Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty: The Complete History Of The Plantagenets | Chronicle

this channel is part of the history hit network [Music] out of the chaos darkness and violence of the middle ages one family rose to seize control of england 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 plan tangents 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 plantageness 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 the founder of the dynasty henry ii warrior and empire builder he transformed england from a war zone into a european superpower but murder and betrayal by his own family threatened to tear apart everything he had achieved [Music] oh [Music] in 1153 henry plantagenet sails to england with an invasion force aiming to seize back the throne he's only 20 but he's already an experienced soldier he's been fighting in france since he was a kid and his mother's drilled into him the idea that the crown of england is rightfully his so as henry approaches these shores he's convinced he has a date with destiny henry's a powerhouse with a fiery temper bursting with raw energy and ambition within a year stephen is dead and henry is crowned henry ii the first plantagenet king of course he doesn't speak a word of english but after 90 years of norman french rule in england no one does except the peasants and it's not them that henry's here to pick a fight with it's the barons for a generation the barons have been fighting vicious turf wars burning looting raping killing if you lived here you could come home any day to find your house on fire your crops destroyed your animals taken or your family murdered and this has been going on for nearly 20 years as long as the new king has been alive [Music] henry's future and the future of england depends on bringing the barons to heel he could simply destroy them his army's big enough but instead he does something totally unexpected high on the welsh borders is wigmore castle once one of england's greatest fortresses it's the power base of hugh mortimer toughest of the barons and the last to hold out against the new king [Music] no one defies henry and gets away with it so he turns up here at wigmore with an army and lays siege to the castle [Music] henry's got hugh surrounded but he's not here to destroy him he just sits outside here i am here's my army what are you going to do about it unsurprisingly hugh folds but it's what henry does next that marks him out as a king to watch because he takes hugh's castle away from him then gives it straight back he's saying you can have your power but only because i say so i'm the king i'm in control and you work for me history hit is a streaming platform that is just for history fans with fantastic documentaries covering fascinating figures and moments in history from all over the world with documentaries featuring great medieval figures and events from the battle of hastings to the last of the vikings history hit has unrivaled access to peerless archival materials and the world's best historians and it's not just documentaries either we have a network of incredible history podcasts bringing you new episodes every day sign up now for a 14-day free trial and chronicle fans get 50 off their first three months just be sure to use the code chronicle at checkout [Applause] one reason henry has the confidence to take on such powerful men is because he has a formidable ally [Music] henry's queen is eleanor duchess of aquitaine ten years his senior she's such a famous beauty students across europe sing bawdy songs about bedding her she shot the continent by divorcing the king of france in 1152 and marrying henry just two months later they're a good match by the time henry takes the throne she's already produced their first son but this queen is far more than a baby machine as duchess of aquitaine she's a serious political player in her own right henry brings muscle eleanor brings prestige together they're a match for anyone and their union creates a plantagenet empire that stretches from the borders of scotland to the pyrenees but to keep control of such vast territory henry has to do something radical controls everything to henry the question is how does he maintain it he could use his barons to rule the different regions that standard medieval practice but as far as henry can see the barons will only do things his way as long as it suits them to get what he wants henry's going to have to do things a little bit differently henry's genius is to create a new army not of soldiers but of clerks educated commoners unlike the barons they'll do exactly what he wants what henry invents is the basis of the civil service that still runs the country today [Music] here at the national archives 900 year old documents reveal the full extent of henry's control [Music] so this is a writ from the second year of henry's reign and it's an official instruction from the king we can see the king rex here duke normandy duke of aquitaine he's sending instruction to the sheriff of dorset ordering him to give back a farm in the village of rampersham to its rightful owner and that might sound mundane but hundreds of these survive and what they show you is henry's interest in every last field and pasture of his kingdom and this isn't everything henry's doing he's also rebuilding royal finance through the exchequer he's sending his justices roving about the country to re-establish law and order what it all adds up to is henry's complete obsession with stamping his control over every area of his new kingdom [Music] the mastermind pulling the administrative strings for henry is commoner thomas beckett the son of a merchant he may be low-born but beck is such a brilliant operator that henry makes him chancellor it's beckett who makes sure the king's grip on england is rock solid and there's clearly some kind of spark between them they quickly become drinking buddies hunting partners and best mates but because of beckett everything henry's achieved is about to come under threat the trouble begins here at canterbury seats of power at the one part of england that remains beyond henry's control the church one englishman in five is a cleric they're effectively above the law whatever crime they commit even rape or murder only church courts can try them the worst punishment they can give out is a fine the king can't touch them so in 1161 when the archbishop of canterbury dies here henry thinks excellent i'll appoint my mate thomas is archbishop he can knock some sense into the church and even though thomas has never been a priest henry bullies the monks at canterbury until they agree to elect him so you can see why henry thinks he's got the church problem sewn up after all beckett's best mate he owes his career to him what could possibly go wrong [Music] henry's failed to spot a massive problem in the medieval world there is a higher power than the king beckett finds god pretty much the first thing he does is hang the king out to dry by resigning as chancellor he's sending a very blunt message i'm not going to do what you say anymore i have a new boss now [Music] with god in his corner beckett now defies every command the king makes to bring the church to heal unsurprisingly it doesn't go down very well with henry this is a king famous across europe for his uncontrollable temper a man who once got so furious during an argument that he rolled around on the floor pulling the straw out of his mattress stuffing it into his mouth so it's fair to say that henry wasn't just angry he was apoplectic and this rage combined with henry's intense desire for control will lead to murder and betrayal that threatens to destroy everything he's achieved [Music] [Music] westminster july 1170 henry ii is having his eldest son young henry crowned king of england effectively king in waiting [Music] it should secure henry's legacy instead it's going to tear his world apart because there's one man who really should be there that henry hasn't invited thomas beckett crowning kings of england is the archbishop of canterbury's gig and it always has been so when beckett finds out about the young king's coronation he explodes with fury and he does something utterly reckless beckett excommunicates every as far as he's concerned they're quite literally going to hell when the news reaches henry out comes his plantagenet rage again and he says something he'll come to regret for the rest of his life [Music] oh henry's just venting but that's not how it looks to his knights what they hear is a direct order from their king this simple misunderstanding sets up a disaster and here in canterbury it all comes crashing down days later four nights burst through these doors and they march into the cathedral to confront beckett here he's unarmed in his archbishop's robes and they're in armor with swords by their sides [Music] furious words are exchanged they try and drag beckett out of the cathedral but he resists and it's at this point one of the knights draws his sword and brings it down on beckett's head chopping off part of his skull beckett and falls of the knights scoops his brains onto the floor with the tip of his sword but they're not alone because hiding in doorways and behind pillars are beckett's friends and supporters bearing witness to an event that'll shock christendom every single good thing that henry ii has done in his career until now may as well be wiped out because this is what he'll be remembered for [Music] the fact that his words were taken out of context is neither here nor there as far as everyone's concerned henry ordered beckett's murder outrage at this sacrilege goes viral across europe people begin to question whether henry is really fit to be a king henry realizes straight away how damaging this will be this is the first time since his meteoric rise that he's been vulnerable but i think he would have hurt him personally as well he and beckett may have been knocking lumps out of each other for years but this is still a man who was once his closest friend who understood him better than anyone else [Music] the humiliated king makes himself scarce and goes to ireland on campaign in a crisis on this scale the one group he should be able to count on are his own family but now they turn on him too and it's all henry's fault henry's eldest son henry the young king is a chip off the old block ambitious power hungry and impatient as king in waiting he should be taken to ireland so henry can teach him how to exert iron fisted control but he isn't instead the young king is left behind festering in the aftermath of his father's disgrace and whilst he's away the king leaves control in the hands of his slip bureaucrat powerless and isolated resentment of his father starts to eat away at him another surviving document revealed just how humiliating life is for the young king this is a record of royal accounts from 1172 when henry was off beating up the irish on the face of it it's pretty dry it's a long list of payments made but throughout the records of money paid out to the