Speaker 1: Pushkin. The Middle Ages were full of disasters, the sinking
Speaker 1: of a ship which caused a twenty year civil war,
Speaker 1: a plague which wiped out almost half of Europe's population,
Speaker 1: and the infamous Battle of Cressey, which of course we've
Speaker 1: covered here. On Cautionary Tales, you can hear all about
Speaker 1: these catastrophes and how they've shaped the world we live
Speaker 1: in today. On a podcast I think you'll love, it's
Speaker 1: called This is History. A Dynasty to Die for. Across
Speaker 1: the series, host Dan Jones tells the story of the Plantagenets,
Speaker 1: Britain's bloodiest dynasty. If you haven't heard of them, they're
Speaker 1: the family who's infighting and warmongering inspired George R. R. Martin,
Speaker 1: think Richard the Lionheart, the One Hundred Years War, Thomas Beckett,
Speaker 1: and under Red Hot Pokers. They've just launched their tenth season,
Speaker 1: which tells the story of a brilliant young warrior king
Speaker 1: undone by his heart, the Shakespearean icon Richard I I,
Speaker 1: and the very unlikely rise of the mighty Tudor dynasty.
Speaker 1: If you want to listen ad free, This Is History
Speaker 1: our offering our Cautionary Club members a month's free trial
Speaker 1: of their Patreon look out for the giftlink. Here is
Speaker 1: the first episode of the new season, Enjoy.
Speaker 2: Pembroke Castle is a gray forbidding fortress which sits by
Speaker 2: the water on the southwest tip of Wales, whipped by
Speaker 2: the gales that blow in from the Atlantic Ocean in
Speaker 2: late January fourteen fifty seven. It's as bleak as it gets.
Speaker 2: Not only is this the coldest time of the year today,
Speaker 2: the castle is also taught with the tension of a
Speaker 2: young woman giving birth. She's a very young woman. Margaret
Speaker 2: Beaufort is thirteen and a half. That's perilously young to
Speaker 2: be laboring a child in any age. And Margaret isn't
Speaker 2: just young, she's also physically tiny. The rooms she's lodged
Speaker 2: in at the castle have been comfortably set up for childbirth,
Speaker 2: the fires stoked, and the windows and doors sealed to
Speaker 2: prevent dangerous vapors from getting in. There's a full staff
Speaker 2: of female midwives and attendants on hand to help Margaret
Speaker 2: through her ordeal, but there's no ignoring the fact that
Speaker 2: her body and even her life are in real danger.
Speaker 2: Ah not that Margaret's panicking. She's a determined girl, and
Speaker 2: she's putting on a brave face. Others may worry about
Speaker 2: her safety, but she's only concerned for one thing, her child.
Speaker 2: In the nine months that she's been carrying this baby,
Speaker 2: plague has been sweeping around Southwest Wales. It killed her husband,
Speaker 2: Edmund Tudor, striking him down last November at the age
Speaker 2: of twenty six. If plague gets into the birthing chamber,
Speaker 2: all Margaret's toil is going to be in vain. She
Speaker 2: can't let that happen. Why not. Well, as well as
Speaker 2: the fierce maternal instinct that's alive in young Margaret, this
Speaker 2: baby will have royal blood in its veins. Margaret is
Speaker 2: a granddaughter of John of Gaunt, legendary prince of the
Speaker 2: Plantagenet dynasty. That means she's a member of the Lancastrian
Speaker 2: clan headed by the useless shambling King Henry the sixth.
Speaker 2: The child's late father, Edmund Tudor, was also part of
Speaker 2: the royal family, So the child about to be born
Speaker 2: will join the small inner circle of the Lancastrian royal house,
Speaker 2: which is good because right now that family he can
Speaker 2: use a bit of freshening up as the pangs of
Speaker 2: childbirth grip Margaret's little body. All thoughts of family trees
Speaker 2: are forgotten. The women of the chamber gather round to
Speaker 2: help her through a very long and difficult labour. When
Speaker 2: the baby is eventually delivered, it seems like a miracle.
