All language subtitles for Britains.Bloodiest.Dynasty.The.Plantagenets.S01E03.Revenge.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb

Out of the chaos,
darkness, and violence

of the Middle Ages,

one family rose to seize control
of England.

Generation after generation,

they ruled the country
for more than 300 years,

ruthlessly crushing all competition,

to become the greatest
English dynasty

of all time.

The Plantagenets.

What I love about

the Plantagenets' story

is that it's more shocking,

more brutal,

and more astonishing

than anything you'll find
in fiction.

I want to show you
the Plantagenets

as I see them --

real living, breathing people,

driven by ambition, jealousy,

hatred, and revenge.

These kings murdered, betrayed,
and tyrannized their way

to spectacular success.

For better and for worse,

the Plantagenets forged England
as a nation.

This time, Edward II
was the king

most famous for the story
of his agonizing death.

But the story of his life is
even more extraordinary,

one of obsession, bloodlust,
political savagery,

and above all, revenge.

July 11, 1307.

Prince Edward, the 20-year-old
heir to the throne,

is near London
as word of his father's death

races south to meet him.

This is the news
that Prince Edward

has been waiting for
all his life,

so the very first thing
you'd expect him to do

is to saddle up, ride north,

claim his birthright,
and save his country.

But he doesn't.

In fact, the first thing he does

is to issue orders
for the recall

of the most divisive man
in the kingdom.

Piers Gaveston,
Edward's best friend

and one of the finest knights
around.

But he's been banished to France
by the old king

for being a bad influence

on the prince.

Gaveston's insufferable
arrogance

and his hold over Edward
mean he is hated

by every noble in the land.

Gaveston doesn't have much time
for them, either.

He's famous for making up
rude nicknames for them.

He calls one "whoreson,"
another "burst-belly,"

and a third "the black dog."

And of course that just makes
them hate him even more.

Gaveston's return will clearly
be nothing but trouble,

but Edward can't see it.

All he cares about is getting
his mate back.

Allez.

Edward is the sort of guy
who can only see one step ahead.

He wants what he wants now,

no matter what the cost.

He's utterly incapable of seeing

that all his actions
have consequences --

most of them bad ones.

This blindness
will ultimately lead

both Edward and his kingdom
to ruin.

And disaster looms
right from the start.

Edward marries 12-year-old
Isabella,

daughter of the king of France,
a match designed

to shore up relations with
the kingdom's biggest enemy.

Their joint coronation should be
a moment of triumph and unity,

but it isn't.

This is the Great Hall
at the Palace of Westminster,

where Edward and Isabella's
coronation feast takes place.

There's lavish decorations,

fountains flowing with wine,

but there's one problem --

this looks less
like a coronation feast

for Edward and his queen

and more like a party
for Edward and Gaveston.

Edward and Isabella's coats
of arms should be on the walls.

Instead, it's
Edward and Gaveston's.

Worse, Gaveston swans around
in imperial purple,

a color only kings
should wear.

Worse still, the king
and his friend

talk to no one but each other
throughout.

Isabella is stoic,

but the rest
of the French nobles

are so incensed
they storm out.

With them goes all the good will

the marriage was designed
to create.

The English nobles
are hacked off, too,

not least Edward's cousin,
Thomas of Lancaster,

the most powerful earl
in England.

Lancaster hates Gaveston,

and to him, the whole event
is an outrage.

It's proof Edward can't see past
his obsession with his friend

to the far more important job
of being king.

And if Edward can't see it,

then Lancaster is going to make
him see it.

Just three months later,

at Edward's first parliament,
Lancaster

and a group of other leading
nobles turn up armed.

Their message to Edward
is simple --

Gaveston must go.

Edward responds by accusing them
of treachery.

He gets a chilling reply.

It's an explicit threat.

"If you don't get rid

of him,
we'll get rid of you."

But whatever Lancaster
threatens him with,

on Gaveston
Edward won't budge.

And Lancaster can't make him...
yet.

But the battle lines
have been drawn.

The bitter hatred between Edward
and his cousin

and this fight over Gaveston

will define the whole future
of the kingdom.

And bloody murder
will now stalk England

for the rest of Edward's reign.

With Gaveston's help,
Edward has very quickly

run the country into the ground.

