0:00:04 > 0:00:07I'm Professor Robert Bartlett
0:00:07 > 0:00:09and this is the story of the Plantagenets.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12They were England's longest ruling dynasty,
0:00:12 > 0:00:18producing 15 of the nation's most famous - and infamous - kings.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23Their story is one of intrigue, conflict and brutality.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28But also the establishment of England's system of justice.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31And the birth of Parliament.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34They conquered Wales and tried to claim Scotland.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38Their great castles hammered home their power.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40The future of the British Isles
0:00:40 > 0:00:43was shaped by this one extraordinary family.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55The story of England's longest reigning dynasty begins
0:00:55 > 0:00:58here in Anjou, Western France.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04In 1128, an enraged princess arrived here.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Her name was Matilda and she was the only surviving legitimate
0:01:07 > 0:01:11child of King Henry I of England, and his acknowledged heir.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Her father had commanded her to marry a 15-year-old boy,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Geoffrey, the eldest son of the Count of Anjou.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23King Henry hoped the arranged marriage at Le Mans Cathedral
0:01:23 > 0:01:27would produce a male heir, who would ultimately become
0:01:27 > 0:01:33Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, and King of England.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Things didn't go according to plan.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Both Geoffrey and Matilda were proud and quarrelsome people,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43and after a tumultuous year, they separated.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47But this was, above all, a political union
0:01:47 > 0:01:49and a reconciliation was soon imposed.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54Matilda rejoined her teenage husband and performed her royal duty -
0:01:54 > 0:01:57giving him three sons in three years.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00This ended any doubts about the succession
0:02:00 > 0:02:04and also laid the foundations of a powerful new dynasty.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Geoffrey was an energetic, intelligent man
0:02:12 > 0:02:14with golden-red hair.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19He also had a nickname, that comes from the Latin for the broom plant -
0:02:19 > 0:02:22planta genista - Plantagenet.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28No-one knows for certain why Geoffrey was called Plantagenet.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30One theory is that it's because he wore
0:02:30 > 0:02:32a sprig of the plant in his hat.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34But, in any case, for over 300 years
0:02:34 > 0:02:36none of his descendants bore the name.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Kings don't need surnames.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42But it's proved a useful label for historians to describe that
0:02:42 > 0:02:45long line of monarchs who descended from Matilda
0:02:45 > 0:02:47and the young Geoffrey of Anjou.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53King Henry I had named Matilda his heir.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56But when he died in 1135,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59the English throne was seized by Matilda's cousin, Stephen.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03The Plantagenets fought back.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Geoffrey led a successful invasion of Normandy,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09which had been part of Henry I's dominions,
0:03:09 > 0:03:11while Matilda crossed the Channel to claim her crown.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15This started almost two decades of civil war.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Government virtually collapsed and England descended
0:03:18 > 0:03:22into a period of bloody conflict often called simply The Anarchy.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32Geoffrey and Matilda's eldest son, Henry, inherited his parent's claim
0:03:32 > 0:03:35to the English throne and much of Northern France.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40As a young man, he was granted Normandy.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44Later, he inherited Anjou.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Then by marrying the greatest heiress in Europe,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50Eleanor of Aquitaine,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54he took control of one of the most powerful duchies in France.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Henry now set his sights on winning the greatest prize of all...
0:04:02 > 0:04:04..the English crown.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10Crossing the Channel with a small army, Henry found England
0:04:10 > 0:04:13devastated by nearly two decades of civil war between
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Stephen and Matilda's supporters.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22His arrival persuaded many barons to join the Plantagenet cause.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Henry's and Stephen's armies confronted one another
0:04:27 > 0:04:30here at Wallingford Castle.
0:04:30 > 0:04:31A contemporary chronicle,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34the Gesta Stephani, describes what happened next.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42"It was a terrible thing to see so many armed men with drawn swords,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46"ready to kill their relatives and fellow countrymen.
0:04:51 > 0:04:58"And so the chief men on each side shrank in horror from civil war
0:04:58 > 0:05:02"and the destruction of their kingdom."
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Because the two armies refused to fight,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Stephen and Henry were forced to talk.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17According to the chronicles,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21they met outside the castle, one on either side of the stream.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Eventually they came to an agreement -
0:05:25 > 0:05:27King Stephen would continue to rule
0:05:27 > 0:05:30but he recognised Henry as his lawful heir.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35The very next year, Stephen was seized by
0:05:35 > 0:05:38"a terrible pain in the gut and a flow of blood."
