PREVIEW： Epochs #258 ｜ Henry VI - Part 7
Episode Stats
Words per minute
182.67516
Harmful content
Misogyny
1
sentences flagged
Toxicity
24
sentences flagged
Hate speech
15
sentences flagged
Summary
After the fall of King Henry VI, the House of Lancaster and House of York rose up against each other in the Wars of the Roses. Warwick the Kingmaker and Margaret of Anjou, the Queen conspired to overthrow the monarchy and seize power.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Hello and welcome back to Epochs where I shall be continuing my story of the Wars of the Roses
00:00:34.000
And the story of the rivalry between the House of Lancaster and the House of York
00:00:38.040
If you remember last time, we left off where, if you remember last time
00:00:48.700
Had been defeated, they'd tried to rise up against Edward
00:00:51.720
They'd successfully done it, but then let him go
00:00:54.080
then he one-eated them and reversed them and now they were on the back foot and they had to run
00:00:58.920
away to France and so they're now in France and they made common calls with their arch-arch
00:01:03.660
Lancastrian enemy who had been defeated years earlier and was in exile in France, Margaret
00:01:08.640
of Anjou, the Queen. The King himself, the old King, Henry VI, is in the Tower, the Tower of
00:01:15.480
London as a prisoner, has been for a fair few years but his wife and his son, who's now like
00:01:19.920
teenager and Edward, the Prince of Wales, they're in France and they've just been there licking
00:01:24.280
their wounds, hoping that things might change in England. Well, things have changed to the extent
00:01:29.740
that Warwick, the Kingmaker, and a whole bunch of his retainers, and of course all his money and
00:01:34.580
influence, are now just as exiled and outed and out of favour and in a spot of strife as she is.
00:01:42.660
So they're now, even though they hate each other, they've killed many, many members of each other's
00:01:47.060
family or had them killed but now they've got common cause i.e edward that both of their arch
00:01:52.780
enemy now is edward so even though they hate each other and have been trying to destroy each other
00:01:58.340
for years for a generation as i say many many members of their families have died on various
00:02:03.500
battlefields now they decide to join up together what a crazy thing that is particularly from
00:02:08.280
warwick's point of view well from both of this point of view really they decide to join up what
00:02:13.100
a weird kind of weird as far as the story so far is concerned coalition between the old
00:02:18.800
Lancastrians Margaret of Anjou and Warwick the Kingmaker the arch Yorkist the most powerful
00:02:25.260
staunchish Yorkist there is now they're going to join together the idea is hopefully bounce back
00:02:30.720
across the channel and confront Edward try and dethrone him and of course you would hope probably
00:02:36.580
get the old king Henry VI the old mad king Henry VI who's still in the tower get him back put him
00:02:43.080
back on the throne as a puppet and then you know the idea being Margaret von Joux and and Warwick
00:02:48.000
can rule together how that would have really worked surely they their relationship would
00:02:52.920
have broken down at some point who knows but well well should we see how it plays out as always I'll
00:02:57.020
be reading from Professor Sir Charles Oman and Sir Winston Churchill okay so first of all Oman
00:03:02.880
says this quote then Warwick and Margaret joined to ferment a rising in England the numerous clan
00:03:09.100
of the Neville's, that is the Montague and the Warwick families, the numerous clans of the
00:03:15.260
Neville's were prepared to follow their chief, Warwick, and the surviving Lancastrians were still
00:03:20.940
ready to risk themselves in a new plan of insurrection. In the autumn of 1470, Warwick and
00:03:27.200
Clarence landed in Devonshire and raised the standard of the imprisoned Henry VI. Their success
00:03:32.860
showed the deep roots of the Earl's popularity, Warwick's popularity, and the precarious nature
00:03:38.300
of King Edward's power. Simultaneous risings broke out all over England and Edward, betrayed by most
00:03:45.300
of his supporters, had to take ship and fly to Flanders. Okay, so let's just take stock of what
00:03:50.860
happened there. Another complete 180. The Wheel of Fortune, the Vice Institute of Fortune, flip
00:03:58.080
another 180. Warwick and Margaret Von Joux team up in France, bounce back across the channel and
00:04:26.620
So King Edward IV is fleeing with his tail between his legs
00:04:31.760
It was a 360 within a very small space of time there
00:04:47.900
It wasn't really like a horrible squalid dungeon
00:04:50.140
It was quite opulent surroundings in the Tower of London
00:05:10.500
Alright let me read to you from Sir Winston Churchill
00:05:13.260
Who talks about the same sort of a bit of history there
00:06:03.920
But Churchill tells us that he overlooked the effect that had on Clarence
00:06:08.620