The finances, security,

and political stability
have all gone to the dogs.

By 1310, Lancaster's patience
is exhausted.

He comes up with a plan to tear
Edward and Gaveston apart.

Lancaster has been conducting
a whispering campaign

against the king, using
popular hatred of Gaveston

to help sell his case.

He claims that Gaveston has been
lining his pockets

at the king's expense.

Now, annoying as Gaveston is,
that's probably

one of the few things
he hasn't been doing.

But the mud sticks.

And by February 1310, Lancaster
has a committed group of nobles

ready to stand up
to the king.

And that allows him to do
something extraordinary.

And the evidence exists here

in the National Archives.

He's going to crush Edward

and destroy Gaveston
at the same time.

These are the Ordinances --

41 articles which Lancaster
claims will bring

stability and reform
to the kingdom.

Sounds great,
but taken as a whole,

they actually do something
very different.

They strip Edward of pretty much
all his powers as king.

It's an unprecedented attack.

The Ordinances take away
the king's right

to impose taxation,
raise armies, dispense justice,

and make law.

All these rights will now rest
with the nobles.

And Lancaster will be far more
powerful than the king.

But even that's not enough
for Lancaster,

because this is personal,

and there's a clause here
that proves it.

It's nought to do
with rights or laws.

It's to do with Gaveston.

This is it, clause 20.

It's even got Gaveston's name
beside it.

It says he has "malmenez,"
misled,

and "malconseillez,"
ill-counseled,

"nostre seigneur le roi,"
our lord the king.

It orders his immediate exile.

It also says
that if Gaveston returns,

he is to be treated
as a traitor.

And the penalty for traitors
is death.

So what does Edward do?

He should fight Lancaster

to protect his basic rights
as king,

but he doesn't.

He seems perfectly happy
to let his enemies

strip away his right
to make peace or war,

to dispense justice,
to collect taxation,

so long as they drop clause 20
and leave his mate alone.

But Lancaster has Edward
over a barrel.

If he doesn't agree
to all the Ordinances,

then Lancaster
and his new allies

will go to war against him.

The king has no choice.

He turns his back
on his friend.

He accepts the Ordinances,

and Gaveston is banished
forever,

on pain of death.

It beggars belief that Edward
would be willing

to give up all his power
just to save his friend.

That's led people to suspect
that Edward and Gaveston

were more than just friends,
that they were lovers

and that Edward's desire
for Gaveston

outweighed everything else.

So, is it true?

Well, possibly.

I don't think we'll ever really
know what went on

behind the closed doors
of the royal bedchamber,

but frankly,
it didn't really matter.

To the people of the time,
Edward could have been bedding

his priest, his pageboy,
and his horse,

so long as he was governing
the kingdom properly.

To the nobles' minds, Gaveston
stopped Edward from doing that.

And that's why Gaveston
had to go.

Lancaster may think he's finally
got the king under control,

but he hasn't, because
when it comes to Gaveston,

Edward is literally
a law unto himself.

Just three months later,

defying Lancaster and all sense,

Edward calls Gaveston back...
again.

And if that wasn't crazy enough,

what Edward does next
is utter insanity.

The king sends letters out
across the country

announcing Gaveston's return

and adding that he's overturning
the Ordinances --

all of them.

When Edward's letter is read out
in town squares like this,

it does two things.

First, it brings England
to the brink of civil war.

And second, it paints a pretty
big target on Gaveston's back.

So you'd be forgiven for
thinking this is just the start

of some much bigger plan,
but you'd be wrong,

because actually
this isthe plan.

Edward is just going to overturn
the Ordinances

and see what happens.

And that's Edward all over.

He's so fixated
on what he wants today,

he simply can't see what's
obviously going to happen next.

Lancaster's response
is no surprise to anyone --

except the king.

Gaveston is hunted down
and brought here

to Warwick Castle, home of one
of Lancaster's allies.

The next day, he's hauled up

in front of a court
organized by Lancaster.

It's composed entirely of nobles
who detest him.

Gaveston isn't even allowed
to speak in his defense.

It's a kangaroo court,
pure and simple.

Make no mistake -- Lancaster is
crossing a line here.