0:05:40 > 0:05:42The king was dead.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45The negotiations that began here would lead to more than
0:05:45 > 0:05:48three centuries of Plantagenet rule in England.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56On the 19th December 1154,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Henry II became the first Plantagenet king of England.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06This French-speaking monarch now ruled a vast empire that
0:06:06 > 0:06:10stretched from the Scottish borders to the Pyrenees.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16But keeping hold of it would involve intrigue,
0:06:16 > 0:06:19murder and bloody warfare.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31King Richard the Lionheart had survived ten violent years
0:06:31 > 0:06:37on the throne, but his luck ran out in France in the spring of 1199.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41While laying siege to the castle of a rebellious baron in his home
0:06:41 > 0:06:44duchy of Aquitaine, Richard was killed by a crossbow bolt.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53His brother John was now the only surviving son
0:06:53 > 0:06:57of Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor, and quickly secured his coronation.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06But John's teenage nephew, Arthur, also had a claim to the crown,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09and was supported by the King of France.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14In 1202, despite his youth, Arthur led an army into Anjou,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16hoping to capture Eleanor.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19John rushed there to free her,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23and it was Arthur who was taken prisoner.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27No-one is certain what happened to Arthur after that,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30but a contemporary chronicler claims that Arthur's own jailor
0:07:30 > 0:07:33told him of the boy's fate.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38According to him, John at first kept his 16-year-old nephew a prisoner.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42But then one night, after dinner, when John was drunk and full of
0:07:42 > 0:07:47the devil, he went to Arthur's cell and killed him with his own hands,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51then tied a huge stone around the corpse
0:07:51 > 0:07:53and tossed it into the River Seine.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00King Philip of France refused to make peace with John
0:08:00 > 0:08:03until Arthur was handed over alive.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06He probably knew this was impossible.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12One by one, Philip conquered John's French domains.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18Soon all that remained of his continental empire was Gascony.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24With France lost,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27John was determined to tighten his grip on England.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30He dispossessed barons who opposed him,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34and exploited his royal powers to accumulate vast personal wealth.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40John also resented Rome's power in his realm,
0:08:40 > 0:08:47and in 1206 he refused to accept the Pope's latest choice of archbishop.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51In retaliation, the Pope deployed his most fearsome weapon -
0:08:51 > 0:08:54the Kingdom of England was placed under an interdict.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58This meant that all church services in England were suspended.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01The churches and cathedrals stood empty.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03No baptisms or marriages could take place in church.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06The dead could not be buried in churchyards.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08No church bells were heard in England.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11And this lasted six years.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14For believers in a so-called Age of Faith,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16this must have been deeply disturbing.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18But it made John rich.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Because he hit back by confiscating the clergy's lands and possessions.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32The king and the Pope eventually came to terms.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36John would accept the Pope's nominee as archbishop
0:09:36 > 0:09:40but he would keep all the money that he'd squeezed out of the church.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46But John wanted even more money,
0:09:46 > 0:09:51to fund an army to win back the territories he had lost in France.
0:09:51 > 0:09:57His barons were not enthusiastic, so John began to bleed them dry,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01extracting what he needed through draconian taxes
0:10:01 > 0:10:03and exploitation of the royal courts.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06He didn't trust his barons,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10making them hand over family members as hostages.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14When one of his nobles, William de Braose, prepared to give up
0:10:14 > 0:10:19his sons, his wife remembered how the king had treated his own nephew.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27William de Braose was the baron who had served as Arthur's jailor.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32His wife shouted at him, "I will not hand over my boys to your lord,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35"King John, because he foully murdered his nephew Arthur,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38"when he should have kept him in honourable captivity."
0:10:38 > 0:10:40The king's reaction was savage.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43De Braose managed to escape to France,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46but John captured his wife and son and imprisoned them.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49He commanded that their food be stopped.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53After 11 days, they were found starved to death.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59The son's cheeks had been eaten away by his ravenous mother.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Plantagenet cruelty had sunk to new depths.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10John's invasion of France failed.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15And in May 1215, many English barons renounced their allegiance to him
0:11:15 > 0:11:16and occupied London.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20They demanded a settlement
0:11:20 > 0:11:23liberating the nobility from absolute royal power.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29In desperation, John agreed to accept the demands they made.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34The agreement was issued in a charter sealed at Runnymede.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39Magna Carta - the Great Charter - is one of the most famous
0:11:39 > 0:11:41documents in English history.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Some of its clauses seem quite mundane,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49like the one fixing the level of death duties,
0:11:49 > 0:11:54but this was a royal power that John had exploited for financial gain.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56Other clauses have a more ringing tone.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01"No free man shall be seized or imprisoned except
0:12:01 > 0:12:06"by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08"To no-one will we sell,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12"to no-one deny or delay right and justice."