young king what's interesting is they're all quite small let's have a look there's one here from birkenstood and it says for the works reggie's philly regis of the king the son of the king xxx that's 30 shillings well today that's a few thousand pounds which might sound like a lot but the eldest son of a king is chicken feed now the normal way that things would work is that a king would give his eldest son a block of lands from which to draw his revenue but henry hasn't done that he's kept everything to himself to keep control so the picture you get reading this is of the old king where the richest most powerful men in europe while his eldest son is going around cap in hand begging money from royal officials me very happy would [Music] resentment is spreading through the rest of the family too the year before beckett's murder henry's wife queen eleanor had returned to her homeland in aquitaine and she based herself here at poitiers where this hall is what remains of her magnificent ducal palace after years living in a foreign country elena's come back with her favorite son richard to train him to take over her lands there when she dies finally she's back where she belongs this is where she was born this is where she was raised and frankly the food and the weather are better here too [Music] but ellen is about to find that her aquitaine is now a very different place a spanking new cathedral is being built in the town centre this is more than just a church it's a pr statement designed to sell the plantagenet dynasty to the people and the banner headline of this message is a spectacular window incredibly it survived intact for nearly nine centuries if you look at this stained glass window high up in the cathedral you can see henry eleanor and their four sons it's like a snapshot of a united family ruling together over england and half of france except it isn't really like that because in accutane elena finds it's henry's men collecting the taxes henry's men controlling the barons even when her husband's hundreds of miles away it's obvious that he's the one who's in control now eleanor might have brought aquitaine to henry in marriage but that doesn't mean it's his then elena discovers something henry's done that to her is unforgivable behind her back henry has mortgaged off part of her aquitaine to secure a political alliance here this is like coming home one day to find your husband's change the locks sold all your stuff invited a whole bunch of other people to live there [Music] it's not just eleanor who's fuming richard is spitting blood about his lost inheritance too at one stroke henry has created two powerful new enemies and he probably doesn't even realize it henry's blindness to his family's feelings is a ticking time bomb here in chinon 175 miles southwest of paris in the very heart of henry's french lands it finally explodes shenon castle has enormous strategic importance if you want to rule the plantagenet empire controlling it is absolutely essential and that's exactly why henry the young king expects that one day this castle will be his then one night henry announces he's giving shinon castle the jewel in the plantagenet crown to john the young king's six-year-old brother [Music] think what it would have been like here that night this is one of the angriest families in history try and imagine all that plantagenet rage just boiling up i don't think there'd been much pleasant chitchat over dinner [Music] the loss of the castle is more than the young king can bear [Music] true to form henry is completely dismissive he's utterly incapable of seeing things from his son's point of view but the young king is adamant for 18 years he's had to suffer his father's obsessive control now he's drawing a line in the sand the young king should have known better henry was never going to give up control without a fight shinon teaches the young king a harsh lesson his father is never going to give him real power and he's sick of being strung along but if henry thinks he's got the young king where he wants him he's dead wrong his eldest son is now hell bent on taking the old man down [Music] [Music] [Music] spring 1173 the young king steals out of his father's custody and flees to paris straight into the arms of louis vii king of france this is out and out betrayal the young king is planning to use king louis to help seize his father's throne but why does the king of france get involved in such a dangerous game to dr julie barrow an expert in the medieval french court it makes perfect sense louis hates henry well they had many reasons not to like each other maybe the first one is that they embody completely opposite ideas of what it is to be a king on the one hand you have you know henry macho warrior and on the other hand you had louis was anything bad and the other thing is that henry was much much wealthier than louis and never wasted an opportunity to do shirts very clearly but it's more than just political isn't it well yes what makes this story uh unusual that you have a very deep personal aspect to it a mere two months after louis separated from his wife eleanor she married henry and she didn't just marry him but she started having one baby boy after the other when louie and elena had really tried for a song for years before that so that must have been really really painful for louis so all those aspects together explain why you have such a deep and long animosity between those two men the young king rocking up in paris is no surprise to louis this is more than just a spur-of-the-moment betrayal by a petulant son because henry the young king isn't acting alone his brothers are in on this too and so is the one person who's vital to making the whole betrayal possible eleanor the queen's been plotting with her ex-husband to replace henry ii for the young king she immediately sends richard to join his older brother in paris [Music] a few days later elena follows she makes a mad dash across france on horseback disguised in men's clothing [Music] but she doesn't make it she's caught on her way to paris by henry ii's men and brought to shinon castle not as a queen but as a prisoner your own son's rebellion against you is pretty much as bad as it gets you're queen masterminding the whole plot with her ex that's off the chart the scandal rocks medieval europe [Music] but there's no stopping the betrayal eleanor has set in motion in paris louis richard and the young king are mobilizing to attack henry from all sides and not just in france they're going to hit him where it hurts the most england plenty of english barons are still pretty sore about having their wings clipped by henry ii the young king promises to give them everything back now the last time the english barons had that sort of power they basically destroyed the country so this is a pretty reckless promise it's not careful strategy but that's the young king for you he's good at betrayal but he lacks his father's political savvy he just wants to win whatever the cost he even cuts a deal with henry's other mortal enemy the king of scotland the young king promises him big chunks of england if he attacks henry from the north for a king of england in waiting this is a dangerous game but it works by the spring of 1174 henry faces a perfect storm full-on revolt is spreading across his empire all sparked by his family's betrayal whilst henry's fighting in france england is turning into a disaster zone the king of scotland has invaded the north and foreign mercenaries are flooding across the channel to support the barons revolt if henry doesn't do something drastic england will be lost most kings crossing the channel to face a rebellion would be thinking the same thing raise an army crushing by force but henry's got something else up his sleeve because he realizes it isn't his barons or even his sons who are threatening his empire it's the dead hand of thomas beckett rising up from beyond the grave it's more than three years since beckett was killed in canterbury cathedral in that time henry's troubles have gone from bad to worse on the 12th of july 1174 henry ii heads to canterbury what he does in the next 24 hours will shock the world and decide the future of the entire plantagenet dynasty just outside the city walls he stops removes his boots and begins to walk barefoot along the road people watching must be wondering if the desperate king has lost his mind the streets here in canterbury are full of people all nudging each other pointing maybe even trying to grab him they know it's the king because behind him the royal standard's fluttering but he's dressed as an ordinary pilgrim rough woolen clothes and he's barefoot and the roads aren't nice and clean and smooth they're muddy they're filthy they're full of broken pots and sharp stones that cut his feet to shreds this isn't just physically painful it's humiliating the king of england is dragging himself through the mud leaving bloody footprints behind him henry's performing the most public act of penance imaginable begging god and beckett to forgive him this can only end in one place canterbury cathedral this wretched three-mile walk is actually propaganda dynamite every person who sees it will spread the news of the scale of the king's penance but henry isn't finished yet he knows he has one chance to win back the hearts and minds of his kingdom and he's planning something spectacular the stage for his grand finale is the shrine of the once best friend he accidentally murdered thomas becket when henry enters the cathedral dirty bloody and drained thomas's shrine isn't up there it's down these stairs in the crypt [Music] [Music] it's down here in the dark among the columns that henry does something absolutely extraordinary [Music] in front of beckett's tomb henry kneels down and commands the monks to whip him [Music] 100 of them take turns to beat his back up to five times each with a birching rod henry is spilling his own blood to atone for the spilling of becketts in the cathedral above [Music] these are the same monks who cowered behind the pillars in horror back then in all henry receives more than 300 flesh lacerating lashes [Music] there may be far fewer people down here than up there but these are the men who write about what they've seen who will tell the world they may be henry's punishers but there also is propagandists it's a masterstroke of charismatic kingship this is henry's best shot at quashing the whispering campaign against him but there's no guarantee it will save him then something extraordinary happens [Music] the next morning a messenger arrives he bears explosive news the king of scotland has been captured the invasion of the north is over it must have seemed like some kind of miracle the timing's just too perfect and it feeds directly into henry's own propaganda ever since the time of beckett's death he's been describing himself in documents as king by the grace of god and now he has unarguable proof that god is on his side [Music] henry's miracle rips the heart out of the rebellion in england