He's trying Gaveston under
article 20 of the Ordinances,

which make it very clear --

if Gaveston comes back
to England,

he dies.

The problem is, Edward has
overturned the Ordinances,

so this court held here
at Warwick Castle

has about as much authority
as a lynch mob.

Piers Gaveston, best friend
and trusted adviser

to the king of England,
is convicted of treason

and sentenced to death.

But however they want
to dress it up,

this isn't justice.

It's political murder.

On the 19th of June, 1312,

Lancaster's men
march Piers Gaveston

out of Warwick Castle

all the way to Blacklow Hill

for execution.

This monument marks
the lonely spot

where Gaveston was killed.

He's brought here because,
unlike Warwick Castle,

this land belongs to Lancaster,

and he wants to send the king
a message.

He wants him to know
who's doing this to him.

This is personal.

When Edward hears
about Gaveston's death,

he goes half crazy with grief.

First he blames Gaveston
for getting caught.

Then, more reasonably,
he blames Lancaster.

Interestingly, the only person
he doesn't blame is himself.

But he's the one who brought
Gaveston back again and again,

despite being warned
very clearly

what would happen
if he did.

He's the one who put his friend
in danger.

He might not want to admit it,
but the buck stops with him.

Edward swears revenge
on Lancaster.

But with the Ordinances reissued

and everyone against him,

the king is in no position
to revenge himself on anyone.

And things are about
to get even worse.

Edward has been neglecting the
never-ending war with Scotland.

By 1314, it's reached
crisis point.

He has to march an army north
immediately,

or the war will be lost.

Now, for Edward, this is
actually an opportunity.

Winning in Scotland could really
help turn things around for him.

But as ever, disaster is about
to strike,

and as ever,
Edward can't see it coming.

In the crucial battle
that decides the war,

Edward's army is massacred.

And it's all Lancaster's fault.

When Edward led his troops
to Scotland,

Lancaster was legally obliged to
bring his forces to support him.

The last thing Lancaster wants
is to see Edward succeed,

so when the time came
to march north,

Lancaster and his cronies
simply didn't turn up.

The king suffers
a historic defeat.

Most of his army
are slaughtered.

Edward is lucky to escape
with his life.

And there is now only one thing
in his mind --

he will do absolutely anything

to get revenge on Lancaster.

After Bannockburn,
Edward is humiliated,

financially ruined,
and friendless.

He desperately needs strong new
allies to help him.

And here at Caerphilly Castle

in the wild west of medieval
Britain

is where he finds them.

They're called the Despensers.

This castle tells you everything

you need to know
about the Despensers.

In a place where neighbors
are constantly at war

over money and power,

the Despensers have the biggest,
baddest castle of them all.

There are two of them,
both called Hugh.

Dad is a longtime supporter
of Edward.

But it's his son
who's the driving force.

Hugh Despenser Jr. is
as ruthless as he is ambitious.

He's not afraid
to take on anyone,

and he's got the brains
and muscle to back it up.

The Despensers help Edward drag
himself out of the mire,

restoring the royal finances

and getting the country
up and running again.

In return, they get to do
whatever the hell they like.

As soon as they've gained
the king's confidence,

the Despensers start snatching
things for themselves.

Over the next three years, they
grab territory after territory

in the Welsh borders,

trampling on anyone
who gets in their way.

Edward must realize
the Despensers

are massively destabilizing the
balance of power in the kingdom,

and it must be obvious they're
only out for themselves.

But I think
as long as they ultimately

serve up revenge on Lancaster,

he doesn't care who they upset
in the process.

He can't see how the effects of
the Despensers' Welsh power grab

could possibly turn out badly
for him.

But it does, because Edward
backing the Despensers

creates a new and very dangerous
enemy.

Roger Mortimer, one of the most
powerful barons in the kingdom.

Up to this point,

he's actually been
on Edward's side.

But when the Despensers grab
a chunk of his turf

and the king does nothing,

Mortimer turns on him

and leads a popular uprising

against the Despensers
and the king.

Mortimer's men kick
the Despensers out of Wales.

Then they march on London.

Mortimer demands that
the Despensers are banished,

and that puts Edward
in a hopeless position.

The king cannot be seen
to back down,

so he has to refuse.

But with Mortimer's army ready
to sack London,

his refusal could easily
get him killed.

