All language subtitles for Britains.Bloodiest.Dynasty.The.Plantagenets.S01E02_English

[Men shouting,
swords clashing]

NARRATOR: Out of the chaos,
darkness, and violence

of the Middle Ages,
one family rose

to seize control
of England.

[Man grunts]

NARRATOR: Generation
after generation,

they ruled the country
for more than 300 years...

ruthlessly crushing
all competition,

to become the greatest
English dynasty of all time.

The Plantagenets.

[Men shouting]

What I love about
the Plantagenet story

is that it's more shocking,
more brutal,

and more astonishing than
anything you'll find in fiction.

I want to show you the
Plantagenets as I see them,

real, living, breathing people

driven by ambition, jealousy,
hatred, and revenge.

These kings murdered, betrayed,
and tyrannized their way

to spectacular success.

For better and for worse,

the Plantagenets forged England
as a nation.

This time,

a friendship...

that turns to hatred.

Plunging England into
civil war

and changing the monarchy
forever.

[Crows cawing]

[Reciting in Latin]

JONES: Henry III is the fourth
Plantagenet king.

His grandfather, Henry II,

ruled over more of France
than the French king.

But thanks to the incompetence
of Henry III's dad, King John,

most of those lands
are gone.

Henry dreams of
getting them back.

He's going to be
a great Plantagenet king.

To be a king in
the the Middle Ages,

you've got to be tough
and politically savvy.

You need to fight wars
and win,

and the winning part
is important.

You need to dispense justice
fairly and evenly.

And above everything else,
you need a boundless energy --

the appetite to get up
in the morning and rule.

Unfortunately for England,

Henry III lacks pretty much
every one of those qualities.

Henry's already had two goes

at retaking his lost
French lands.

But Henry messed it up
big time.

Both times it ended in
expensive defeat.

The barons lost all confidence
in the king.

Now, they've turned off
the money supply.

Which, of course, they can.

Henry's completely hamstrung by
Magna Carta.

Today we think of it as
a charter of human rights

and the foundation
of liberty,

but to Henry it's just a list of
things he can't do,

and top of that list is that
he can't raise any new taxes

without the barons' say-so.

Winning back his
Plantagenet empire

is going to cost Henry a bomb,

but Magna Carta means the barons
don't have to cough up.

They think Henry
can talk the talk

but he can't
walk the walk.

And that's the truth
about Henry --

he's a total dreamer.

But give him his due...

he dreams big.

This is Westminster Abbey...

Henry built it to restore some
lost Plantagenet pride.

You can imagine Henry

wandering through this
incredible building,

thinking, "sends off all the
right signals for a great king."

But as far as
the barons are concerned,

that's exactly what he's not.

And Henry just isn't
strong enough

to take them on alone.

But in Autumn 1230,

a man turns up a court

who changes the course of
Henry's reign.

A minor French knight
with big ambitions.

Simon de Montfort.

De Montfort doesn't do
anything by heart.

He wears a hair shirt under his
clothes 24-7.

It rakes his skin --
a perpetual reminder

to stay focuses
on God.

-Excusare me?
-Simon de Montfort.

JONES: Basically,
he's a fanatic.

And he backs his belief
with action.

He spent his youth
chasing heretics

around the south of France
with a sword.

Henry sees a man
with a muscular,

no-nonsense single-mindedness
that he needs

to achieve his big dreams.

Henry was so young
when he came to the throne

that he's grown up with other
people making

all the important
decisions for him.

So, when he meets Simon --

charismatic, decisive --

he's looking at him
and thinking,

"I could use
a man like that."

[de Montfort speaking French]

Henry is drawn to de Montfort
like a moth to a flame.

But it's not just
one-sided,

because Simon may be pious but
he's also very ambitious.

And he's come to England
looking for

the lucrative title of
Earl of Leicester,

which he thinks
belongs to his family.

So, he's looking at Henry

and thinking
exactly the same thing --

"I could use a man like that."

Unsurprisingly, Henry and Simon
quickly become best mates.

Simon's soon on
the king's counsel

basically his
right-hand man.

He's even steward
at the king's wedding.

Simon de Montfort
is on the way up.

Stored at
the National Archives

is an amazing document that has
survived for eight centuries.

It reveals just how
ambitious Simon is.

This is the king's official copy
of a charter made by

Simon de Montfort in 1236.

And its contents aren't really
that important --

what is important is the way
Simon's referred to himself.