the barons fold without a fight henry's back in control [Music] in less than a month he's free to head back to france and take the fight to his traitorous sons henry's on a roll when he gets back to france the rebellion melts away before him first he persuades the flaky young king to switch sides that leads richard to fold as well their rebellion is snuffed out for henry's family it's a catastrophe they gambled everything and lost the king has crushed them but he now faces a dilemma what to do with his treacherous family [Music] one family member henry can't forgive is eleanor because as a wife rebelling against her husband she's committed one of the worst forms of treachery and she can never be trusted again and here in this chapel near shenon castle her fate is recorded in this incredible fresco so the front you can see her husband henry ellen is in the middle and the behind her are two of her sons this might look like a nice touching plantagenet family portrait but it actually shows eleanor being led off into captivity [Music] henry may not need eleanor anymore [Music] but he does need his sons to carry on the plantagenet dynasty after him so in a public ceremony of reconciliation he forgives them he even gives them money and castles [Music] they may have been forgiven but both boys must know that the one thing he'll never give them after this is any real power henry simply can't see that his obsession with control might be the root cause of all his family's betrayals and this blindness to his own faults will ultimately destroy him [Music] [Music] me in the summer of 1183 an unexpected event throws henry ii world into turmoil his eldest son the young king dies not by the sword but of dysentery and in glorious death for an inglorious son blue henry's grief isn't just a father's although it's clear he's personally devastated the death of the young king has destroyed all his plans for his legacy as his remaining sons begin to jockey for position henry is losing control again just two of henry's sons remain alive only one can become his heir richard the eldest surviving son is expecting to be named but henry's favorite has always been his youngest son john he at least has never betrayed his father even so henry doesn't dare name either of them henry drags his heels last time he named a successor it was disaster this time he thinks by stalling he can keep richard obedient and under control what he doesn't know is someone's been stoking up resentment in richard whispering ideas of betrayal in his ear yet again the man doing the whispering is the new king of france philip ii he plays on richard's fears persuading him that his father intends to name john as heir richard demands that henry formally names him as his successor and of course henry refuses that would mean giving up control so with philip by his side richard once again goes to war against his father in less than a month they tear through the heart of henry's french lands winning every battle it's not long before a defeated henry finds himself holed up again back here at shinon castle with his son and the king of france at the gates they're young ambitious and aggressive henry's old and tired the one thing he could never control has finally caught up with him time outside his plantagenet heartland is collapsing the empire he built and has ruled over for more than 30 years is being ripped from him by his own son it's a final total defeat on the 3rd of july 1189 henry rides out from chinon to meet richard a man who spent so much of his life on horseback his legs are physically bowed now has to be strapped into the saddle to stop him from falling off richard's demands are read out he wants land he wants money more than anything else he wants to be the next king it's all henry can do to nod his head weakly and agree at the end he leans in for one last embrace and he whispers to richard god grant that i may not die until i've had my revenge on you [Music] somewhere in this broken old man is still henry ii king of england [Music] but this act of defiance is henry's last hurrah god doesn't grant his wish henry ii the first plantagenet king of england dies two days later [Music] here less than 20 miles from shino in the family shrine at fontevo abbey henry ii lies buried beside him will buried the bodies of his wife eleanor and his successor richard but not his favorite son john for his whole reign henry kept a close grip on his kingdom he never allowed his sons real control because fundamentally he didn't think they could do as good a job as he could and when richard and then john become king they prove him right within 15 years the plantagenet empire has collapsed torn apart by rebellion a war and that's why john's not buried here at fontvo with his mother and his father because by the time john dies this place is ruled by france [Music] foreign [Music] 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 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 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 goals 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 baron 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 builds it to restore some lost plantagenet pride [Music] 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 at 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 halves he wears a hair shirt under his clothes 24 7. it rakes his skin a perpetual reminder to stay focused on god 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 the 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 you meet simon charismatic decisive he's looking at him and thinking i could use a man like that [Music] henry's 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 soon on the king's council 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 his contents aren't really that important what is important is the way simon's referred to himself it says here simon de montfort thomas 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 he 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 [Music] 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'd imagine simon's 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 [Music] so 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 henry threatens to throw 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 [Music] 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 puatu in western france it was once his ancestors territory 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 puerto was spectacularly stupid because the count of puerto's brother is the french king henry's forces quickly find themselves chased down by the whole french army [Music] 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 on 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 [Applause] but even simon can't salvage this disaster henry flees the field [Music] he leaves simon fighting a desperate rear guard action with the king's men they retreat towards the town of sand henry is cowering inside the town and it's not just the french army that comes storming after him simon is not used to losing now it's his turn to explode at the king the king himself reported what simon says charles simple was a notoriously useless french king who subjects put him in jail because 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 [Music] 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 friend again all henry has left of the plantagena 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 [ __ ] 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 [Music] but while simon's in gascony henry finds himself drawn in by another powerful figure de valence the king's half-brother leader of a french family called the lucianians 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 listenians 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 [Music] but right now all he can see is that they make him feel like a powerful king [Music] now he doesn't need simon de montfort like he used to when the gas guns 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've been sitting on the other side of that in 1252 you'd witness the end of the friendship of simon de montfort and henry iii the case is held before the king and simon's fellow barons [Music] simon is reeling that his friend has put him on trial an all-out route 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 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 simon has taken the political temperature in the room the king hasn't when henry puts the charges to a vote simon walks the other barons are as fed up with the king and his lucianians as simon is [Music] henry and simon now hate each other with a passion and england will pay a terrible price henry sulks and he lets the listenings off the leash they start grabbing land and property in total violation of magna carta their supporters even ransacked the archbishop of canterbury's london palace henry simply stands by and lets them get away with it it just confirms the baron's 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 had better access than anyone else to henry in his court and he writes that the king gave an order under the reggio siguilo the royal seal that no brief there's any official government document could be used to cause injury ala kui fratri sui to any of his brothers which includes the listenings so henry's saying the listeners can't be prosecuted effectively they're above the law 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 wall 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 lucians 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 onto his lands in france so invading sicily is a bonkers idea and everyone can see it except the king [Music] henry demands taxes from the english barons to fund the invasion he thinks he can get away with it because develops his violent lucinians 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 [Music] simon de montfort comes to london to bring king henry iii to heal 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 [Music] [Music] simon and his allies aren't here to take henry captive what they're demanding is almost worse first they want the listening 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 [Music] 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 listening thugs with him the town's full of nights from both sides armed to the teeth the atmosphere is electric you can feel the tension the country's teetering on the verge of civil war [Music] the hated listenians 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 will 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's used to spilling blood the listenings are no match for de montfort and they know it [Music] they flee for their lives henry's resistance collapses he has to accept all the baron's 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 king's 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 [Music] now we have them here copied in french into a chronicle from the time and you can see a council of cairns that's 15 barons will meet to manage