0:00:04 > 0:00:101471. A new England is being forged in the fire of civil war.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Amid the savagery stand three women.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20Anne Neville, daughter of the most powerful nobleman in England -
0:00:20 > 0:00:24at 14, about to emerge as a player in her own right,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28with her own strength and startling resolve.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner
0:00:33 > 0:00:36whose beauty won her the hand of a king,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38now entering middle age,
0:00:38 > 0:00:43about to reveal that she was a woman to be feared as well as admired.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49And Margaret Beaufort, who survived childbirth at 13
0:00:49 > 0:00:52to become a formidable and devious politician,
0:00:52 > 0:00:59her life dedicated to one thing the cause of her son, Henry Tudor.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03These women would join together as allies
0:01:03 > 0:01:05and betray each other as rivals.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07They would intrigue and conspire,
0:01:07 > 0:01:11drawing on family feelings and old quarrels.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Trying to track down these women and discover what they were doing
0:01:15 > 0:01:17is worth the effort,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19because they are the founders of our nation
0:01:19 > 0:01:22just as much as the more famous men.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27They were just as cunning, just as ruthless.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31We call this era the Wars of the Roses
0:01:31 > 0:01:33but they called it the Cousins' War
0:01:33 > 0:01:36and in this family feud the women were vital.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Approach the conflict through their eyes
0:01:39 > 0:01:41and suddenly its greatest mysteries,
0:01:41 > 0:01:44from the controversial character of Richard III
0:01:44 > 0:01:47to the fate of the princes in the Tower, become clearer.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52This is my chronicle of how three women shaped
0:01:52 > 0:01:55one of the most turbulent periods in English history.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16On 14th April 1471,
0:02:16 > 0:02:20a young couple arrived from France on the south coast of England
0:02:20 > 0:02:23to claim their inheritance.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Returning from exile to his homeland
0:02:25 > 0:02:28was the new, Lancastrian, Prince of Wales.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33At his side, his 14-year-old bride, Anne Neville.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Their marriage in France a few months earlier
0:02:38 > 0:02:40had been the cornerstone of a pact
0:02:40 > 0:02:43between Anne's father Warwick the Kingmaker
0:02:43 > 0:02:46and the Prince's family,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50a pact which had led to the restoration of the House of Lancaster
0:02:50 > 0:02:52and King Henry VI.
0:02:54 > 0:03:01For Anne, now allied to the Lancastrian cause, a bright future beckoned.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05We have to consider this moment as being pivotal in Anne's history.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07She's embarked on this voyage across the Channel
0:03:07 > 0:03:09believing that she's in a strong position
0:03:09 > 0:03:11to become the next Queen of England.
0:03:12 > 0:03:18But Anne and her new Lancastrian in-laws were greeted with catastrophic news.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25That very day, in a dramatic reversal of fortune,
0:03:25 > 0:03:30the man they had overthrown, the Yorkist King Edward IV,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33had killed the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36And within hours of her arrival
0:03:36 > 0:03:39she's told that her much-admired father is dead
0:03:39 > 0:03:42and that effectively her cause is lost.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47After less than six months in power, the Lancastrians were overthrown.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Anne's mother responded to the news
0:03:53 > 0:03:57by fleeing into sanctuary at a nearby abbey.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Anne was abandoned.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Still only 14, Anne found herself effectively an orphan,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08entirely dependent on her 17-year-old husband
0:04:08 > 0:04:14and, more importantly, her formidable mother-in-law, Margaret of Anjou.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19With the Lancastrian King Henry now a prisoner in the Tower
0:04:19 > 0:04:22his queen, Margaret, took control.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28She headed northwards, raising troops as she went,
0:04:28 > 0:04:32in a desperate bid to salvage the Lancastrian cause.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36King Edward, fresh from his victory over Warwick,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39dashed across the country to intercept them.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52After an agonizing race, the two armies finally met here,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54in marshy fields outside Tewkesbury,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57near the Welsh border.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59Anne and her mother-in-law probably watched the battle
0:04:59 > 0:05:01from high ground nearby
0:05:01 > 0:05:05and Anne saw her young husband ride out to face the enemy
0:05:05 > 0:05:08that had killed her father just a few weeks earlier.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18The next few hours would determine not just Anne's future
0:05:18 > 0:05:21but also that of Elizabeth Woodville,
0:05:21 > 0:05:26waiting anxiously in London for news of her husband, King Edward.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34And the Lancastrian Margaret Beaufort also knew
0:05:34 > 0:05:38that the destiny of her son, Henry Tudor, was bound up
0:05:38 > 0:05:41with that of the Lancastrian army at Tewkesbury.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50Anne marched to the battlefield alongside troops steeled for combat.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Medieval warfare was particularly brutal.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59MEN SHOUTING, SWORDS CLASHING
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Tactics didn't count for a great deal.
0:06:03 > 0:06:08It was two armies getting together and thumping each other
0:06:08 > 0:06:11till one side thumped the other one to death.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21For Anne the trauma was made worse
0:06:21 > 0:06:23when her husband's Lancastrian army broke
0:06:23 > 0:06:26and fled back towards the Abbey at Tewkesbury.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33It would be the scene of one of the worst atrocities of the Wars.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37At the end of the Battle of Tewkesbury
0:06:37 > 0:06:41many of the leading Lancastrian commanders sought sanctuary
0:06:41 > 0:06:43in Tewkesbury Abbey.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Edward drags, literally drags,
0:06:46 > 0:06:51the Lancastrian commanders from Tewkesbury Abbey
0:06:51 > 0:06:53and beheads them summarily.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04Edward is determined to leave no Lancastrian claimant alive.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Anne's 17-year-old husband, the Prince of Wales,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13was among the dead.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18The young prince was buried here
0:07:18 > 0:07:20beneath the choir in Tewkesbury Abbey.
0:07:20 > 0:07:26The plaque reads, in Latin, "Here lies Edward, Prince of Wales,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29"cruelly slain while but a youth.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31"Thou art the sole light of thy mother
0:07:31 > 0:07:34"and the last hope of thy race."
