S10 E11 | Last Hope

Friends, it's the penultimate episode of This Is History's last season with the Plantagenet. Now, we're not going anywhere, but I want to tell you there are another nine seasons for you to consume, stretching all the way back to Henry II and Eleanor of Aquataine's Day. You can listen to them, add free on Patreon. That's where you can also get another 130 bonus episodes, where myself and my producers dig deeper into the history behind each episode. Like today's, where producer Al and I get stuck into the doubt about Henry Tudor's claims to the throne, and ask whether we need to thank Richard III for accessible justice, well, as long as you're not on his bad side. Now, on with the show, after this short break. Hello, it's Elizabeth Day from How to Fail here. My next guest is the actual Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. I'm pretty careful, this does make me quite emotional. He said, "We all knew what time you might be coming up downing street, so we got Roy and we got the telly right in front of him and six of us stood around him." And I also had "Roy, look, look!" Momentarily, they said, "We thought he knew." Listen to How to Fail, wherever you get your podcasts. Margaret Beauford watches the clerk painstakingly writing out letters on the old sheet of parchment. Watching along is her husband, Thomas Stanley, the most powerful lord in North West England. The clerical office they've come to visit is buzzing with activity. Royals scribes are working on all sorts of documents, property transfers, charters, confirmations of land titles. You name it, they're at it. But as far as Margaret is concerned, nothing that's being written out here today is remotely as important as the document her clerk is working on. It's the draft of a royal pardon. The person it excuses from all past misdemeanors is her son, the exile, Henry Tudor. Margaret hasn't seen her son for about a decade. He's 24 now, a fully grown man, but she's never stopped thinking of him or quietly fighting his corner. And today, his case is taking a huge step forward. Because the pardon that's being written is under the authority of the Plantagenet King of England. And it's with his royal approval that Henry is going to be protected from all legal action or political persecution. Once this has been done, the next steps will be to bring him home, then start integrating him into the ranks of the English nobility, which is where, in Margaret's mind at least, he has always belonged. The pardon is actually being drafted on the back of a 30-year-old document. That's the original grant which made Henry's dad, Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, back in 1452. So it couldn't be clearer about what the direction of travel is. It's a programme of political rehabilitation. First, the King's pardon. Second, Henry comes home and is made Earl of Richmond, but then there's something else in the works too. Behind the scenes, Margaret and her husband Stanley have been lobbying for Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, to marry into the royal family. They're gunning for the best marriage possible. The eldest available Yorkist princess is Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville's daughter, 16-year-old Elizabeth of York. If they can snag her, they would knit Henry directly into the royal family. It would be as close a thing to permanent immunity as possible. Margaret holds her breath as the clerk lays down his quill, then picks up his ceiling wax and carefully fixes the King's seal to the document. Then, elation floods through her. At long last, all her work to bring her son home has paid off. Only there's one tiny problem. All this happens in 1482. Within months of the ink and wax drying on that document, the King who granted it, Edward IV is dead. Soon after, his brother has seized the throne as Richard III, and when that happens, all bets are off. Richard has no interest in rehabilitating anyone. Elizabeth of York is locked up with her mother in sanctuary. Her brothers, the princes in the tower, are missing, presumed dead. And Henry Tudor's status has once more been downgraded, from long-lost friend to enemy of the state. All Margaret Beaufort's dreams have gone up in smoke. It looks like she and England will never see Henry Tudor again. I'm Dan Jones, and from Sony Music Entertainment, this is History. Season 10 of A Dynasty to Die for. Episode 11. Last Hope. Episode 11. It's a long-observed quirk of psychology that we humans fare quite badly with having our toys taken away. I ought to put it another way. We can deal pretty well with not having things on the whole. What really stings is to possess something momentarily and then to have it snatched off you. For example, I remember a few years ago coming third in a