the affairs of the kingdom a parliament will meet trays 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 [Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] the oath is sworn at blackfriars 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 [Music] within four years de montfort's worst fears come true [Music] because henry has sworn the oath knowing he'll break it he brings back the listenians 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 [Music] and no one wants that do they it's a massive miscalculation by the king one man is committed 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 louis 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 lewis here on the sussex downs things don't look very good for him he's injured with a broken leg his arm 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 [Music] early next morning simon's army prostrate themselves on the ground to be blessed by the bishops nominee parties spiritual sanctity 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 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 [Music] [Applause] the battle is a complete disaster for the king henry's still a terrible general [Applause] 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 saint pancras just outside the town walls simon dares and he wins the king and his son edward are captured [Music] the king's sword is surrendered to simon not exactly the plantagena glory henry was aiming for [Music] simon de montford 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 there'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 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in the aftermath of lewis 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 simon's prisoner the king's dreams of plantagenet glory have been comprehensively trashed [Music] 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 selflessly doing what's right for england but actually there's a lot more going on even though he has this vast castle at kennelworth simon's been brooding that the king shortchanged 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 [Music] they think it's all great fun until he finds the fastest horse [Music] 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 plantation army is back on the march the end game in the 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 edward 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 [Music] he doesn't wait for the plantagenets to come for him simon attacks first this is signing the crusader last time the odds were 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 home 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 armies rallied behind the king's son edward and they're out for bloody revenge the two armies meet here in the fields outside eveshum as the plantagenet army piles in the battle descends into an orgy of violence the royalists cut down four thousand of the rebels the battlefield 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-night hit squad onto the battlefield with one mission find and kill simon de montfort king henry still dressed as one of demonford's men is almost taken out by his own hit squad [Applause] simon already badly wounded by alliance is not so lucky simon's killed somewhere on these fields outside eveshum and some of the chroniclers go so far as to call it murder this might be a battlefield but 12 nights ganging up against one he's 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 [Music] 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 seated 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 this time edward ii was the king most famous for the story of his agonizing death but the story of his life is even more extraordinary one of obsession bloodlust political savagery and above all revenge [Music] [Music] july the 11th 1307 prince edward the 20 year old heir to the throne is near london as word of his father's death races south to meet him [Music] this is the news that prince edward's been waiting for all his life so the very first thing you'd expect him to do is to saddle up ride north claim his birthright and save his country but he doesn't in fact the first thing he does is to issue orders for the recall of the most divisive man in the kingdom [Music] [Music] here's gaviston edward's best friend and one of the finest knights around but he's been banished to france by the old king for being a bad influence on the prince gaviston's insufferable arrogance and his hold over edward mean he's hated by every noble in the land gavison doesn't have much time for them either he's famous for making up rude nicknames for them he calls one [ __ ] son another burst belly and a third the black dog of course that just makes them hate him even more gavison's return will clearly be nothing but trouble but edward can't see it all he cares about is getting his mate back edward is the sort of guy who can only see one step ahead he wants what he wants now no matter what the cost he's utterly incapable of seeing that all his actions have consequences most of them bad ones this blindness will ultimately lead both edward and his kingdom not to ruin and disaster looms right from the start edward marries 12 year old isabella daughter of the king of france a match designed to shore up relations with the kingdom's biggest enemy [Music] their joint coronation should be a moment of triumph and unity but it isn't this is the great hall at the palace of westminster where edward and isabella's coronation feast takes place there's lavish decorations fountains flowing with wine but there's one problem this looks less like a coronation feast for edward and his queen and more like a party for edward and gaveston edward and isabella's coats of arms should be on the walls instead it's edward and gavistan's worse gavistan swans around an imperial purple a colour only kings should wear worse still the king and his friend talk to no one but each other throughout isabella is stoic but the rest of the french nobles are so incensed they storm out with them goes all the good will the marriage was designed to create the english nobles are hacked off too not least edward's cousin thomas of lancaster the most powerful earl in england lancaster hates gaviston and to him the whole event is an outrage it's proof edward can't see past his obsession with his friend to the far more important job of being king and if edward can't see it then lancaster's going to make him see it just three months later at edward's first parliament lancaster and a group of other leading nobles turn up armed their message to edward is simple gaviston must go edward responds by accusing them of treachery he gets a chilling reply it's an explicit threat if you don't get rid of him we'll get rid of you but whatever lancaster threatens him with on gaviston edward won't budge and lancaster can't make him yet but the battle lines have been drawn the bitter hatred between edward and his cousin and this fight over gaviston will define the whole future of the kingdom and bloody murder will now stalk england for the rest of edward's reign [Music] so [Music] with gaviston's help edward has very quickly run the country into the ground the finances security and political stability have all gone to their dogs by 1310 lancaster's patience is exhausted he comes up with a plan to tear edward and gaviston apart lancaster has been conducting a whispering campaign against the king using popular hatred of gaviston to help sell his case he claims that gavison's been lining his pockets at the king's expense now annoying as gavison is that's probably one of the few things he hasn't been doing but the mud sticks and by february 1310 lancaster has a committed group of nobles ready to stand up to the king and that allows him to do something extraordinary and the evidence exists here in the national archives he's going to crush edward and destroy gaviston at the same time these are the ordinances 41 articles which lancaster claims will bring stability and reform to the kingdom sounds great but taken as a whole they actually do something very different they strip edward of pretty much all his powers as king it's an unprecedented attack the ordinances take away the king's right to impose taxation raise armies dispense justice and make law all these rights will now rest with the nobles and lancaster will be far more powerful than the king but even that's not enough for lancaster because this is personal and there's a clause here that proves it it's not to do with rights or laws it's to do with galveston this is it clause 20. it's even got gavison's name beside it [Music] it says he has malmeney misled and malconsis ill-counseled nostra senor lewah our lord the king it orders his immediate exile [Music] also says that if gaviston returns he is to be treated as a traitor and the penalty for traitors is death so what does edward do he should fight lancaster to protect his basic rights as king but he doesn't he seems perfectly happy to let his enemies strip away his right to make peace or war to dispense justice to collect taxation so long as they drop clause 20 leave his mate alone but lancaster has edward over a barrel if he doesn't agree to all the ordinances then lancaster and his new allies will go to war against him the king has no choice he turns his back on his friend he accepts the ordinances and gaviston is banished forever on pain of death it beggars belief that edward would be willing to give up all his power just to save his friend that's led people to suspect that edward and gaveston were more than just friends that they were lovers and that edward's desire for gaviston outweighed everything else so is it true well possibly i don't think we'll ever really know what went on behind the closed doors of the royal bedchamber but frankly it didn't really matter to the people at the time edward could have been bedding his priest his page boy and his horse so long as he was governing the kingdom properly to the noble's minds gaveston stopped edward from doing that and that's why gaviston had to go lancaster may think he's finally got the king under control but he hasn't because when it comes to gaviston edward is literally a law unto himself just three months later defying lancaster and all sense edward calls gaviston back again and if that wasn't crazy enough what edward does next is utter insanity the king sends letters out across the country announcing gaviston's return and adding that he's overturning the ordinances all of them [Music] when edward's letters read out in town squares like this it does two things first it brings england to the brink of civil war and second it paints a pretty big target on gaviston's back so you'd be forgiven for thinking this is just the start of some much bigger plan but you'd be wrong because actually this is the plan edward's just gonna overturn the ordinances and see what happens and that's edward all over he's so fixated on what he wants today he simply can't see what's obviously to happen next lancaster's response is