0:07:35 > 0:07:38But this was put here in the Victorian era.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43At the time, his memorial was this -
0:07:45 > 0:07:50the sun in splendour, the emblem of York, shining down on his body.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52The message could not have been clearer.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55King Edward was back in power.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59A few days later,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03as Queen Elizabeth welcomed home her triumphant husband,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07the Lancastrian King Henry VI was quietly murdered
0:08:07 > 0:08:09in the Tower of London.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16As for Anne, she was taken prisoner,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19probably here at Little Malvern priory,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22close to the battlefield at Tewkesbury.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27It's hard to imagine what Anne had been through.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32Still only 14, she had been married, widowed and effectively orphaned
0:08:32 > 0:08:34in just a few months.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37She had witnessed the horror of battle.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39She had seen her own prospects destroyed.
0:08:39 > 0:08:46Utterly alone in a hostile world, now she was a prisoner of war.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Her world must literally have been turned upside down.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52From a situation in which one day,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56possibly within the comparatively near future,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58she would have become Queen of England,
0:08:58 > 0:09:02she is now a complete nobody.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05The future looked bleak for Anne.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08But Elizabeth Woodville's fortunes were transformed.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15For Elizabeth the previous two years had been desperate.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18She had been forced to seek sanctuary
0:09:18 > 0:09:19in a crypt at Westminster Abbey
0:09:19 > 0:09:23while her husband, the Yorkist King Edward IV,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26was driven into exile by the Lancastrian rising.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34The Yorkist victory at Tewkesbury meant she was Queen once more,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37her position unassailable.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Her old rival, the Earl of Warwick,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44who had always resented her marriage to King Edward
0:09:44 > 0:09:46and schemed against her, was dead.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52And the ordeal of the previous two years had revealed hidden strengths.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57In the summer of 1471
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Elizabeth Woodville has survived the turns of Fortune's wheel.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04She has gone through a terrible ordeal,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07has shown personal resolution.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12It shows in stark relief that she's tough,
0:10:12 > 0:10:16she's courageous and she has presence of mind.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Now 34, Elizabeth had matured
0:10:23 > 0:10:26from provincial beauty to hard-headed politician.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Most importantly she had provided her husband with a son and heir,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34born in sanctuary at Westminster.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36A second son would soon follow.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Elizabeth was Queen again.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49But the position of her Lancastrian rival, Margaret Beaufort, was more complex.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55In 1471, this was Margaret's principal residence,
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Woking Palace, near London,
0:10:57 > 0:11:01where she lived with her husband, Henry Stafford.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08It was here she had waited anxiously for news of the wars
0:11:08 > 0:11:11through those dark spring months.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Although her son's future was bound up with the House of Lancaster,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23her husband, Stafford, had taken up arms for York,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26a cunning, two-pronged insurance policy
0:11:26 > 0:11:30that Margaret would employ successfully throughout her life.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37She plays the game of divided loyalties very effectively.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39She's protected by her Yorkist husbands
0:11:39 > 0:11:43and at the same time is covertly working for her Lancastrian son.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47But King Edward's victory was a disaster for her,
0:11:47 > 0:11:52forcing her son, Henry Tudor, to flee into exile in France.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55The slaughter at Tewkesbury meant
0:11:55 > 0:11:57he could claim to be first in line to the throne
0:11:57 > 0:12:01on the Lancastrian side a rival and a threat.
0:12:06 > 0:12:12Margaret, now 27, would not see her son again for 14 years.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14And there was tragedy, too,
0:12:14 > 0:12:19when her husband, Henry Stafford, returned from the wars mortally wounded
0:12:19 > 0:12:21and died at Woking.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26His loyalty to the House of York had protected her.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31Margaret knew she must choose her next husband just as carefully.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36The man she turned to was Thomas, Lord Stanley.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Stanley was a great magnate.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41He was a powerful man,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44he was someone who'd steered a middle path
0:12:44 > 0:12:45through the Wars of the Roses
0:12:45 > 0:12:49but right now he was fairly high in Yorkist favour,
0:12:49 > 0:12:51so it was a good secure match for her
0:12:51 > 0:12:53and to protect her family's interests.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Margaret is playing the game
0:12:59 > 0:13:03that she had played consistently throughout the 1460s
0:13:03 > 0:13:06and would go on to play in the 1470s
0:13:06 > 0:13:10and that's to protect the inheritance and status of her son.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17I think Stanley may have been a man after Margaret's own heart.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24He was wary, he was chancy, he was shrewd
0:13:24 > 0:13:27and out to protect his own family's position
0:13:27 > 0:13:31and she may have thought, "Here's a man I can do business with."
0:13:32 > 0:13:36She chose Thomas, Lord Stanley of all the possible candidates
0:13:36 > 0:13:39because he was a Yorkist, hugely wealthy
0:13:39 > 0:13:43and commander of one of the largest private armies in England.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Above all, she recognized in him a kindred spirit,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50a man self-serving like her.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54She gambled her life on the possibility that he might,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57if the price was right, betray his king.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02It would prove to be one of the shrewdest moves of Margaret's life.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06But in that summer of 1471 few would have believed
0:14:06 > 0:14:11that the House of Lancaster had any hope of ever regaining the throne.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18The House of York looked unbeatable and our story could end here
0:14:18 > 0:14:21with Elizabeth as a victorious queen.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27But the York dynasty had an extraordinary capacity for self destruction
0:14:27 > 0:14:30and its downfall would begin with Anne Neville.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Despite being born a Warwick,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38the most powerful noble family in England,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40Anne has traditionally been painted
0:14:40 > 0:14:42as one of the great victims of history,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46an heiress with no control over her own fortune.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Anne has been presented very much as a political pawn.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54That's the phrasing that comes up about her over and over again.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56I'm not so sure about this.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Anne was Warwick's daughter.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02She's been brought up to envision herself as a princess or a queen
0:15:02 > 0:15:06or at least to have the highest possible marriage that she could have within the land.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13After the Battle of Tewkesbury,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Anne was sent by King Edward to live at the home of her sister Isabel,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21who was married to the King's brother, George, Duke of Clarence,
0:15:21 > 0:15:27a tangled family dynamic, typical of the Cousins' War.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Anne and Isabel were married to men
0:15:35 > 0:15:38on opposing sides of the field of battle
0:15:38 > 0:15:41and then when Anne's husband is killed,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Edward forces them all to live together.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49So, there they are - Clarence, Isabel and Anne,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53as a very unhappy threesome, I'd have thought.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Anne was effectively a prisoner of her sister and brother-in-law,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05who were determined to prevent her claiming her share
0:16:05 > 0:16:07of the Warwick lands.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14Anne is very aware of her legal rights.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Anne is determined to exercise these rights
0:16:16 > 0:16:19and get her hands on her half of her rightful inheritance.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21She does this extraordinary thing.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24She does this incredible, courageous thing,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26which is she escapes,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28she runs away to the Church of St Martin's,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30throws herself in sanctuary
0:16:30 > 0:16:33and upon the protection of her brother-in-law, Richard of Gloucester.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Anne seized control of her own destiny.