It says here,

"Simon de Montfort,
comptes that's earl,

Earl of Leicester."

And that's interesting,

because Simon had
lots of the lands

that went with
the title of earl,

but didn't have
the title itself.

And that tells us
quite a lot about Simon.

Firstly, it tells us
he's ambitious.

Secondly, it tells us he rates
his relationship with the king

high enough to go about
using a title

he doesn't really have
the right to.

But thirdly,
it tells us he's right --

because this is the king's
official copy,

Henry's given it
his sign-off.

So, Simon might be cocky,
but it's with very good reason.

Henry can't get
enough of Simon.

He propels his new best friend
into the medieval stratosphere.

Simon marries Henry's sister,

Eleanor, the greatest catch
in the kingdom.

Henry should have
married her off

to one of the great
European rulers

to secure a political alliance,

but he's convinced Simon
can help him become

the great king of his dreams.

So, he gives Eleanor
to his best mate, instead.

You can imagine Simon is feeling
pretty pleased with himself.

He's married to
the king's sister,

he's an insider at court,

he's the king's favorite.

Considering where
he came from,

he hasn't done
too badly.

But Simon's deal
is not all it seems.

Eleanor should have come
with a massive dowry.

Instead of giving it
to his friend,

Henry hangs onto the money
and land for himself.

This decision sows the seeds

of catastrophe.

JONES: In 1239, Henry makes
de Montfort Earl of Leicester.

Simon's now the king's
brother-in-law,

his chief advisor,
and an English baron.

But at precisely
this moment of triumph,

Simon goes too far.

He takes out
a big, fat loan

using Henry as guarantor.

As far as he's concerned,

Henry owes him
for his wife's dowry

so he doesn't ask Henry first.

Big mistake.

[Speaking French]

When Simon tries to
play it down,

Henry threatens to Simon
and his own sister

into the Tower of London.

And he's not kidding.

For Henry, this is
an outrageous liberty.

Giving things to Simon,
well, that's one thing,

but he can't just stand around
while Simon takes what he wants.

Henry doesn't like it,
but Simon has to go.

Simon and Eleanor

are forced to flee
to France.

It seems like the end
of a beautiful friendship.

But Henry's going to need Simon
again sooner than he thinks.

Just three years later,

the king gets himself
into big trouble.

Henry's launched an attack here
at Poitou in western France.

It was once his
ancestors' territory.

Henry thought
he could take it back.

But he couldn't.

Just like last time,

the barons used Magna Carta to
deny him the taxes he needed.

But just like last time,
Henry went ahead anyway.

Attacking Poitou was
spectacularly stupid,

because the Count of Poitou's
brother is the French king.

Henry's forces quickly find
themselves chased down

by the whole French army.

In desperation,
Henry has called on

the one man he believes
can help him --

his estranged and banished
best friend, Simon de Montfort.

Simon was just back

from a year-long crusade
in the holy land,

so his military expertise was
greater than ever.

And Henry had eaten humble pie
to get him back.

Now, this is quite
a climb down --

Henry was the one who banished
Simon in the first place,

and now he's stuffed
without him.

But even Simon can't salvage
this disaster.

Henry flees the field.

He leave Simon fighting

a desperate rear guard action
with the king's men.

They retreat toward
the town of Saintes.

Henry is cowering
inside the town,

and it's not just
the French army

that comes storming
after him.

[Man shouting in French]

Simon is not used to losing.

Now, it's histurn
to explode at the king.

[Speaking French]

The king himself
reported what Simon says.

Now, Charles the simple was a
notoriously useless French king

whose subjects put him in jail

'cause he was
such a bad general.

Thinking about locking up
your king is one thing,

but actually saying it
to his face

is flirting with treason.

But Henry can't
call Simon on it.

This is the king's third failure
in France.

There's now zero chance
the English barons

will support his ambitions.

He desperately needs an ally
in the aristocracy,

and Simon is still
the Earl of Leicester.

So, when they return to England,

Henry eats more humble pie.

He gives Simon

this whacking great castle
at Kenilworth.

For five years
their friendship holds up.

So, when a foreign crisis
pops up in 1247,

the king turns to his best
friends again.

All Henry has left of the
Plantagenet empire in France

is Gascony.

But it's in chaos,

with feuding nobles,

a French king
itching to invade,

and its southern borders
under attack.