no surprise to anyone except the king gaviston is hunted down and brought here to warwick castle home of one of lancaster's allies the next day he's hauled up in front of a court organised by lancaster it's composed entirely of nobles who detest him gaveston isn't even allowed to speak in his defense it's a kangaroo court pure and simple [Music] make no mistake lancaster is crossing a line here he's trying gavison under article 20 of the ordinances which make it very clear if gavison comes back to england he dies problem is edward's overturned the ordinances so this court held here at warwick castle has about as much authority as a lynch mob piers gaviston best friend and trusted adviser to the king of england is convicted of treason and sentenced to death but however they want to dress it up this isn't justice it's political murder [Music] [Applause] [Music] on the 19th of june 1312 lancaster's men marched piers gaviston out of warwick castle all the way to black low hill for execution [Music] this monument marks the lonely spot where gavison was killed he's brought here because unlike warwick castle this land belongs to lancaster and he wants to send the king a message he wants him to know who's doing this to him this is personal [Music] when edward hears about gaviston's death he goes half crazy with grief first he blames gaviston for getting caught then more reasonably he blames lancaster interestingly the only person he doesn't blame is himself that he's the one who brought gavison back again and again despite being warned very clearly what would happen if he did he's the one who put his friend in danger he might not want to admit it but the buck stops with him [Music] edward swears revenge on lancaster but with the ordinances reissued and everyone against him the king is in no position to revenge himself on anyone and things are about to get even worse [Music] edward's been neglecting the never-ending war with scotland by 1314 it's reached crisis point he has to march an army north immediately or the war will be lost now for edward this is actually an opportunity winning in scotland could really help turn things around for him but as ever disaster is about to strike and as ever edward can't see it coming [Music] in the crucial battle that decides the war edward's army is massacred and it's all lancaster's fault when edward led his troops to scotland lancaster was legally obliged to bring his forces to support him the last thing lancaster wants is to see edward succeed so when the time came to march north lancaster and his cronies simply didn't turn up the king suffers a historic defeat most of his army are slaughtered edward is lucky to escape with his life and there is now only one thing in his mind he will do absolutely anything to get revenge on lancaster after bannockburn edward is humiliated financially ruined and friendless he desperately needs strong new allies to help him and here at kfilly castle in the wild west of medieval britain is where he finds them they're called the dispensers this castle tells you everything you need to know about the dispensers in a place where neighbors are constantly at war over money and power the dispensers have the biggest baddest castle of them all [Music] there are two of them both called hugh dad is a longtime supporter of edward but it's his son who's the driving force hugh dispenza jr is as ruthless as he is ambitious he's not afraid to take on anyone and he's got the brains and muscle to back it up the dispensers help edward drag himself out of the mire restoring the royal finances and getting the country up and running again in return they get to do whatever the hell they like as soon as they've gained the king's confidence the dispensers start snatching things for themselves over the next three years they grab territory after territory in the welsh borders trampling on anyone who gets in their way edward must realize the dispensers are massively destabilizing the balance of power in the kingdom it must be obvious they're only out for themselves but i think as long as they ultimately serve up revenge on lancaster he doesn't care who they upset in the process he can't see how the effects of the dispensers welsh power grab could possibly turn out badly for him but it does because edward backing the dispensers creates a new and very dangerous enemy roger mortimer one of the most powerful barons in the kingdom up to this point he's actually been on edward's side but when the dispensers grab a chunk of his turf and the king does nothing mortimer turns on him [Music] and leads a popular uprising against the dispensers and the king [Music] mortimer's men kick the dispensers out of wales then they march on london demands that the dispensers are banished and that puts edward in a hopeless position the king cannot be seen to back down so he has to refuse but with mortimer's army ready to sack london his refusal could easily get him killed salvation comes from an unlikely source no longer a helpless child twenty-five-year-old queen isabella falls to her knees in front of the court and begs edward to reconsider for her sake so just as mortimer demanded edward banishes the dispensers but crucially he's able to claim he's doing it for his queen she's given her husband a face-saving way out of a no-win situation and it finally spurs him into action with isabella by his side the king is finally going to take the fight to his enemies uh [Music] in october 1321 queen isabella makes a surprise stop here at leeds castle in kent seeking shelter on her way to canterbury leeds castle is the stronghold of bartholomew battlesmere one of mortimer's most prominent allies unsurprisingly when she gets to these gates battlezmir's men refuse to let her in isabella insists it turns nasty then the malay that follows six of her people are killed now clearly isabella's got a tour of steel but why would she come to this castle owned by one of her husband's enemies well in reality this is just a pretext isabella is putting her life on the line to give her husband an excuse to start a fight just days later edward turns up with an army and siege engines and leeds castle surrenders edward and isabella look on as 13 of battlezmir's defenders are executed for resisting watching with them are the dispensers edward's ruthless enforcers brought back from exile to manage his campaign because this is just the start for the first time in his entire life edward has a well thought out strategic plan with the dispensers secretly recalled and isabella by his side he's going to pick off his enemies one by one first battlesmere then mortimer and finally the real prize lancaster edward heads to wales picking off mortimer's allies on the way the offensive catches mortimer off guard edward quickly captures him and bangs him up in the tower of london the momentum is now with the king but lancaster has a big army and powerful allies in the north he'll be a much tougher proposition to take down then something extraordinary happened that absolutely no one saw coming one of edward supporters the archbishop of york receives a series of damning letters and they're here copied into the government archives the letters are between two scottish ministers here you can see the name of one of them sir james douglas and they refer to an agreement with an english noble who's named as king arthur what he's doing is guaranteeing he won't support any english invasion of scotland there's only one person that king arthur could be the king's cousin thomas of lancaster so this is a smoking gun it's proof that lancaster has been colluding with the enemy and that is treason ever since bannockburn edwards suspected that lancaster is in bed with the scots now he can prove it the king immediately publishes the lancaster letters then marches his army north as edward approaches lancaster's support melts away no one wants a backup traitor the earl is captured fleeing for his life this is what remains of lancaster's favorite castle pontefract and it's here that he's brought in chains to face edwards in a bitter irony edward locks him up in a tower that lancaster had himself built specifically in anticipation of imprisoning the king next day lancaster has hauled from his tower to face the court now this is the king's big chance to restore the rule of law to england by giving his cousin a fair trial after all the evidence is overwhelming lancaster has committed treason and he would be found guilty but as ever this is personal edward's not interested in justice he wants what he's always wanted revenge [Music] lancaster is tried by a jury of his enemies no defense no right to speak and sentenced to death i'm in judicial murder exactly what he did to gaviston it takes three blows of the sword to kill lancaster as the last blow lands on lancaster's neck edward finally has his revenge on the man who killed his friend but at what price the king of england has committed the political murder of the country's premier earl his first cousin a man with plantagenet royal blood in his veins pandora's box is open and no one is safe on the day of lancaster's execution six of his supporters follow him to the gallows another three are executed the next day in the months that follow the executions continue no trial no evidence just the word of the king 117 rebels have their lands confiscated and at least 15 others join roger mortimer in the tower it must look to the whole kingdom like edward's bloodlust is insatiable but in reality behind the scenes the dispensers are pulling the strings it's payback time for the humiliation of their exile edward makes huge spencer junior chamberlin of the royal household giving the dispensers complete control of the machinery of government and the country's finances soon all access to edward has to go through them [Music] the dispenser regime makes them hated right across the kingdom but the dispensers don't care the king is now their puppet and they're not done yet [Music] two years later in autumn 1324 wall breaks out with france and the dispensers get an opportunity to move on the one person who could still interfere with their control of the king queen isabella the king of france is isabella's brother technically she's an enemy alien and that's how the dispensers treat her on national security grounds they purge her household of french people confiscate her land [Music] and her younger children are ripped from her to be looked after by dispenser's wife [Music] now edward does nothing to help [Music] imagine how isabella must feel she's put up with the humiliation of gaviston when edward went after lancaster she was right behind him she even put her own life on the line at leeds castle she'd done everything edward could have asked of a queen and more and this is her reward edward can't know it but this is the beginning of the end of his rule six months later edward and the dispensers are here in dover the war with france is going disastrously wrong the king has no choice but to turn to his wife for help he sends isabella to france to negotiate a truce with her brother king charles when isabella sails for france she does so knowing the dispensers have her children and that's why they're pretty confident she'll have to behave but they've massively underestimated her because this is a woman who'll one day become known as the she-wolf and edward and the dispensers are about to find out why in france isabella's influence with her brother does the trick she gets him to agree to a treaty but there's a catch the french king demands that edward comes to france to seal the deal edward going to france is something the dispensers simply can't allow their control over the country depends on having the king in their clutches without him the whole thing could unravel in desperation the dispensers persuade edward to send a message claiming to be ill so they must be delighted when the reply comes back expressing sympathy and saying that under the circumstances the french king would be happy to accept the homage of edward's son twelve-year-old prince edward instead sounds reasonable so edward sends the heir to the throne to france along with a message telling isabella to return immediately it's a massive miscalculation with prince edward safely by her side in paris here at the french court in the concierge isabella makes her move as far as isabella is concerned until the dispensers are gone her husband is as good as dead neither the king nor the dispensers has appreciated the danger of losing control of both the queen and the heir to the throne but with isabella declared against them she quickly becomes the focus for opposition edward and hugh might have thought that by snatching her children they could force her to toe the line but they've no idea who they're dealing with isabella's opposition doesn't stop at speeches a month later she's wearing her black robes of mourning when she meets a rich powerful and charismatic man who's just escaped from the tower of london roger mortimer her husband's bitterest enemy the attraction is immediate within weeks they're lovers even paris is shocked isabella the she-wolf and roger mortimer sworn enemy of the king for edward ii they are a very dangerous combination ah [Music] in the autumn of 1326 isabella and mortimer head back to england with one simple aim regime change d-day is september the 24th 1326 and even with an altima by his side for isabella this is a hell of a gamble i mean let's face it she's an adulterous foreign queen with an escaped convict lover backed by a handful of men closer in number to a moderate house party than a proper invasion force this has all the hallmarks of a suicide mission but isabella and mortimer have called it right popular hatred of the dispensers and the king is so deep and so widespread that as his wife and her lover ride through the shires supporters flock to their side in less than a month the queen takes the country the king is forced to flee for his life [Music] edward's running out of options fast he's supposed to be the anointed king of england but now he's reduced to a man on the run his only remaining supporter is a man who if it's possible is hated even more than he is it said he tried to get a message to isabella if only they could talk maybe they could smooth things over the time for talking is long gone but as usual edward can't see it [Music] edward and hugh are captured running scared on a forest path in the welsh mountains isabella bangs edward up in kenworth castle she hasn't decided what to do with him yet but she's got big plans for hugh dispenza de spencer senior has already been beheaded and fed to the dogs and he's a lucky one when hugh the younger arrives here in hereford and sees a 50-foot gallows being erected over the town he probably begins to suspect the trial he's about to receive isn't going to be entirely fair and he's right like gaviston and lancaster before him he's not allowed to speak in his own defense and he's tried by people who hate him and the sentence he receives is so spectacularly vicious and inhuman he actually tries to starve himself to death just to avoid it in front of a huge crowd dispenser is hung almost to the point of death but he's not getting off that lightly because isabella has a point to prove this is a very personal execution and a very public statement isabella has a ringside seat as dispenser is strapped to a ladder for the next part of his ordeal the queen wants everyone to know that dispenser has come between her and her husband he's damaged her marriage and this is her revenge [Applause] dispenser's genitals are cut off [Applause] and burned in front of him [Applause] incredibly isabella is eating as she watches it happen even more incredibly throughout all of this hugh dispenser never makes a sound but isabella isn't done dispenser's entrails are pulled out and shown to him then he screams finally almost mercifully he's beheaded murderous personal vindictiveness has become the defining characteristic of edward ii's reign the only person who could have stopped it was edward instead he embraced it now it's coming for him edward who's being held here at kenworth castle is isabella mortimer's last remaining problem he may be a defeated tyrant but he's still the rightful king of england anointed by god on the other hand they've been so blatant about their adultery they can hardly just give him his crown back so edward's wife and her lover have him declared incorrigible and he's deposed by act of parliament once king of england he's now just plain edward of carnarvon the place of his birth for the first time since the dark ages a reigning monarch has been forced from the throne england has a new king edward iii but it's isabella is regent who's really snatched the crown the she-wolf has earned her name this is barclay castle in gloucestershire and it's here the end game is played out whilst he's still alive the king remains a threat there have already been three attempts to spring him from prison and restore him to power in truth he's been a dead man walking since his wife snatched the throne [Music] publicly it will be claimed that edward has died of natural causes but as news of his death spreads suspicion of murder grows the story we're told is that he's tortured and murdered by having a red-hot poker inserted via a trumpet device placed in his rectangle [Music] even after everything edward had done how could a king be tortured and killed in such a horrific fashion the answer of course he wasn't this is the room where edward ii was murdered not killed with a poker most probably smothered in his bed the poker story only came about about 60 years after edward was killed but it's become the standard version and that's because the idea of a humiliated emasculated possibly homosexual king being buggered to death is too good a story to be troubled by the truth next time the plantagenet story reaches its catastrophic climax as richard ii the boy king who crushed the peasants revolt turns monstrous tyrant and henry bollingbrook rises up to bring the whole dynasty crashing down [Music] uh june the 11th 1381 two 14 year old boys are taking refuge here at the tower of london as murderous rebels stalk the streets outside the first of the boys is the king himself richard ii eighth in the unbroken line of plantation at kings the second is his cousin henry bollingbrook son and heir of the duke of lancaster they will change the face of england but first they have to survive this bloody crisis and that's not exactly guaranteed only thing on the king's side is that it's not him the rebels are after richard ii has been king since he was 10. since then his realm has been ruled by councillors now in the eyes of the peasants these councillors are greedy and evil and how do you fix a problem like that well you kill them obviously [Applause] richards councillors are the most senior nobles in the land most of them have fled london the rest are hiding in the tower with the king as the situation deteriorates the most hated of richard's counsellors hatch a desperate plan they send the young king with an entourage out of the tower and through the streets to create a distraction they're hoping the mob will follow so they can make their escape but their cowardice very quickly comes back to haunt them [Music] the rebels simply let richard pass he's not their target his evil counselors are unfortunately for young henry bollingbrook his dad john of gaunt the king's uncle is one of those evil councillors which puts henry directly in the firing line and worse than that he's stuck up in the tower with the two most hated men in england the king's chancellor and his treasurer and the rebels massed outside these walls and smelled blood it was probably only the king's presence that was holding them back but he's gone now the mob storms the gates the rebels tear through the tower going from room to room looking for the men they hate [Music] they find the treasurer robert hales and then in this chapel they find the chancellor archbishop sudbury cowering in prayer in front of the altar but god's not going to save him [Music] both men are dragged out into the street kicking and screaming in terror while all this is going on henry's hiding in a cupboard and you can imagine him alone in the darkness barely daring to breathe waiting for the rebels to find him but they never do they have their victims sudbury and hails are beheaded in the street sudbury's head is stuck on a spike on london bridge his archbishop's mitre nailed to his head so there's no doubt about who they've killed england is on the brink of full-blown anarchy it's the greatest crisis the country has faced in more than a hundred years richard could lose his crown in desperation his ministers start issuing charters of freedom to the rebels but it doesn't work they just murdered two of his top ministers and got away with it a few bits of parchment i'm gonna stop them now the 14 year old king has one last throw of the dice to ride out again through the blood frenzied mob and confront the rebel leaders for his whole life richard's been told that he alone can save england now he's about to find out if it's true the whole future of england is now in the hands of a 14 year old boy he meets the rebels outside the city walls at smithfield open countryside near where the meat market is today what tyler the fierce and rebel leader comes across to make his demands they are extraordinary [Music] what he's asking for is completely outrageous no more bishops no more nobles common ownership to all lands seven centuries later you'd call it communism in medieval england it's just bonkers and it leads to a standoff [Music] there are conflicting accounts about exactly what happens next what we do know is a scuffle breaks out between tyler and one of richard's men weapons are drawn in the struggle richard's man cuts the rebel leader hard across the face and neck with his sword tyler is mortally wounded when tyler's army of kentish rebels see what's happening they draw back their bows ready to fire and in that instant