Speaker 2: Margaret has suffered so much that she'll never have another child,
Speaker 2: but she's alive, and so is her son. There's some
Speaker 2: debate about what to call him that Margaret is in
Speaker 2: no doubt this boy is going to be named Henry,
Speaker 2: Henry Tudor. And though the circumstances of his birth are
Speaker 2: not very promising, a teenage widow for a mum, a
Speaker 2: remote Welsh coastal castle for a home, fate has decided
Speaker 2: that he's destined for a very big future. Indeed, because
Speaker 2: outside these castle walls, the Plantagenet have entered the first
Speaker 2: spasms of a war that's going to burn the whole
Speaker 2: dynasty to the ground. Out of the ashes will rise
Speaker 2: a new family, the Tudors. And in this the explosive
Speaker 2: final season of our Plantagenet saga, We're going to follow
Speaker 2: the astonishing story of their rise to power. I'm Dan
Speaker 2: Jones and from Sony Music Entertainment. This is History Season
Speaker 2: ten of A Dynasty to Die for Episode one, A
Speaker 2: New Hope. Whether you've been following this podcast since the
Speaker 2: beginning or you're just joining us for the first time today,
Speaker 2: I want to remind you of a golden rule of
Speaker 2: Plantagenet history. Anything can happen. In the three centuries we've covered.
Speaker 2: We've seen kings rise from total obscurity to absolute power,
Speaker 2: and we've seen rulers who seemed untouchable come hurtling down
Speaker 2: to earth with a splat. It pays to remember one
Speaker 2: of my favorite medieval chroniclers, quotes by good Old Gerald
Speaker 2: of Wales back in the twelfth century. Gerald wrote, A
Speaker 2: sensible man ought to consider that fortune's favor is variable,
Speaker 2: and her wheel is ever turning. Although the merciful creator
Speaker 2: is long suffering and patient, he is likewise severe, executing
Speaker 2: punishment and vengeance upon the stubborn and wilful, and usually
Speaker 2: begins to exact that punishment here on Earth. And yes, sure,
Speaker 2: I don't think we're going to squeeze that down to
Speaker 2: fit it on a slogan T shirt, but it seems
Speaker 2: to capture beautifully the topsy turviness of the Plantagenet cinematic universe.
Speaker 2: One minute, the world is eating out of your hand,
Speaker 2: the next it's sinking its fangs into your gluty eye, Maximi,
Speaker 2: Which brings us to where we left our story last season.
Speaker 2: In season nine, we heard how England went from the
Speaker 2: triumphs of Henry the Fifth's reign to the nadir of
Speaker 2: Henry the sixth. After a promising start, the king went mad,
Speaker 2: the nobles went feral, and eventually, after much tussling and
Speaker 2: some truly savage battles, an eighteen year old giant called Edward,
Speaker 2: Earl of Mark slashed his way to the top. Edwards
Speaker 2: destroyed his enemies at the monstrous Battle of Tauton, crushing
Speaker 2: a massive Lancastrian army seemingly from nowhere. He then took
Speaker 2: the throne as Edward the Fourth, becoming the first King
Speaker 2: of the House of York. If you're a newbie or
Speaker 2: want to recap, there's all that and more than two
Speaker 2: hundred other episodes available in our archive. To get them
Speaker 2: at free, sign up at Patreon dot com. Forward slash.
Speaker 2: This is history. The trouble is, it isn't easy at
Speaker 2: the top. So that's where we're going to pick up
Speaker 2: our story. At the start of this episode well with
Speaker 2: Margaret Beaufort as she gave birth to Henry Tudor in
Speaker 2: fourteen fifty seven. Now, I promise we're going to come
Speaker 2: back to Margaret and baby Henry as this season goes on.
Speaker 2: But right now we're going to assed forward four and
Speaker 2: a half years to join Edward fourth. In the summer
Speaker 2: of fourteen sixty one, he's proven himself on the battlefield
Speaker 2: at Tauton, suggesting that God is down with his claim
Speaker 2: to kingship. In June, he's been crowned in London by
Speaker 2: battle and now by coronation. England has a new king.