0:16:37 > 0:16:43But that is not how historians have traditionally described her escape.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Anne fled to her recent enemy, King Edward's youngest brother,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51later Richard III, the most notorious king in English history,
0:16:51 > 0:16:56immortalized as one of Shakespeare's greatest villains.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Richard had fought against Anne's family
0:17:01 > 0:17:04at both Barnet and Tewkesbury
0:17:04 > 0:17:09and had played a leading role in the slaughter of her male relations.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17Yet shortly afterwards, Richard and Anne were married.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Shakespeare portrayed Anne as a victim.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25For Shakespeare, the marriage is entirely Richard's idea.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27Anne sees him as her enemy,
0:17:27 > 0:17:32the murderer of her father, her husband and her father-in-law.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37But she is instantly seduced, the epitome of female fickleness.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41It sounds as if even Shakespeare himself doubted that this would ring true.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46He writes, "Was ever woman in this humour wooed?
0:17:46 > 0:17:49"Was ever woman in this humour won?"
0:17:51 > 0:17:55The truth is that the marriage was a pragmatic arrangement
0:17:55 > 0:17:58on both sides.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Yes, Richard's interest was Anne's share of the vast Warwick inheritance,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06above all the mighty Middleham Castle in Yorkshire.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09But the match was in Anne's interests too.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16It was not until the Tudor propaganda machine blackened Richard's reputation
0:18:16 > 0:18:20that people started to suggest that he was a man so evil
0:18:20 > 0:18:24that in marrying him, Anne must have been a victim of his rape
0:18:24 > 0:18:26or a passive fool.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31A devilish husband has to have a stupid wife.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36It seems to me far more likely that the two young people, who had known each other from childhood,
0:18:36 > 0:18:38could see the benefits of marriage.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Anne could escape from George's control
0:18:41 > 0:18:45and she could reward Richard with her enormous land holdings in the north of England,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48including the great Middleham Castle.
0:18:49 > 0:18:54It may even have been a love match. It certainly did Anne no harm.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58She is in effect George of Clarence's prisoner.
0:18:58 > 0:19:03The only nobleman who can actually stand up to George of Clarence
0:19:03 > 0:19:05is his younger brother, Richard of Gloucester.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08So the only way she can regain her freedom,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11the only way she can get her half share of her father's inheritance,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13is to marry Richard.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Far from being a dupe and a victim,
0:19:16 > 0:19:21Anne had made a hard-headed, calculated decision.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24To us, it may seem shockingly cynical
0:19:24 > 0:19:29but that is to impose our own mindset on a very different age.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33We are appalled at the idea of a young woman making a marriage
0:19:33 > 0:19:36with a man who's been responsible for the deaths of so many of her family.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39We simply can't think of it like that.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43We have to understand that marriage was a business.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Lots of the women did actually change sides,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50did marry and could almost have these career changes,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54a marital career that overrode the concerns of whom had killed whom.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58It was about establishing yourself in the most powerful position possible
0:19:58 > 0:20:01and for women of the elite classes, as Anne was,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03she would have been bought up from birth to accept this
0:20:03 > 0:20:06and to play the game as well as she possibly could.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10Anne soon provided Richard with a son
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and the couple took up residence at Middleham,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17from where Richard would effectively rule the north of England.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Anne was back on the winning side.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29And the Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, was about to make her own move
0:20:29 > 0:20:32against the man Anne had escaped,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36the King's ever-troublesome younger brother, George.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39George, Duke of Clarence, Edward's brother,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42had always been a problem.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46He was always convinced that he was owed more place,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49more power in the land, than he was being given.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54Elizabeth loathed her brother-in-law.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58In 1469, George had briefly rebelled against King Edward
0:20:58 > 0:21:00and although the two had later reconciled,
0:21:00 > 0:21:07the rebellion had resulted in the murder of Elizabeth's father and her brother.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09She hadn't forgotten or forgiven.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13In 1478, things really came to a head
0:21:13 > 0:21:18and the way in which they did so involved Elizabeth in the fray.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Because George had been spreading stories
0:21:22 > 0:21:26that Edward's marriage to Elizabeth was invalid
0:21:26 > 0:21:29because he was already contracted to another lady
0:21:29 > 0:21:33and of course that would have made their children illegitimate.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36This threatened Elizabeth.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40More importantly, it threatened her son and heir.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46The House of York was divided once more
0:21:46 > 0:21:50and many people at the time had no doubt who was responsible
0:21:50 > 0:21:52for the events that followed.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56A contemporary chronicler wrote,
0:21:56 > 0:22:00"The Queen had concluded that her offspring would never come to the throne
0:22:00 > 0:22:03"unless the Duke of Clarence were removed,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06"and of this, she easily persuaded the king."
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Clarence was arrested, tried
0:22:12 > 0:22:15and executed, according to legend,
0:22:15 > 0:22:19by being drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23George, Duke of Clarence, is buried here, beneath my feet,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25in the crypt at Tewkesbury Abbey.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30His final resting place is almost permanently flooded these days.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34But on drier days it's possible to view bones,
0:22:34 > 0:22:37supposedly belonging to George and his wife Isabel,
0:22:37 > 0:22:39in a glass case,
0:22:39 > 0:22:45a sad and macabre end for a man who had dreamed of being king.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Like the Earl of Warwick before him,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53George had identified Queen Elizabeth as an obstacle to his ambitions
0:22:53 > 0:22:57and as a formidable and dangerous adversary.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00But, like Warwick before him,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03George had not understood quite how dangerous.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Now they were both dead and she was still Queen of England.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17In Yorkshire,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Anne and Richard were the main beneficiaries of George's death,
0:23:20 > 0:23:22inheriting many of his lands.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26But Anne's behaviour suggests
0:23:26 > 0:23:30that she too was wary of her sister-in-law, Elizabeth.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Anne was married to the second most powerful man in the kingdom.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38She was a royal duchess and an heiress in her own right.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42But she hardly ever went to court.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44She spent most of her time here,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47at Middleham Castle in the north of England.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49I believe she was terrified of the Queen.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52She may even have believed that she was a witch.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57To us the suggestion seems absurd
0:23:57 > 0:24:02but belief in witchcraft was deeply held in the medieval world.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Dark rumours had always swirled around the Queen.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11How else to explain the enchantment of the King of England by a commoner?
