Episode 1 The Real White Queen and Her Rivals


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July 6th, 1483, and Westminster Abbey was packed tight

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for the coronation of one of England's

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most controversial kings, Richard III.

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His name and the battles of his violent era

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are familiar parts of our history.

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Towton, Bosworth, the Wars of the Roses -

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when the rivalry between two great dynasties tore the nobility apart.

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But my story is not about kings and their great power struggles,

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it's about the remarkable women

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whose stories have been hidden

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by these tales of conflicts and alliances.

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Almost by accident, I have spent my working life

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researching and writing the secret histories

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of virtually unknown women

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who appear as the wife or mother of a more famous man.

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Three of them in particular have fascinated me for years.

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They are at the heart of our story.

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And on the day that Richard was crowned,

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they could all be found here in Westminster.

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The first is Anne Neville.

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At this extravagant ceremony,

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she was transformed into the leading woman in the realm.

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As Richard's wife, she was the new queen.

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She brought with her the love and loyalty of the north of England.

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She was so important that Richard honoured her

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with a joint coronation.

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As the daughter of the most powerful noble in the realm,

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Anne was destined for greatness from birth.

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And by her side was another extraordinary woman.

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Dressed in scarlet, carrying the queen's train

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was Margaret Beaufort,

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the second most important woman in the country.

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She had deliberately placed herself at the heart of this new court.

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Margaret's ambitions were bound up with her only son, Henry Tudor.

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Never far from the centre of power,

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the Margaret I know was a skilled politician

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who believed herself guided by God.

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And out of sight at this great occasion was the third woman.

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Hidden in the sanctuary of the abbey in fear of her life

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was Elizabeth Woodville

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the former Queen of England and Richard's declared enemy.

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She had risen the furthest and fallen the hardest.

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Elizabeth was the commoner queen.

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An English beauty who enchanted a king.

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This is my chronicle of these three women.

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The former queen, the new queen

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and the woman who planned to be greater than them both.

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We call this conflict the Wars of the Roses,

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but they called it the Cousins' War.

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A war between kin, not countries.

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And that is why the women really matter.

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They had to survive a violent family feud and utterly ruthless men.

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But women were actors on their own account,

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capable of fierce loyalty and shocking treachery.

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Living in a world where women's roles were strictly limited

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and their behaviour judged as good or bad

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by a misogynistic church,

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they had to exercise their power in hiding.

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In a time of bloodshed, these three tenacious women

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would become canny allies

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and grow into calculating adversaries.

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Here in windswept Wales,

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30 years before the Cousins' War met its bloody climax,

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a fragile 12-year-old girl was facing a new life,

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a new home and a new husband.

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A man twice her age who she barely knew.

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Margaret Beaufort was an heiress to valuable lands,

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but that gave her no power over her own life.

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Margaret would have known that as a young woman from a noble family,

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she would never have had any choice over her husband.

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She probably would not even have been consulted.

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The medieval marriage was to forge family alliances.

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It was nothing to do with love.

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With no control over her own destiny,

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Margaret turned to God at a young age.

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Later in her life, this devotion would earn her respect and status.

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But as a child, Margaret's fate had been decided

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by no less than the King of England, Henry VI.

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He had given her in marriage to his half-brother, Edmund Tudor.

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The aristocracy in the late Middle Ages

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were a social and political elite.

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And they were always seeking to increase their land-holdings

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and increase their status.

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So they did this by securing desirable marriages

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to other aristocratic families.

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Margaret Beaufort was a very desirable commodity

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in the late medieval marriage market.

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Margaret and all her possessions were transferred to Edmund Tudor

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and she was brought here, to his estates in Wales.

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At 12 years old, Margaret was old enough to marry,

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but she was small for her age and still a little girl.

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Even her contemporaries would have thought that she was too young

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and too physically undeveloped for the marriage to be consummated.

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Her 24-year-old husband had different ideas.

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He wanted a son to inherit his property and title

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and would not delay.

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He took young Margaret into the marital bed

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and just months after marrying Edmund Tudor, Margaret was pregnant.

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Even by the standard of the time, this was a selfish, brutal act.

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But Edmund was so determined to secure Margaret's estates

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and the all-important heir,

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that he risked both her life and that of the unborn child.

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Margaret might have been forgiven for cursing the man

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who had ordered her into this frightening life, but she didn't.

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She remained fiercely loyal to Henry VI,

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the King, who was now her brother-in-law.

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Henry VI had reigned for over 30 years.

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He sat on the throne alongside his wife,

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the formidable Margaret of Anjou,

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not only as ruler of England,

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but as head of a great dynasty, the House of Lancaster.

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But Henry's reign was troubled.

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His nobles thought him feeble and unstable.

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His weakness encouraged disagreement

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at the highest levels of English society.

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And strengthened the ambitions of another English noble line,

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the House of York.

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Lancaster against York would scar England for decades to follow.

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And overshadow the lives of our three young women,

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Margaret Beaufort, Anne Neville and Elizabeth Woodville.

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Safely distant from the troubled royal court,

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leading the quiet life of an English country lady,

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was the beautiful wife of a mid-ranking English knight.

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Elizabeth Woodville was a mother of two boys

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living in rural Leicestershire,

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but her family was extraordinarily well connected.

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Elizabeth's parents were leading lights at the court of Henry VI

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because her mother, Jacquetta,

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was born into the Royal House of Luxembourg,

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an ancient European family who could trace their lineage back

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through recorded history into myth.

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The family seat was a fairytale castle

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that dominated the roads and rivers

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between France, Germany and the Low Countries.

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And as a child, Elizabeth must have heard

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the whole family story from her mother, Jacquetta.

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A story wrapped in magic and mystery.

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Jacquetta's ancestor, Count Siegfried,

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was said to have married a water goddess, Melusina,

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a being half-woman, half-fish, rather like a mermaid.

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She made the family castle of Luxembourg

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magically appear on her wedding night.

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And their marriage was a happy one,

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until the count broke his vow

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of giving her absolute privacy once a month,

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and she flew away with her daughters and was never seen again.

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This was an age when people believed in the power of the supernatural.

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Their connection with the water witch

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would have given the Woodville women a strange and mysterious allure.

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But more vital than their European heritage

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were their English allegiances.

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Known as the Rivers Family, they were Lancastrian loyalists,

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steadfast followers of the king, Henry VI.

