England was half that of 1315 in the

midst of the dying the theater of

royalty grew grander Edward created the

Order of the Garter where two tournament

teams played out in our fury and drama

based on some George's Chapel at Windsor

the castle was rebuilt for the show with

the nobility bound to him by chivalric

dreams and the Shires and towns granting

funds for the war in parliament the

French war could still go on another

decisive victory of poitiers in 1356

brought France to the point of

disintegration but by now the war

couldn't be ended the nobility and

troops saw endless vistas of plunder

while the Kings only chance of income

came not from his withered population

but from rich ransoms

this war would last a hundred years by

the time Edward died in 1377 65 years

old the townsmen and peasants of England

was sick of the whole thing the King's

oldest son Edward the Black Prince had

been the flower of chivalry and hugely

popular but he died a year before the

king the successor to the throne was the

Black Prince his ten-year-old son

Richard real power though lay with

Richards Uncle John of Gaunt

[Music]

the war had by now turned against

England the French were ravaging the

English coast the shrunken working

population demanded proper wages they

had no interest in performing feudal

duties on the land while desperate

landowners needed more than ever to

enforce them Gaunt's government needed

money and tried to raise it from a poll

tax not understanding that the

population was far smaller than before

when they failed to raise the money they

expected they tried again and England

erupted lords noble bishops get rid of

them all who needs them when Adam del de

nieve spam who was then the gentle man

the so-called peasants revolt of 1381

was actually an uprising of the

respectable people of towns and villages

across England it aimed at least for the

rebel that captain London was an end to

lordship in church and state

just one Archbishop and a king

specifically not they added a king

called John they detested John of Gaunt

who went into hiding

the dramatic moment of course was the

meeting of Richard and the rebels at

Smithfield on the 14th of June the rebel

leader what Tyler was talking to the

king when the Mayor of London cut him

down the rebels immediately drew their

bows and the King now 14 years old rode

forward to calm them I will be your

captain come with me into the field and

he shall have all you ask and they

dispersed as he told them it was an

astonishing lesson in the mysterious

power of kingship the rebel should never

have trusted him of course once the

danger was past the ringleaders were

hunted down and killed Delaine he are

and villain he shall remain years later

when Richard would need popular support

he would find he had knife but Richard

had been given a dramatic vision of

himself he seems to have been convinced

at the basis of his power lay in the

special authority of sovereignty

he was the first English king to have

portraits made instead of wars

he offered tournaments accompanied by

music and dancing with the ladies of the

court but Richards choice of companions

were not the kind of men that most

barons approved of and above all Richard

abandoned the war with France leaving

France in control of Flanders unpleasant

references were made to edward ii and

look what happened to him he found

himself up against a group of noblemen

who call themselves the lords appellant

appealing to have his closest advisors

removed and take over the government

which is what happened Richard was

effectively dethroned he was able to

recover power in 1397 as part of his

efforts to secure his throne he exiled