0:24:14 > 0:24:17The problem for most of Edward's noblemen was
0:24:17 > 0:24:20that there was no rational explanation for what he'd done
0:24:20 > 0:24:22because by marrying one of his own subjects
0:24:22 > 0:24:24he'd broken with convention.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30And the only logical explanation they could find was witchcraft.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34George, Duke of Clarence had revived the old suspicions
0:24:34 > 0:24:37surrounding the royal couple.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39And just because we don't believe in witches,
0:24:39 > 0:24:44it doesn't mean that Anne didn't and possibly her husband as well.
0:24:44 > 0:24:50I think Richard and Anne were genuinely frightened by witchcraft
0:24:50 > 0:24:53and I think there was a real element of fear
0:24:53 > 0:24:55that the Queen might be employing sorcery.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05But Anne also had a second, simpler reason for hating the Queen.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Anne was the heir of the kingmaker, the Earl of Warwick,
0:25:08 > 0:25:15Elizabeth's old enemy, killed by King Edward 12 years earlier.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19She had married his enemy but Anne remained Warwick's daughter.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23She must have hated the Woodvilles.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27The problems that her father had
0:25:27 > 0:25:30in terms of accepting their social rise,
0:25:30 > 0:25:32the conflicts he had -
0:25:32 > 0:25:35this was his daughter, his surviving representative.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41Anne may be the key to understanding the dramatic, bewildering events
0:25:41 > 0:25:43that were about to unfold.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51At the start of April 1483,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54King Edward caught a chill while out boating.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Just 40 years old, within days, he was dead.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09The death of Edward IV created a huge impact politically.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13It was unexpected. The news comes as a shock to Elizabeth when Edward dies.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17She has a few days to work out that he is actually going to die
0:26:17 > 0:26:21and then of course her thoughts go immediately to her son.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27With her husband dead, Elizabeth's sole concern was to ensure
0:26:27 > 0:26:29that the young Prince Edward,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32born to her in sanctuary 12 years earlier,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34ascended the throne safely.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40What's fascinating about the period after King Edward's death is
0:26:40 > 0:26:42the speed at which Elizabeth reacted.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47Her son, the heir to the throne, Edward, was only 12 years old
0:26:47 > 0:26:49and she was the first person to understand
0:26:49 > 0:26:51that he might be in danger.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54She ordered him to come to London from his castle near Wales
0:26:54 > 0:26:58with as many troops as possible, as fast as possible.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03Elizabeth Woodville, with the advantage of hindsight,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06it's clear that she anticipates the danger
0:27:06 > 0:27:10and it shows that she is astute and politically alert
0:27:10 > 0:27:13where others perhaps just don't see the possible threat.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20The royal council felt the Queen was overreacting.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24Fatally, she allowed herself to be persuaded
0:27:24 > 0:27:28to limit the number of troops accompanying her son to just 2,000.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35As the 12-year-old Edward set off from the Welsh Borders,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38his uncle Richard left Middleham Castle,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40intercepting him at Stony Stratford,
0:27:40 > 0:27:44in order, he said, to accompany him to the Tower,
0:27:44 > 0:27:49where kings traditionally stayed prior to their coronation.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Elizabeth's response was to dash back into sanctuary at Westminster
0:27:55 > 0:28:00with her five daughters and her remaining, 9-year-old son, Richard.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04What she does is very decisive and very rapid.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09Her primary motivation is to protect not only herself but her children
0:28:09 > 0:28:12and particularly her second son, the Duke of York.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16She can't do anything to help Edward but she can keep Richard safe.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20Again, the royal councillors told her she was overreacting.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26But the behaviour of Anne Neville in faraway Yorkshire suggests
0:28:26 > 0:28:29that Elizabeth's fears about her brother-in-law
0:28:29 > 0:28:31were completely justified.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Anne did not travel south for the coronation.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Anne not only fails to appear in London,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42which as the second lady of the nation she would absolutely have been expected to do,
0:28:42 > 0:28:46but she hasn't ordered any robes, her account books show no special preparations,
0:28:46 > 0:28:50nor do they show any evidence of illness which might have kept her away.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Quite simply, Anne knew that it wasn't going to happen.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55According to Shakespeare,
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Anne disapproved of Richard's seizing power.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02But why would Warwick the Kingmaker's daughter object
0:29:02 > 0:29:03to being made queen?
0:29:03 > 0:29:07Where is the evidence for Anne being passive or disapproving?
0:29:07 > 0:29:10I can't find any evidence.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13For all we know it could be Anne that was the driving force behind Richard.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16It could be a scenario like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth,
0:29:16 > 0:29:18where we've got this very powerful woman.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23Now she was in a position to be able to come back and revenge her father.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27Pressure from Anne would help explain the great mystery
0:29:27 > 0:29:30of Richard's sudden transformation.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Through the ups and downs of the Cousins' Wars,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37he had always been his brother Edward's most faithful follower
0:29:37 > 0:29:40his motto, "loyalty binds me".
0:29:42 > 0:29:45But now Richard moved against Edward's heirs
0:29:45 > 0:29:49with ruthless speed, executing leading supporters of the new king.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56On June 16th, he sent a delegation to Elizabeth,
0:29:56 > 0:29:58still in sanctuary at Westminster,
0:29:58 > 0:30:02demanding the release of her second son, 9-year-old Richard,
0:30:02 > 0:30:06supposedly so that he could attend the coronation of his brother.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12It's clearly very, very dangerous to release Richard, her son,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15but what choice does she have?
0:30:15 > 0:30:20The truth is sanctuary was a moral rather than a physical concept.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23Elizabeth was there in sanctuary of Westminster Abbey.
0:30:23 > 0:30:29Right next door in Westminster Palace Richard was waiting with his troops.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32His troops were surrounding the sanctuary.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35There must have been the knowledge behind all this
0:30:35 > 0:30:40that if Elizabeth didn't let the boy go he could simply have been taken.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44It looks as though Elizabeth had no option
0:30:44 > 0:30:49but to release her child into the hands of her enemies.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53We have a description of Elizabeth parting from her son.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55It's not an eye witness account.
0:30:55 > 0:31:01It reports her saying, "Farewell, my own sweet son.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03"God send you good keeping.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05"Let me kiss you once yet ere you go,
0:31:05 > 0:31:10"for God knoweth when we shall kiss together again."
0:31:10 > 0:31:12It's a great scene.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15I wonder, was it played by a great actress?
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Years later there would be rumours of a prince in exile,
0:31:19 > 0:31:22waiting to return to England and claim his crown.
0:31:22 > 0:31:28Is it possible that the boy that Elizabeth handed over was not Richard?
0:31:31 > 0:31:37My own belief is that Elizabeth was far too astute to sit and wait for Richard
0:31:37 > 0:31:40to take her second son just as he had taken her first.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45I think she handed over a servant boy, muffled up in a scarf.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49To the royal councillors, all middle aged and elderly men,
0:31:49 > 0:31:52one small child looked much like another.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56Whoever it was that was handed over,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00the two boys in the Tower were never seen again.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16A few weeks later, on July 6th 1483, in Westminster Abbey,
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Richard had himself crowned King of England.
0:32:21 > 0:32:26At his side, his wife Anne, queen at last...
0:32:29 > 0:32:32..just as her dead father, the Kingmaker,
0:32:32 > 0:32:34had always planned.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39From her place of sanctuary nearby,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Elizabeth would have been able to hear the trumpets sound
0:32:42 > 0:32:46and the people cheer as her son was usurped.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52And as the coronation procession made its way to the altar,
0:32:52 > 0:32:56holding Anne's train was none other than the Lancastrian Margaret Beaufort,
0:32:56 > 0:32:58the great survivor,
0:32:58 > 0:33:04given a central role because of her Yorkist husband's prominent position in the new court.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08Margaret Beaufort is the consummate politician.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11And we've already seen how she accommodates herself
0:33:11 > 0:33:14to whatever regime is in power.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18She went right on trying to negotiate for what she most wanted,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21the return of her son from exile.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24She'd tried to negotiate it with Edward.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26Now she tried to negotiate it with Richard.
0:33:26 > 0:33:31Margaret's son Henry Tudor was now 26
0:33:31 > 0:33:36and had been in exile in France for the last 12 years.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39Margaret opened negotiations with Richard for Henry's return
0:33:39 > 0:33:41the day before his coronation.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44But then, quite suddenly, she changed tack.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49Perhaps Richard was unresponsive
0:33:49 > 0:33:52but a politician like Margaret couldn't fail to notice
0:33:52 > 0:33:56the new opportunities that were opening up.
0:33:56 > 0:33:57With King Edward, his brother George
0:33:58 > 0:34:01and the two young princes out of the way,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05suddenly only Richard and his son stood
0:34:05 > 0:34:08between Henry Tudor and the throne.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14And now a remarkable alliance was forged.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Using secret messages passed by a doctor,
0:34:19 > 0:34:27the Lancastrian Margaret Beaufort and the Yorkist Elizabeth Woodville slowly agreed a pact,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30one that would ultimately transform English history.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35At its heart a marriage alliance...
0:34:38 > 0:34:40between Margaret's son Henry
0:34:40 > 0:34:44and Elizabeth's oldest daughter, Elizabeth of York.
0:34:45 > 0:34:46It's really...
0:34:46 > 0:34:50This fantastic historical moment is not about the men,
0:34:50 > 0:34:51it's all about the women.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55It's about the imprisoned queen and, you know, the ambitious mother,
0:34:55 > 0:34:57who are working between them
0:34:57 > 0:35:00to marry the rightful heir, in a sense, Elizabeth of York -
0:35:00 > 0:35:03she's the one who's got all the royal blood, all the prestige -
0:35:03 > 0:35:07to the slightly dubious young man
0:35:07 > 0:35:10with a very tiny tincture of royal blood in his veins
0:35:10 > 0:35:11but an awful lot of ambition.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19By late summer, the two women were plotting armed rebellion.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23They even recruited one of Richard's closest friends and allies,
0:35:23 > 0:35:25the ambitious Duke of Buckingham.
0:35:29 > 0:35:34But each of the three conspirators had different, conflicting aims.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39My own belief is that they were all using each other.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44The Queen wanted to defeat Richard and restore her son to the throne.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46The Duke of Buckingham hoped
0:35:46 > 0:35:49to use Margaret and Elizabeth's troops against Richard
0:35:49 > 0:35:51and then claim the throne himself.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56And Margaret planned that her two allies would destroy each other.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03The rising would probably have succeeded but for terrible weather.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07Torrential rain left Buckingham stranded in Wales by rising floods.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10He was captured and executed.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16Margaret Beaufort, despite her treasonous plotting, was spared,
0:36:16 > 0:36:19a beneficiary of the culture of chivalry,
0:36:19 > 0:36:23a culture she was a master at manipulating.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26It's an interesting feature of the Wars of the Roses
0:36:26 > 0:36:29that the lives of women were respected.
0:36:29 > 0:36:35The convention was that women were not treated in the same way as men.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40I think chivalry was the most marvellous shield for women.
0:36:40 > 0:36:41It was a disguise.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44Chivalry was something they could hide behind.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47When it suited them, they could play the role of the weak woman
0:36:47 > 0:36:48who needs to be defended
0:36:48 > 0:36:51and of course that gave them a great deal more scope
0:36:51 > 0:36:53to act autonomously in private.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57But it was not just chivalry that saved Margaret.