Salvation comes
from an unlikely source.

No longer a helpless child,

25-year-old Queen Isabella
falls to her knees

in front of the court
and begs Edward

to reconsider, for her sake.

So, just as Mortimer demanded,
Edward banishes the Despensers,

but crucially,
he's able to claim

he's doing it for his queen.

She's given her husband
a face-saving

way out of a no-win situation.

And it finally spurs him
into action.

With Isabella
by his side,

the king is finally
going to take the fight

to his enemies.

In October 1321, Queen Isabella
makes a surprise stop

here at Leeds Castle in Kent,

seeking shelter on her way
to Canterbury.

Leeds Castle is the stronghold
of Bartholomew Badlesmere,

one of Mortimer's
most prominent allies.

Unsurprisingly, when she gets
to these gates,

Badlesmere's men
refuse to let her in.

Isabella insists.

It turns nasty.

In the melee that follows,
six of her people are killed.

Now, clearly, Isabella's
got a core of steel,

but why would she come
to this castle

owned by one of her husband's
enemies?

Well, in reality,
this is just a pretext.

Isabella is putting
her life on the line

to give her husband
an excuse to start a fight.

Just days later, Edward turns up
with an army and siege engines,

and Leeds Castle surrenders.

Edward and Isabella look on

as 13 of Badlesmere's defenders
are executed for resisting.

Watching with them
are the Despensers,

Edward's ruthless enforcers,
brought back from exile

to manage his campaign,
because this

is just the start.

For the first time
in his entire life,

Edward has a well-thought-out,
strategic plan.

With the Despensers
secretly recalled

and Isabella by his side,

he's going to pick off
his enemies one by one.

First Badlesmere, then Mortimer,

and finally the real prize,
Lancaster.

Edward heads to Wales,
picking off Mortimer's allies

on the way.

The offensive catches Mortimer
off guard.

Edward quickly captures him

and bangs him up
in the Tower of London.

The momentum
is now with the king.

But Lancaster has a big army

and powerful allies
in the north.

He will be a much tougher
proposition to take down.

Then something extraordinary
happens

that absolutely no one
saw coming.

One of Edward's supporters,

the Archbishop of York, receives
a series of damning letters,

and they're here, copied into
the government archives.

The letters are between
two Scottish ministers.

Here you can see the name of one
of them -- Sir James Douglas.

And they refer to an agreement
with an English noble

who's named as "King Arthur."

What he's doing is guaranteeing
he won't support

any English invasion
of Scotland.

There's only one person
that "King Arthur" could be --

the king's cousin,
Thomas of Lancaster.

So this is a smoking gun.

It's proof that Lancaster has
been colluding with the enemy.

And that is treason.

Ever since Bannockburn,
Edward has suspected

that Lancaster
is in bed with the Scots.

Now he can prove it.

The king immediately publishes
the Lancaster letters,

then marches his army north.

As Edward approaches,
Lancaster's support melts away.

No one wants to back
a traitor.

The earl is captured,
fleeing for his life.

This is what remains
of Lancaster's favorite castle,

Pontefract, and it's here

that he's brought in chains
to face Edward.

In a bitter irony,
Edward locks him up

in a tower that Lancaster
had himself built

specifically in anticipation

of imprisoning the king.

The next day, Lancaster is
hauled from his tower

to face the court.

Now, this is the king's
big chance

to restore the rule of law
to England

by giving his cousin
a fair trial.

After all, the evidence
is overwhelming.

Lancaster has committed treason,

and he would be found guilty.

But as ever, this is personal.

Edward is not interested
in justice.

He wants what he's always
wanted --

revenge.

Lancaster is tried
by a jury of his enemies,

no defense, no right to speak,

and sentenced to death.

Amen.

Judicial murder --

exactly what he did
to Gaveston.

It takes three blows
of the sword to kill Lancaster.

As the last blow lands

on Lancaster's neck,

Edward finally has his revenge

on the man
who killed his friend.

But at what price?

The king of England has
committed the political murder

of the country's premier earl,
his first cousin,

a man with Plantagenet
royal blood in his veins.

Pandora's box is open,

and no one is safe.

On the day of Lancaster's
execution,

six of his supporters follow him
to the gallows.