Speaker 2: But if Edward wants to hang on to his crown,
Speaker 2: he's going to have an almighty struggle. So to get
Speaker 2: our story going, let's get to know Edward. He was
Speaker 2: born in April fourteen forty two in Roume in Normandy,
Speaker 2: when his dad, Richard, Duke of York, was in charge
Speaker 2: of what was then an English ruled chunk of northern France.
Speaker 2: Richard fathered a big brood of children, and at the
Speaker 2: time of Edward's coronation he has three sisters and two brothers.
Speaker 2: A lot more on them shortly in person, Edward's mighty impressive.
Speaker 2: He stands well over six feet tall, and as well
Speaker 2: as being a handy warrior, he's a handsome, charming young man.
Speaker 2: He's got the characteristic long plantagenet nose, piercing eyes, and
Speaker 2: a small mouth that seems to have a smile playing
Speaker 2: at its corners. He also has quite a fancy for
Speaker 2: the ladies. In fact, this guy sniffs out hot damsel
Speaker 2: like a wild hog rooting for acorns, a trait that
Speaker 2: will cause him quite a lot of trouble as time
Speaker 2: goes by. But more of that in a moment.
Speaker 1: For now.
Speaker 2: Edward's charm is a positive virtue. A propaganda song composed
Speaker 2: in the aftermath of the Battle of Tauton hails Edward
Speaker 2: as the Rose of Ruon that refers not only to
Speaker 2: his birthplace and his incredible riz, but also to his
Speaker 2: heraldic ba. One of the symbols of Edward's royal house
Speaker 2: of York is a white rose, and the song makes
Speaker 2: great play on this. It goes that rose stands alone,
Speaker 2: the chief flower of this land. Blessed be the time
Speaker 2: that ever God spread that flower. Well, maybe that's laying
Speaker 2: it on a bit thick, but whichever way you look
Speaker 2: at it, Edward is an upgrade on Henry the sixth
Speaker 2: In the aftermath of Taunton. The old king is in
Speaker 2: exile in Scotland, and many people would agree that England
Speaker 2: has traded up. Those who would agree most strongly with
Speaker 2: that assessment are the people who helped Edward win his crown.
Speaker 2: Chief among them is Edward's right hand man, Richard Neville,
Speaker 2: Earl of Warwick, thirty three years old in fourteen sixty one.
Speaker 2: Warwick has plenty of military experience and no shortage of ambition.
Speaker 2: He's been at Edward's side for several years, and he
Speaker 2: fancies himself with some justification as the power behind the
Speaker 2: throne York Is. Propaganda produced around the same time as
Speaker 2: The Rose of Roung calls Warwick the flower of manhood,
Speaker 2: so clearly there's a general horticultural themur play. But more
Speaker 2: important than flower power are the lands and titles that
Speaker 2: Warwick accruise as a result of betting long on the
Speaker 2: House of York. After Edward's coronation, Warwick is showered with rewards.
Speaker 2: He already holds four, yes, four noble titles. On top
Speaker 2: of that, he gets renewed in his post as Captain
Speaker 2: of Calais. That's the English military garrison in northern France,
Speaker 2: which he made his stronghold during the wars in Henry
Speaker 2: the sixth reign. And on top of that, he pockets
Speaker 2: a whole portfolio of new offices. Edward makes him Constable
Speaker 2: of Dover Castle and Warden of the Sink Ports. Those
Speaker 2: are the most important trading towns on England's southeast coast. Effectively,
Speaker 2: this means Warwick owns the whole English Channel, the key
Speaker 2: military and trade seaway with Europe. And that's just the beginning.