0:36:57 > 0:37:03She was also, once again, using her husband to play a double game.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07Margaret Beaufort and Thomas, Lord Stanley are pursuing
0:37:07 > 0:37:09a double indemnity insurance policy.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14So they decide that Stanley will back one side and Margaret will back the other.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16So regardless of the outcome,
0:37:16 > 0:37:20they will be able to negotiate some sort of compromise.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22It sounds very, very cynical,
0:37:22 > 0:37:24but I think that's exactly what they do.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30Rather than facing execution, as a man would have done,
0:37:30 > 0:37:32Margaret was placed under house arrest
0:37:32 > 0:37:35with her own husband as jailer.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38And although the rebellion had failed,
0:37:38 > 0:37:42her position was not nearly as bleak as it appeared.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46This looks like defeat
0:37:46 > 0:37:49but it was a brilliant strategic victory for Margaret.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53All the Yorkists who were prepared to fight for the princes in the Tower
0:37:53 > 0:37:56against the usurper Richard had now shown their hand.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59And since the princes had disappeared,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02they had no cause but that of Henry Tudor.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06She had lost a battle but she had split the House of York.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12Suddenly, Henry, in his rather sort of shabby court in exile, finds
0:38:12 > 0:38:14great numbers of powerful men
0:38:14 > 0:38:17who've participated in the Yorkist dissident cause
0:38:17 > 0:38:20coming over to join him.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Margaret had harnessed the anger of those Yorkists
0:38:23 > 0:38:26who saw Richard as a murderer and a tyrant
0:38:26 > 0:38:28and she'd recruited that anger
0:38:28 > 0:38:32to the cause of her own, Lancastrian son.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41But Elizabeth Woodville, still in sanctuary, was about to make
0:38:41 > 0:38:43an extraordinary decision -
0:38:43 > 0:38:46tearing up her earlier agreement with Margaret.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51In the spring of 1484 Elizabeth does a deal with Richard.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53She agrees to come out of sanctuary
0:38:53 > 0:38:57as long as Richard will swear this oath to protect her children,
0:38:57 > 0:39:01her daughters and to arrange suitable marriages for them.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04Although we might consider that Elizabeth is making a deal with the devil,
0:39:04 > 0:39:08in practical terms, what else can she do?
0:39:08 > 0:39:13She was approximately 15 years older than Richard III,
0:39:13 > 0:39:17so as far as she knew there would be no other king but Richard III
0:39:17 > 0:39:19in her lifetime.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25Elizabeth's decision to do a deal
0:39:25 > 0:39:27with the man most believed had killed her sons
0:39:27 > 0:39:30and send her daughters back to court at Westminster
0:39:30 > 0:39:33has forever blackened her reputation
0:39:33 > 0:39:39the ultimate proof, for some, of her cynicism and cold-hearted ambition.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45But isn't there a far simpler explanation for her behaviour?
0:39:45 > 0:39:47Perhaps she signed the agreement
0:39:47 > 0:39:51because she didn't think Richard had killed her sons.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54After all, to this day, there is no evidence that he did.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57And if Richard didn't kill them, then who did?
0:39:59 > 0:40:04The other person with a clear motive was Margaret Beaufort.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07She knew her son, Henry Tudor, could never ascend to the throne
0:40:07 > 0:40:09while the princes were alive
0:40:09 > 0:40:13and she had access to the Tower in the late summer of 1483
0:40:13 > 0:40:16through her co-conspirator the Duke of Buckingham
0:40:16 > 0:40:19and through her husband.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25I don't know if Margaret Beaufort killed the princes
0:40:25 > 0:40:27but I believe that their mother Elizabeth thought so.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33It's a belief that would only have dawned on Elizabeth
0:40:33 > 0:40:36after the failure of the rebellion.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40But her reconciliation with Richard left her perfectly placed
0:40:40 > 0:40:44to exploit a sudden, dramatic downturn
0:40:44 > 0:40:47in the fortunes of the new Queen, Anne Neville.
0:40:56 > 0:41:01At Middleham Castle in early April 1484,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Anne's son, her only child, died.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11Both Richard and Anne were heartbroken, distraught,
0:41:11 > 0:41:13by their son's death.
0:41:13 > 0:41:14One chronicler wrote,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18"You might have seen his father and mother in a state
0:41:18 > 0:41:22"almost bordering on madness, by reason of their sudden grief."
0:41:25 > 0:41:29But Richard's thoughts very quickly turned to the future.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35Anne was in poor health and appeared unlikely to produce more children.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40The worst thing that could happen to a medieval queen
0:41:40 > 0:41:43was to fail to produce a son.
0:41:43 > 0:41:50So really the nightmare that would take some of Henry VIII's wives in the next century
0:41:50 > 0:41:52had now overtaken her.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Perhaps Richard and Anne turned to each other in private
0:41:58 > 0:42:00in their grief.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05But Richard's public reaction to his son's death and to Anne's illness
0:42:05 > 0:42:08was cruel and humiliating.
0:42:08 > 0:42:14When he announced, after the Christmas court of 1484-1485,
0:42:14 > 0:42:17that he'd been advised for medical reasons
0:42:17 > 0:42:19not to have sexual intercourse with his wife
0:42:19 > 0:42:22and that he was no longer sleeping with her,
0:42:22 > 0:42:24effectively this is a public statement
0:42:24 > 0:42:27as to the redundancy of the Queen.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30For Richard to have announced this in such a public way
0:42:30 > 0:42:35was effectively saying Queen Anne's on the scrap heap, you know, let's look for the next queen.
0:42:35 > 0:42:41The woman Richard turned to was none other than Elizabeth of York,
0:42:41 > 0:42:43Elizabeth Woodville's daughter,
0:42:43 > 0:42:49the sister of the missing princes, supposedly betrothed to Henry Tudor.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54The rumours were truly scandalous,
0:42:54 > 0:42:58that Richard was courting his niece the princess
0:42:58 > 0:43:00under the very nose of his wife.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05Elizabeth, the former queen, observed from a distance
0:43:05 > 0:43:08the perfect positioning of her daughter.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11If Richard married her, she would be queen.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14If he was overthrown by Henry Tudor,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16Henry would make her queen.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19I doubt very much that anyone considered
0:43:19 > 0:43:22the feelings of Anne Neville, least of all Elizabeth.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26Their contemporaries were horrified
0:43:26 > 0:43:30but for Richard, his young niece Elizabeth was extremely eligible.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35She is the solution to all his problems.
0:43:35 > 0:43:41Elizabeth represented the other half of the Yorkist claim.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44This was the reason that Henry Tudor in exile had made
0:43:44 > 0:43:46a public promise to marry her
0:43:46 > 0:43:50and Richard had exactly the same motive for doing so.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52He not only gets all this vast political advantage
0:43:52 > 0:43:54and reunites the country
0:43:54 > 0:43:57but he gets a young and fertile bride
0:43:57 > 0:44:00who can give him the heir he so desperately needs.