Another three are executed
the next day.

In the months that follow,
the executions continue.

No trial, no evidence,
just the word of the king.

117 rebels have their lands
confiscated,

and at least 15 others join
Roger Mortimer in the Tower.

It must look
to the whole kingdom

like Edward's bloodlust is
insatiable.

But in reality,
behind the scenes,

the Despensers
are pulling the strings.

It's payback time for
the humiliation of their exile.

Edward makes Hugh Despenser Jr.

Chamberlain
of the Royal Household,

giving the Despensers
complete control

of the machinery of government

and the country's finances.

Soon, all access to Edward
has to go through them.

The Despenser regime
makes them hated

right across the kingdom.

But the Despensers don't care.

The king is now their puppet.

And they're not done yet.

Two years later,
in autumn 1324,

war breaks out with France,

and the Despensers
get an opportunity

to move on the one person
who could still

interfere with their control
of the king -- Queen Isabella.

The king of France is Isabella's
brother.

Technically,
she's an enemy alien.

And that's how the Despensers
treat her.

On national security grounds,

they purge her household
of French people,

confiscate her lands...

And her younger children
are ripped from her,

to be looked after
by Despenser's wife.

Non!

Edward does nothing
to help her.

Imagine how Isabella must feel.

She's put up with
the humiliation of Gaveston.

When Edward
went after Lancaster,

she was right behind him.

She even put her own life
on the line

at Leeds Castle.

She's done everything Edward
could have asked of a queen

and more,
and this is her reward.

Edward can't know it,
but this is

the beginning of the end
of his rule.

Six months later, Edward
and the Despensers

are here in Dover.

The war with France is going
disastrously wrong.

The king has no choice but
to turn to his wife for help.

He sends Isabella to France

to negotiate a truce
with her brother, King Charles.

When Isabella sails for France,
she does so

knowing the Despensers
have her children.

And that's why they're pretty
confident she'll have to behave.

But they've massively
underestimated her,

because this is a woman
who'll one day

become known as "the She-Wolf,"

and Edward and the Despensers
are about to find out why.

In France, Isabella's influence
with her brother does the trick.

She gets him to agree
to a treaty.

But there's a catch.

The French king demands
that Edward comes to France

to seal the deal.

Edward going to France
is something

the Despensers
simply can't allow.

Their control over the country

depends on having the king
in their clutches.

Without him, the whole thing
could unravel.

In desperation, the Despensers
persuade Edward

to send a message
claiming to be ill.

So they must be delighted
when the reply comes back

expressing sympathy and saying
that, under the circumstances,

the French king would be happy
to accept the homage

of Edward's son, 12-year-old
Prince Edward, instead.

Sounds reasonable.

So Edward sends the heir
to the throne to France

along with a message telling
Isabella to return immediately.

It's a massive miscalculation.

With Prince Edward safely
by her side in Paris

here at the French court
in the Conciergerie,

Isabella makes her move,
and it's extraordinary.

As far as Isabella
is concerned,

until the Despensers are gone,

her husband is as good as dead.

Neither the king
nor the Despensers

has appreciated the danger
of losing control

of both the queen
and the heir to the throne.

But with Isabella declared
against them,

she quickly becomes the focus
for opposition.

Edward and Hugh
might have thought

that by snatching her children,

they could force her
to toe the line,

but they've no idea
who they're dealing with.

Isabella's opposition
doesn't stop at speeches.

A month later, she's wearing
her black robes of mourning

when she meets a rich, powerful,
and charismatic man

who's just escaped
from the Tower of London.

Roger Mortimer, her husband's
bitterest enemy.

The attraction is immediate.

Within weeks, they're lovers.

Even Paris is shocked.

Isabella, "the She-Wolf,"

and Roger Mortimer, sworn enemy
of the king.

For Edward II, they are a very
dangerous combination.

In the autumn of 1326,

Isabella and Mortimer
head back to England

with one simple aim --

regime change.

D-Day, September 24, 1326.

And even with Mortimer
by her side,

for Isabella this is a hell
of a gamble.

I mean, let's face it.

She's an adulterous
foreign queen

with an escaped-convict lover,

backed by a handful of men

closer in number to a moderate
house party

than a proper invasion force.