0:12:15 > 0:12:19All the clauses are based on the idea that there is a right way
0:12:19 > 0:12:24of doing things - enshrined in Magna Carta as the law of the land.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29And the most important thing was that it bound both king and subject.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Plantagenet dynastic ambition had provoked a new settlement
0:12:33 > 0:12:35between the monarchs and those they ruled.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Henry III was nine years old
0:12:51 > 0:12:55when he became the fourth Plantagenet king to rule England.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59The French dynasty had dominated England and much of France
0:12:59 > 0:13:01for 60 years.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05But Henry's father, King John, had lost most of
0:13:05 > 0:13:09the family's continental lands to the French king.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17Henry grew up to be a pious ruler, devoted to pilgrimage and prayer.
0:13:17 > 0:13:23But like his ancestors, Henry was determined to expand his empire.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25Henry wasn't a warrior king.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28But he could use the revenues of England to add
0:13:28 > 0:13:30to the Plantagenet dominions.
0:13:30 > 0:13:31The Pope was inviting Henry
0:13:31 > 0:13:34to purchase the rights to the Kingdom of Sicily.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38And he couldn't refuse the chance to add to the family's lands.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42He accepted, on behalf of his younger son, Edmund.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44The only snag was the price tag.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51Henry agreed to pay the Pope three times his annual income
0:13:51 > 0:13:54for the chance to secure Sicily for his son.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00This huge expenditure put his own family's interests
0:14:00 > 0:14:03above those of his powerful barons,
0:14:03 > 0:14:07and a group of them decided the king had to be constrained.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16Things came to a head one April morning in 1258.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Seven barons in full armour confronted Henry
0:14:21 > 0:14:24here in Westminster Hall. The king was startled.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26"What is this, my lords? Am I your captive?"
0:14:26 > 0:14:29They reassured him that they were not rebels,
0:14:29 > 0:14:30but friends of the Crown.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Nevertheless, the barons had demands,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and the king was forced to submit to them.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42This triggered a chain of reforming legislation that transformed
0:14:42 > 0:14:44the way England was governed.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51The reforms would be agreed by a committee of 24 -
0:14:51 > 0:14:5412 chosen by the king, 12 by the barons.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58For the first time in English history,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01the king would share his power with a council.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08These historic reforms are known as the Provisions of Oxford.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14Medieval kings had always claimed to rule by the grace of God, but
0:15:14 > 0:15:18Henry now reluctantly swore an oath to share power with the barons in
0:15:18 > 0:15:23the name of Le Commun de Engleterre - the community of England.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Provoked by Plantagenet extravagance,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28the Provisions of Oxford mark an important moment
0:15:28 > 0:15:32in the history of England, and of the limitation of royal power.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35For 20 years, the assemblies where the king consulted
0:15:35 > 0:15:39with his bishops and barons had been known by a term
0:15:39 > 0:15:42derived from the French - "parley", to talk.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46This gave us the name of a new institution - Parliament.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Henry appealed to the Pope to annul the Provisions of Oxford.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58But this provoked his own brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03to raise an army from his base here at Kenilworth Castle.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06He confronted the king's forces outside Lewes in Sussex.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11De Montfort's men were outnumbered.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15But they inflicted a humiliating defeat on Henry,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19and took his son and heir, Prince Edward, prisoner.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Henry remained king in name only.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28For the next 15 months, England was ruled by Simon de Montfort.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31And he did so through Parliament.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37De Montfort's Parliament of 1265 is often
0:16:37 > 0:16:39regarded as the forerunner of the modern Parliament.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42As always, it included barons and bishops -
0:16:42 > 0:16:45who sit nowadays as the House of Lords.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47But for the first time,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51knights and burgesses were sent from the shires and from the boroughs,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55elected to Parliament by the property owners of England.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Parliament now had the beginnings of a second house -
0:16:58 > 0:17:00later to be known as the Commons.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Henry III seemed to be a spent force.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10But his son Edward escaped captivity.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16He raised an army and confronted de Montfort.