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So when the tension between the houses of Lancaster and York

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broke into open conflict,

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they were quick to rally to Henry's cause.

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The men in Elizabeth's family all readied themselves for war

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against the Yorkist rebels.

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The House of York had a new young champion

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and claimant to the throne, Edward of York.

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His family had long coveted the kingdom,

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and in 1461, he was ready to fight for the prize.

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The noble families of England

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were divided behind the banners of York and Lancaster.

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But one family would matter more than any other

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in this great struggle.

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The family of Anne Neville.

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Her childhood was one of opulence and privilege

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beyond the dreams of anyone else in the country.

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She was the youngest daughter of Richard Neville,

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the wealthiest noble in England,

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with a fortune that put him at the centre of English power politics.

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Anne was born here, in Warwick Castle,

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the main power base of her spectacular father,

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Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.

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He was, without question, the supreme noble in England,

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and starting to be thought of as greater than the king himself.

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Warwick controlled lands from the south of England

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all the way up to the border with Scotland.

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Mostly concentrated in the north and the Midlands,

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but there were some quite powerful estates down in the south, too.

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So, effectively, you could draw a line from London to Berwick,

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which would always go through lands owned by him.

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Warwick's standard, the bear and ragged staff,

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would have been known to almost everyone in the country.

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A symbol of his unrivalled power and influence.

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Effectively, the Neville family were princes in their own kingdom.

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They could raise armies, they could fight their own private wars.

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They effectively owned the lives of the men

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who lived and worked on their lands.

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So they had enormous influence, and especially in the north country,

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which was outside of the diaspora of royal power,

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they were the rulers.

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For young Anne, it all meant a gilded life,

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but there was a price to be paid for luxury and security.

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She may have been his daughter, but for Warwick,

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she was also a valuable piece to be played

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in the complex game of aristocratic alliance.

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Anne had no brothers. She and her sister would inherit everything.

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Even when they were tiny, the entire nobility could see

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their unequalled marriage potential

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and eyed them up as valuable wives for their sons.

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Anne was one of the two most desirable heiresses in England.

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And making a good marriage alliance for her

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was one of the principal political decisions for Warwick.

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He had aspirations to be as close as possible to the throne.

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And in an age when all politics was family politics,

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dynastic politics, it was clear that his two young daughters

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were going to be very important parts of that strategy.

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But right now, the Earl of Warwick

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was engaged in a different strategy, how to topple a king.

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His sympathies and ties were with the House of York.

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And he threw his considerable power base behind Edward,

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backing his challenge against the Lancastrian King Henry VI.

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War was now inescapable.

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And taking sides, as the violence escalated,

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were our three young women.

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Anne Neville, daughter of the mighty Earl of Warwick

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and Elizabeth Woodville,

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the beautiful young wife of a Lancastrian knight,

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each had a life-changing stake in the outcome of these troubles.

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For Margaret Beaufort, the pious child bride,

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life had taken a menacing turn.

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A long way from family and friends and with war looming,

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Margaret Beaufort had endured terrible suffering.

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The husband who had forced her into pregnancy was dead.

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A victim of the plague.

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And she had another great burden.

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Aged 13, she was now a mother.

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In the cold gloom of Pembroke Castle,

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Margaret had faced the most dangerous moment

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of any medieval woman's life, the ordeal of childbirth.

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Childbirth was much more dangerous in the 15th century than it is now.

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We estimate that about one in ten women died in childbirth.

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There was nothing they could do about very common complications

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like eclampsia and haemorrhaging.

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If you haemorrhaged, you died.

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If the baby got stuck in the birth canal or was a breech presentation,

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there was almost nothing they could do.

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They could do a caesarean, but only after the mother had died

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because they understood that it would be fatal.

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So if you think about the number of things we've got an answer to now,

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and think about the fact that they didn't have any answer to them then,

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you can understand what a dreadfully frightening experience

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it would have been for women.

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Margaret would have been acutely aware of the fatal dangers

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facing her as she went into labour.

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And because of her size, she was greatly at risk.

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The birth was long and difficult.

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Both she and the baby were expected to die.

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Margaret, small, still a child herself,

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was probably permanently physically damaged.

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She would never bear another child.

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Against all the odds,

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Margaret survived this agonising childbirth and delivered a son.

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Unusually, she didn't christen him for his father,

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but chose instead a royal name.

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She called him Henry,

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after the child's uncle, the king, who Margaret revered as a saint.

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Perhaps she felt as she emerged from the ordeal of childbirth,

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that this baby who had caused her so much pain

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was destined for greatness.

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Why did this vulnerable young woman have such a determined belief

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that she and her child could rise so far?

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Her background was noble, but tainted.

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Just like the king, she was descended from Edward III

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through his third surviving son,

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John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

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But there was one major difference between her and Henry VI.

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The Beaufort line was a bastard line.

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Like many men of the time,

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John of Gaunt fathered illegitimate children.

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Unusually, he later married his mistress

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and had his bastards legitimised by an Act of Parliament.

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But it was clearly agreed,

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the Beaufort line could never take the throne.

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So the Beauforts were of the Royal Family,

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but also not of the Royal Family.

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And from a Beaufort point of view,

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I think that must have really rankled.

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They would have seen that as a considerable injustice.

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That we've been legitimated, we're part of the Royal Family,

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we're very, very close to the Royal Family,

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so why are we being excluded from succession to the throne?

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Bastards or not, Margaret knew she was close to the throne.

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But she saved her greatest ambitions, however unlikely,

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for the son that she insisted would carry the royal name, Henry.

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As the war between the cousins started,

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our women stood on different sides of the conflict.

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For the House of Lancaster,

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Margaret Beaufort remained devoted to Henry VI.

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The family of Elizabeth Woodville

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were also aligned with King Henry

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as he stood against the Yorkist Edward's forces.

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But on the other side of the conflict was Anne Neville.

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Her father, the Earl of Warwick was Edward of York's main ally.

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All three women had to watch anxiously

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as the war that was going to determine the rest of their lives

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escalated from early skirmishes to its pivotal moment.

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Towton.

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Edward quickly gathered all his forces together

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and they met on the battlefield of Towton in South Yorkshire.

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And Towton was the bloodiest battle of the civil wars,

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of the whole of the Wars of the Roses.

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The Lancastrians and Yorkists probably put

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between 20,000 and 30,000 men in the field.