Henry Bolingbroke John of Gaunt

son

but Bolingbroke came back with a

vengeance and Richard found that

wherever he turned for support it simply

wasn't there

Bolingbroke captured him demanded his

voluntary application and then sat on

his throne Richard

disappeared into a prison in Pontefract

castle where he was murdered Richard had

no children the line of the Black Prince

Edward the thirds

eldest son had come to an end the proper

heir to the throne was an eight-year-old

boy called Edwin living in Ireland the

great-grandson of King Edward's second

son Henry's father was the third son so

Henry was certainly not heir to the

throne but he was a big man with a big

red beard and a big army and he was

sitting right there in England on the

throne not in Ireland not eight years

old so Parliament decided that he was

very definitely fully entitled to be

king of England oh yes

Edmund spent the whole of Bolingbroke

trained as a well maintained prisoner

Henry was the first King to speak

English as his native tongue

he was personable brave and a very

capable leader in battle but without

legitimacy he was clinging to power by

his fingernails anyone who doubted

Bolingbroke tried to be King of England

could expect to be heart hanged and then

have their intestines pulled out before

being killed his regime became ever more

oppressive as he became more worried

there was an uprising in the north which

he put down with real ferocity it was

said that he personally killed 30 men in

battle and the air hung heavy with the

smoke of burning flesh as the English

church under this new regime began

burning heretics the usurper needed to

rule by fear for the most frightened

person in England was him or who'd

seized the throne and killed King

Richard was a frightened man he made

himself sick with worry

sometimes he sank into a coma people

said he had leprosy government was taken

over by his son also called Henry a

young man who'd grown up fighting on his

father's behalf in fact Parliament

suggested that the King abdicate in his

son's favor which he refused to do in

1413 the Grim Reaper came with a more

convincing offer

he was only 45 years old and the 26-year

old henry v was crowned in april in the

snowstorm henry v did all he could to

get the country back onto a stable

footing he gave richard ii remains of

proper burial and of course he got back

to the important business of invading

France France was still in a state of

disintegration ruled by Charles the

sixth a man with a severe mental

disturbance in a fit of derangement he'd

slaughtered his own attendants now he

believed that he was made of glass and

about to break he actually had iron rods

stitched into his clothing it was easy

and Henry's overwhelming victory at

Agincourt in 1415 destroyed much of

france's aristocracy the English king

was now in control of Paris child very

fragile agreed to acknowledge Henry as

heir to the French throne

this meant disinheriting his own son the

dope man

and Henry took Charles his sister

Catherine de Valois as his bride what a

great place to end the story

England's sake Edward the third plan to

take over France brought to fruition a

genuinely popular King and they all

lived happily ever after

not in 1422 henry v not yet 35 years old

contracted dysentery and died england

had a new king henry in Catherine's son

Henry the sixth six weeks later the King

of France also died and Henry the sixth

became King of France just one problem

his Majesty King Henry the sixth was

only ten months of the Duke of Bedford

was appointed regent of France of the

Duke of Gloucester regent of England and

the babies kingdoms especially France

were in serious trouble

[Music]