0:17:20 > 0:17:21At the battle of Evesham,
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Edward reasserted Plantagenet rule in England.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29De Montfort's supporters were slaughtered,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31and de Montfort himself killed in the battle.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37De Montfort's rule was over. But the English Parliament lived on.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41And future Plantagenet kings would ignore it at their peril.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Plantagenet kings always looked to expand their territories
0:17:52 > 0:17:53beyond England.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57And Edward I was determined to spread his control
0:17:57 > 0:17:58across the British Isles.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Wales had troubled the Plantagenet kings for generations.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Its rugged terrain made it hard to conquer and control.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12And they regarded its inhabitants as little more than barbarians.
0:18:12 > 0:18:17But Edward I was a man who never gave up what he saw as his rights.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21And these included, in his eyes, overlordship of Wales.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28But the Princes of Gwynedd, Llewelyn and his younger brother Dafydd,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30stood in his way.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Their family had ruled here for centuries.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Edward's father, Henry III,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41had recognised Llewelyn as Prince of Wales, as long as he paid homage.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47But when Edward took the throne, Llewelyn refused.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Edward declared Llewelyn a "rebel and disturber of the peace"
0:18:54 > 0:18:57and in 1277 set off westwards from Chester
0:18:57 > 0:19:00at the head of a powerful army of 800 knights,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04crossbowmen from Gascony and 16,000 infantry.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10Edward's army captured Anglesey, the breadbasket of Wales.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14At a stroke, this provided food for his own men
0:19:14 > 0:19:16and cut off supplies to the Welsh.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24Llewelyn had no choice but to surrender and pay homage after all.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28An uneasy truce followed.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33But it was broken when Dafydd ap Gruffydd
0:19:33 > 0:19:36led a new rebellion against English rule.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41For over a year, Edward's army clashed with Welsh defenders.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50But in 1282, disaster struck for the Welsh dynasty.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54Llewelyn was killed in battle.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Dafydd ap Gruffydd held out here at Dolbadarn Castle
0:19:59 > 0:20:01for a few months more.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Finally, he was captured and tried by the English.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Wales was now a Plantagenet dominion.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Dafydd was executed, and to further stamp his authority,
0:20:15 > 0:20:20Edward built and repaired a chain of castles across Wales.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25These fortresses represent the peak of medieval castle-building.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34It looked at one point as though Scotland would go
0:20:34 > 0:20:38the way of Wales, swallowed up by the English kingdom.
0:20:38 > 0:20:44When King Alexander III of Scotland died in 1286, he left no son.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49The dead king's three-year-old granddaughter,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Margaret of Norway, was next in line to the throne.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57Edward decided that Margaret should marry his own young son.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04The situation would be resolved by diplomacy and marriage, not by war.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08And Britain would be united under the Plantagenets.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12It remains one of the great "what ifs" of British history.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14No marriage took place.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18Little Margaret died in Orkney, on her way to Scotland.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20And with her died Edward's plan
0:21:20 > 0:21:23for a bloodless Plantagenet take-over of Scotland.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29After the death of Margaret, Edward agreed to tolerate
0:21:29 > 0:21:34a subordinate king in Scotland - John Balliol.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37But as soon as he showed signs of independence...
0:21:38 > 0:21:43..Edward's troops attacked Berwick and slaughtered its inhabitants.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48After defeating a Scottish army at Dunbar, English garrisons
0:21:48 > 0:21:52and officials were installed across Scotland.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58But resistance to English rule grew, led by William Wallace.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Wallace was a proud and charismatic figure
0:22:04 > 0:22:07who refused to pay homage to Edward.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09To crush Wallace,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13the English army had to cross the River Forth at Stirling.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17At this time, the bridge here was just wide enough
0:22:17 > 0:22:19for the English forces to cross two abreast.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Once half the army had crossed,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24the Scots swooped down and cut off the bridge.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26SHOUTS, SWORDS CLANK
0:22:26 > 0:22:30The English stranded on the northern bank were surrounded.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32The result was slaughter.