This has all the hallmarks

of a suicide mission.

But Isabella and Mortimer
have called it right.

Popular hatred of the Despensers
and the king is so deep

and so widespread that,
as his wife and her lover

ride through the shires,
supporters flock to their side.

In less than a month,
the queen takes the country.

The king is forced to flee
for his life.

Edward is running out of options
fast.

He's supposed to be the anointed
king of England,

but now he's reduced
to a man on the run.

His only remaining supporter
is a man who, if it's possible,

is hated even more than he is.

It's said he tried to get
a message to Isabella --

if only they could talk, maybe
they could smooth things over.

The time for talking
is long gone,

but as usual,
Edward can't see it.

Edward and Hugh are captured,

running scared on a forest path
in the Welsh mountains.

Isabella bangs Edward up
in Kenilworth Castle.

She hasn't decided what to do
with him yet.

But she's got big plans
for Hugh Despenser.

Despenser Sr. has already been
beheaded and fed to the dogs.

And he's the lucky one.

When Hugh the Younger arrives
here in Hereford

and sees a 50-foot gallows
being erected over the town,

he probably begins to suspect

that the trial
he's about to receive

isn't going to be entirely fair.

And he's right.

Like Gaveston and Lancaster
before him,

he's not allowed to speak
in his own defense,

and he's tried by people
who hate him.

And the sentence he receives

is so spectacularly vicious
and inhuman,

he actually tries
to starve himself to death

just to avoid it.

In front of a huge crowd,

Despenser is hung
almost to the point of death.

But he's not getting off
that lightly,

because Isabella has a point
to prove.

This is a very personal
execution

and a very public statement.

Isabella has a ringside seat
as Despenser

is strapped to a ladder
for the next part of his ordeal.

The queen wants everyone
to know

the Despenser has come
between her and her husband.

He's damaged her marriage,

and this is her revenge.

Despenser's genitals
are cut off...

...And burned in front of him.

Incredibly, Isabella

is eating as she watches it
happen.

Even more incredibly,

throughout all of this,

Hugh Despenser
never makes a sound.

But Isabella isn't done.

Despenser's entrails
are pulled out

and shown to him.

Then he screams.

Finally,
almost mercifully,

he is beheaded.

Murderous personal
vindictiveness has become

the defining characteristic
of Edward II's reign.

The only person who could have
stopped it was Edward.

Instead, he embraced it.

And now it's coming for him.

Edward, who's being held here
at Kenilworth Castle,

is Isabella and Mortimer's
last remaining problem.

He may be a defeated tyrant,

but he's still the rightful
king of England,

anointed by God.

On the other hand, they've been
so blatant about their adultery,

they can hardly just give him
his crown back.

So Edward's wife and her lover

have him declared incorrigible,
and he's deposed

by act of Parliament.

Once king of England,

he's now just plain
Edward of Caernarfon,

the place of his birth.

For the first time
since the Dark Ages,

a reigning monarch has been
forced from the throne.

England has a new king,
Edward III,

but it's Isabella as Regent
who's really snatched the crown.

The She-Wolf
has earned her name.

This is Berkeley Castle in
Gloucestershire, and it's here

the end game is played out.

Whilst he's still alive,
the king remains a threat.

There have already been
three attempts

to spring him from prison

and restore him to power.

In truth, he's been
a dead man walking

since his wife
snatched the throne.

Publicly, it will be claimed
that Edward

has died of natural causes,

but as news of his death
spreads,

suspicion of murder grows.

The story we're told is that
he's tortured and murdered

by having a red-hot poker
inserted

via a trumpet device
placed in rectum.

Even after everything
Edward had done,

how could a king be tortured
and killed

in such a horrific fashion?

The answer, of course --
he wasn't.

This is the room where Edward II
was murdered.

Not killed with a poker.

Most probably smothered
in his bed.

The poker story only came about

about 60 years
after Edward was killed.

But it's become
the standard version.

And that's because the idea
of a humiliated,

emasculated, possibly homosexual
king

being buggered to death
is too good a story

to be troubled
by the truth.

Non! Non!

Non!

Next time...

the Plantagenet story reaches
its catastrophic climax

as Richard II, the boy king

who crushed
the Peasants' