ah domestic disputes like an elaborate
episode of Dr Phil The War of the Roses
offers us a chance to watch and enjoy
some good old family squabbles it's all
funny games until 50,000 people
[Music]
die hello and welcome to feature history
featuring The War of the Roses an epic
century long Civil War that pitted
brother against brother father against
son and fifth cousin once removed
against fifth cousin once removed all
for the grand prize of the English
Throne because it was very very
comfortable it brought dynasties to an
end impacted Wars that would change
history forever ended the Medieval Era
and had two absolutely gorgeous flowers
I hope the edge of your seat is extra
cushioned because we're going on a ride
of drama Our Story begins in the late
14th century and Carries to the 15th
century these two centuries were
characterized in crisis famines plagues
and the start of the adorably named
little Ice Age would bring Europe to its
knees with near apocalyptic like
destruction at the hands of Mother
Nature war and Revolt would become
common place ever since William the
Conqueror indulged in his namesake and
conquered England in 1066 the ruling
dynasties of France and England had been
closely interlined it would typically
lead to Skirmish but in 1337 the game
would change King Edward III of England
believed he was the rightful heir to the
throne of France and when Philip IV
challenged England's territorial claims
Edward responded by attempting to take
the Throne of France beginning the 100
Years War Edward III's eldest son Edward
the black prince was heir to the popular
King and made good and prussians with
his success in the war against France
those campaigns would take their toll
though and kill the prince in 1376 by
giving him a nasty case of the shits not
too bad though Edward III had three
other living Sons to take up the
position of King John Duke of Lancaster
Edmund Duke of York and Thomas Duke of
Gloucester Edward III died a year on
from his oldest in 1377 and the throne
was left to Richard II the son of the
black prince passing an entire
generation imposing a middle finger to
the sons Richard was 10 when he took on
the family business and the Suns deemed
him maybe not the best choice for this
kind of thing his Reign was considered
by most to be the work of a child which
is exactly what it was as well as not
being a favorite with peasantry he was
hated by the nobility Thomas attempted
to undermine the king and he led a
coalition of powerful Nobles against
Richard in 1388 which saw the king's
power significantly handicapped this
would set a trend for the nearest
century to follow one notable Noble in
that group was Henry son of John and so
naturally carrying on the name of
Lancaster he Thomas and the others were
satisfied in their Victory and so would
rest easy for a decade well not too easy
they were still at war with France
Richard would inevitably strike back
against us and he did in 1397 by
dissolving Thomas's Coalition and
arresting him and also probably getting
Thomas de morry to murder him too Henry
was spared the prison time and good old
medieval shanking despite Mercy Henry
was not happy with this turn of events
and came into conflict with morry
eventually challenging the man to a
jewel of Honor morry accepted but
Richard intervened banishing them both
and upsetting the nobility fearing there
with losing their rights to the
interventionist King whilst Henry was
banished his father John passed away in
1399 Richard held John's Holdings and
titles keeping them from Henry Henry was
sufficiently fed up with Richard given
there was no hate sh to file a complaint
to he decided he'd instead a mass an
army and invade England while Richard
was campaigning in Ireland seizing
control in his absence upon Richard's
return He took the Glorious route of
giving himself up and going to prison
and dying Henry became King Henry IV and
the red rose of Lancaster was
established on the throne despite minor
unrest Lancaster rule injured passing on
from Henry IV to the fth who then
indulged the whole Death part of war in
1422 leaving his only infant son Henry V
6 to take up the throne the young boy
spent his early years in the Regency of
several noblemen most importantly
Richard the dukee of York the great
grandson of Edward theii when the weak
willed Henry became of AE he was
convinced to marry the stunning
beautiful and power hungry French
Margaret aanu when Margaret arrived at
Henry's court she distrusted York and
would constantly attempt to separate
Henry from his staunch General she
proposed instead the talents of the
dukee of Somerset who happened to be one
of her supporters and also Lancaster she
continued to push York out of the
pitchure removing him from the front
lines and instead to Ireland where he
could not play any role in the
proceedings of the court she instead
gave York's former poster Somerset who
one could terbly say was not that good
the mounting failures of Margaret and a
cronies mixed with excessive corruption
left them widely unpopular by 1450 and
what have the man meant to actually be
running the show Henry was viewed as
Beyond incompetent York would return and
prematurely march on London demanding
for somerset's imprisonment York was
imprisoned until he would finally humble
himself before the court and swear
loyalty to Henry in 1453 civil
discontent grew to uncontrollable levels
and those responsible would have to be
held as such York and his York's faction
strided for Margaret Somerset and their
land C accomplice power to be revoked
and their influence removed that
opportunity would be offered to them
later the same year Henry's failures led
to defeat in the 100 Years War and his
rational reaction was to have an
absolute mental breakdown a Regency was
set up in the king's mental absence and
the popular York was to take up the
title of Lord protector York quickly got
down to business and placed Somerset in
prison and began to implement reforms
before he could appreciate his work
though Henry managed to recuperate to
his wife shrieking of how York is
ruining everything York's position was
revoked his reforms reversed and
Somerset released York alongside his
ally the wealthy Earl of Warwick knew
the queen surely had it in for them now
and so Rose their armies in the north of
England in hopes of deposing lancastrian
Power by force The War of the Roses
would begin on the 22nd of May 1455 when
the white rose of York ComEd the red
rose of Lancaster in the first battle of
St Albin the battle would end in a
decisive York's victory in somerset's
death Henry was captured by York and his
release was negotiated on terms that
York would have his title of Lord
protector return return to him Henry