0:22:35 > 0:22:41Around 5,000 English infantrymen died at Stirling Bridge.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43The battle didn't decide the issue,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46but Wallace's defiance shook Edward I.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51The conquest of Scotland remained his obsession.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57The king was riding to confront another Scottish leader,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Robert Bruce, when he died in 1307.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09Plantagenet determination to subdue Scotland was undiminished.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12But Edward II's defeat by Robert Bruce at Bannockburn,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16seven years later, set the limits to Plantagenet
0:23:16 > 0:23:19ambitions in Britain - they would never conquer the Scots.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23And they provoked a deepening of Scottish national pride,
0:23:23 > 0:23:27and a sense of independence that survives to this day.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39Henry VI was a simple, pious king, and no warrior.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43He lost all the territories in France his father, Henry V,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45had conquered.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50He also suffered from mental illness, which made him vulnerable.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54By 1453, he was incapable of ruling.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58Waiting in the wings was a cousin who thought
0:23:58 > 0:24:03he had a claim to the throne just as good as Henry VI and his young son.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09Richard, Duke of York argued he had a greater right to the crown
0:24:09 > 0:24:13because Henry VI's grandfather, Henry of Lancaster,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15had seized the throne illegally.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19But Henry's wife, Margaret,
0:24:19 > 0:24:23struggled ferociously to maintain her son's right to succeed.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29The Houses of York and Lancaster were on a collision course.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34The nobility was forced to take sides,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37many members of the leading families were killed
0:24:37 > 0:24:41and the power struggle became ever more bitter, bloody and vengeful.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47War raged across England, and after five years
0:24:47 > 0:24:51the Yorkists were gaining the upper hand.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53But then, disaster.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58In 1460, Richard, Duke of York
0:24:58 > 0:25:01himself was killed in battle at Wakefield,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04his head cut off and displayed on the walls of York,
0:25:04 > 0:25:08wearing a paper crown - the only crown he ever wore.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11But the Yorkist torch was taken up by his son, Edward.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Aged just 18, tall and handsome,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17he would prove to be a formidable warrior.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20After the Battle of Wakefield, he seized control of London,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22and had himself proclaimed king.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28The battle to determine which Plantagenet was the rightful king
0:25:28 > 0:25:31took place here at Towton in Yorkshire.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36In heavy snow,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39this would be the bloodiest battle ever on English soil.
0:25:41 > 0:25:48The fighting lasted all day, the turning point coming as dusk fell.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55Yorkist reinforcements arrived and attacked the Lancastrian flank.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58The Lancastrians were pushed back
0:25:58 > 0:26:01and began to fall down the hill, panic-stricken.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07As they tumbled down the slope, they found that they had to cross
0:26:07 > 0:26:10the river that runs at the foot of the hill, through the woods.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16The dead began to pile up in the river.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19The retreating Lancastrians were forced to clamber over what
0:26:19 > 0:26:22one chronicler called "bridges of bodies".
0:26:24 > 0:26:2728,000 men were reported dead.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32But Edward had won the crown of England.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42When Edward IV died 22 years later,
0:26:42 > 0:26:46his 12-year-old son was proclaimed Edward V.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52But he was too young to take power and the new king's uncle,
0:26:52 > 0:26:58Richard, saw an opportunity to win the crown for himself.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Richard placed Edward and his younger brother
0:27:01 > 0:27:02in the Tower of London.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05They were never seen again.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Richard III was crowned king,
0:27:10 > 0:27:14but his suspected murder of the young princes caused outrage.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21Lancastrians and some Yorkists now chose to back Henry Tudor,
0:27:21 > 0:27:25a man with a flimsy claim to the English throne.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28Henry had been living in exile
0:27:28 > 0:27:31and had won the support of the French king.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36He landed in Wales with thousands of French troops
0:27:36 > 0:27:39and marched east, gathering support along the way.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Richard and Henry's armies clashed here near Bosworth
0:27:45 > 0:27:47in Leicestershire.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Richard's army was far superior in numbers,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57but the loyalty of his men was in doubt.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03At first, they seemed to be fighting half-heartedly.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08But then Richard saw an opportunity to bring the battle to a swift end.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15Richard caught sight of Henry Tudor surrounded by only a small retinue
0:28:15 > 0:28:18and he charged directly at him with a few loyal knights.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24One of his most powerful nobles, Lord Stanley,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26was watching the battle unfold.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33He commanded up to 5,000 men but his allegiance was in doubt.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39When he saw Richard isolated and vulnerable, he chose to back
0:28:39 > 0:28:45the Tudors and unleashed his troops upon the Plantagenet king.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50The king was abandoned but he chose not to flee.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54The last Plantagenet monarch was cut down by a lethal blow to the head.
0:28:56 > 0:29:02His corpse was stripped naked and paraded along the road to Leicester,
0:29:02 > 0:29:06where Richard was buried in a hastily-dug grave.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11The crown he wore into battle was discovered in the carnage
0:29:11 > 0:29:15at Bosworth, and placed upon the head of the new king - Henry Tudor.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22The Plantagenets, who had dominated England for 331 years,
0:29:22 > 0:29:24fell into oblivion.