Speaker 2: He also is appointed as Warden of the North, meaning
Speaker 2: he has oversight of the turbulent Scottish border. He's put
Speaker 2: in charge of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy
Speaker 2: of York. Those are the two huge private estates owned
Speaker 2: by the crown. Then there's a massive trunch of land
Speaker 2: confiscated from nobles who sided with Henry the six that Taunton,
Speaker 2: especially the Percy family, who are the long term opponents
Speaker 2: of Warwick's Neville family in northern England. The financial value
Speaker 2: of all this makes Warwick the richest non royal noble
Speaker 2: of all time. The political heft puts him virtually on
Speaker 2: a par with the king. Foreign diplomats describe him as
Speaker 2: being the governor of all England. One French observer writes
Speaker 2: to the King of France that the English have put
Speaker 2: tour ruleus monsieur le wariq and another word, who is
Speaker 2: nimaev for Goudin. Obviously that's a joke. The French can
Speaker 2: be amusing sometimes, but like all good one liners, it's
Speaker 2: got a sharp sting of truth to it. Warwick is
Speaker 2: more than a decade older than Edward, and he's been
Speaker 2: around the block. He reckons with some justification that if
Speaker 2: it wasn't for him, there would be no House of York.
Speaker 2: So if the world wants to see him as a
Speaker 2: second king, that suits Warwick down to the ground. But
Speaker 2: if Warwick is going to enjoy all the riches and
Speaker 2: the influence that being a kingmaker brings, then it's going
Speaker 2: to fall on him to make sure Edward stays secure
Speaker 2: in his crown. And it's not long before he has
Speaker 2: to do exactly that, because within two years of Edward's
Speaker 2: coronation there's a serious assault on the kingdom. Royal spies
Speaker 2: find out that a plot is being hatched between renegade
Speaker 2: Lancastrians in England and foreign enemies outside. Pulling the strings
Speaker 2: is a person who's nursed more hatred towards the House
Speaker 2: of York than anyone else. The old Queen of England,
Speaker 2: Margaret of Anjou, an ill and tired sixty years old,
Speaker 2: shuffles towards the chopping block. An expectant crowd gathers around.
Speaker 2: They've all made it to Tower Hill, the area immediately
Speaker 2: surrounding the Tower of London. It's London's top spot to
Speaker 2: go and see a lively show, assuming you're into public executions.
Speaker 2: In late February fourteen sixty two, it's John de Vere's turn.
Speaker 2: The Earl of Oxford has been around the political scene
Speaker 2: in England for decades. But it's a wonder the guy
Speaker 2: hasn't already died from a bad case of splinters in
Speaker 2: the backside, given how much of his life he's spent
Speaker 2: sitting on the fence. For most of the wars between
Speaker 2: the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, Oxford avoided committing to either side. Then,
Speaker 2: with incredibly bad timing, just before the Battle of Tauton,
Speaker 2: he did pick a team, and unfortunately it was the
Speaker 2: wrong one. He went for Queen Margaret and King Henry,
Speaker 2: and that decision has now come back to haunt him.
Speaker 2: Oxford survived the accession of the new King, Edward the Fourth,
Speaker 2: but he forgot to update his settings to political reality.
Speaker 2: Having chosen the Lancastrian side, he stuck with it and
Speaker 2: got himself caught up in a web of intrigue aimed
Speaker 2: at bringing down the new king. The plot that Oxford's
Speaker 2: god himself mixed up in has more moving parts than
Speaker 2: a swinger's party. The schemers include a hotch potch of
Speaker 2: exiled Lancastrian aristocrats. They're backed with varying degrees of seriousness
Speaker 2: by foreign royals, including the rulers of Scotland, France, Brittany, Aragon,
Speaker 2: Portugal and Denmark. Putting it all together is Queen Margaret
Speaker 2: of Anjou, who's been shuttling between Scotland and the courts
Speaker 2: of Europe, trying to whip up support for a comeback
Speaker 2: for her and old King Henry. Yorkist propaganda accuses Margaret
Speaker 2: of wanting to destroy the realm, to pervert the royal
Speaker 2: succession and bring robbery and vengeance. She would say she's
Speaker 2: just trying to get back. What's hers by right? Her
Speaker 2: plan is, or rather was, to launch a three pronged invasion,
Speaker 2: with armies hitting the Yorkist regime from Wales, Southern England
Speaker 2: and the North, while insurgents within the realm rose up
Speaker 2: to create civil disturbance, overwhelming the new king's capacity to
Speaker 2: resist only well self. Evidently the whole thing has unraveled loosely.
