PREVIEW： Epochs #257 ｜ Henry VI - Part 6
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Summary
Sir Winston Churchill continues the story of Edward IV, the son of York and the last Yorkist king, with a new chapter in which he tells us all about his life and the adventures he had in the Wars of the Roses.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome back to Epochs where I shall be continuing the story all about the life and
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career of King Henry VI and now King Edward IV because their reigns effectively overlap or do
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overlap. The Wars of the Roses. We're talking about the Wars of the Roses. So just to recap you where
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we were last time, the Yorkists, Edward IV, the son in splendour, this son of York had basically
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won. There was a battle of Tewkesbury, which was a decisive Yorkist victory. So we've had that.
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And then over the next two, three, four years, even, Warwick, the arch Yorkist kingmaker, Warwick,
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puts down all sorts of final pockets of Lancastrian revolt and rebellion all over the country.
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Sometimes they flip back to the Lancastrians. It's far from straightforward, but it's basically
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a full Lancastrian victory. Sorry, a full Yorkist victory. Edward IV is the king,
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sort of completely undisputed king. Even the old king, Henry VI, is just in prison. He's in the
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tower. They haven't executed him or anything yet, but he's in the tower. He's completely
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under their power and the queen, the bad queen, Margaret of Anjou and the Prince of Wales and
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Edward are just in exile in France, licking their wounds, hoping to not get murdered or
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assassinated. So full Yorkist victory at this point. We left off last time when I was talking
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about Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, where Warwick and the whole court really had
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expected the unmarried King Edward IV, young, still in his early 20s, to marry a French princess
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but he revealed that actually he was already married
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to a minor Lancastrian woman, Elizabeth Woodville
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who's already got two kids, her husband's a widow
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Warwick was becoming too overly powerful as far as Edward was concerned
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too overly powerful and too arrogant and too ambitious
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and putting the Woodville family in positions of power.
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So, in other words, there's quite a large internal power struggle now
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The Lancastrians are basically out of the picture for a few years here.
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They're basically full-blown defeated one way or another,
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The king, the queen, and the prince of Wales are still alive,
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So the Yorkist part itself starts turning on each other one way or another.
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I shall be reading as always from Professor Sir Charles Oman and Sir Winston Churchill
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Let's let Churchill continue the story with his chapter all about the adventures of Edward IV
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And we start with a bit of an overview about Edward and his character
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King Edward IV had made good his right to the crown upon the field
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In the teeth of danger his quality was at its highest
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in war nothing daunted or wearied him long marches hazardous decisions the marshalling of armies the
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conduct of battles seems his natural sphere the worse things got the better he became but the
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opposite was also true he was at this time a fighting man and little more and when the fighting
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stopped he had no serious zest for sovereignty the land was fair the blood of youth coursed through
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his veins all his blood debts were paid with ease and goodwill he sheathed his sharp sword
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it had won him his crown now to enjoy life end quote so in other words when his back's up against
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the wall and there's battles to be had he comes to life and is a great man of action but when there
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isn't battles to be had when there is no great power struggle he takes his foot completely off
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the gas completely he becomes lazy and indolent i mean later in life he doesn't live all that long
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Warwick and Montague now Earl of Northumberland with George Neville Archbishop of York had the
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whole machinery of government in their hands as I say complete Yorkist victory at this point
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the king had been present only at some of the actions he could even be reproached for his
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misguided clemency because if you remember last time we talked about how he he tried to show mercy
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and clemency to a few of the uh Lancasterian rebels uh and in the end that bit him in the ass
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and he had to take them out anyway. But, you know, he tried. Some would say credit for trying.