As ever, the barons won't let
Henry raise taxes

to sort it out.

They think he'll just
cock it up again.

So, Henry asks Simon
to fix it for him...

and he'll pay him later.

Henry admires the fact that

Simon will take the tough
decisions he can't.

That's why he sends him --

Simon's a zero-tolerance
sort of guy.

And true to form, he launches
a vicious crackdown

on the Gascon rebels,

even cutting their vines,

which, in wine country,
is a terrible punishment.

[Speaking French]

But while Simon is
in Gascony,

Henry finds himself drawn in

by another
powerful figure --

William de Valence,

the king's half-brother,

leader of a French family called
the Lusignans.

Henry starts giving them land
and titles;

in exchange, they supplant
the English lords

and begin to take control of
the government for him.

Finally, the king has some
allies at home.

Seems great, doesn't it?

But it's not.

The Lusignans were actually

booted out of France because
they're dangerous, ruthless,

and pretty nasty.

Henry's decision
to give them so much power

will tear the country apart.

But right now,

all that he can see is that

they make him feel like
a powerful king.

Now, he doesn't need
Simon de Montfort

like he used to.

When the Gascons complain
about Simon's brutality,

Henry hangs his old mate
out to dry.

Even though de Montfort

has run up huge debts
doing the king's dirty work,

Henry puts him on trial

for his treatment of
the Gascons.

The trial takes place here,

right in the shadow of Henry's
greatest building project,

Westminster Abbey.

And it's held in what used to be
the monks' dining room --

you can still see
part of the original wall.

Now, if you'd been sitting on
the other side of that in 1252,

you'd have witnessed
the end of the friendship

of Simon de Montfort
and Henry III.

The case is held

before the king
and Simon's fellow barons.

Simon is reeling that his friend
has put him on trial.

An all-out row kicks off
between them.

Sounds like Simon's
having a dig

at Henry's piety, but I think
there's more to it than that.

He's certainly picked an analogy

designed to hurt
the king's feelings,

but what he's really saying is,

What's the point in
confessing,

admitting your mistakes,

if you're going to do the same
stupid things again afterwards?

It's like, "You're useless,
you know you're useless,

but you don't want to do
anything about it."

And that sounds like

Simon's really overstepping
the mark again.

But he's about to give Henry
a brutal lesson in kingship.

[Speaking French]

Simon has taken the political
temperature in the room.

The king hasn't.

[Henry speaking French]

When Henry puts the charges
to a vote...

Simon walks.

The other barons are as fed up
with the king and his Lusignans

as Simon is,

Henry and Simon

now hate each other
with a passion.

And England will pay
a terrible price.

[Screaming]

Henry sulks.

And he lets the Lusignans
off the leash.

[Woman screaming]

They start grabbing land
and property

in total violation of
Magna Carta.

Their supporters even ransack

the Archbishop of Canterbury's
London palace.

Henry simply stands by and lets
them get away with it.

It just confirms
the barons' view

that he's a spineless
excuse for a king.

And then in 1256,
Henry does something

quite extraordinary.

It's spelt out

in an astonishing
700 year old book

here in the British Library.

This is the chronicle
of Matthew Paris,

who is writing at the time of
Henry III

and had better access than
anyone else

to Henry and his court.

And he writes

that the king gave an order
under the regio figillo,

the royal seal,

that no brief --

that's any official
government document --

could be used
to cause injury --

alicui fratri sui --

to any of his brothers...

which includes
the Lusignans.

So, Henry's saying

the Lusignans can't be
prosecuted --

effectively they're
above the law.

And this is
political dynamite.

The barons are furious.

In retaliation, they squeeze
Henry's finances further.

Henry's not in
a very good place --

he's lost
the war with France,

he's made a mess
of Gascony,

he's upset most of his barons,
and he's broke.

It's time to
sort things out.

So, what does he do?

Does he kick out
the Lusignans?

Does he reassure
his barons?

Does he sort out Gascony?

No, he decides to do
something bold,

something radical,

something no one
will expect.

He decides to invade Sicily.

It was actually
the pope's idea.

He asked Henry to do it.

But Henry jumps at
the opportunity

to take control of
a wealthy country.

This could help free him from

the control of
the English barons.

But Sicily is
a thousand miles away.

It would cost an absolute
fortune to take.

Henry can't even hang on to his
lands in France,

so, invading Sicily
is a bonkers idea --

and everyone can see it...

except the king.