the dopher wanted his kingdom back and

everything the English had done ravaging

the countryside destroying all authority

and stability it could have been

calculated to create a passion of

nationalism it was entirely natural for

people to believe that Joan of Arc was

on a divine mission to drive the English

out of France and give it its rightful

king under her inspirational leadership

the defense forces took over a Leon and

Reims and he was crowned King of France

in Reims in 1429 little Henry had still

not been crowned king of anything

something obviously had to be done about

that so later the same year now seven

years old he had a coronation in

Westminster Abbey

the idea was then to get him to Reims

where kings of France are supposed to be

crowned but that just wasn't safe so he

ended up being crowned King of France in

Paris it was all a mess

in fact English forces were now fighting

a losing battle the new factor in the

equation was gunpowder

cannon and hand guns change the whole

nature of warfare and Henry did not grow

up to be a warrior a quiet studious

young man he never felt it was his job

to lead the English forces in battle

they were finally destroyed at Castilla

in 1453 the Hundred Years War was over

England was left with no possessions in

France except Calais but Henry's

problems had barely begun the taxes

needed to fight the war and corruption

among royal officials meant the country

was disheartened and angry and the

issues of legitimacy that had lain

pretty dormant in England since Henry

Bolingbroke usurped the throne were now

coming out of the woodwork richard ii

had been the last legitimate King of

England if there was such a thing he'd

been succeeded by his murderer and

rivalling Brook the father of Henry v

the grand

father of Henry the sixth they were all

descended from John of Gaunt Duke of

Lancaster but that wasn't the legitimate

line of descent John of Gaunt and an

elder brother whose descendants were

still alive the rightful king of England

had not been Henry the fourth but Edmund

the Earl of March and now that Edmund

was dead it was his nephew Richard Duke

of York Edmund had carefully and

probably wisely never made a point of

making his claim Henry the fourth and

Henry the fifth had been seriously

powerful men but Henry the sixth wasn't

in the same league his interest was not

in war but in learning he founded Eton

and King's College Cambridge and he was

a gentle pious man there were many who

believed that he was more a saint than a

king Richard Duke of York now 40 years

old decided that it was time for the

crown to fall into his hands his claim

was supported by most of the Barons of

southern England the northern barons

felt all this was codswallop they had

the right to choose their King not be

passed like slaves to whoever inherited

them and then quite suddenly in the

summer of 1453 the King went mad he'd

probably inherited the strain of madness

in his mother's family the illness that

had racked Charles the sixth the true

legacy of a gene core was not the crown

of France but a recurring disease that

would afflict members of the English

royal family for centuries he lost his

memory he lost control of his body he

lost the ability to speak coherently or

understand what was said to him his wife

gave birth to their only son but he knew

nothing about it with the King

capacitative government needed to be

handed to a regent and the man with the

backing in the south to take over the

reins was Richard Duke of York the

inevitable and disastrous outcome was

civil war Lancaster against York their

badges the red rose of Lancaster and the

White Rose of York gave history the Wars

of the Roses

to begin with it was a war for control

not of the crown but of the King Richard

didn't want to be proud while Henry was

still alive nor did he want to kill him

but he did want to control the

government and be recognized as Henry's

successor the King made a partial

recovery but was quite incapable of

taking charge of his own defense his

queen made an impressive effort to do it

for him Margaret commanded in the Battle

of Wakefield in 1460 when Richard of

York was killed Richard's son Edward of

York had none of his father's qualms

about taking the crown in March 14 61

Edward without any parliamentary

approval had himself crowned Edward the

4th

[Music]

[Music]

Henry was still alive a husk and became

a refugee with his queen the deposed

royal family hid in Scotland then Henry

was captured and became a prisoner in

London in 1470 an extraordinary upheaval

backed by the King of France drove

Edward the fourth from London and Henry

was rescued from prison and restored to

his throne it said that while Edward

plotted his return from exile in Holland

Henry had a curious interview with one

of his distant relatives a boy of

fourteen Henry Tudor after the death of

his father Henry the sex mother

Catherine de Valois had an affair with

one of her servants a Welshman Owen at

mellendorf

up to dog it was probably King Henry who

arranged the marriage of their son

Edmund Tudor to Margaret Beaufort's a

great grandchild of John of Gaunt

Margaret became pregnant immediately but

the Beaufort family were disbarred by

ancient royal charters from ever

succeeding to the throne so why did she

call her baby Henry no Beaufort had ever

been called Henry no Tudor had ever been

called Henry it was a king's name it

suggests that Owen had great plans for

the boy and that was obviously what

Edward of York thought as soon as he had

Owen Tudor in his power in 1461 he had

his head chopped off his head was

displayed lit up with a hundred candles

and riku der h4 had been taken prisoner

but now young Judah was free and

according to latest stories was looked

on as an important figure in the line of

succession according to Shakespeare

Henry the sixth looked at the boy and

said hello surely this is he to whom

both we and our adversaries shall

hereafter give plates

the following year Edward the fourth

made his counter-strike King Henry's son

was killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury

and Henry the six himself was captured a

few days later he was murdered in the

Tower of London the Wars of the Roses

were over the competition between

England's barons for control of the

kingdom had ground to a bloody end with

most of the great families of mobile

having been slaughtered Henry Tudor was

now head of the House of Lancaster

he had no claim to the throne of course

coming from the debarred Beaufort family

so Edward should not have regarded him

as a threat in theory just to be on the

safe side he fled to Brittany but Henry

Tudor would be back and he would make

sure he controlled how the story was

written in the next program we'll see

how Henry Tudor shaped our knowledge of

what followed creating the story of the

most evil king in history and setting

the stage for the most heroic

how much do you know about Henry v sky

digital views press read and take our

test the turbulent reigns of the Tudors

tonight at 10:00 coming up next

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