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Some would say that was dumb. But nonetheless, he tried it. It sort of failed. Churchill said
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his misguided clemency, which had opened up again the distresses of civil war, his magnanimity had
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been at length sternly repressed by his councillors and generals, i.e. reverse course on that. You've
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got to stamp them out entirely. In the first part of his reign, England was therefore ruled by two
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brothers Warwick and Northumberland so the king's on top King Edward the Duke of York now king but
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then under him Warwick and Warwick's brother Lord Montague they're the ones that really do the
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business of government really wield the power and control policy as long as Edward himself is happy
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and content and well fed he's happy for others to actually control government Warwick and Lord
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Montague the Earl of Northumberland they believe that they had put the king on the throne and meant
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him to remain there while they governed. The king did not quarrel with this. In all his reign he
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never fought but when he was forced. Then he was magnificent. History has scolded this prince of
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22 for not possessing immediately the state's craft and addiction to business to which his
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office called. Edward united contrasting characters. He loved peace, he shone in war, but he loved peace
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for its indulgences rather than its dignity. His pursuit of women, in which he found no obstacles,
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combined with hunting, feasting and drinking to fill his life. Were these not the rightful prizes
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of victory? Let Warwick and Northumberland and other anxious lords carry the burden of state
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and let the king be merry. That was his thinking. For a while this suited all parties. The victors
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divided the spoil, the king had his amusements and his lords their power and policy. It should
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have been all good shouldn't it everyone's happy could have should have worked out well why not go
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on like that indefinitely well it wasn't to be Churchill continues thus some years slipped by
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while the king although gripping from time to time the reins of authority led in the main his life of
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ease his mood towards men and women is described in well-chosen words by the stayed Hume who wrote
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Churchill's quoting Hume saying during the present interval of peace he lived in the most familiar
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and sociable manner with his subjects particularly with the Londoners and the beauty of his person
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as well as the gallantry of his address which even unassisted by his royal dignity would have
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rendered him acceptable to the fair facilitated all his applications for their favor this easy
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and pleasurable course of life augmented every day his popularity among all ranks of men he was
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the peculiar favorite of the young and gay of both sexes happy gay not homosexual gay the
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disposition of the English little addicted to jealousy kept them from taking umbrage at these
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liberties and his indulgence in amusements while it gratified his inclination was thus become
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without design a means of supporting and securing his government i.e let the powerful met a powerful
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and ambitious men under him let them have their power that's the end of Hume's quote Churchill
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goes on saying, after these comparatively mild censures, the historian proceeds to deplore the
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weakness and imprudence which led the king to stray from the broad sunlit glades of royal
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libertinage onto the perilous precipices of romance and marriage. One day the king of hunting
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was carried far by the chase. He rested for the night at a castle. In this castle, a lady of
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quality, niece of the owner, had found shelter. Elizabeth Woodville, or Wigville, was the widow
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of Lancastrian knight Sir John Grey, and Sir John Grey was, quote, in Margaret's battle at St Albans
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slain. Her mother, Jacketta of Luxembourg, had been the youthful wife of the famous John, Duke of
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Bedford, and after his death she had married his steward, Sir Richard Woodville, later created Earl
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rivers. This condescension so far below her station caused offence to the aristocracy, i.e.
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Richard Woodville was no Duke of Bedford. That's a massive, massive step down, even though he was
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created an earl, but okay. She was fined £1,000 as a deterrent to others. She was actually disgraced
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the aristocracy by marrying a mere knight after being married to a duke. Nevertheless, she lived
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happily ever after. Yeah, they seemed to have genuinely loved each other. And bore her husband
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no fewer than 13 children, of whom Elizabeth was one. This is our Elizabeth Woodville, to be queen,
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to be the white queen of England. There was higher as well as ordinary blood in Elizabeth's veins.
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She was an austere woman, upright, fearless, chaste and fruitful. She had children, a bunch
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of children herself. She and her two sons were all under the ban of the attainder, which disinherited
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the adherents of Lancaster, because her ex-husband had been staunchly Lancastrian. The chance of
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obtaining royal mercy could not be missed, i.e. the kings come to stay at their home. This is her
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chance, perhaps her one and only chance, to actually speak to the king himself. And you know, you can
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only imagine, it's something like, look yeah, we did used to be Lancastrian, sure, but we're sorry
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now, you know, my husband's dead now, he paid the ultimate price, didn't he? How long were we to be
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completely um disinherited and punished forever we're on board with the yorkists now we recognize
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you as king now we're loyal to you now um can you let us off you know is there anything that
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can be done plus she's extremely beautiful apparently and edward loves the women's okay
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church says the chance of obtaining royal mercy could not be missed the widow bowed in humble
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petition before the youthful conqueror and like the tanner's daughter of filets that'll be william
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the Conqueror's mother. William the Conqueror's mother truly was a bit of a peasant, but she
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caught the eye of a duke, William of Normandy's father. She just caught his eye and he decided,
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right, you, I'm marrying you. I don't care that you're a peasant, that you're a tanner's daughter.
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Like the tanner's daughter of Falaise, made at first glance the sovereign her slave. So he fell
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in love with her immediately. She was that beautiful. Shakespeare's account, though somewhat
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crude, does not err in substance. The Lady Elizabeth observed the strictest self-restraint
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which only enhanced the passion of the king he gave her all his love and when he found her
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obdurate i she's not immediately returning his affection he besought her to share his crown
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he spurned the counsels of prudence and worldly wisdom loads of people around him say calm down
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bro don't don't marry her don't what you're doing that's mad like it's not worth it okay
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why conquer your battles why be a king if not to gain one's heart's desire that was his that was
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Edward's response yeah what's the point in being king if you can't do what you want if you can't
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choose the woman you want to marry what's the point in being at the top of things if you can't
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even do that but he was well aware of the dangers of his choice his marriage in 1464 with Elizabeth
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Woodville was a secret guarded in deadly earnest the statesmen at the head of the government while
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they smiled at what seemed an amorous frolic never dreamed it was a solemn union which must
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shake the land to its depths end quote because yeah i mean edward was known as a womanizer