cards tournament and being awarded the mighty sum of ten quid. I was over the moon, but only for about 45 seconds, because almost right away, the landlady of the pub where I was playing this high stakes game announced that she was doing a sponsored charity walk that weekend. The going rate to sponsor her? Yes, that's right, a Kylie Jenner. Now, it pinched a little, handing that ten pound note straight back when it came, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't so bad. For a start, it was the launch pad to bigger and better things for me in the world of competitive cards. But more importantly for our purposes, losing a couple of pints worth of cold hard cash, pales into insignificance when we compare it to what Margaret Beaufort is going through in the 1480s. Since Margaret was 13 years old, she's been trying to find her son a place in the world. But just as she gets this close to pulling off her master plan, the rug is whipped out from beneath her feet. If Edward IV had lived just a year longer before dying from an excess of all kinds of pork, it's very likely that Margaret would have had Henry back in England. He'd have been Earl of Richmond and subject to the right paperwork coming through, married to the King's eldest daughter. But then, as we heard last time, in 1483, dodgy Uncle Richard went well and truly rogue, and Henry Tudor's rehab plan was collateral damage. It turns out that usurping the crown and disappearing the princes in the tower isn't just a crime in its own right. In doing it, Richard also takes a wrecking ball to England's fragile political peace. So what does all this mean for Henry? Well, now the old arm of Richmond is off the menu, along with his suggested marriage to Elizabeth of York, Henry has to go back to living the life of an exile. For all his adult years, he's lived at the mercy of the Duke of Brittany, the King of France and the machinations between them. It looks like that's the way it's going to stay, or at least that's the initial prognosis. But actually, as the dust settles on Richard's disgraceful power grab in England, things start to look rather interesting for Henry across the sea. It's not really because of anything he does, or that Margaret Beaufort does, it's more to do with the political reaction to Richard's own actions. Because who'd have funcate, Richard's decision to choose the path to power that involves slaughtering his own allies and committing kiddie murder doesn't go down universally well. In fact, right from the moment that Richard snatches the crown, There are significant figures in England who decide They can't live under this regime. Almost right away there's a small but steady trickle of men leaving the realm and going into exile across the channel. Quite a few of them choose to go to Brittany. And in doing so, they're either explicitly or implicitly throwing their weight behind one of the few men left standing with anything like a claim to the Plantagenet Crown. Of course, Henry's claim to royalty is far from Cast iron. In fact, it's decidedly dodgy. Certainly has a fair shout to be Earl of Richmond. That was his dad's title, Fair and Square. But Plantagenet Royal Blood, that's a bit of a stretch. By way of quick reminder, it's true that Henry's father was a half-brother of the old Lancasterian Duffer Henry VI. But that relation came via Catherine de Valois. She had Royal Blood all right, but it wasn't English. It was French. So you can forget about that right away. So what off Henry Tudor's Beaufort descent? Well through his ever-striving Tiger mum, Henry is descended from John of Gaunt and therefore from Edward III. But the Beauforts are all kind of half-assed when it comes to being full Plantagenet Royals. It's been explicitly stated in Parliament, back in 1407, that they don't have a claim to the crown. And while laws can be unmade as well as made, it's not the firmest ground on which to pitch a claim. So what is the appeal of Henry Tudor in 1483? Well, as one chronicler puts it, he's the only imp now left. In other words, if you're looking for an alternative to Richard, there really is a very short shortlist. So it doesn't really matter that no one in England knows Henry. Vanishingly few of them have ever clapped eyes on him, and he has about as much Royal Blood as a stick of celery with the word Plantagenet-ish written on it in colourful food dye. Henry's main virtue is that he isn't the dodgy, thieving, homicidal maniac who's currently on the throne. That being said, there's a big difference between having a vague claim to the throne and turning it into a real challenge to said homicidal maniac. To bridge the gap, someone in England is going to have to step up and say the thing out loud. I back Henry Tudor. Fortunately, that someone exists lurking right in Richard