Henry demands taxes
from the English barons

to fund the invasion.

He thinks he can
get away with it

because de Valence's violent
Lusignans support him.

A group of barons come to London
to put Henry back in his box,

and it's his old friend
Simon de Montfort

leading the charge.

[Simon speaking French]

JONES: Simon de Montfort
comes to London

to bring King Henry III
to heel.

The king stitched him up
over Gascony --

Simon will never forgive him.

This is Westminster Hall.

More than 900 years old,

it's all that's left
of the medieval palace.

And it's here that Simon
and the barons march up

to meet Henry III.

He's sitting up there
on his throne,

and he thinks they've come to
give him money

for his Sicilian invasion.

But as soon as they arrive he
realizes something's very wrong.

Simon and the others might not
have swords in their hands,

but they're still done up
in their battle armor.

And Henry knows
the tables are turned.

Simon and his allies aren't here
to take Henry captive --

what they're demanding

is almost worse.

First, they want

the Lusignans stripped of all
their English property

and kicked out of
the country.

Second, they want a permanent
council of barons

to manage the affairs
of the king.

However they want to
phrase it,

the reality is,

they're taking over.

This is a nightmare
for Henry.

Simon and his mates
are saying,

not only are we not going to
help you with Sicily,

but you're such a disaster

we're going to take away
pretty much all your power.

They come armed because
they're telling Henry,

"we're stronger than you" --
and they are.

Henry's forced to agree to
all their demands

just to get out of the room.

But as soon as he does,

he backtracks on everything
he's promised.

Eight weeks later,
at a parliament in Oxford,

Henry faces off against

Simon and the barons,

and he takes
his half-brother William

and his Lusignan thugs
with him.

The town is full of knights from
both sides armed to the teeth.

The atmosphere is electric,
you can feel the tension.

The country is teetering on
the verge of civil war.

The hated Lusignans
have no intention

of giving up their castles
and land.

They think they can take on
Simon de Montfort.

The explosive meeting
becomes known as

the mad parliament.

Simon directly

threatens the king's
half-brother.

Make no mistake,

you'll either
give up your castles

or you will lose your head.

Is he bluffing,
or is Simon serious?

Well, frankly,
I wouldn't put it past him.

This isn't some soft,
wealthy English baron --

this is a hard man,
a crusader,

a guy who is used to
spilling blood.

The Lusignans are no match
for de Montfort,

and they know it.

They flee for their lives.

Henry's resistance collapses.

He has to accept
all the barons' demands.

The new rules

that he's forced to sign up to
are legally recorded

in a document called
the Provisions of Oxford.

This is one of the most
important documents

in British history.

Everyone thinks of Magna Carta
as the great bill

that limited kings' power,

but the Provisions of Oxford
are actually far more extreme.

Henry spent his whole life
railing against

the restrictions of Magna Carta;

the Provisions of Oxford

really give him something
to complain about.

Now, we have them here,
copied in French,

into a chronicle
from the time.

And you can see,
a council of quinze --

that's 15 --
barons will meet

to manage the affairs
of the kingdom.

A parliament will meet tres,
three times a year,

whether or not
the king summoned it.

Simon and the barons,
essentially a parliament,

can now make decisions on

pretty much anything
that happens in the kingdom --

whether or not
Henry likes it.

He's become
a rubber stamp,

and if he breaks the Provisions,
the penalty is war.

It's a seismic shift
in political power

away from the king,

and it's the basis of

our modern
parliamentary system.

This must be devastating
for Henry.

He's already lost most of his
ancestral lands in France,

and now in England,

where his authority is
supposed to be supreme,

he's virtually powerless
as well.

His whole vision of what it is
to be a king is being shattered.

[Reciting in Latin]

The barons demand that everyone
swears an oath before God

to abide by the Provisions.

Problem is, Henry and Simon's
attitudes to the oath

are poles apart.

Everyone knows Plantagenet kings
and their barons

have a long history
of breaking their oaths.

But for Simon, once he's made
a sacred oath with God,

he's really boxed himself
into a corner.

Remember, this guy is
a religious zealot.

The oath is sworn at

Blackfriar's Church
in Oxford

by Henry, the barons,

and by Simon.

So, after he makes the oath,

he stays up half the night
in prayer,

he abstains from sex,

and he's still wearing his
hair shirt under his clothes.

This is his treaty with God,

and he's never
going to break it.

But he knows Henry will.

Within four years,

de Montfort's worst fears
come true.

Because Henry has sworn the oath
knowing he'll break it,

he brings back the Lusignans,
and just like before,

they do pretty much
whatever they want.

Henry's gambling the barons will
turn a blind eye

because the alternative
is civil war.

And no one wants that...
do they?

It's a massive miscalculation
by the king.

One man iscommitted.

Almost alone amongst
those who've sworn it,

Simon will keep the oath,
whatever the cost.

Simon raises an army
from those barons

who still believe in
the Provisions of Oxford.

In 1264, England is plunged
into a civil war.

This is the town of Lewes,
close to the south coast.

And it's here that
Simon de Montfort and Henry III

face off against each other
in battle for the first time.

Simon may have
the law on his side,

but however you dress it up

he's still taking on
God's anointed king.

He is now a traitor.

And when it comes
to traitors,

Henry can still call on
plenty of support.

By the time
they confront each other,

Simon's on the back foot.

Simon's experienced enough
to know that,

as he approaches
the town of Lewes

here on the Sussex Downs,

things don't look
very good for him.

He's injured
with a broken leg,

his army is massively
outnumbered, two to one,

and Henry is holed-up down there
behind strong town walls.

Simon knows the king will be
feeling pretty confident,

but then again,
that's what he's banking on.

He's planning to force the king
into a winner-takes-all battle

on his terms

by drawing the king
out into the open.

It's a massive gamble,
but that's Simon all over.

Under cover of darkness,

Simon's army takes this ridge
overlooking the town.

Now, he has the high ground.

[Reciting in Latin]

Early next morning,

Simon's army prostrate
themselves on the ground

to be blessed
by the bishops.

[Reciting in Latin]

Simon and his men
are on a crusade

for liberty.

He and his men truly believe
that God is on their side.

They're radicalized,

driven by the dream of
a different kind of England

in which the king
no longer calls the shots.

Henry is fighting for the
absolute supremacy of the king.

Simon de Montfort
is fighting to crush it.

De Montfort may have
God on his side,

but the king's got
far more men.

He also has a secret weapon...

Edward, his eldest son
and heir --

he's utterly fearless
and champing at the bit

to hack up de Montfort
and his mates.

Henry finally sees

a chance to win his great
Plantagenet victory --

how can he lose?

Just as Simon hoped,

the king comes out fighting.

The battle is a complete
disaster for the king.

Henry's still
a terrible general.

His son, Edward, goes charging
off over the hill

after a rabble of civilians.

His brother, Richard, gets
himself besieged in a windmill.

And Henry ends up
forced back here

to the priory of St. Pancras

just outside
the town walls.

Simon dares, and he wins.

The king and his son Edward
are captured.

The king's sword
is surrendered to Simon.

Not exactly the Plantagenet
glory Henry was aiming for.

[Cheering]

Simon de Montfort,
once a minor French nobleman,

now holds ultimate power

in England.

This is a revolution.

Simon's taken an army
to the field

to seize the power
of an anointed king.

It's treason...

and it's also an unforgivable
betrayal of friendship.

The king's dreams of glory

have been crushed.

But there is still
one Plantagenet

who could save the dynasty --

and it's not Henry.

In the aftermath of Lewes,
Henry's in a desperate state.

He's been humiliated
in battle -- again,

his nemesis,
Simon de Montfort,

is running the country,

and to top it all off,
Henry is Simon's prisoner.

The king's dreams of
Plantagenet glory

have been
comprehensively trashed.

For more than a year,

Simon de Montfort dominates
the government of England

from his castle
at Kenilworth.

Henry's still king
in theory;

in reality, he's just

Simon's puppet.

To maintain his hold
on the country,

Simon keeps the king with him.

Everything in the government
is decided

under the direction of
de Montfort.

For the first time
in the history of England,

a political movement
has succeeded

in crushing
a tyrannical king.

Sounds very noble,
doesn't it?

But the reality is that

this is at least as much
about greed as liberty.

Simon may have set himself up

as a man who's selflessly doing
what's right for England,

but actually there's
a lot more going on.

Even though he has this vast
castle at Kenilworth,

Simon's been brooding that
the king short-changed him

on money and land.

But now he has Henry just
rubber-stamping his decisions,

it's an opportunity
too good to miss.

Simon decides to take
what he believes he's owed.