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everyone around him all would have thought elizabeth woodville was just one more of those
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right um but it wasn't to be churchill goes on saying warwick's plans for the king's future
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had been different warwick thinks he can control the king now a few years down the line what three
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four five years after tewksbury warwick thinks he's just so used to wielding power and being
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extremely popular and powerful in the land he's starting to think he can just tell the king what
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to do and what to think where to go and all that sort of thing well edward he might be lazy and
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indolent when there's nothing to do but he's not a fool he's not a pushover at all not at all but
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warwick starts to think that he might be so okay warwick's plans for the king's future had been
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different isabella of the house of spain or preferably a french princess were brides who
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might greatly forward the interests of England. A royal marriage in those days might be a bond of
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peace between two neighbouring states or the means of successful war. Warwick used grave arguments
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and pressed the king to decide. Edward seemed strangely hesitant and dwelt upon his objections
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until the minister, who was also his master, became impatient. Warwick doesn't know about
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the secret marriage. No one really does, or not no one. Very, very, very few people know about
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putting putting things in motion for you to get married okay and edward's like it's just not he's
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not playing along with it okay the minister started to become impatient then at last the truth was
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revealed to all he had for five months been married to elizabeth woodville here then was the occasion
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which sundered him from the valiant kingmaker 14 years older but also in the prime of life warwick
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had deep roots in england and his popularity whetted by the lavish hospitality which he
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offered to all classes upon his great many estates was unbounded the londoners looked to him he held
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the power but no one knew better than he that there slept in edward a tremendous warrior
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skillful ruthless and capable when roused of attempting and of doing all end quote yeah so
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edward you know again when it comes to remember the tewksbury and all the battles before that
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if and when it came to it um he is probably a better general than you almost certainly a better
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general than you probably a better organizer than you definitely a better warrior an actual fighter
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in actual combat probably got more energy than you probably more wily than you he might seem like a
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a little puppy at the moment he just all he wants to do is eat and drink and fornicate but if it
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comes to it and and utterly ruthless again after a battle he will just more or less in cold blood
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execute everyone right he's a badass individual you know don't be mistaken just because at the
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moment he likes to spend his days doing nothing really that doesn't mean he's not extremely
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capable all right so Churchill continues here saying the king too for his part began to take
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more interest in affairs the the affairs of government that is Queen Elizabeth had five
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brothers seven sisters and two sons by royal decree he raised them to higher rank by all these
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rivers the rivers family the Woodville family same thing all these brothers they all get given higher
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jobs and even her two sons once they grow up a bit. They're given high rank or married them
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into the greatest families. He went so far as to marry his wife's fourth brother at 20
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to the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, aged 80. Eight new peerages came into existence in the Queen's
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family. Her father, five brothers-in-law, her son and her brother Anthony. Her brother Anthony
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becomes an important player in all of this. This was generally thought excessive. Oh yeah, most
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people watching this, all the aristocracy, you know, everyone in and around the court,
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they see this lowly Rivers family, the Woodville family, they see them, they're ex-Lancastrians,
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and just not very important at all, suddenly made into one of the most important families
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in the country, arguably second, third, fourth most important family, in terms of pure patronage
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and influence over the king, the most powerful family outside of the Yorks themselves.
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they've been placed, starting to be placed above them even.
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he's made them the most powerful family in the country,
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more or less, one way or another, could be argued.
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Okay, that's not going to sit well with everyone else.
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There's only a certain amount of power and positions to go around
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Well, nobody other than them is happy with that
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Particularly the Neville's and Warwick the Kingmaker himself
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Churchill says, all this patronage was generally thought excessive
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It must be remembered that at this time there were but 60 peers
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Of whom not more than 50 could ever be put to Parliament on one occasion
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All these potentates were held in a tight and nicely calculated system
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The arrival of a new nobility who had done nothing notable in the war
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And now, other than nominally be on the Lancastrian side
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But politically dangerous to Warwick and his proud associates
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In this sad generation, England, lately the master
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Had become the sport of neighbouring states, remember?
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the Hundred Years' War is still almost just about in living memory. The campaigns, the wonderful,
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brilliantly successful campaigns of Henry V is only like a generation ago, getting on to sort of
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two generations ago. It's still just about within living memory. And now we're completely,
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completely foiled and reversed in France. So it's like an embarrassment for us, foreign policy,
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at least as far as France is concerned on the French front. Okay. On the foreign policy,
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Churchill said we'd become the sport of neighbouring states. Her titled refugees from one faction or
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the other beset the courts of Western Europe. The Duke of Burgundy had been shocked to learn one
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morning that a Duke of Exeter and several other higher English nobles were actually begging their
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bread at the tale of one of his progresses. Ashamed to see a slight upon his class, he provided them
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with modest dwellings and allowances. Similar charities were performed by Louis XI to the
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unhappy descendants of the victors of Agincourt, i.e. the sort of the Lancastrians, exiled
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Lancastrians that have completely lost really in England, in mainland England, Wales and Scotland.
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A lot of them fled to France or Burgundy and the French sort of take pity on them in some way.
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Well, they know that it's a thorn in England's side. They're an annoying loose end as far as
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England is concerned so help them give them succour why not if it undermines England that's
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always good for France isn't it kind of as simple as that. Churchill says Margaret with her retinue
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of shadows was welcomed in her pauper stateliness both in Burgundy and in France at any moment
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either power now become formidable as England had waned might support the exiled faction in good
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earnest and pay back the debts of 50 years before an invasion of England. We hope you enjoyed that
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video and if you did please head over to lotusseaters.com for the full unabridged video.