A son born of this union would have had a great hope of uniting torn, tormented England
00:06:14.240
It was reasonable to expect the birth of an heir to these prospects
00:06:18.520
But Clarence had been swayed in his desertion of his brother by thoughts of the crown
00:06:23.580
And although he was now named as the next in succession after Margaret's son
00:06:28.540
i.e. the actual the the old Lancastrian Prince of Wales and Edward that little boy that was asked
00:06:35.360
what should be done with some captives and even though he was like seven years old or nine years
00:06:39.080
old he said behead them that little boy he's now a teenager the Prince of Wales Edward destined
00:06:44.300
never to be king bit of a spoiler alert but bear that in mind it's probably helped to bear that in
00:06:48.920
mind he well you know should Margaret of Anjou and Warwick successfully go back to England and
00:06:56.540
take power again that Edward would be the next in line to the throne but after that it would be
00:07:02.440
Clarence and this had an effect on Clarence because he thought he was going to be king
00:07:06.060
now he's like third in line after the king himself his son and then and then him that's a shaky
00:07:11.260
position that's not a great position you know what happens to extra princes who are a threat
00:07:16.420
they have to find themselves dead one way or another so Clarence goes from all right everything's
00:07:21.180
going to be set up and I'm going to be king in the next few days or weeks it's going to be me
00:07:25.100
to suddenly, oh, I'm just like an extra prince, and that's very dangerous. So, okay, that had an
00:07:31.160
effect on Clarence. Yeah, you bet it did. Okay, so after he was named as next in succession after
00:07:35.620
Margaret's son, the value of his chance was no longer higher. Yeah, all his hopes just slipped
00:07:41.200
away. Edward had been staggered by his brother's conduct, you can imagine from Edward's point of
00:07:45.540
view. My own little brother, my own second brother, just utterly, utterly betrayed me, as well as
00:07:50.960
as well as Warwick himself, your cousin, your staunchest supporter of all time, but your own
00:07:55.460
brother. You would hope that your brothers would stand by you more than anyone else. No, Clarence
00:08:00.240
revealed himself to have completely stabbed him in the back. Edward was staggered by his brother's
00:08:04.020
conduct. He did not, however, allow his personal resentment to influence his action. A lady in
00:08:09.500
attendance upon the new Duchess of Clarence proved to be a discreet and accomplished emissary of the
00:08:15.240
king. She conveyed to Clarence, like a go-between, she conveyed to Clarence soon after he had fled
00:08:21.480
from England. This is in the period where they first flee over to France to make common calls
00:08:26.840
with Margaret of Anjou at that point. She conveyed to Clarence soon after he fled from England that
00:08:31.340
he had only to rejoin his brother for all to be pardoned and forgotten. You know, Edward has got
00:08:36.520
a streak of clemency in him, hasn't he? Edward offers that. He says, look, just come back to me,
00:08:41.160
come back to the fold and we'll we'll work it out we'll paper over it the new agreement between
00:08:46.520
warwick and margaret decided clarence to avail himself of this fraternal offer but not immediately
00:08:53.320
he must have been a great dissembler for warwick was no more able to forecast his actions in the
00:08:58.840
future than his brother had been in the past i.e a dissembler you know you're able to lie and deceive
0.88
00:09:05.260
and keep people guessing what your true intentions are yeah a good good actor a good liar an actor
00:09:11.760
yeah he must have been Churchill continues King Edward was by now alarmed and vigilant but he
00:09:17.280
could scarcely foresee how many of his supporters would betray him Warwick repeated the process he
00:09:22.840
had used a year before Fitzhugh his cousin started a new insurrection in Yorkshire Edward gathered
00:09:29.000
some forces and making little of the affair marched against the rebels warned by Charles of Burgundy
00:09:35.000
He even expressed his wish that Warwick would land
00:09:42.800
Warwick and Clarence landed at Dartmouth in September 1470
00:09:46.540
Kent and other southern counties rose in his behalf
00:09:52.340
Warwick and the Yorkies could always count on the South East and London
0.99
00:10:00.920
Would the South East and England be more pro-Warwick
00:10:04.360
or pro the king well in this instance this time Warwick okay so Warwick marched to London he
00:10:11.520
brought the miserable Henry VI from his prison in the tower placed a crown on his head paraded him
00:10:18.080
through the capital and seated him upon the throne end quote so can you imagine this just say can you
00:10:23.460
imagine this from King Henry VI's point of view he's been in prison for years defeated in prison
00:10:58.080
One day some soldiers might just come into the Tower of London
1.00
00:11:06.180
Takes him out of the Tower of London, his archenemy
00:11:08.520
He's killed loads of members of his family
0.94
00:11:10.700
Takes him out like a puppet, exactly like a little poodle
0.96
00:11:13.720
Parades him through London, as we just told there
0.99
00:11:18.680
Or wherever it was, I think it might be Westminster
00:11:25.140
He's not here right now, so don't worry about that
00:11:57.540
and then over most of his adult life it slowly crumbles and falls away from him all the possessions
00:12:03.580
in France one by one slowly slip from his grasp and then England falls into turmoil and slowly
00:12:11.420
even though there's some reverses and back and forth slowly one by one he keeps losing battles
00:12:15.160
and losing territory and losing favor and losing power until in the end he's defeated and taken
00:12:20.920
into captivity but then he's restored and released and then taken into captivity again and now put
0.96
00:12:55.000
suckers and while Warwick was moving northward with strong forces Northumberland Warwick's
0.84
00:13:01.380
brother the Earl of Montague hitherto faithful again firmly in the Yorkist camp couldn't be more
00:13:07.260
in the Yorkist camp it always seemed completely loyal to the king that he had made his men throw
00:13:12.280
up their caps for King Henry right crazy turn of events this is the biggest 180 so far sort of a
00:13:19.920
crazy almost unbelievable 180 you imagine it from Edward's point of view how is this happening
00:13:24.480
I've won all the battles over years and years and years
00:13:31.020
We've stamped out all Lancastrian descent and rebellion
1.00
00:13:54.220
Warwick that he's made a pact with Margaret of Anjou and this is the deal now this is the story
00:14:00.100
now yeah the massive turn of events that Warwick and Margaret of Anjou put aside their vast
00:14:06.660
differences to make a pact crazy as that is unbelievable as that is where it's got to
00:14:11.940
Montague and so it's a surprise to Edward but yeah he now gets his men to throw up their caps
00:14:16.840
for King Henry Churchill goes on and says when Edward heard of Northumberland's desertion and
00:14:23.240
also of rapid movements to secure his person he deemed it his sole hope to fly beyond the seas
00:14:29.080
he had but one refuge the court of Burgundy and with a handful of followers he cast himself
00:14:34.700
upon his brother-in-law so King Edward IV usually nearly always but not always lucky in war a great
00:14:41.600
leader a great general a great a great warrior this time just finds the deck suddenly very
00:14:47.040
suddenly completely stacked against him and he can't even go through that process of raising men
00:15:22.020
until he the Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold was sure that this was inevitable he temporized
00:15:28.060
with his royal refugee relation but when it became clear that the policy of Warwick was
00:15:33.220
undoubtedly to make war upon him in conjunction with Louis XI the King of France he defended
00:15:39.420
himself by an obvious maneuver he furnished King Edward with about 1200 trustworthy Flemish and
00:15:46.400
German soldiers and the necessary ships and money for a descent i.e go back to England and we're
00:15:52.840
told these forces were collected secretly in the island of Walshuren okay so Edward had to flee
00:15:59.140
had to fly for his life over to Burgundy Burgundy realized he's about to get invaded by England and
00:16:04.060
France if he keeps that up so the only thing he'll do because he almost certainly faced defeat
00:16:08.300
probably anyway if that happened one thing he can do to throw a spanner in that well exactly as we
00:16:13.440
said there give edward some men and money and ships a small a small number it's a small number
00:16:19.560
isn't it but do that give that to edward send him back to england that will totally whether he wins
00:16:24.960
or loses that buys the duke of burgundy a bunch of time doesn't it that totally throws a spanner
00:16:29.320
in this french english alliance against him that would they would absolutely or england would
00:16:34.880
absolutely have to turn all of its attentions away from trying to invade burgundy at that point
00:17:09.760
big even for the mid-15th century and armies were a lot smaller than they were a hundred years before
00:17:16.180
that or 200 years before that but nonetheless 1500 sorry 1200 1200 that's not very many at all
00:17:22.740
that's almost a token force you have to use it to try to raise more all right let's let Churchill
00:17:28.240
continue the story for us he says meanwhile the kingmaker ruled England I mean right there that's
00:17:33.460
important right so it's not obviously not Henry VI himself he hasn't been able to rule anything
00:17:39.000
more or less his whole life, certainly not in the last 20 odd years. You might think there'll be a
00:17:43.800
power struggle, there sort of was, but we'll get to that in a moment, a struggle between Margaret
00:17:47.280
of Anjou herself and the Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker. But at this point, it's just Warwick.