De Montfort takes money and land
for himself and his family.

And by keeping the king
close to him,

Simon thinks he's got
everything under control.

It's a fatal
error of judgment.

It's not Henry who threatens
Simon's hold on England --

the man he should be watching

is the 25 year old heir to the
throne, Edward.

But Simon's taken his eye
off the ball

and left the prince in Hereford
under house-arrest.

With things going so well,

Simon's relaxed the guard
on Prince Edward --

he even allows him
out riding.

So, Edward plays a game
with his captors,

swapping horses

to find the fastest.

They think it's all great fun

until he finds
the fastest horse.

Prince Edward finds plenty of
nobles increasingly nervous

that Simon will
snatch the crown.

And that scares the barons
more than

Henry's abysmal reputation.

Edward promises to let them
keep the reforms,

and that persuades many of them

to defect back to
the Plantagenet cause.

The Plantagenet army
is back on the march.

The end game in
a 25-year grudge match

between the former best friends
Henry III and Simon de Montfort

takes place here
in Worcestershire.

Simon's got the king
with him

for insurance --

he's trying to get back
to Kenilworth

to gather reinforcements.

But Edwards is
moving too fast.

At the beginning of August,

he catches up with Simon
here at Evesham.

From the top of
the old Abbey tower,

Simon sees the Plantagenet army

approaching in the distance.

He's pinned-down
and outnumbered.

De Montfort realizes

that if Edward's men free Henry,
the game is up.

So, Simon disguises the king in
one of his own uniforms.

If he goes down,
he's taking Henry with him.

He doesn't wait for the
Plantagenets to come for him --

Simon attacks first.

This is Simon the crusader.

Last time the odds were as
stacked against him,

he dared and won.

So, this time,
he dares again.

He can't help it,
it's what he's good at.

Simon's army charges out
in a single wedge,

hoping to punch through
enemy ranks.

They race up through
the center of Evesham

to the fields
overlooking the town

where the Plantagenet soldiers
are lined-up.

Simon gambles that because
he's got the king with him,

the Plantagenet army will be
too cautious to attack.

But Simon's as wrong as you get.

This time, the army's rallied
behind the king's son, Edward,

and they're out for
bloody revenge.

The two armies meet here

in the fields
outside Evesham.

As the Plantagenet army
piles in,

the battle descends into
an orgy of violence.

The royalists cut down
4,000 of the rebels.

The battlefields
and streets of Evesham

are piled high
with their corpses.

More than 30 of Simon's knights
are slaughtered.

But there is only one way
to end the rebellion for good.

Edward sends a 12-knight hit
squad onto the battlefield

with one mission --

find and kill
Simon de Montfort.

King Henry, still dressed as
one of de Montfort's men,

is almost taken out
by his own hit squad.

Simon, already badly wounded
by a lance,

is not so lucky.

Simon's killed somewhere on
these fields outside Evesham.

And some of the chroniclists go
so far as to call it murder.

This might be a battlefield,

but 12 knights ganging up
against one

is hardly playing
by the rules.

But even then,
just killing Simon

isn't enough
for Henry's men.

This is an upstart,

an outsider,

someone who's
taken on a king

and undermined what
being a king means.

Simon de Montfort,
traitor to the crown,

once the most powerful man
in England, dies.

The message to everyone
must be crystal clear --

no one defies the king
and lives.

The body of the king's
once-best friend is butchered.

His testicles are cut off

and then
rammed into his mouth

before his head
is cut from his body

and paraded on a spear.

Henry finally has his moment of
Plantagenet glory,

but in truth, it's his son,
Edward, who delivers it.

Henry is just a bystander.

But the price of victory
over Simon

is accepting the reforms that
Simon was fighting for --

because that's the deal
Edward sealed

to raise an army.

Henry's won the battle
but he's lost the war.

The king's dream of
absolute power

has died with Simon.

Dismal as Henry's reign was,

he still left behind him

two of the greatest legacies of
the whole Plantagenet dynasty,

and they're both right here.

Westminster Abbey -- Henry's
extraordinary palace to God --

and over there,
Parliament,

seat of the democracy that still
governs our country today.

It was born not out of wisdom
and smart politics,

but out of the passion and fury
of a brutal, bloody feud

between two best friends.

Next time...

Edward II --

his short-sighted
obsessions

plunged England into a nightmare
of political violence,

bloodlust, and most of all,
revenge.