Speaker 2: Lips of sunk ships and key figures in England, like Oxford,
Speaker 2: have been betrayed. Six days ago, Oxford's eldest son was
Speaker 2: divorced from his head on this very spot outside the
Speaker 2: Tower of London. Now it's the older man's turn. If
Speaker 2: anyone thinks there might be mercy given Oxford's obvious ill health,
Speaker 2: they're dead wrong. The old geezer is brought forward and
Speaker 2: offered any last words, then made to kneel down, and
Speaker 2: it's Cyanarus Sunshine. The wars of the Roses have claimed
Speaker 2: their latest noble head. As the axe comes down on Oxford,
Speaker 2: the heat goes out of the wider plot. He was
Speaker 2: Party two, smelling failure. The foreign backers mostly lose interest,
Speaker 2: mostly but not totally. Queen Margaret trying to salvage something
Speaker 2: from them, keeps on lobbying foreign rulers to help her out.
Speaker 2: In the autumn of fourteen sixty two, she manages to
Speaker 2: scrape together enough donations and troops to take a few
Speaker 2: dozen ships and eight hundred mercenaries to northern England, where
Speaker 2: her men invade the coast of Northumbria and take control
Speaker 2: of a few castles. This isn't enough to threaten to
Speaker 2: collapse Edward's rule completely, but it is still a bloody nuisance.
Speaker 2: So now is the moment that Edward's heavily rewarded right
Speaker 2: hand man, the Earl of Warwick, has to step up
Speaker 2: and show his worth. Across the winter of fourteen sixty
Speaker 2: two to sixty three, he works his way around the
Speaker 2: castles Margaret's men are holding and kicks the rebels out
Speaker 2: of them. By March fourteen sixty three, he seems to
Speaker 2: have got the job done, and although he can't lay
Speaker 2: his hands on Queen Marle, Margaret herself or the feeble
Speaker 2: old Henry the sixth, he manages to split them up.
Speaker 2: When it becomes clear that their plot has fizzled out,
Speaker 2: Margaret high tails it to France, taking with her her
Speaker 2: nine year old son Will She ever see Old Henry again.
Speaker 2: Does she ever want to? She's got to have mixed
Speaker 2: feelings about that one either way. This is very much
Speaker 2: Round one to King Edward and the Earl of Warwick,
Speaker 2: and they follow up Round one by taking round two
Speaker 2: and three. In the spring of fourteen sixty four, there's
Speaker 2: another attempt by renegade Lancastrian nobles to incite rebellion in
Speaker 2: the North. The instigator this time is one of Queen
Speaker 2: Margaret's closest allies, Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. He gets
Speaker 2: around five thousand men together and starts raising hell in
Speaker 2: northern England. Once again, Edward and Warwick have to respond,
Speaker 2: and they do. They're already working hard through diplomatic channels
Speaker 2: to persuade the French and Scots to stop backing their enemies,
Speaker 2: and when it seems like diplomacy isn't getting the message
Speaker 2: through to the Lancastrians in England, they send an army
Speaker 2: out into the North. It's led by Warwick's brother John,
Speaker 2: another old school veteran of England's civil wars, which by
Speaker 2: the looks of things, are still very much on. John
Speaker 2: Nevill wastes no time he runs the Lancastrian rebels to ground,
Speaker 2: engaging them in two battles known as the Battle of
Speaker 2: hedgeley Moor and the Battle of Hexham. At Hexham in
Speaker 2: May fourteen sixty four, John Nevills scores a crushing victory.
Speaker 2: He puts the Lancastrian army to flight and kills its leader,
Speaker 2: the Duke of Somerset. With that, the last embers of
Speaker 2: Lancastrian rebellion in the North of England are finally snuffed out.
Speaker 2: Queen Margaret has no chance of rallying another insurgency anytime soon,
Speaker 2: and though King Henry is still a free man, the
Speaker 2: old Duffer isn't much of a threat to anyone on
Speaker 2: his own. It's taken three years, but by the summer
Speaker 2: of fourteen sixty four Edward and Warwick look like they've survived.