00:17:53.620
Warwick rules England. And it seemed that he might long continue to do so. He had Henry VI,
00:17:59.300
a puppet in his hand, the unhappy man, a breathing ruin, sitting like a sack upon the throne,
0.96
00:18:34.040
like a sitting like a sack upon the throne, a breathing ruin. Yeah, he's simply a pawn to be
00:18:40.460
moved around and has been for quite a few years now. So no wonder this is how he does it at this
00:18:44.960
stage. Churchill said, statutes were passed in his name, which annihilated all the disinheritances
00:18:50.860
and attainers of the Yorkist parliament. Do you remember when Edward finally got in after
00:18:55.660
Towton? Parliament passed various laws, various statutes, saying that all the Lancastrians will
0.99
00:19:00.760
be disinherited and outlawed one way or another certainly disinherited well it was part of the
00:19:06.280
deal with warwick now with margaret von ju that all that will be reversed so he does churchill
00:19:13.360
says a third of the land of england returned to its old possessors think about what an upheaval
00:19:19.040
all of this is you know all the lancastrians completely dispossessed given to yorkist supporters
00:19:23.520
and then reverse all of that oh absolute nightmare nightmare thing okay churchill said the banished
00:19:29.320
nobles or the heirs of the slain returned from poverty and exile to their ancient seats meanwhile
00:19:35.980
all preparations were made for a combined attack by England and France on Burgundy and war became
00:19:41.640
imminent but while these violent transformations were comprehensible to the actors and the drama
00:19:47.740
proceeded with apparent success the solid bulk of England on both sides were incapable of following
00:19:54.260
such two quick movements and reconciliations. Remember we're living in a world where there's
00:19:59.100
obviously no telecommunications, there's not much communication at all. So if nobles keep making
00:20:05.880
deals with each other and backstabbing each other, that won't filter down to the average person
00:20:10.040
perhaps at all, perhaps ever. But even people that are in the know might not understand or get the
00:20:17.060
news very quickly at all either. Imagine that you're sort of a minor, let's say you're a minor
00:20:22.260
Yorkist noble and you live up in Cumbria or something. You may not find out that Edward's
00:20:28.500
been imprisoned then released then then forced to flee again and now he's returned you might not
00:20:34.120
have any of that you know you certainly wouldn't wouldn't have any idea that the Earl of Warwick's
00:20:38.760
out of nowhere has made a compact with Margaret of Anjou all these things so yeah we live in a
00:20:44.300
world where news only travels as fast as a horse but even then the secret machinations of the
00:20:50.260
various people involved the most senior actors involved in all of this drama don't filter down
00:20:55.180
very far at all and certainly not quickly which just calls it can and will cause all sorts of
00:21:01.840
confusion and alarm and dismay people finding themselves on the wrong side of of history very
00:21:08.860
quickly without even realizing they were all that sort of thing okay so church says most people on
00:21:13.440
both sides were incapable of following such too quick movements and reconciliations almost the
00:21:19.400
whole population stood wherever it had stood before. Their leaders might have made new combinations
00:21:25.280
but ordinary men could not believe that the antagonism of the red and white rose was ended
00:21:32.260
at the houses of York and Lancaster. It needed but another shock to produce an entirely different
00:21:37.160
scene. It is significant that although repeatedly urged by Warwick to join him and her husband
00:21:42.620
King Henry in London and although possessed by effective forces Margaret remained in France
00:21:48.540
and kept her son with her that's sort of important so you know Warwick has successfully invaded
00:21:54.440
England forced the king to flee he's in London he's got King Henry out of the tower put him back
0.82
00:22:01.100
on the throne put a crown on his head etc etc but Margaret of Anjou herself wily wily old witch
0.56
00:22:08.260
that she is remains in France where she she calculates she'll be safest okay Churchill says
00:22:13.220
In March of 1471, Edward landed with his small expedition at Ravenspur, a port in Yorkshire, now washed away by the North Sea
00:22:22.340
But then still famous for the descent of Henry Bolingbroke in 1399
00:22:26.940
Do you remember I've covered it in epochs, if you've watched all the epochs you'll certainly know
00:22:30.260
Henry Bolingbroke, Henry IV, i.e. this old mad puppet king, Henry VI
00:22:35.260
His grandfather, you know, had been disinherited and exiled by Edward II, the son of the Black Prince, the grandson of Edward III
0.94
00:23:11.660
fighting for his life was as usual at his best we know don't we that's part of edward's character
00:23:17.600
that when his back is up against the wall when it's all or nothing and there's daring do and
00:23:22.480
battles to be had that's when he shines york shut its gates in his face that's the town of york
00:23:27.900
because the the town city of york is actually a lancastrian stronghold nearly always mostly
00:23:34.920
originally let's say put it that way so it shut its gates in his face but like bolingbroke he
00:23:40.480
declared he had only come to claim his private estates, not the crown itself, and bade his troops
00:23:46.140
declare themselves for King Henry VI. So he's playing some subterfuge here. Accepted and
00:23:51.560
nourished on these terms, he set forth on his march to London. Northumberland, with four times
00:23:56.880
his numbers, remember that's Warwick's brother, outnumbered him four to one, approached to intercept
00:24:01.980
him. Edward, by extraordinary marches, manoeuvred past him. All Yorkist lords and adherents in the
00:24:08.860
districts through which he passed joined his army just funny not long before when he was forced to
00:24:13.860
flee everyone was deserting him this time they're all flocking to him so it only seemed like before
00:24:19.060
everything was lost and everyone had turned against him out of the blue it only seemed
00:24:23.020
that that was the case ultimately most people as we've described were kept the same loyalties that
00:24:28.880
they always did if you were a good good loyal yorkist and suddenly because warwick's made a
00:24:34.700
deal in France with your arch enemy that doesn't actually make you a Lancastrian now does it
00:24:38.820
suddenly no well just because Warwick's done a deal I've got to change everything I think
00:24:43.220
and believe and grew up thinking and believing and fighting for no no no so that was a very weak
00:24:48.520
paper-thin veneer of of a political solution for Warwick to make common calls with Margaret of
00:24:55.260
Anjou and reinstall Henry VI on the throne most Yorkists actually are Yorkists surprise surprise
00:25:09.560
He was strong enough to proclaim himself king again
00:25:30.300
to bring an army and all her money and influence and everything and at coventry stationed himself
00:25:35.600
in king edward's path warwick did meanwhile his brother northumberland followed edward southwards
00:25:41.300
only two marches behind in this dire strait edward had a resource unsuspected by warwick by king
00:25:48.320
edward and his new army based on that based on the small number of flemish and german soldiers
00:25:53.140
he'd got from the duke of burgundy he's actually a bit surrounded well he's totally surrounded
00:26:22.240
He then completely backstabs his cousin Warwick
00:26:26.460
So he can't be trusty, can he? He's a real turncoat
0.96
00:26:34.920
Although he's actually physically in Warwick's camp
00:26:40.080
Clarence was moving from Gloucestershire with considerable forces
00:26:48.960
As he had outmarched and outwitted Northumberland
00:26:53.480
And in the exact position where Clarence could make his conjunction with him
00:27:01.640
Not only is he good at actually physically fighting if it comes to it
00:27:41.420
Who had actually been made to ride about the streets
00:27:52.400
I always say I feel sorry for Henry VI, really.
00:27:55.820
If he was a normal person, I wouldn't feel all that sorry for him.
0.73
00:27:59.980
But he's obviously got severe mental health problems
00:28:19.320
And if you did, please head over to lotusseaters.com