III in a circle. And in the autumn of 1483, he decides to roll the dice. I think I thought this does make me quite emotional. He said, "We all knew what time you might be calling up Downing Street, so we got Roy, and we got the telly right in front of him and six of us stood around him." And I also said, "Right, right, look, momentarily, Staysett, we thought he knew." Listen to How to Fail Wherever You Get Your Pogcasts. John Morton, Bishop of Ely, hasn't got much of a view out of the window of his cell in Brecken Castle, but he can tell visitors are arriving. Which could be good news or very bad news, but either way, it'll be interesting to find out. Morton has been stuck in this pokey little castle in South Wales for weeks now. Whoever it is, dismounting their horse in the castle courtyard and making commands to their servants should at least be able to bring him the latest news from outside. Because surely big things must be going down. The last taste of freedom Morton had was the council meeting held on June 13th in the Tower of London. When he was arrested and his pal, Lord Hastings, was arrested and murdered. It's now early autumn and events are moving fast in the outside world. Morton wants to stay up to speed and to be fair to him, he's about to be dragged straight into the fast lane. It's not long before whoever just arrived is striding down the hallway towards his cell. And when whoever is let in, Morton is mongly surprised to see. It's the man who has ultimate responsibility for his imprisonment. Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. The 27-year-old Duke sits down. Morton eyes him wearily. After all, this is King Richard III's right hand man and kingmaker. Last Morton heard, Buckingham had been handed responsibility by Richard for sniffing out treason and plots against his rule. Yet Buckingham has a funny look on his face, an expression that doesn't suit him very well. He looks almost apologetic. And when he starts to talk, Morton is startled to find that he really is full of regret. The effect is so weird, in fact, that at first Morton smells a rat. But the longer Buckingham talks, the more convincing he sounds. What he says is this. He's well aware that he helped put Richard III in power. But now the princes in the tower have disappeared. He's starting to have an attack of the whoopsies. It could be that he's picturing himself at the pearly gates and figuring that being an accessory to child murder isn't the best look. Whatever it is, he tells Morton he really does wish things had ended up otherwise. But he's starting to think it might be best if Richard was replaced with someone better to continue the legacy of all big back of blessed memory Edward IV. He's come to Morton as a county political operator for a bit of strategic advice. What is he reckoning the best way forward? He agrees that getting Richard off the throne is a must. But to make Henry Tudor a plausible alternative, he says they need to dust off the old Margaret Beaufort play. Henry needs to be married as soon as possible to Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville's eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York. Put those two together and you have something that looks somewhat true to the spirit of Edward. Then there'll just be the small matter of raising enough hell by way of an invasion and or rebellion to force a showdown. It isn't easy, but Morton can't see any other way to do it. He adds the obvious that Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth Woodville need to be in on this as well. Buckingham assures him they will be. In fact they're already in secret communication via a doctor called Lewis Carleon who treats both of them and can pass messages back and forth. Between them they're already getting word out to anyone who has a scrap of loyalty left to the old regime. Be ready to rebel in mid-October. Morton agrees to help with this rabble rousing, writing to all his loyal old comrades from their time in service to King Edward. Finally, messengers are heading across the channel to broker a deal for the Duke of Brittany to lend Henry Tudor some ships, men and money to head to England and take his place as the rival King. Buckingham, in an incredibly king-makerish vault fast, is now attempting to orchestrate a massive coup against Richard III whose own massive coup is barely three months old. Welcome ladies and gentlemen to just another day in Yorkist England. There's just one problem with the uprising of 1483 that comes to be known as Buckingham's rebellion. And that's Buckingham. Because although the Duke has plenty of brass neck, he doesn't have anything like a grip on the sprawling networks of people interested in rising up against King Richard. Certainly, he has no control over when they act. And