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Significantly, most of the English nobility was present at Towton.

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That's what really singles out Towton as a very special battle.

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This was the battle that was going to decide the Wars of the Roses.

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The Earl of Warwick had attracted the best soldiers and gunners

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to the Yorkist banner,

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greatly boosting their chances of success.

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Edward, who had been Warwick's military pupil,

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fought, as always, in the middle of his men.

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And he was a fantastic symbolic figure.

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Tall, very good looking.

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And he fought with an axe, with his standard behind him.

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A really inspiring figure to his troops.

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There was a high death rate,

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although no-one knows exactly what the death rate was,

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but the word went round 25,000 people died in the battle.

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Almost every great northern family lost a son.

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It was said that all the fields from Tadcaster to Towton,

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a distance of more than two miles,

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were filled with the bodies of dead men.

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It was a bloody, but decisive victory for Edward.

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Towton was the moment, the battle that secured Edward on the throne.

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It established the House of York.

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The slaughter at Towton toppled the House of Lancaster and King Henry.

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He fled into exile with his wife and son.

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But England had not heard the last of him or his cause.

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Young Edward of York was triumphantly crowned Edward VI.

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And our three young women experienced dramatic upheaval.

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Anne Neville's status rose with that of her powerful father, Warwick.

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He had made Edward's victory possible

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and people now called him the Kingmaker.

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Anne's good fortune was in sharp contrast

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to the new life facing Elizabeth Woodville.

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Her side had lost and her husband had died

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fighting for the Lancastrian cause.

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It was a terrible blow for Elizabeth.

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She had lost her husband and she was now a widow with two little boys.

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To make matters worse, her mother-in-law

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was refusing to pay her the allowance

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that she was owed under her marriage contract.

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With no source of income, Elizabeth's future looked bleak.

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THUNDERCLAP

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Also facing anxious times was the 17-year-old Margaret Beaufort.

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The king she worshipped almost as a saint had been deposed.

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Many of her family and allies were dead.

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Even worse, the future for the son she adored looked uncertain.

0:22:380:22:43

The new king would control the destiny

0:22:440:22:46

of wealthy, young, fatherless heirs.

0:22:460:22:49

And Henry Tudor was a valuable prize.

0:22:490:22:52

If a boy's father was dead, then care and custody of him,

0:22:540:22:58

guardianship if you like, wardship, could be given or sold,

0:22:580:23:03

because again, this was big business, to another noble.

0:23:030:23:06

The noble would then be able to administer the boy's lands

0:23:060:23:10

and also to dispose of him in marriage,

0:23:100:23:13

which could be an advantageous business.

0:23:130:23:16

In return, he was supposed to protect the boy's interests

0:23:160:23:20

and teach him everything he should know.

0:23:200:23:22

See that he was taught a certain amount of book learning, perhaps,

0:23:220:23:25

everything to do with the estate,

0:23:250:23:26

but also, and most importantly, the art of war.

0:23:260:23:30

Margaret Beaufort was powerless to prevent her son Henry from being moved

0:23:340:23:39

into the home of one of the York King Edward's strongest supporters,

0:23:390:23:44

the experienced soldier, William, Lord Herbert.

0:23:440:23:47

In Herbert's household, Henry would have been given

0:23:490:23:53

a basic military training.

0:23:530:23:55

And we know that certainly from the age of nine, if not earlier,

0:23:550:23:59

there was a regular exercise routine where these children were drilled,

0:23:590:24:04

first of all with wooden toy replica, um...spears,

0:24:040:24:10

swords, shields, and then the real thing.

0:24:100:24:14

From now on, if Margaret wanted to see Henry,

0:24:190:24:22

she would have to make the long journey to Raglan

0:24:220:24:25

Lord Herbert's magnificent castle in Wales.

0:24:250:24:28

And she would have to accept hospitality from a Yorkist.

0:24:280:24:32

Although wardship was a normal part of medieval aristocratic life,

0:24:350:24:39

Margaret must have found it very hard to bear.

0:24:390:24:42

Her son had been taken from her and placed with her enemy

0:24:420:24:45

and there was nothing she could do about it.

0:24:450:24:47

But in taking Henry out of Margaret's hands

0:24:490:24:51

and putting him with one of his favourites,

0:24:510:24:54

the king had merely underlined how important he was.

0:24:540:24:58

We know that Margaret visited Henry at least once.

0:25:020:25:06

She stayed with her son in Raglan Castle for about a week

0:25:060:25:09

before she had to face the pain of separation once again.

0:25:090:25:13

I think it did affect her very strongly.

0:25:160:25:20

He was her only child, she was not able to have another one.

0:25:200:25:25

And their relationship had been forged

0:25:250:25:27

in this time of terrible danger.

0:25:270:25:29

First of all, she'd learned that her husband had succumbed to the plague,

0:25:290:25:34

she was alone and vulnerable,

0:25:340:25:37

and that gave an intensity to their relationship.

0:25:370:25:40

And I think when they were separated, it impacted on her a lot.

0:25:400:25:45

It must have been terribly hard

0:25:550:25:57

for Margaret to leave her son in the hands of the enemy,

0:25:570:26:00

even if she knew that he was being raised as a nobleman

0:26:000:26:03

in the house of a favourite of the king.

0:26:030:26:06

Worse for her must have been the fear that the Yorks

0:26:060:26:08

would be turning him to their side,

0:26:080:26:11

That the boy she had named for the Lancastrian king

0:26:110:26:14

was becoming a Yorkist.

0:26:140:26:16

Margaret had dreams for her son

0:26:220:26:23

that could only be realised through years of patient scheming.

0:26:230:26:27

But immediate action was needed

0:26:270:26:29

to save the children of the widow Elizabeth Woodville.

0:26:290:26:32

Her husband was dead, she had no source of income

0:26:360:26:39

and she and her boys were facing ruin.

0:26:390:26:41

To save her family, she was forced to turn to the man

0:26:450:26:48

who had brought this misery on them.

0:26:480:26:50

Edward, the newly-crowned king.

0:26:500:26:53

According to the traditional story,

0:26:560:26:58

Elizabeth waited for Edward under an oak tree

0:26:580:27:01

with her two fatherless boys.

0:27:010:27:04

When the king appeared, she stepped forward and begged him to help her.

0:27:040:27:09

Edward, a notorious womaniser,

0:27:090:27:11

was so struck by Elizabeth's beauty that he fell for her at once.

0:27:110:27:17

Edward did just fall hard for Elizabeth.

0:27:170:27:21

It was love or lust, whichever way you care to look at it.

0:27:210:27:24

She was beautiful, all reports say,

0:27:240:27:27

and in the way that the age most admired.

0:27:270:27:29

I mean, the age admired a willowy figure,

0:27:290:27:32

golden hair, white skin, perhaps grey or blue eyes.

0:27:320:27:36

Apparently powerless, without friends or family

0:27:390:27:43

who could help her, Elizabeth's situation had seemed hopeless.

0:27:430:27:47

But she still had one powerful tool available to her.

0:27:470:27:51

In many ways, Elizabeth was trading her beauty,

0:27:550:28:00

her sexual appeal, for great position.

0:28:000:28:03

And good on her, really.

0:28:030:28:05

Because a women didn't necessary have very many weapons

0:28:050:28:08

in the 15th century.

0:28:080:28:10

And if she was going to try and carve her own place in the world,

0:28:100:28:14

her looks and her allure

0:28:140:28:17

were really one of the strongest tools she had.

0:28:170:28:20

The young king may have assumed that he could have a secret affair.

0:28:240:28:28

He'd had many lovers. Other women were happy to be his mistress.

0:28:280:28:32

It was said that he went for women of all sorts.

0:28:340:28:38

Noble, lowly, married, unmarried.

0:28:380:28:42

I mean, the Chronicler does say, rather nicely,

0:28:420:28:45

with, you know, some admiration,

0:28:450:28:47

that nonetheless, he overcame none by force.

0:28:470:28:50

He did all by, you know, money and promises.

0:28:500:28:53

But that having won them, he then dismissed them.

0:28:530:28:55

Elizabeth resisted Edward's advances.

0:28:590:29:02

Chroniclers at the time reported that she was so determined,

0:29:020:29:05

she held him off with his own dagger.

0:29:050:29:09

There's stories that he held a knife to her throat,

0:29:090:29:13

that she held a knife to his throat,

0:29:130:29:15

but that either way, she said if she was too low to be his wife,

0:29:150:29:19

she was too high to be his concubine.

0:29:190:29:22

And that might have appealed to Edward.

0:29:220:29:25

In Elizabeth, he'd met a woman who was not prepared to be dismissed.

0:29:250:29:29

Elizabeth left the completely love-struck king

0:29:370:29:39

with only one option.

0:29:390:29:42

One morning, he rode to the Rivers' home for a secret ceremony

0:29:420:29:46

that would change the fortunes of the House of York and of the nation.

0:29:460:29:50

According to chroniclers, Jacquetta was the only family member present

0:29:540:29:58

when Edward and Elizabeth were married on May Day.

0:29:580:30:01

A day for lust, for love and for the celebration of life.

0:30:010:30:06

The marriage was consummated immediately.

0:30:060:30:09

For the next few weeks, the handsome young king of the House of York

0:30:090:30:13

was creeping every night

0:30:130:30:15

into a staunchly Lancastrian home to be with his bride.

0:30:150:30:20

Elizabeth's mother must have encouraged this secret passion

0:30:240:30:28

because she knew that their marriage

0:30:280:30:30

could reap enormous benefits for the Woodville family

0:30:300:30:33

and pave the way to Elizabeth's role as the first woman of England.

0:30:330:30:38

If Edward could keep his throne, she would be queen.

0:30:380:30:41

But Elizabeth's new husband, the king,

0:30:450:30:47

had underestimated the outrage his marriage would cause.

0:30:470:30:51

Especially amongst powerful nobles like the Earl of Warwick.

0:30:510:30:54

When the news escaped, when Edward told the council,

0:30:560:31:00

they and his family were absolutely horrified.

0:31:000:31:04

Kings were supposed to make a big public marriage

0:31:040:31:08

with a foreign princess for the advantage of the country,

0:31:080:31:12

not make a love match.

0:31:120:31:15

And indeed, it was even said

0:31:150:31:16

that Edward was proving himself to be no true monarch

0:31:160:31:20

in doing something so undignified and extraordinary.

0:31:200:31:23

In the eyes of the English nobility, she was wrong on practically every count.

0:31:270:31:31

The fact she was a widow really meant she was tarnished

0:31:310:31:34

by this previous relationship. They did call her a bigamist.

0:31:340:31:38

And the fact that she had children by this previous marriage

0:31:380:31:42

made it considerably worse.

0:31:420:31:44

She was so much the wrong person for him to have married.

0:31:440:31:46

Edward's choice of bride was not just scandalous,

0:31:480:31:51

it was deeply offensive to the man who had made him king,

0:31:510:31:56

Warwick the Kingmaker.

0:31:560:31:57

For a start, Elizabeth Woodville's family

0:31:590:32:02

had been traditional Lancastrians,

0:32:020:32:05

so what was a Yorkist king doing marrying her?

0:32:050:32:08

For another, Warwick was in the middle of negotiating

0:32:080:32:12

a diplomatic, advantageous, continental alliance for Edward.

0:32:120:32:16

So he looked a fool when he was suddenly told,

0:32:160:32:19

no, no, Edward was married already.

0:32:190:32:20

Edward had forgotten his duties as king

0:32:230:32:25

and recklessly chosen his own bride for no other reason than blind love.

0:32:250:32:31

Or was it even worse than love?

0:32:330:32:35

No other English king had married for love before.

0:32:350:32:38

Was young Edward in the grip of intemperate lust?

0:32:380:32:41

Suspicious rumours began to circulate

0:32:430:32:45

that would have dangerous repercussions.

0:32:450:32:47

Perhaps some malign influence was at work.

0:32:470:32:50

Some people even suggested Edward had been seduced by witchcraft.

0:32:500:32:56

Belief in witchcraft was universal in the 15th century.

0:33:010:33:04

In the power of spells, incantations, charms and herbs.

0:33:040:33:10

What's more, it was one of the few accusations

0:33:100:33:13

from which even royal rank couldn't protect a woman.

0:33:130:33:16

There'd already been, in that century,

0:33:160:33:18

two royal women imprisoned for it.

0:33:180:33:21

But the enchanted Edward was sure of his choice.

0:33:240:33:28

And Elizabeth's transformation was complete.

0:33:280:33:31

From obscure country lady, she had emerged as the new Queen of England.