0:44:10 > 0:44:16On March 6th 1485, an eclipse of the sun occurred over England
0:44:16 > 0:44:20and Queen Anne died, perhaps of tuberculosis.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27Aged just 28, she slipped from history
0:44:27 > 0:44:30as if she had become invisible,
0:44:30 > 0:44:33leaving behind not even a proper portrait,
0:44:33 > 0:44:38just a pale sketch of a rich and complex personality.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45She was buried in an unmarked grave in Westminster Abbey,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48a quiet end to a dramatic life.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55Anne had outlived her first husband, a prince,
0:44:55 > 0:44:59and perhaps chose her second, a king.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03She changed sides in the Cousins' War not once but twice.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07She escaped from house arrest and claimed her inheritance
0:45:07 > 0:45:10and she fulfilled the dreams of her father, the Kingmaker,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13and took the crown of England.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Her downfall was something that she couldn't control,
0:45:16 > 0:45:18however ambitious and determined.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22She had only one child and he died young.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27Anne's death was so convenient, so timely,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31that there were rumours that Richard had poisoned her.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35In this turbulent political atmosphere,
0:45:35 > 0:45:37Richard was forced to abandon the idea
0:45:37 > 0:45:39of a hasty marriage to Elizabeth of York,
0:45:39 > 0:45:41at least for the time being.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46Elizabeth Woodville had not quite succeeded
0:45:46 > 0:45:49in restoring herself to the heart of power.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54But for Margaret Beaufort, the death of Richard's son meant
0:45:54 > 0:45:58that now just one man stood between her son and the throne -
0:45:58 > 0:46:01Richard himself.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15At the start of August 1485, after 14 years in exile,
0:46:15 > 0:46:18Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven in South Wales
0:46:18 > 0:46:21at the head of a small army.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27He headed east through his family's Welsh heartlands,
0:46:27 > 0:46:29gathering support as he went.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32King Richard summoned his own forces to Nottingham,
0:46:32 > 0:46:36and the two armies eventually met at Bosworth, west of Leicester,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39on August 22nd.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42Alongside foreign mercenaries,
0:46:42 > 0:46:45the army Henry drew up at Bosworth that morning
0:46:45 > 0:46:48was a combination of Lancastrians
0:46:48 > 0:46:51and dissident Yorkists hostile to Richard,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54an alliance forged by his mother, Margaret Beaufort.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59But who did Elizabeth Woodville want to win?
0:46:59 > 0:47:03It's always been assumed that Elizabeth was hoping and praying
0:47:03 > 0:47:05for Henry Tudor's victory
0:47:05 > 0:47:08for vengeance on the murderer of her two sons.
0:47:08 > 0:47:14But in fact, there were very few Woodville supporters in Henry's army at Bosworth.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17I think the reality was
0:47:17 > 0:47:22that Elizabeth Woodville had made some tough, shrewd political decisions
0:47:22 > 0:47:27and she had decided to back the regime of Richard III.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30I think that more important than anything to her is
0:47:30 > 0:47:33the blood line of the dynasty which her daughter represents
0:47:33 > 0:47:38and which, like it or not, Richard of Gloucester also represented.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42Hatred of Richard would have come second
0:47:42 > 0:47:46to hatred of the idea of the Lancastrians regaining the throne.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52For Margaret Beaufort this day was the culmination
0:47:52 > 0:47:56of a lifetime of hoping, scheming and praying.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Although under house arrest,
0:47:58 > 0:48:02she had been actively recruiting for Henry.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04If he was defeated,
0:48:04 > 0:48:07even the code of chivalry might not save her from a traitor's death.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11But victory would make her mother of the King of England.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17Everything now hinged on one man Margaret's husband,
0:48:17 > 0:48:21the ever calculating, ever self-serving Lord Stanley.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Stanley was supposedly on Richard's side
0:48:27 > 0:48:30but as the two armies lined up at Bosworth that morning,
0:48:30 > 0:48:36his forces could be seen strategically placed precisely halfway between them.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52We all know that Richard lost at the Battle of Bosworth
0:48:52 > 0:48:55but Shakespeare, working as a Tudor spin doctor,
0:48:55 > 0:48:57has him going down beneath the swords
0:48:57 > 0:49:01and shouting, "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" -
0:49:01 > 0:49:06trying to get off the battlefield and save his own skin.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08In fact, Richard died fighting bravely,
0:49:08 > 0:49:13and his last words were, "Treason! Treason! Treason!"
0:49:13 > 0:49:19He knew he had been betrayed and the traitor was Thomas, Lord Stanley.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25The forces of Margaret's husband Stanley had joined the battle on Henry's side,
0:49:25 > 0:49:30just at the moment it seemed the young pretender would be overwhelmed.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34The intervention of the Stanleys is absolutely decisive.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38If they had not intervened, Richard III would have cut down and killed
0:49:38 > 0:49:40his challenger, Henry Tudor.
0:49:42 > 0:49:48Margaret had rightly judged that her husband was prepared to betray his king.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51And in his final moments, King Richard knew
0:49:51 > 0:49:56it was Margaret Beaufort who had cost him his throne and his life.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04The last Plantagenet king of England was stripped naked,
0:50:04 > 0:50:08his dead body abused and dragged from the battlefield
0:50:08 > 0:50:13to be buried in an unmarked grave, only rediscovered recently.
0:50:19 > 0:50:24Meanwhile at Woking, Henry's mother Margaret was waiting for him.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28The new king might have been expected to tour his kingdom,
0:50:28 > 0:50:30to call a great council of nobles.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32But he didn't.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36The first thing he did was come here to Woking Palace
0:50:36 > 0:50:40and spend two weeks almost in seclusion with his mother, Margaret Beaufort.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44It's as if he wanted to make up for the 14 years they had been apart
0:50:44 > 0:50:47and certainly he wanted her guidance
0:50:47 > 0:50:50on how to rule the kingdom that she had helped him win
0:50:50 > 0:50:53but which was a strange land to him.
0:50:54 > 0:51:00Top of the agenda was the resurrection of the marriage alliance with Elizabeth of York,
0:51:00 > 0:51:04so vital for bolstering Henry's weak claim to the throne.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09But, significantly, the wedding was delayed.