the whole future of the english monarchy hangs in the balance [Applause] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] faced with certain death the king's terrified men turn to flee but richard doesn't [Music] instead the young king does something astonishing the 14 year old charges a loan straight towards the rebel ranks he cries out in english that he is their leader their captain and their king he commands them to lower their weapons [Music] and incredibly they do it's always been seen as an astonishing act of bravery by the young king but i think there's more to it than that for richard's whole life he's been told that he's the man to save england from terminal decline all he's ever known is adulation you are god's anointed king your people adore you you will be mighty after a while that sort of thing can go to a kid's head so when richard rides out to meet the rebels that's what's going through his mind my people love me god will protect me and when the rebels kneel before him it just confirms everything he's ever believed about himself [Applause] [Music] [Applause] from this moment on nothing will ever shake richard's belief that god is on his side he is the king he is right and he is invincible when richard orders the peasants home they go happily clutching their charters of freedom safe in the knowledge that richard is their man their captain their king [Music] they are wrong the following week richard meets the rebels again they've come to seal the deal with their new champion but richard's got a new deal in mind [Music] a first-hand account of the meeting still exists here in the british library this is the chronicle of thomas wolsingham who was an eyewitness to many of the events that peasants revolt and he records richard's reaction but it's not what the peasants were expecting at all it's in latin richard says peasants you are and peasants you'll remain in permanent bondage not as you were before but in an incomparably harsher state then richard goes on to say he's going to devote the rest of his life to tormenting the rebels so much that no one in england will ever dare to rise up again so much for being a captain and their leader richard's going to be their hangman [Music] in the months that follow hundreds possibly thousands of peasants are strung up by the king's men his people never dare rise up against him again richard's terrifying ordeal at the hands of the rebels has taught him a lesson a king doesn't need to be loved he needs to be feared by 1385 even the country's senior nobles are starting to become nervous it's four years since richard crushed the peasants revolt and he's no longer a child he's 19 he's married to anna bohemia daughter of the holy roman emperor and he's fed up with people telling him what to do he decides to take the lead and from this point on richard's reign will be dominated by his struggle to do things his way richard and anne are a great match and the queen is clearly a good influence on him a young court of nobles springs up around them led by the king's favorite robert de vere like the king his young court have little time for the old guard men like his uncle gloucester and the archbishop of canterbury the richard's under 21 so they can legitimately control his council the equivalent of cabinet they still think of him as a child but he's not when the archbishop criticizes richard for keeping bad company the king makes it crystal clear that he's not interested in his opinion anymore [Laughter] then he drums his point home by attacking the old man he's only stopped from doing serious harm by the intervention of his uncle gloucester this time richard clines down but egged on by de vere and the others the split between the king and his old councillors is only going to get worse one important young noble's missing from the king's new entourage his cousin henry bollingbrook so far best known for hiding in a cupboard because while richard's swanning about at court with his new powers henry's off fighting in tournaments and learning the business of war and bollingbroke stands to inherit the most powerful duchy in richard's kingdom so despite his absence henry will have far more influence on the king's reign than any of his new friends but while bowling brooks away richard's new pals are still making all the running the king's wrestling control away from the old guard by replacing them on his council with his new friends like devere but a crisis in the never-ending war with france is about to undo all richard's plans by the autumn of 1386 the french are poised to launch an invasion de vere and the others do nothing to prevent it the old guard have had enough they go to parliament and get them on side against the king and his young allies the king's uncle is the man charged with telling richard to get rid of them or the old guard will gloucester delivers the ultimatum to richard here at elton palace and given the king's tendency to blow his top and even the slightest attempt to curb his behavior gloucester must have realized his nephew was never going to take this well all the same richard's reaction absolutely flaws him he accuses his counsel and parliament of treason and threatens to seek help from the french if the old guard don't yield he'll invite in the country's deadliest enemy to destroy them gloucester doesn't rise to the bait he simply asks richard to think about his great-grandfather edward ii it's an explicit threat gloucester is called the king's bluff in a bloodless coup all richard's ministers are removed gloucester and the old guard retake control of the council and the country but if they think they've got richard under control they're dead wrong because the king is more devious more cunning and more ruthless than anyone has dared to imagine unfortunately that's not what the law says richard has a simple solution to that change the law no sane judge would ever agree but then it all depends on how you ask them the judge's rule that any opposition to the king is equivalent to treason it's basically a tyrant's charter do what i say or you'll be strung up richard thinks he's cracked it this judgment threatens everyone and to richard that's what being a king is all about intimidation the old guard have a stark choice they can let richard's treason laws stand in which case the king can kill them whenever he likes or they can raise an army against him unsurprisingly gloucester and his allies go for the second option in response de vere richard's best pal raises an army to defend the king with the situation escalating all the leading nobles have to choose a side and that brings a decisive new player into the game the king's cousin henry bollingbrook until now henry's been pretty loyal to richard even if the deal with the judges was quite hard to swallow but he can't stand de vere not only has de vere chucked his wife who's henry's cousin he's also been poaching henry's lands now henry knows de vere couldn't have done any of this without richard's approval and an attack on de vere is effectively an attack on the king but he's had enough and so as de vere tries to cross radcop bridge here in oxfordshire henry bollingbrook is waiting for him henry is a battle-hardened veteran so when devere's army run into henry's troops they basically run for the hills de vere flees to france he never returns settling his score with de vere means that henry has now sided with the barons against the king and with de vere gone nothing stands between them and richard the king is forced to offer peace talks at the tower of london [Music] along with four other senior nobles gloucester arundel warwick and mowbray henry heads the tower where richard's waiting they take 500 soldiers with them just in case the king gets the mistaken idea that this is a friendly chat on top of twisting the trees and laws they've discovered that richard has been negotiating for peace with the french without parliament's knowledge they enter the tower to confront the king and lock the doors behind them for three days richard is locked up in the tower with his enemies and forced to watch as the five of them decide what to do with him deposing the king is undoubtedly on the table after all gloss has already threatened richard with it once [Music] when the doors finally open the king is sent to parliament to await his fate it's a packed house as the five lords returned from the tower to deliver their verdict everyone is expecting them to force richard to abdicate but they don't instead all five bow low and swear allegiance to the king [Music] despite everything he's done richard survives it's an astonishing turnaround [Music] no one knows exactly what happened in that tower but i think henry and the others were actually going to depose richard and in the end the only thing that stopped them was the fear of civil war [Music] the chaos and slaughter of the inevitable fight over who should be king instead would tear the country apart the reality is leaving richard in place is simply the least worst option so how does richard feel grateful lucky humbled no in richard's mind this is further proof that whatever he does god will protect him after the tower richard keeps a low profile but he's just biding his time he's now 21 theoretically he can take full control of the country any time he likes and then god help the men who stood against him [Music] with richard in charge the old guard probably fear the worst but getting the power he's always craved seems to calm him down astonishingly peace breaks out the king agrees a truce with france and in henry's absence he even makes up with gloucester and the others it looks like richard's grown out of his youthful malice but he hasn't while all this public peace and reconciliation is going on richard's quietly doing something that will completely alter the balance of power in the kingdom he's raising a private army in the north of england but this isn't an army paid for or approved by parliament it's a band of private mercenaries with no loyalty to anyone but richard himself the emblem he chooses for his soldiers is the white heart strange isn't it this is more like the behavior of a warlord than a king so what's he up to well incredibly more than six centuries on there is a way to peer inside the mind of richard ii and it's here at the national gallery this is the wilton diptych it's a portrait painted for richard at around this time and everything you see in it every aspect of the symbolism is here because richard wants it here but even though this was painted when he was a fully grown man he's presented here as though he was still 14 years old the age of his greatest triumph in the peasantry behind him we have the saints and edmund edward the confessor john the baptist and here we have the virgin mary and the baby jesus both looking adoringly down at richard giving him their blessing what's most interesting are these 11 angels all wearing the symbol of the white heart that's the symbol of richard's private army it's saying even the angels wear my badge god is on my