The Wars of the Roses Queens & Consorts of England 4/8

queens and consorts of england part four the wars of the roses the lives of the many kings and handful of queens regent who have held dominion over the kingdom of england and later the united kingdom take center stage in history but the lives of their spouses and mothers are often relegated to the wings in this series we will learn the stories of the mini queens consort and the handful of male consorts who have been at the monarch's sides through love hate adultery and sometimes murder these women and men have played vital roles in the history of england in the 1300s the black plague upended england's feudal social order one-third of the population was dead and the shortage of labor meant that peasants had the freedom to abandon the lands their families had been tied to for centuries in search of better pay peasants became wealthier than ever before infuriating the nobles who imposed heavy taxes and laws limiting everything from where peasants could live to what type of clothes they could wear the peasants revolted against their new king richard ii a 14 year old boy who was under the control of his uncle john of gaunt the king needed powerful allies to survive so he married anne of bohemia the daughter of holy roman emperor charles iv the most powerful monarch in europe while most royal brides brought rich dowries with them richard actually had to pay for the honor of marrying anne she and richard were both 15 when they wed and the couple forged a caring relationship it does not appear to have been a sexual one however as richard was more interested in men he did heed and political advice and she was a calming influence on him soothing his instincts for cruelty nonetheless when the king finally put down the peasants revolt he had the rebels brutally executed he faced a coup led by his enemies at court but with anne's influence was able to regain control together richard and ann ruled over a sophisticated court full of art music and literature anne was popular with the people despite never giving birth to an heir she popularized the side saddle in england as it was seen as unladylike for women to straddle a horse anne contracted the black plague and died at the age of 28 after 13 years as queen richard mourned her deeply and ordered a double tomb the first of its kind in england though the 28 year old king had a little interest in a second wife he did have interest in a peace treaty with france which would put a pause on the 100 years war so in 1406 he read isabella of valois the seven-year-old daughter of king charles vi of france she was especially young for marriage even by medieval standards but richard assured her parents that he would wait until she was mature before consummating the marriage young isabella said that she was happy to be the queen of england because that would make her a great lady she was set up with a governess in addition to the ladies in waiting usually appointed to a queen richard always respectful visited her often and talked and joked with her and her ladies while queen isabella was growing up king richard was carrying on a relationship with courtier robert de vere who was appointed duke of ireland outraging the nobles without the influence of anne of bohemia the king gave in to his desire for revenge against the lords who eight years earlier had attempted a coup against him devere led richard's army in battle against his enemies but fled the field forcing the king to surrender de vere was sentenced to death by parliament when the king's uncle john of gaunt died he disinherited his son henry next in the line of succession cousin henry invaded england and his army swelled with the many nobles who had long hated their king richard was captured and forced to abdicate as he had no children there was no one to stand in henry's way so he had himself declared king henry iv the ex-king was starved to death in prison at the age of 32. his queen isabella now 11 defied the new king by openly mourning richard henry wanted to marry the young dowager queen to his own son the future henry v but her father refused insisting that she be returned to france once home she was married to her cousin the duke of orleans at 19 isabella died giving birth to her first child [Music] with the usurper henry iv now on the throne other branches of the royal family decided that they were rather cross at being left out and began biting their time for their own chance to seize power henry the fourth's first wife had been mary duboin an english and welsh heiress to a vast estate john of gaunt abducted twelve-year-old mary and wed her to his fourteen-year-old son in order to take control of her land mary gave birth to seven children including the future king henry v she died at 26 giving birth to a daughter five years after her death her widower murdered his way to the throne he then married joan of navarre the daughter of the king of navarre at 18 she had been married to the 47 year old duke of brittany in northwestern france she was his third wife and the only one to bear children after 13 years of marriage the duke died leaving brittany to their 10 year old son john joan ruled the region during their son's minority she became acquainted with the english lord henry while he was exiled and living in france the pair hid it off and after henry became king of england and learned that joan had been widowed he wrote to ask for her hand in marriage she agreed but first made arrangements to secure her son's reign in brittany when she was free to come to england she brought her younger children with her she disliked the english who didn't care for her either as while she was beautiful and majestic she was also greedy and stingy joan's poor reputation did little to improve the rule of her husband whose right to the throne was widely questioned joan gave birth to stillborn twins and didn't have any living children with henry when the king died 10 years into their marriage his son now henry v allowed his stepmother the use of several royal castles but when henry v on campaign in france as part of the continued 100 years war imprisoned joan's son arthur she wasn't so happy the dowager queen was involved in a plot to murder her royal stepson and the king ordered her imprisoned three years later while on his deathbed henry ordered her release she lived another 15 years in wealth and comfort dying at 69. after the shaky reign of his father henry v worked to stabilize the kingdom and returned to the war with france henry defeated the french at the battle of ajinkor he forced king charles vi to name him heir to the french throne and married his daughter catherine of valois when king henry v first laid eyes on the beautiful 19 year old princess he was enchanted they were married in france and then traveled to england where the new queen was crowned in westminster abbey after a brief honeymoon he left his pregnant wife and returned to france to continue sacking her homeland catherine gave birth to a son henry but his father never laid eyes on him the king contracted dysentery and died just shy of his 36th birthday this left the english crown on the tiny head of catherine's nine-month-old son the dowager queen doted on her baby at only 21 she was beautiful and still marriageable a source of concern to her brother-in-law humphrey her son's regent he was afraid that if catherine remarried her new husband might try to take the regency from him catherine fell in love with the count of mortaine and the pair wanted to marry but humphrey opposed the match and passed a law that any man who married a dowager queen without royal permission would forfeit his title and property with his wealth on the line mortaine soon lost interest barred from marrying any noble suitors catherine began a relationship with her butler welshman owen tudor the couple had six children together there is no record of the pair having actually been married but their descendants certainly pushed their own legitimacy when a few decades and battles later they formed their own royal dynasty queen catherine died at the age of 35 in childbirth she was buried in westminster abbey during the reign of her grandson henry vii her tomb was accidentally damaged revealing her well-preserved corpse which for over 500 years became a tourist attraction in 1669 diarist samuel peeps wrote that he kissed the long dead queen's lips on his birthday she was finally reburied during the reign of queen victoria catherine's son henry vi grew from a baby king into a pious and studious man but he suffered mental instability and allowed his counsel to run the kingdom for him without strong leadership the english army was no match for the french and their new champion joan of arc england lost most of the territory they had won in france in an attempt to end hostilities king henry married margaret of anjou the niece of king charles vii of france her father the duke of anjou was technically king of naples sicily and jerusalem he spent most of his time away from home fighting to turn these titles into real power margaret was raised by her mother and grandmother who controlled anjou at 15 margaret was married to the 24 year old king henry as part of a truce with france when she arrived in london the english people came out in droves and her procession through the city lasted two days once she reached the tower of london eight pageants were performed in celebration of her arrival margaret and henry got along well and shared an interest in education each founding a college at cambridge he king's college and she queen's college henry was childlike and many believed him incapable of consummating his marriage but after seven years together margaret was pregnant a few months before the birth the king's delicate mental state degenerated completely and he fell into a catatonic trance when presented with his son he stared unknowingly at the baby and made no response margaret who had grown up watching her mother act as regent thought that she should rule on her husband's behalf but the two most powerful men in the country were already jostling for dominance the duke of somerset margaret's ally who represented the king's branch of the family the lancasters and the duke of york who had been appointed a regent by the council nobles divided behind the rivals and york had somerset arrested and imprisoned in the tower of london suddenly after 16 months of obliviousness king henry returned to his senses york lost the regency and somerset released from prison took control finally the political posturing broke into a civil war that would be forever known as the wars of the roses the lancaster and york armies fought in the streets king henry a mere pawn sat under a banner in the market square as the men around him fought and died somerset was killed and york took king henry a prisoner and once again held the reigns of power with the lancastrian leaders wiped out margaret stepped up as the head of the family york claimed that her son could not have been fathered by the unwell king and accused the queen of infidelity york was defeated and captured in battle margaret ordered that his head wearing a paper crown be spiked on the tower of london and she once again had her husband king henry by her side but she couldn't rest for long york's 18 year old son edward was tall handsome and an outstanding warrior compared to the ailing and incapable king henry edward looked like a much better option and he gained the support of the people the two sides squared off again and the lancastrian army was defeated king henry was captured and margaret and her son prince edward escaped to france while their rival was crowned king henry iv but after only a few years on the throne his greatest ally the earl of warwick grew frustrated he decided to replace the king and the most viable substitute was margaret's son prince edward margaret and warwick sealed their new alliance with the marriage of their children prince edward to ann neville warwick successfully overthrew king edward sent him into exile and restored the now senseless king henry to the throne but before long edward returned to reclaim the crown margaret and her son sailed to england for one final showdown with king edward prince edward now 17 fought in the battle for his own right to rule he was killed alongside the earl of warwick victorious king edward rode back to london with queen margaret despondent in her despair as his prisoner the next day he had king henry vi body carried out of the tower of london and few doubted that he had been murdered without her son or husband to fight for the heartbroken former queen returned to france she lived another 11 years and died at the age of 52 in obscurity the reason that the earl of warwick was so annoyed with king edward was because of his marriage too elizabeth woodville the child of a socially unequal marriage her father was a member of the landed gentry the medieval middle class while her mother jacquetta was the daughter of the duke of luxembourg elizabeth was called the most beautiful woman in the island of britain she was also charming and had a keen intellect at 15 she married sir john gray and had two sons before he was killed fighting for the lancastrians when king edward iv met the stunning young widow he was smitten and the pair were secretly wed the king's right-hand man the earl of warwick was at the time busy negotiating a political marriage for the king with a french princess when he learned that edward had married a lancastrian commoner he was furious even more so when king edward granted his new bride's relatives plum appointments and marriages ensconcing them in the upper echelons of society elizabeth's 19 year old brother wed warwick's 65 year old aunt taking control of her fortune and causing a considerable scandal edward's political master plan might have been to fill his treacherous government with people he knew would be loyal to him or the marriage might have been a romantic impulse either way warwick's outrage grew he first allied himself with his son-in-law george who was also the king's brother together they accused the queen's mother of witchcraft and rose up in rebellion against the king they briefly defeated king edward and sent him on the run to france during his exile queen elizabeth sought sanctuary in westminster abbey with her three young daughters there she gave birth to edward's first son the future edward v within a year the king returned to england and killed warwick in battle and imprisoned his brother george who later died supposedly by being drowned in a vat of wine elizabeth and edward had 10 children together during their 19-year marriage edward was very fond of his wife who held a good deal of influence with him he was however notoriously unfaithful and fathered several illegitimate children edward died suddenly possibly of pneumonia at the age of 40 leaving his 12 year old son the throne and naming his brother richard as regent elizabeth and the woodvilles didn't trust richard they attempted to protect young edward from his uncle but richard seized the king and his younger brother and had their woodville uncle and half brother elizabeth's son beheaded richard locked the boys up in the tower of london claiming this was for their protection but they would never be seen again queen elizabeth returned to sanctuary in westminster abbey to protect her other children conveniently uncle richard uncovered a priest who swore that edward iv had been betrothed to another young woman before he married his queen thus making the royal marriage unlawful and their children illegitimate he had himself declared king richard iii he probably had his two nephews the princes in the tower murdered devastated at the loss of three of her sons elizabeth now stripped of her property and title of dowager queen focused on destroying richard she allied herself with margaret beauford and supported her son henry tudor's claim to the throne the two ladies plotted to improve their claims by uniting their houses elizabeth woodville's eldest daughter now with no living brothers was the heiress of the house of york she was betrothed to margaret's son henry tudor thus uniting the houses of york and lancaster once and for all the betrothal was kept secret from the new king who after the death of his wife ann neville was considering marrying his niece himself ann neville was the daughter of the earl of warwick she and her older sister isabelle grew up with the future king edwards younger brothers george and richard and marriages were planned between them isabelle married george but before the younger pair could wed their father decided to rebel against the king warrick tried to put his son-in-law george on the throne but he was defeated and george arrested next he married fourteen-year-old anne to king henry the sixth only son edward prince of wales the couple were wed for five months before edward was killed in battle alongside anne's father isabelle and ann inherited his fast estate prince george wanted to keep the entire property for himself so he hid teenage anne away in a london cook shop disguised as a servant to prevent her from marrying his brother but richard was so keen to wed his childhood friend that he forfeited her fortune to george in order to learn where he had hidden her he got his revenge though according to legend he was the one who drowned george in wine once married the couple had one child together edward 11 years into their marriage richard seized the throne from his nephew he and ann were crowned king and queen in a spectacular ceremony margaret beauford whose son would soon defeat richard carried queen anne's train anne and richard's son edward died suddenly at the age of ten and both parents were overwhelmed with grief less than a year later queen anne herself died of tuberculosis she was laid to rest at westminster abbey and king richard openly wept at the funeral of his beloved wife in 1485 henry tudor invaded england and defeated king richard iii after just two years on the throne the new queen was elizabeth of york and her mother elizabeth woodville was once again dowager queen she was present at the birth of her grandson the future king henry viii her son-in-law considered marrying the attractive 50-year-old dowager to king james iii of scotland but james died in battle before the plan went ahead queen elizabeth woodville died at the age of 55. in the next chapter we'll see how elizabeth of york brought peace to her people and meet the many famous queens and king consorts of the tudor dynasty don't want to wait to see the rest of the series patrons get exclusive early access now if you would like to become a patron and help me make more fascinating history videos check out the link in the description thank you for watching

Channel: History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday

Views: 408,837

Keywords: history, game of thrones, royal family, royalty, bbc, the crown, historic costumes, queens of the world, european royalty, queens of europe, womens history, women in history, queens of england, Queens Consort, tudor england, tudor queens, medieval queens, Queens and Consorts of England, the wars of the roses Queens and Consorts of England, middle ages, henry viii, Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret of Anjou, Catherine of Valois, york and lancaster, wars of the roses, richard iii

Id: F4l1Z600DxA

Length: 23min 57sec (1437 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 25 2021