Speaker 2: The Lancastrian threat has been reduced to Margaret of Anjou
Speaker 2: fuming with her son somewhere on the continent, Henry the sixth,
Speaker 2: who's a wall but not considered a very active threat,
Speaker 2: and some minor characters who don't seem very threatening to anyone,
Speaker 2: like the seven year old Henry Tudor, but he and
Speaker 2: his mother Margaret Beaufort have been placed under genteel house
Speaker 2: arrest with a loyal Yorkist family in South Wales, and honestly,
Speaker 2: they don't seem like a big problem. So now Edward
Speaker 2: and Warwick can pour themselves a drink, take a deep breath,
Speaker 2: and start to think about plans for the rest of
Speaker 2: Edward's reign. When they do that, there seems to be
Speaker 2: one issue that matters above all others, securing the succession.
Speaker 2: They need to take a grip from the long term
Speaker 2: future of the family. For that, Edward needs to get married,
Speaker 2: make a sensible foreign alliance, and get to work on
Speaker 2: producing some Yorkist princes and princesses. The last bit, at least,
Speaker 2: feels like a job he's up to, so Warick adds
Speaker 2: a new job to his ever lengthening resume as the
Speaker 2: King's right hand man and puppet master. He's now a matchmaker.
Speaker 2: It's time to find the Rose of Rouon, a hot
Speaker 2: piece of medieval marriage material to make into the first
Speaker 2: ever Yorkist queen. The ambassadors from Castile have been hanging
Speaker 2: around in the chamber in Westminster Palace for some time.
Speaker 2: They've been waiting and waiting and waiting. Then England's charming
Speaker 2: young King Edward the Fourth bursts into the room. He
Speaker 2: seems a little lout of breath, and when he has
Speaker 2: time to sit and everyone has a drink in their hands,
Speaker 2: he explains that he's just dashed sixty miles from Cambridge
Speaker 2: to meet them. This being a king business, what a
Speaker 2: job you need to be everywhere all at once. But
Speaker 2: Edward's very glad the ambassador's waited because he's been told
Speaker 2: they have quite a proposal for him, which is right.
Speaker 2: The ambassadors explain they've been sent to England to make
Speaker 2: Edward the offer of a wife, and not just any wife.
Speaker 2: The King of Castile is Enrique the fourth, and he
Speaker 2: wants to suggest that Edward marries his sister Isabella. That's
Speaker 2: not a bad offer. Castile is a major kingdom. Isabella
Speaker 2: is just approaching her thirteenth birthday. But as Margaret Beaufort
Speaker 2: could have told them, the medieval marriage market takes a
Speaker 2: remarkably liberal view of that sort of thing, and she
Speaker 2: is assuredly a top rank European princess. Edward listens to
Speaker 2: the ambassador's proposal and then makes a big show of
Speaker 2: rewarding them for their generosity in even delivering this wonderful message.
Speaker 2: He gives them a free pass to bring some trading
Speaker 2: ships to England under his protection anytime in the next year,
Speaker 2: to trade as much wine as they like in exchange
Speaker 2: for as much English produce as they can carry. It's
Speaker 2: a nice little sweetener, But then again it needs to
Speaker 2: be because actually, for all Edward's enthusiastic demeanor, he's already
Speaker 2: decided that he isn't going to take them up on
Speaker 2: this marriage offer. There are a few reasons. One is
Speaker 2: that there's something of a stain hanging over Isabella's family.
Speaker 2: Her brother, King Enrique, who's making the offer, is nicknamed
Speaker 2: Enrique the Impotent. That's a direct reference to his own
Speaker 2: first marriage, which Enrique found himself unable to consummate despite
Speaker 2: years of trying. Enrique claims that someone had, I don't
Speaker 2: know how to phrase this politely, laid a curse on
Speaker 2: his royal wiener. This was a special sort of curse
Speaker 2: that only affected his ability to get it on with
Speaker 2: his wife, and not with any number of mistresses and
Speaker 2: sex workers, several of whom were called to give evidence
Speaker 2: to that effect in a court case to annul his
Speaker 2: marriage Anyway, the ins and outs or not of that
Speaker 2: episode don't need to concern us here. The fact is
Speaker 2: that marrying the sister of Enrique the Impotent doesn't fill
Speaker 2: Edward with much confidence, and more to the point, he
Speaker 2: has other irons in the fire, or rather his consilieri,
Speaker 2: the Earl of Warwick does. For the past three years,
Speaker 2: Warwick's been putting feelers out around Europe for potential wives
Speaker 2: for Edward, and there are a number of plausible candidates.