side this is a painting of a man who truly believes he can do whatever the hell he wants [Music] three years after leaving england henry bollingbrook returns the kingdom has changed a lot richard may have brought peace to the country but the white heart symbol of his personal power is everywhere on flags buildings statues windows and of course on the king's private soldiers and they're everywhere too it seems threatening with good reason henry must have been sweating it the last time he saw his cousin he all but deposed him [Music] but richard graciously welcomes him back the nasty business in the tower of london seems forgotten he even makes henry a trusted counsellor and diplomat after all they are cousins [Music] despite richard's disturbing track record he's now ruled his country in his own right peacefully for more than five years but all that's about to change [Music] richard's queen anna bohemia dies suddenly at just 28. the king is utterly inconsolable and properly unhinged i think anne was some sort of stabilizing influence on him now she's gone there's nothing holding him back [Music] and that's apparent straight away when arendell one of the five from the tower turns up late to her funeral [Music] the peace loving image the kings cultivated is ripped away [Music] here in westminster abbey there's direct evidence of the real richard that emerges this is an incredible piece of history it's the earliest surviving portrait of a british monarch to be taken from life and it was painted around the time of richard's wife's death and it shows you the king not only as he wanted to be seen but as his subjects really did see him because the riches that's shown here it's a seriously nasty piece of work he really did sit like this on a high throne above his court staring around sort of feels like his gaze is on me now and if he looked at you you were supposed to throw yourself to the ground or face his wrath this was a really dangerous atmosphere but i don't think this is a new personality richard's always had this in him think about his bloody crushing of the peasants revolt his attack on the archbishop his abuse of the treason laws his buildup of a private army i think richards always been a tyrant [Music] backed by his private army the king reinstates his version of the treason law anybody who opposes him now faces death the monster has been unleashed [Music] [Music] ten years earlier in that tower over there five men humiliated the king and threatened to rip his crown away from him now one way or another richard's going to crush them this is a vendetta pure and simple richards tried being a nice guy he didn't like it as one chronicler of the time wrote this is the year that richard's tyranny began the earl of warwick was one of the five who humiliated richard in the tower he should probably have felt better of going back there for dinner with the king when the meal is finished so is warwick and richard's just warming up gloucester was the ringleader of the five who threatened him now richard rides through the night to return the favor the king greets him as fair uncle and has him arrested on the spot gloucester is packed off into the custody of thomas mowbray another of the five [Music] to atone for his sins he's now the king's hatchet man [Music] [Music] the fourth man arundel is arrested and imprisoned as well [Music] he too is charged with treason gloucester warwick and arundel have their trials set for a parliament in westminster just like today westminster hall is under construction so parliament's held in a wooden hall next door it opens with a sermon from ezekiel there'll be one king over them all and indeed there is because towering above them on a specially built high throne is richard with 300 of his white heart archers at his back the message is simple you're either with the king or you're against him there is no politics now just life or death graphic proof of this comes when mowbray reports that unfortunately gloucester can't stand trial on account luckily before he died he made a full confession admitting to all richard's charges in reality of course richard has had him tortured to death [Music] henry bollingbrook was the fifth man in the tower and not for the first time he has to choose a side join with the king or share gloucester's fate henry chooses life he makes a speech condemning his old ally arundel arundel is sentenced to death warwick banished for life of the five who stood against the king only henry and mowbray remain and they must know they're not safe the king has just murdered his own uncle a royal duke anybody could be next three months later as fear and paranoia stalk the land henry is called to a secret meeting against them mowbray may well be telling the truth but this could easily be a trap henry can't risk it he goes straight to the king and denounces mowbray but since it was a private conversation there are no witnesses to prove who is telling the truth this is perfect for the king he declares the case can't be proven and exiles them both henry for 10 years mowbray for life in one fell swoop the last two of the five from the tower are gone richard's revenge is complete he believes no one can challenge him but henry bollingbrook will now be watching the king's every move from exile in france richard should have killed him what happens next shows just what a ruthless tyrant richard's become with bollingbroke and mowbray out of the way richard sends his thugs round to the houses of all the other nobles he suspects and forces them to put their seals on pieces of blank parchment once he has those he can write on them pretty much anything he wants i'll give the king ten thousand pounds i'll leave the king my lands and all my castles i am a traitor if anyone puts a foot out of line or even if they don't richard can destroy them [Music] a year later richard's tyranny is in full swing when henry bollingbrook's father the duke of lancaster dies [Music] this is what remains of pontefract castle in yorkshire just one of more than 30 castles henry bollingbrook should now inherit as part of the largest duchy in the kingdom it will make henry the most powerful noble in england but given the history between the king and his cousin there's no way richard can allow that to happen so with henry still banished richard just takes the lot for himself but in doing so he undermines the whole basis of law and order in england the right to property and inheritance and he's given henry bollingbrook the excuse he's been waiting for to take the king down [Music] may 1399 richard is in wales he's got exactly what he always wanted everyone in his kingdom fears him but even that's not enough so richard is heading for ireland to extend his tyranny there it's a massive miscalculation there's a fundamental flaw in richard's whole idea of kingship he doesn't understand that the strongest kings have always governed by consent iron-fisted consent maybe but consent all the same if you rule by fear like richard the moment you leave the country what is there for your enemies to be afraid of what's there to stop them moving against you as soon as richard's gone henry bollingbrook seizes his moment he races back across the channel with one thing on his mind regime change by stealing his inheritance richard has created an enemy with nothing to lose and alienated every single landholder in the kingdom the nobles of england flock to henry's side richard's white heart army is no match for the combined might of the enraged english barons by the time richard makes it back from ireland his army is gone he's friendless and exposed if you're expecting a war forget it it's over if it has even begun and richard has lost the king is forced to surrender to his cousin henry takes him to london and bangs him up in the tower twelve years before henry bollingbrook was one of the five nobles who backed away from deposing richard he won't make the same mistake again this time he's going to take the throne according to one chronicler the king was so enraged that he could hardly speak and when he did it was to make a threat this is pretty funny really if there's one thing richard isn't it's physically brave and even if he were henry's been a crusader a tournament champ he'd toast richard on his own all richard knows is fear but without the men or the authority to back him up he's nothing he's reduced to shouting he's a temper tantrum the next day in parliament 250 years after the first plantagenet king claimed and won the english crown henry bollingbrook formally claims his cousin's throne i henry of lancaster challenged this realm of england and the crown with all the members and the impertinencies that i am descendant by the right line of blood coming from the good lord king henry iii by claiming the throne not in latin or french but in english the first king to do so since the norman conquest henry's sending a very clear message [Music] i am not like richard his tyranny is over there's just one problem richard is still alive and as long as he is he remains a dangerous threat no one knows for sure how richard ii died but what we do know is that he was being held in a room in this tower on january 6 1400 when the last plot to spring him was foiled by february 17th he's already dead given the stakes involved i think it's safe to assume that henry is behind it what he needs is plausible deniability it can't look like he's murdered the ex-king [Music] so knowing just how fast richard dies i think it's pretty obvious what really happens richard ii the boy king who crushed the peasants revolt was simply left in a room with no food and no water and allowed to die of thirst it's a grim way to die as his kidneys shut down his blood thickens and ear splitting headaches set in richard would have had plenty of time to think about his mistakes the king dies without a mark on him so technically no one especially not the new king has blood on their hands richard ii is dead it's the end of one of the greatest periods in british history the crown of england had passed down legitimately through eight generations since henry ii established the plantagenet dynasty two and a half centuries earlier henry iv coronation ends that from now on anyone with a drop of royal blood can theoretically claim the throne and that possibility will plunge england into the wars of the roses and half a century of civil war

Channel: Chronicle - Medieval History Documentaries

Views: 1,714,349

Keywords: history documentary, medieval history documentary, middle ages, medieval history, the middle ages, the plantagenets, the plantagenets documentary, the plantagenets dan jones, the plantagenets britains bloodiest dynasty, the plantagenets bbc, the plantagenets documentary bbc, plantagenets complete history, plantagenet documentary timeline, full plantagenets, british royalty, english medieval, english medieval history, english medieval history documentaries, bbc documentary

Id: 11KINtQlsPw

Length: 174min 48sec (10488 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 27 2022