that means that from the start the rebellion is a mishmash of localised tear-ups which get going around the second week of October. There are armed demonstrations against the King across southern England from Kent to Cornwall, largely orchestrated by men connected to the old court of Edward IV or with the Woodfill family. Richard III finds out about this as soon as it gets going. And he also learns early on that the Duke of Buckingham has flipped on him. In response, he announces a £1,000 bounty on Buckingham's head and slaps a similarly fat one on Bishop Morton's head too. But as it turns out, he doesn't really need to. Because as soon as the rebellion gets going, Buckingham proves himself capable of screwing up a popular uprising without much in the way of assistance. His plan is to go out and stir up whales in the borderlands where he holds a state. Unfortunately, things go badly from the start. For one thing, there's a fortnight of torrential rain which floods the countryside and [BLANK_AUDIO] bursts all the riverbanks, making it a highly unattractive moment for anyone to be lobbied to go out and march across the open countryside and do some fighting. And even if the weather had been better, Buckingham also finds, but no one seems very inspired by his presence in the rebel ranks. So when he starts knocking on doors around whales and the borders, the local lords and gentry who might be expected to sign up to his cause slam those same doors in his face. It seems not to put too fine a point on it that no one likes Buckingham. The great lords of the region won't help him, even Lord Stanley, who's married to Margaret Beaufort, looks in the other direction and refuses to get involved. And the minor gentry go the same way. The upshot is that by the end of October Buckingham is reduced to wandering around with his lordly pinto in his hand. Knowing that by now Richard has raised a formidable army of northern troops and is advancing on the rebels. He realises he's totally screwed, so tries to hide out by ditching his aristothed threads and disguising himself as a peasant. Unfortunately, when he sets up in a peasant hovel in Shropshire, people get suspicious at the vast amounts of food and other supplies he starts ordering to be delivered to him. He doesn't take long for one of Richard's henchmen, James Tarell, to show up, arrest Buckingham and take him down to Solesbury in Wiltshire to face the king. On November 1st, he arrives, but Richard, whose in Solesbury refuses to meet him in person. Instead, he orders that Buckingham be beheaded without trial. On Sunday 2nd November, all Solesday, a particularly hallowed day in the church calendar, Buckingham's head is locked off in Solesbury Marketplace. He doesn't get to send a final message to Henry Tudor, who he was planning to put on the throne. But if he had done, it would surely have read, "Henry, pal, you're on your own now." Hello, it's Elizabeth Day from How to Fail Here. "I think I thought this does make me quite emotional." He said, "We all knew what time you might be calling up Downing Street, so we got Roy and we got the telly right in front of him and six of us stood around him." And he also said, "Roy, look, look!" Momentarily, Stacey, we thought he knew. "I'm going to How to Fail Wherever You Get Your Pogcasts." The gales that roar up in late October 1483 during Buckingham's rebellion are worse than anything anyone can remember. The wind flattenes houses, kills cattle and wrecks fields of crops. There are flash floods which kill hundreds of people. It's chaos. It's bad enough on land, but it's sea is miserable. Which is a problem for Henry Tudor because just as the storms are whipping up, he's weighing anchor with a fleet of 15 ships that have been lent to him by his erstwhile captain, Francis Tudor Brittany. Henry's coming across the channel or trying to, at any rate, on the understanding that if he does so, he'll find a place up in arms and ready to accept him as a replacement for Richard III. But that isn't quite how things are going for him. The sea is treacherous, and the ships, Francis of Brittany, lent him are scattered as they try to make the crossing. Sam are blown all the way back to the Breton coast, others end up in Normandy. By the time Henry's ship is inside the English coastline, he only has one from the rest of his fleet alongside him. Now before we get to what awaits Henry on that English coast, I realise you may have a question. You might be wondering, why an earth, Francis Duke of Brittany, having spent so long keeping Henry Tudor as an honourable captive, is now encouraging him to leave. Indeed, not only that, Francis is actively helping him with ships and men, 5,000 of them in fact. The answer simply is that Francis has the raging hump with Richard. His daughter was down to marry Edward V, and now that Richard has disappeared young Edward, the wedding bells will not be ringing. Francis wants revenge, and he's prepared to take it by playing the card he's held for all these years. Henry Tudor. It's a big shift in strategy from Francis, but it's also a hell of a gamble, as Henry Tudor has just discovered. England has been invaded and captured three times since 1399, by Henry IV I and Edward IV twice. But it turns out, it isn't as easy as it looks, and it nearly goes catastrophically wrong. When Henry Tudor's two ships limp out of the storm and come within sight of the English coast of Poul in Dorset, they see men waiting for them on the shore. Messages are exchanged, and the welcome party give it some Viva La Revolucion, dick. They've been sent from Buckingham, they say, and it'll give them the utmost pleasure to escort Henry in person to Revololion's HQ. Henry is hardly networked into English politics. His mum has been doing all that on his behalf, but for some reason he smells trouble. So instead of coming ashore in person, he decides to invade anchor and head back across the channel to Normandy. Like Eminem in 8 Mile, he knows you only get one shot. This isn't it. With Buckingham's head rolling in the dirt in Salisbury Marketplace, and Henry Tudor's ships heading back the way they came, they're a bellion against Richard Bizzle's out. And in surviving it, Richard seems actually to have been strengthened. The Duke of Buckingham has gone full sleepy hollow, so he'll never have the chance to become Warwick the Kingmaker 2.0. The old die-hards loyal to Edward IV and the Woodvills have blown their cover, so they now have to get out of the country fast or die. To capitalize on his survival, Richard makes a couple of cany plays. One is to pass a law offering poor people affordable access to the Royal Law Courts, a populist move designed to reinforce his man of the people look. The second is to use the first Parliament of his reign in January 1484 to complete the political purge of the realm. He uses Parliament to legally condemn the supposedly illegal marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville and states that he is the only legitimate king of the House of York. Then he passes dozens of acts of a tinder, removing the lands and titles of a large number of his enemies. The Woodville males who haven't been killed are removed from the nobility. Bishop Morton of Ely has all his non-church lands taken away, and Margaret Beaufort has all her possessions removed from her and transferred to her husband, Lord Stanley. That's a compromise Richard takes to avoid antagonising the most powerful Lord in Northwest England, and Margaret can counter self-lucky that it's not worse. Around him, Richard promotes a small hardcore of loyalists who served him since his days as Duke of Gloucester, many of whom have abetted all the dirty work that got him to the throne. He looks for all the world like he and his little cabal are finally sitting pretty. Yet in a strange sort of way, if the failure of Buckingham's rebellion has strengthened Richard's hand, it's also strengthened Henry Tudors, or at least it's clarified his position and his options. It's clear that rehabilitation into the English nobility is now off the table forever. There will be no "older" of Richmond, no happy marriage into the House of York as a peer of the realm. Instead, he's become the last hope of the Woodfills and the old Edward IV Circle. For them, everything now rides on Henry Tudor, marrying Princess Elizabeth of York and offering an alternative to Richard as King. This is Plan A, Plan B and Plan C, and they're going to do everything they can to make it happen. On Christmas Day 1483, the exiled Yorkists join Henry Tudor in van Cathedral in Brittany for an extraordinary ceremony. They swear homage to him as if he were already a King. In return, Henry makes a sacred oath to Mario Elizabeth of York as soon as he becomes King of England. Only how this is all going to happen is a question left for another day, but one thing is now certain. Henry Tudor is going to come to England and topple the crooked regime of Richard III, or he's going to die trying. The last days of the Plantagenet monarchy are upon us. Find out how it all plays out. out when we return for our season finale. Next time on This is History. I've said this once, so I'll say it again. There are three things that turn the wheels of history – breezes, boners, and booze. In Henry's case, all three have intervened to change the course of his life, but given his grandmother's pre-delections for a strapping Welshman, I want to ask my royal favourites, do you think Henry Tudor had a claim to the English throne? Look out for producer Al's post on Patreon. That's patreon.com/thisishistory.