being a poor loser would once again
suffer a bout of mental dysfunction for
a period of months he would recover once
again to his wife's demands for York's
proposal and would once again comply
this would cause York and Warick to fear
for their lives as this time they felt
Margaret would come down hard on their
descent and so would flee the country
and go the separate ways in 1459
Margaret had them labeled as traitors
and attempted to seed to their arrest
York would stay in hiding as Warick took
the grander approach of Defending his
Fortress in Cala and launching raids
against the lancasters and 1460 Warick
turned it up a notch by straight up
invading England and taking London and
Kent to much Applause York and Warick
were far more popular than the corrupt
Margaret and obedient Henry the Battle
of Northampton soon after War's Landing
would see him meet the lancastrian
challenge and defeat it capturing Henry
again York returned to England after
Warick did all the hard stuff so that he
could assert his claim to the throne
having himself and his children
designated his heir to the throne upon
Henry's death Margaret was lied the only
reason she came to this godforsaken
island was for her beautiful child
Prince Edward to become king Edward she
struck a deal with the King of Scotland
for an army and once she had that Army
she raised hell across the counties of
England York and his second Elders
Edmund met their end at the end of a
pike when attempting to face Margaret
Scots in the Battle of Wakefield and
late 1460 she continued her campaign
Southward beating back war in the Second
Battle of St Albin and discovering her
husband sitting quietly beneath a tree
after retrieving the bargaining piece
that was her husband she retreated to
the north to consolidate leaving London
without any King the late York's eldest
Edward would meet with Warick and his
surviving men and enter London the
bishop of London would talk with the boy
and then ask the people of London for
their judgment the crowds would shout
back King Edward as deao King Edward I
Four's goal was to remove Henry from
Power he and Warick would pursue
Margaret's Army and meet them outside
York in the Battle of ton on the 29th of
March 1461 they fought a brutal battle
accompanied by a blizzard and a dramatic
Narrative of Revenge in the end 28,000
men laid dead and Edward stood the
Victor it appeared as if Edward had
finally ended the War of the Roses and a
yorker's victory but if that would so
I'd be rolling pictures now and talking
about how the war was significant or
some fath but I'm not Warick started
negotiations for Edward's marriage to a
French princess early seeking to secure
power for Edward he was betrayed to
discover that Edward had fallen in love
with a widow and married her in secret
Warick knew that Edward was far too
ignorant of politics and deemed that he
must write the wrong he had made he
threw away his ties to the Yorks and
decided to instead side with the
lancasters war reached out to Edward's
envious brother George and sailed to
France to create an allegiance with his
former mortal enemy Margaret on the
request of the French King after
multiple marriages and several
handshakes a plot to depose Edward IV
was in place Warick invaded England in
1470 as Edward attempted to suppress
Lancaster rebellions catching his former
friend off guard Edward was forced to
flee he chose to accompany himself with
his youngest brother and loyal supporter
Richard dukee of Gloucester War decided
to now tow the part party line and use
Henry IV placing him back on the throne
and offending George George's whole
motivation was to take the throne for
himself not to bring back the Old Guard
make no mistake Henry might have been on
the throne but it was Warick calling the
shots Warick had England befriend France
and was tempted into a war against
burgundy which proved to be a fatal
mistake Charles of burgundy would offer
the estranged Edward the funds to take
back his throne and so Edward would go
to war Edward invaded in 1471 and would
meet his brother George who would beg
for forgiveness begin he would be given
Edward then confronted boro's Army in
thick fog and using the confusion to his
Advantage defeated the outnumbering
force in the Battle of Barnett and slang
War Margaret arrived on the aisle at the
very same day only to hear of War's
demise she decided to cast her lot and
her men and confront Edward in the
Battle of cherbury Edward proved the
superior Commander Prince Edward the
cruel child was killed and his mother
taken captive by the Yorks it was only
by a ransom paid by the French King
would she return home the father would
meet the same fate as a son Henry V 6
was murdered soon after the battle
finally removing the Lancaster problem
York power was restored and the War of
the Roses has finally ended in a York's
fix psych whilst the remainder of
Edward's rule was fine the problem of
succession were bound to crop up upon
Edward's sudden death in 1483 his son's
succession was prevented by Edwards once
loyal Brother Richard see there was a
point to me mentioning him Richard
claimed that due to Edward's secred
marriage none of his children were
legitimate and so had the princes
conveniently disappear so he could sit
his behind on the throne of England
Richard III's mad and blatant power grab
shocked onlookers but surely no one
remained to challenge his claim that was
the case until the discovery of Henry
Tudor a lancastrian descendant of Edward
III raised in Exile on the sunny shores
of France Henry would cross the channel
in 1485 and confront the defrauding King
in the Battle of Bosworth field Henry
managed to defeat Richard's Superior
Army and kill the man himself leaving
Henry the only one to claim the throne
to extend the Olive Branch or to stop a
bloody Rebellion probably the L he would
marry the daughter of Edward IV finally
uniting the Two Roses to become the
House of Tudor and bringing a little bit
of peace to aanal island called Britain
with the end of the war also brought an
end to the Medieval era in England the
power shift caused by the Black Death in
part had finally ceased and England
became far more centralized under Henry
iith Henry's Dynasty would pave the way
for the English reformation and the
unification of England and Scotland
under James the some say the
significance of the War of the Roses is
exaggerated and the war really meant
very little in the grand scheme of it
all and to them I
say so that's that episode 8 done to the
archives it goes like usual thanks to
the patrons I'm sure this thank you was
feeling less genuine every time personal
mentions to Zeda and the scrubbings of
the rectal variety next episode should
be when I can be bothered to