Speaker 2: The Duke of Burgundy has a sister, She's one possibility.
Speaker 2: Then there's Mary of Guelders, the widow of James the
Speaker 2: Second of Scotland who's been sheltering Queen Margaret of Anjou
Speaker 2: and Henry the sixth. Mary of Guilders is older than Edward,
Speaker 2: and although there are many rumours about her exciting love
Speaker 2: life since she's been widowed, a Scottish alliance might not
Speaker 2: be the worst idea in the world, especially given Mary's
Speaker 2: current Lancastrian inclinations. Then there's France. Warwick has put a
Speaker 2: word in with the recently crowned French King Louis the Eleventh,
Speaker 2: wondering if he has any daughters. Sou might make a
Speaker 2: suitable English queen. Since Louis's daughter is only three, He's
Speaker 2: nixed that idea, but he's offered up another option, his
Speaker 2: sister in law, Boner of Savoy, on the grounds of
Speaker 2: her name alone. Old Boner is the opposite of Enrique
Speaker 2: the impotent sister, and a French alliance has been a
Speaker 2: reliable route in international marriage diplomacy for generations, stretching all
Speaker 2: the way back to Edward The First Stay. For more
Speaker 2: on Edward the First listen back to season four of
Speaker 2: A Dynasty to Die For, I'd start with episode four,
Speaker 2: a New Arthur. The point is Warwick has plenty of options,
Speaker 2: and if anything, the problem is choosing which of these
Speaker 2: eligible young European princesses is going to be the match
Speaker 2: most fitting for King Edward and the House of York.
Speaker 2: Now that their problems with the Lancastrians are starting to recede.
Speaker 2: By the end of summer fourteen sixty four, Warwick is
Speaker 2: leaning towards a French match, and he's about to send
Speaker 2: a diplomatic delegation to the town of Saint Omer south
Speaker 2: of Calais to get serious about thrashing out details. It
Speaker 2: looks like Warwick's first big coup on the international stage
Speaker 2: is about to materialize, and all he needs is for
Speaker 2: Edward to sign off on it. The House of York
Speaker 2: will be properly up and running as a royal dynasty.
Speaker 2: A meeting is fixed for September fourteen sixty four. There,
Speaker 2: Edward and Warwick can do the big reveal and tell
Speaker 2: the rest of the English nobility just which lucky lady
Speaker 2: is going to be England's new queen. But as the
Speaker 2: date for the public announcement approaches, Warwick starts to get
Speaker 2: a funny feeling that not everything is as it should be.
Speaker 2: For the first time, there seems to be a distance
Speaker 2: between what he's thinking and what the King is doing.
Speaker 2: Edward's not exactly leaving Warwick on red, but he's not
Speaker 2: responding with the same gusto he used to. Is Warick
Speaker 2: imagining it or could the King really be getting cold feet?
Speaker 2: Either way, Warwick is right to be worried. What he
Speaker 2: doesn't know is that his protege, Edward, has indeed been
Speaker 2: up to something. It's a plan utterly of his own
Speaker 2: devising and so audacious that when he reveals what it is,
Speaker 2: it's worthy of its own reality TV show. What He's
Speaker 2: done is well, I'll save that for next time. To
Speaker 2: find out just what Edward's got on his mind and
Speaker 2: what Warwick has now got on his political plate, stick
Speaker 2: around and listen to our next action packed episode of
Speaker 2: This Is History.
Speaker 1: That was episode one of the latest season of This
Speaker 1: Is History, A Dynasty to Die For with Dan Jones.
Speaker 1: You can follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts,
Speaker 1: and if you're part of the Cautionary Club, you can
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Speaker 1: a month's free trial. Look out for the gift link
Speaker 1: on Patreon.