0:33:310:33:37

And in May 1465, Edward officially confirmed her status

0:33:420:33:46

with a highly glamorous and lavish ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

0:33:460:33:50

Elizabeth entered the abbey barefoot,

0:33:570:33:59

dressed in purple, followed by the lords and ladies of the court.

0:33:590:34:03

She passed through the choir,

0:34:030:34:05

knelt and prostrated herself before the high altar

0:34:050:34:08

while the archbishop conducted the service,

0:34:080:34:11

anointing her on her forehead and her breast.

0:34:110:34:14

Then, after receiving the coronation ring on her finger

0:34:140:34:18

and the crown on her head,

0:34:180:34:20

she was solemnly led to the throne itself.

0:34:200:34:23

In the magnificent abbey,

0:34:310:34:33

Edward paraded his new queen in a dazzling show

0:34:330:34:36

attended by the most important nobles of Europe.

0:34:360:34:39

The public spectacle of her coronation

0:34:430:34:45

could not have been more unlike the secret wedding at the Rivers' family home.

0:34:450:34:50

That had been a private, personal affair.

0:34:500:34:53

This was a matter of international politics.

0:34:530:34:57

As Queen of England, Elizabeth Woodville

0:34:590:35:02

was the first of our women to win the highest position in the realm.

0:35:020:35:05

Margaret Beaufort seemed further from achieving her aspirations than ever before.

0:35:070:35:11

And Anne Neville had seen her father the Kingmaker

0:35:130:35:16

sidelined by the new king.

0:35:160:35:18

But he wouldn't take this treatment lightly.

0:35:200:35:23

He was still the richest noble in the land.

0:35:230:35:26

And he set out to prove it,

0:35:260:35:28

with flamboyant demonstrations of his wealth.

0:35:280:35:31

Entertaining, giving large banquets and parties

0:35:350:35:38

was a way of showing off your wealth, your power

0:35:380:35:41

and also of networking.

0:35:410:35:42

So, Warwick, yes, he did entertain lavishly,

0:35:420:35:45

he did give very large parties

0:35:450:35:47

and even as he moved about the countryside,

0:35:470:35:49

he would have a large retinue of men at arms,

0:35:490:35:51

he would have his banners, his emblems with him,

0:35:510:35:54

so that every stage of his life was a carefully choreographed ballet

0:35:540:35:58

to manifest his power upon the world.

0:35:580:36:01

When his brother was promoted to Archbishop of York,

0:36:040:36:07

the second most powerful position in the church,

0:36:070:36:09

Warwick the Kingmaker threw an enormous feast.

0:36:090:36:13

We have the menu of the feast

0:36:160:36:18

and it shows that the Nevilles would go to extraordinary lengths

0:36:180:36:21

to demonstrate their wealth.

0:36:210:36:23

The feast lasted several days

0:36:230:36:25

and 2,000 guests drank their way through 25,000 gallons of wine

0:36:250:36:31

and ate, among other things,

0:36:310:36:33

4,000 mallard and 500 buck and stag.

0:36:330:36:38

One table at this great Neville dinner

0:36:400:36:43

was reserved for the young people,

0:36:430:36:45

the royal kinsmen and women of the House of York.

0:36:450:36:48

Seated together, with some ladies of the royal court,

0:36:490:36:53

were Anne Neville and Richard of Gloucester,

0:36:530:36:55

the king's younger brother.

0:36:550:36:57

She was nine and he was 13.

0:36:570:36:59

And he was invited to the feast because he was her father's ward.

0:36:590:37:03

So Anne and Richard were growing up in the same household.

0:37:030:37:06

It was a mark of Anne's high status that she was living

0:37:080:37:11

under the same roof as the king of England's own brother.

0:37:110:37:14

The boy who would become Richard III.

0:37:140:37:18

Anne Neville was brought up, if not to think of herself quite as a princess,

0:37:190:37:22

then certainly something close to it.

0:37:220:37:25

She knew that her father had great wealth, great influence

0:37:250:37:27

and very important political connections

0:37:270:37:29

and I think this must have informed her sense of self, of who she was

0:37:290:37:34

and what her expectations of her life might be.

0:37:340:37:36

Anne's father, Warwick the Kingmaker,

0:37:390:37:41

was becoming more and more resentful of the new Queen of England,

0:37:410:37:46

the former loyal Lancastrian and commoner Elizabeth Woodville.

0:37:460:37:50

As Queen, Elizabeth could use pillow talk

0:37:510:37:54

to influence her husband the king.

0:37:540:37:57

And this was of huge benefit to her family.

0:37:570:38:00

She had five brothers and seven sisters

0:38:000:38:03

who were found excellent marriages and great positions in the realm.

0:38:030:38:08

The Woodvilles were a large, extensive, enthusiastic

0:38:100:38:15

and some said rapacious family,

0:38:150:38:18

who very quickly began snapping up the available positions,

0:38:180:38:24

awards, heirs to marry.

0:38:240:38:27

It did look to their enemies

0:38:270:38:29

as though the Woodvilles were staging a takeover of the country.

0:38:290:38:32

But not even the Earl of Warwick could deny

0:38:350:38:38

that in her most important duty to king and country,

0:38:380:38:41

Elizabeth exceeded expectations.

0:38:410:38:44

As Queen, Elizabeth's main job was to produce heirs.

0:38:460:38:50

Making the dynasty secure

0:38:500:38:52

and proving that it was blessed by God.

0:38:520:38:55

Elizabeth was expected to be fertile, and she didn't disappoint.

0:38:550:39:00

Within the first five years of her marriage to Edward,

0:39:000:39:03

she gave birth to three daughters.

0:39:030:39:05

The birth of royal heirs was attended

0:39:080:39:10

by much ritual and superstition.

0:39:100:39:12

Each time Elizabeth had a baby, she had to follow a strict protocol.

0:39:140:39:18

When the queen was expecting to give birth,

0:39:210:39:25

she would effectively retire from the court.

0:39:250:39:28

There would be a ceremonial mass

0:39:280:39:30

that was attended by a lot of people as a farewell,

0:39:300:39:33

and then she retired into a suite of rooms

0:39:330:39:36

that had been specially prepared for her.

0:39:360:39:38

At this point, women of her household would take on roles

0:39:390:39:43

that had previously been fulfilled by men, and deliver what was needed.

0:39:430:39:48

The queen passed the last few weeks of her pregnancy

0:39:500:39:53

served exclusively by women.

0:39:530:39:55

There's a wonderful description of the inner sanctum,

0:39:570:40:01

the room where she was actually going to give birth.

0:40:010:40:03

It's very dark and warm.

0:40:030:40:04

There's got to be carpets on the floor, on the ceiling and the walls,

0:40:040:40:08

it's got to be blue with fleur-de-lis.

0:40:080:40:11

Blue, of course was the colour of the Virgin Mary

0:40:110:40:13

and so, fleur-de-lis was her symbol, so it's connecting in with this.

0:40:130:40:18

There's a sumptuous main bed,

0:40:180:40:20

which the bedspread would be edged in velvet and ermine,

0:40:200:40:24

but then, there was a pallet bed,

0:40:240:40:26

which had a big canopy over it in crimson

0:40:260:40:28

with gold crowns all over it.

0:40:280:40:30

After giving birth, the Queen was expected to rest for two months

0:40:330:40:38

before she ceremoniously re-entered public life.

0:40:380:40:41

There was a long procession to the chapel and that's where she would be churched,

0:40:430:40:47

the ceremony of purifying, which had a bishop putting holy water over her

0:40:470:40:51

and then, after that, they went in for mass.

0:40:510:40:54

All of this ritual was designed to celebrate the arrival

0:40:590:41:03

of what might be the future king.

0:41:030:41:05

For Edward, a usurper of the throne,

0:41:060:41:09

these customs were a very public way to reaffirm his dynasty.

0:41:090:41:14

This contemporary image of Elizabeth with her three daughters

0:41:190:41:22

is not just a reminder of her fertility.

0:41:220:41:25

It demonstrates how unusual she was as a royal, medieval mother.

0:41:250:41:30

She has her children by her side.

0:41:300:41:32

She didn't farm them out to aristocratic connections,

0:41:340:41:36

as other high-status mothers did.

0:41:360:41:38

She kept them by her.

0:41:380:41:40

She was a devoted mother in a way that we can understand today.

0:41:400:41:44

But she had failed in one key duty -

0:41:460:41:49

Elizabeth hadn't yet produced the all-important son and heir.

0:41:490:41:53

And as each daughter arrived, the Earl of Warwick's resentment grew.

0:41:530:41:58

Eight years after putting Edward on the throne,

0:42:010:42:04

Warwick the Kingmaker could no longer tolerate the grasping Rivers family

0:42:040:42:09

and his relationship with Edward collapsed completely.

0:42:090:42:13

Warwick was deeply resentful that he had been replaced

0:42:130:42:17

in the central councils of the King,

0:42:170:42:20

indeed as the most principal supporter

0:42:200:42:22

and subject...minister of the crown,

0:42:220:42:25

by, in particular, Earl Rivers, Queen Elizabeth Woodville's father.

0:42:250:42:30

The Kingmaker began to enact his rebellion.

0:42:330:42:37

Against the King's wishes,

0:42:370:42:38

he married his eldest daughter

0:42:380:42:40

to the King's brother,

0:42:400:42:41

George, Duke of Clarence,

0:42:410:42:43

cementing a dangerous alliance

0:42:430:42:45

in opposition to Edward.

0:42:450:42:47

Together, Warwick and George issued a proclamation

0:42:470:42:50

against certain "seditious persons" in court.

0:42:500:42:54

Warwick the Kingmaker declared that the King was being misled

0:42:570:43:00

by these evil ministers,

0:43:000:43:02

the government of the kingdom was falling into rack and ruin

0:43:020:43:04

and he, Warwick the Kingmaker, was going to put it right.

0:43:040:43:08

After eight peaceful years in England, war was looming once more.

0:43:090:43:14

Having installed Edward on the throne,

0:43:140:43:17

Anne Neville's all-powerful father

0:43:170:43:19

now set out to remove him and seize control.

0:43:190:43:22

When the Kingmaker took up arms against the King at Edgecote Moor,

0:43:240:43:27

England was pitched into the most unstable time in its history.

0:43:270:43:31

Once again, the families of these three women went to war.

0:43:330:43:38

Anne Neville saw her father

0:43:380:43:40

boldly turn against the King he'd once served.

0:43:400:43:43

Elizabeth Woodville was about to pay an awful price

0:43:430:43:46

for her meteoric rise to power.

0:43:460:43:49

And Margaret Beaufort's adored son,

0:43:490:43:52

who had been growing up in the house of a Yorkist noble,

0:43:520:43:55

was about to come under terrible threat.

0:43:550:43:58

On the eve of battle, Margaret would have been at her home,

0:44:040:44:07

praying for a York defeat.

0:44:070:44:09

But her loyalties would have been divided,

0:44:090:44:11

because fighting for the enemy was her 12-year-old son Henry.

0:44:110:44:16

He'd been led into his first battle by his guardian,

0:44:160:44:18

the Yorkist commander William Herbert.

0:44:180:44:21

Margaret must have been beside herself,

0:44:210:44:24

praying for a York defeat,

0:44:240:44:26

hoping for the safety of her son.

0:44:260:44:28

The battle was a disaster for York.

0:44:360:44:39

Henry's protector, William Herbert, suffered an awful fate.

0:44:390:44:43

He was overwhelmed by rebels,

0:44:440:44:46

dragged away and executed by Warwick the Kingmaker.

0:44:460:44:49

The boy, Henry, who must have seen all this happen,

0:44:530:44:55

was abandoned on the battlefield.

0:44:550:44:57

Margaret sent out frantic messages

0:45:000:45:02

to try and find out what had happened to her son.

0:45:020:45:05

She must have feared he was captured or dead.

0:45:050:45:08

But the boy had been escorted from the battlefield

0:45:150:45:18

in a state of terror.

0:45:180:45:20

He and Herbert's widow had found safety in a house nearby.

0:45:200:45:24

Margaret sent a party of trusted servants to find him

0:45:240:45:28

and generously rewarded those who had saved her son.

0:45:280:45:31

For Henry himself, she sent a gift,

0:45:310:45:34

a reminder of his inescapable destiny - a bow and arrows.

0:45:340:45:40

Without her son, Margaret's ambitions would come to nothing

0:45:420:45:46

and this battle had come close to taking him from her.

0:45:460:45:50

But Elizabeth Woodville would suffer devastating, permanent loss

0:45:500:45:54

with Warwick the Kingmaker's victory.

0:45:540:45:57

Warwick's triumph meant that he became England's ruler.

0:46:030:46:06

He captured Elizabeth's husband, the King,

0:46:080:46:10

and imprisoned him in his castle.

0:46:100:46:12

But his treatment of the Woodville family was much more savage.

0:46:140:46:18

He seized the Queen's father and brother

0:46:200:46:22

and, without trial or charge, had them beheaded.

0:46:220:46:26

This was an act of pure revenge, driven by hatred and jealousy.

0:46:270:46:33

Having dealt with the men of the family,

0:46:330:46:35

Warwick turned his attention to the matriarch - Jacquetta.

0:46:350:46:39

He sent an armed guard to snatch her from her home

0:46:390:46:42

and imprisoned her here, in Warwick Castle.

0:46:420:46:45

Grief-stricken, having just lost her husband and her son,

0:46:550:46:59

Jacquetta now faced their murderer

0:46:590:47:01

as he accused her of a crime punishable by death.

0:47:010:47:05

Capitalising on rumours

0:47:060:47:08

circulating from the marriage of King Edward and Elizabeth,

0:47:080:47:12

Warwick claimed that Jacquetta had used magic

0:47:120:47:14

to bewitch the King into marrying her daughter.

0:47:140:47:18

Witchcraft in the 15th century is the ability to influence

0:47:230:47:30

what happens to another person

0:47:300:47:34

either by making them sick,

0:47:340:47:36

making them love you or hate you,

0:47:360:47:39

making them lucky or unlucky by cursing them.

0:47:390:47:42

Fear of the power of the witch

0:47:450:47:47

tapped into fear of woman's power in general.

0:47:470:47:50

I mean, a witch could be this old crone over a cauldron,

0:47:500:47:54

but she could also be young and beautiful,

0:47:540:47:57

wielding a dangerous sexual magic

0:47:570:48:00

and, of course, that very much ties in all too neatly

0:48:000:48:04

with the story of Elizabeth Woodville's marriage

0:48:040:48:07

and how it was made.

0:48:070:48:09

Jacquetta's fate was in the hands of her sworn enemy

0:48:110:48:14

and the murderer of her husband and son.

0:48:140:48:18

As she waited in this castle, the odds were stacked against her.

0:48:180:48:22

One word from the Earl of Warwick was enough

0:48:220:48:26

to condemn her to death by strangulation.

0:48:260:48:28

Warwick didn't just want Jacquetta dead,

0:48:320:48:35

he wanted to prove her malign influence on the young King

0:48:350:48:39

and he staged a full show trial with witnesses.

0:48:390:48:43

He even produced two little figures -

0:48:430:48:45

one representing the King and one the Queen,

0:48:450:48:48

which he claimed Jacquetta had bound together

0:48:480:48:51

"with witchcraft and sorcery."

0:48:510:48:54

But, incredibly, Jacquetta escaped her punishment.

0:48:570:49:01

The Kingmaker realised he had over-reached himself.

0:49:010:49:05

He didn't have the support of England's political elite

0:49:050:49:08

and he was forced to set the King free.

0:49:080:49:10

Edward intervened and cleared his mother-in-law's name,

0:49:100:49:14

but the Kingmaker's accusations would have permanent consequences.

0:49:140:49:19

Jacquetta was publicly named as a witch,

0:49:240:49:28

the royal wedding condemned as the product of witchcraft.

0:49:280:49:32

A slur was laid on Jacquetta, and on her daughter Elizabeth,

0:49:320:49:36

that would follow them throughout their lives,

0:49:360:49:38

even to the grave and beyond - into the records of history.

0:49:380:49:43

After a brief period of imprisonment,

0:49:450:49:48

Edward IV was back in power.

0:49:480:49:50

In March 1470, he forced Warwick the Kingmaker

0:49:500:49:54

and his own brother, George, Duke of Clarence,

0:49:540:49:56

into exile as traitors.

0:49:560:49:59

The rebels took their wives and children

0:50:000:50:02

and fled across the Channel.

0:50:020:50:05

Unable to find a safe port,

0:50:050:50:07

they were nearly wrecked in stormy seas.

0:50:070:50:10

The Kingmaker's thirst for power

0:50:130:50:15

had brought his family into terrible danger.

0:50:150:50:17

This was a far cry from Anne Neville's life of luxury in England.

0:50:170:50:21

They're really fleeing for their lives, and as this is happening,

0:50:240:50:28

as if that wasn't traumatic enough,

0:50:280:50:29

her sister Isabel has gone into premature labour

0:50:290:50:32

with her first child. There's no-one on the ship to help them,

0:50:320:50:35

they've got no medicine, there is certainly no question of a doctor

0:50:350:50:38

so the only people who would have been able to help Isabel

0:50:380:50:41

were her mother, her sister, Anne, and their very few maids.

0:50:410:50:44

This must have been a terrifying experience for Anne,

0:50:440:50:48

and a very traumatic one because Isabel, although she survived,

0:50:480:50:52

lost her baby.

0:50:520:50:54

Anne's life of privilege was completely torn from her.

0:51:100:51:13

Her father, who had seemed invincible, had been defeated.

0:51:130:51:18

Her sister had lost the heir,

0:51:180:51:20

they were in exile from their castles and lands,

0:51:200:51:23

and there was no way of knowing how they would ever get back to England.

0:51:230:51:27

Having dragged his family into this situation,

0:51:320:51:35

Warwick needed a drastic plan to save them.

0:51:350:51:38

And he found it.

0:51:380:51:39

He would switch sides

0:51:390:51:42

and forge an alliance with his enemies in the House of Lancaster.

0:51:420:51:45

Warwick went to Margaret of Anjou -

0:51:470:51:49

wife of the deposed Lancastrian king Henry VI -

0:51:490:51:53

with an astounding proposal.

0:51:530:51:56

Warwick's strength was always as a diplomat.

0:51:560:51:59

He was brilliant at manipulating people,

0:51:590:52:01

he was brilliant at making implausible alliances cement.

0:52:010:52:05

And the idea he came up with in France was absolutely preposterous!

0:52:050:52:10

He planned to marry his younger daughter, Anne Neville,

0:52:100:52:13

to Prince Edward, the son and heir of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou.

0:52:130:52:19

Warwick managed to convince Margaret that the only future

0:52:190:52:22

for the Lancastrian cause lay in this marriage.

0:52:220:52:26

She didn't let him off lightly.

0:52:260:52:27

He had to grovel on his knees for a good 15 minutes,

0:52:270:52:30

but Warwick pulls it off, this incredible, improbable alliance,

0:52:300:52:35

and his daughter is betrothed to the Prince of Wales,

0:52:350:52:38

which means, potentially, that she will be Queen of England.

0:52:380:52:41

It was an extraordinary turn of events.

0:52:490:52:52

Warwick was prepared to trade a lifetime of loyalty to York

0:52:520:52:56

to see his daughter, Anne, on the Lancaster throne.

0:52:560:52:59

Of course, nobody thought to ask Anne's opinion of this plan.

0:53:030:53:07

It was not her choice.

0:53:070:53:09

Her marriage was the key to reversing her family's fortunes

0:53:090:53:12

and saving the House of Lancaster.

0:53:120:53:14

The betrothal made, Anne's father left her in Normandy

0:53:160:53:20

and returned to England, raising a huge army to destroy King Edward.

0:53:200:53:25

Edward is completely caught unawares.

0:53:280:53:31

It's one of those rare moments

0:53:310:53:32

in Edward's career

0:53:320:53:33

where he has been unable to second-guess his opponent.

0:53:330:53:36

Luck has run out for him, and faced with his inability to put an army

0:53:360:53:41

together in a short period of time, he and his closest advisors

0:53:410:53:45

decide that flight is really the only option.

0:53:450:53:48

Edward IV was forced to abandon his throne and the Yorkist cause,

0:53:510:53:55

and flee England.

0:53:550:53:57

The Lancastrian king Henry VI was restored in his place.

0:53:570:54:02

With her husband on the run, Elizabeth Woodville,

0:54:050:54:07

the former Queen of England, was now in grave danger.

0:54:070:54:11

Anne Neville's life had returned to its former glory.

0:54:110:54:16

Her father, the Kingmaker,

0:54:160:54:17

was once again the most powerful noble in England.

0:54:170:54:21

For Margaret Beaufort, seeing her hero restored to the throne

0:54:210:54:25

was reward for years of patient scheming.

0:54:250:54:28

BELLS TOLL

0:54:290:54:34

When her husband Edward escaped abroad,

0:54:340:54:37

Elizabeth Woodville was left powerless, with nowhere to turn.

0:54:370:54:42

Pregnant once again, she sought sanctuary with her mother

0:54:420:54:45

and daughters in Westminster Abbey.

0:54:450:54:47

The concept of sanctuary was a kind of right of asylum,

0:54:500:54:53

whereby if a fugitive won their way to a church or monastery

0:54:530:54:58

or a place of sanctuary, they could claim that right

0:54:580:55:01

and, for as long as they stayed there, the law couldn't touch them.

0:55:010:55:05

The authorities could not come in and haul them out by force

0:55:050:55:08

so it gave, at the very least, a breathing space.

0:55:080:55:12

As a devout man,

0:55:130:55:14

Henry VI would not breach Elizabeth's right to protection.

0:55:140:55:18

This must have been a terrible time for Elizabeth.

0:55:200:55:24

Her husband was far away, perhaps never to return, and she was

0:55:240:55:27

entirely reliant on the kindness and generosity of the Abbey's staff.

0:55:270:55:32

Her only contact with the outside world were messages

0:55:320:55:36

smuggled in by loyal Londoners.

0:55:360:55:39

And, in stark contrast to her previous royal births,

0:55:390:55:42

she faced delivering this new baby in cramped, cold surroundings.

0:55:420:55:46

On November 2nd, 1470, in the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey,

0:55:510:55:56

with her mother and three young daughters present,

0:55:560:55:59

Elizabeth Woodville gave birth to a boy -

0:55:590:56:03

Edward IV's all-important male heir.

0:56:030:56:05

Elizabeth named him Edward, for his father, and had him baptised

0:56:090:56:13

in the Abbey like a poor man's son,

0:56:130:56:15

not like a future king for the House of York at all.

0:56:150:56:19

What should have been a moment of great rejoicing was actually a time

0:56:190:56:22

of great anxiety. What would the future hold for this little boy?

0:56:220:56:27

But Elizabeth Woodville's anxiety for her child,

0:56:330:56:36

the exiled King's son, was in stark opposition to the opportunities

0:56:360:56:41

Margaret Beaufort now saw for her boy.

0:56:410:56:44

The child's uncle, the ailing king Henry VI, was back on the throne,

0:56:450:56:51

and Margaret immediately arranged for the two to meet.

0:56:510:56:54

It was an encounter that would have lasting significance

0:56:540:56:57

for the young mother.

0:56:570:56:58

Henry Tudor's official historian later reported that the frail king

0:57:020:57:07

had met the boy and said,

0:57:070:57:09

"This is he unto whom both we and our adversaryes must yeald

0:57:090:57:15

"and geave of over the dominion.

0:57:150:57:17

"Yt woold come to passe that Henry Showld in time enjoy the kingdom."

0:57:170:57:23

We know that they met,

0:57:250:57:27

but this premonition was probably claimed by Margaret after the event.

0:57:270:57:32

She believed that her son was the Lancastrian king's rightful heir,

0:57:320:57:36

and that one day, Henry Tudor would sit on the throne of England.

0:57:360:57:41

This was not yet Margaret's moment.

0:57:430:57:46

Her ambitions for her son could wait.

0:57:460:57:49

Her side, the House of Lancaster, was strengthened by a new alliance -

0:57:490:57:54

the marriage between Anne Neville, the Kingmaker's daughter,

0:57:540:57:59

and the king's son and heir, Edward Prince of Wales.

0:57:590:58:03

At this moment, it was Anne who seemed to have it all.

0:58:050:58:09

Her father's plan to put his daughter on the throne of England

0:58:090:58:12

was coming together.

0:58:120:58:14

She was Princess of Wales, married to Henry VI's son,

0:58:140:58:17

and if the king could just hold on to his crown,

0:58:170:58:20

one day she would be queen of England.

0:58:200:58:23

Next time, Anne Neville emerges from the shadow of her Kingmaker father.

0:58:270:58:32

Elizabeth Woodville fights for survival.

0:58:340:58:37

And Margaret Beaufort sees her way clear to power.

0:58:370:58:42

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