0:51:09 > 0:51:10He doesn't marry her for five months
0:51:10 > 0:51:13and I think that must be to do with the fact
0:51:13 > 0:51:17that he'd heard the rumours of the relationship with Richard
0:51:17 > 0:51:19and wanted to be absolutely certain
0:51:19 > 0:51:22that his Yorkist bride wasn't carrying his rival's child.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27It wasn't quite the fairy-tale romance,
0:51:27 > 0:51:29the uniting of the houses of York and Lancaster,
0:51:29 > 0:51:34of the red and white roses, that the Tudor propagandists suggested.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41And no-one was more cynical about this wedding
0:51:41 > 0:51:44than the mother of the bride.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47Elizabeth Woodville gave her daughter in marriage
0:51:47 > 0:51:50to the family that may have killed her sons.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54It was the only way to get her daughter on the throne.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57But she may have never truly supported them.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03I'm sure that Henry Tudor and indeed Margaret Beaufort
0:52:03 > 0:52:06never altogether trusted Elizabeth Woodville.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08They'd made an alliance of necessity
0:52:08 > 0:52:11but I think they must always have known
0:52:11 > 0:52:15that her interests were not necessarily altogether the same as theirs.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19Despite the fact she was now the Queen Mother,
0:52:19 > 0:52:23Elizabeth found herself quickly shunted aside.
0:52:23 > 0:52:2918 months into Henry's kingship there's this sudden change.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34Elizabeth retires, or is ordered to retire, to the convent of Bermondsey,
0:52:34 > 0:52:36where she spends most of the time
0:52:36 > 0:52:39for the remaining five years of her life.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44By the beginning of 1487, there's only room for one Queen Mother,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46and that's Margaret Beaufort.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Just why Elizabeth was sent to a convent
0:52:51 > 0:52:54was never made clear by the Tudors.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59She seems to have been plotting against the new regime.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03If, as I believe, her son Richard was waiting abroad in exile,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06she may have been hoping for his return.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10He was, after all, heir to her dynasty.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18But Elizabeth died, in comparative poverty, in 1492,
0:53:18 > 0:53:20at the age of 55.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23Her body was taken to Windsor,
0:53:23 > 0:53:28and laid to rest beside that of her husband, King Edward.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31The Tudors, mother and son, kept
0:53:31 > 0:53:35the funeral of this most difficult of in-laws low key.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39Elizabeth died knowing
0:53:39 > 0:53:43that she was the first commoner to marry into the royal family,
0:53:43 > 0:53:47the first Englishwoman to rise to the throne of England.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51She married for love and gave her husband ten children,
0:53:51 > 0:53:53three of them boys.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56She defended her reputation against charges of witchcraft
0:53:56 > 0:53:59and her throne against rebellions.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03She saw her daughter become Queen of England.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07And she would give her name to the greatest Tudor of them all,
0:54:07 > 0:54:09Elizabeth I.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26But it was Margaret Beaufort who shaped the Tudor dynasty
0:54:26 > 0:54:31and with it the next century of English history.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34She went on to found two colleges in Cambridge,
0:54:34 > 0:54:36which commemorate her to this day.
0:54:36 > 0:54:41And although she was the only one of our three women never to be queen,
0:54:41 > 0:54:45she was ultimately more powerful than both Elizabeth and Anne.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50Margaret invented for herself this title,
0:54:50 > 0:54:55once Henry had taken the throne - My Lady the King's Mother.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59She lays down the rules for his court, she advises him,
0:54:59 > 0:55:02she has rooms right beside him when they travel,
0:55:02 > 0:55:03she travels with him often
0:55:03 > 0:55:09and later in his kingship, she exercises his authority in the Midlands.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13She's the most important person in the kingdom after the king
0:55:13 > 0:55:15and sometimes, one might argue,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18she's the most important person in the kingdom full stop.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24Above all, Margaret Beaufort shaped the way we view her era,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27commissioning some of the earliest histories propaganda -
0:55:27 > 0:55:30a self-serving legacy we still wrestle with
0:55:30 > 0:55:33when we try to understand the period.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38I admire Margaret Beaufort
0:55:38 > 0:55:41but I always take her with a pinch of salt.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43I believe she was very careful
0:55:43 > 0:55:45what stories she told of her childhood
0:55:45 > 0:55:49and she virtually dictated the history of her times.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52The blackening of the reputation of Richard III
0:55:52 > 0:55:55and the disappearance of rival women from the record
0:55:55 > 0:55:57were all inspired by her.
0:55:57 > 0:56:04For herself she chose an image of female, vulnerable piety.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06But there was much more to her than that.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12Born to a bastard line of the royal family,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14she had survived a child marriage
0:56:14 > 0:56:18and the agonizing birth of her only son.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23She'd successfully navigated the turbulent waters of the Cousins' Wars,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26marrying carefully and cunningly.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30Now she was the last woman standing
0:56:30 > 0:56:33and had achieved what had appeared impossible,
0:56:33 > 0:56:36the restoration of her House of Lancaster
0:56:36 > 0:56:40and the ascent of her son Henry to the throne.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45She knew exactly what she wanted
0:56:45 > 0:56:49and she was prepared to break any promise, tell any lie,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52do whatever it took to get there.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54For me, that makes her a heroine.
0:56:59 > 0:57:05Margaret's son Henry died before her, aged 52, in 1509.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09He commemorated himself
0:57:09 > 0:57:13with the magnificent Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21And it was here Margaret herself would be buried
0:57:21 > 0:57:23after taking the reins
0:57:23 > 0:57:29and guiding the 17-year-old Henry VIII through his coronation and wedding.
0:57:29 > 0:57:34She died the very day after his 18th birthday, aged 66,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37her job done.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43All three of our women shaped the era they lived through,
0:57:43 > 0:57:46yet they have been almost wilfully ignored by historians,
0:57:46 > 0:57:49who prefer to focus on kings and battles.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55The historical facts show them relentlessly pursuing their ambitions,
0:57:55 > 0:58:00faithful to their houses, utterly determined for their sons.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06The fascinating, complex reality of their lives has been hidden
0:58:06 > 0:58:10by old-fashioned views of what women can and should do.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15But only by understanding them can we understand their age.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20Rescuing the memory of these women is worth the effort
0:58:20 > 0:58:22because these are the founders of the nation
0:58:22 > 0:58:26just as much as the more famous men.
0:58:26 > 0:58:30Their history is partly obscured, almost forgotten,
0:58:30 > 0:58:32but these are our forebears
0:58:32 > 0:58:34and they're my heroines.
0:59:03 > 0:59:04Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd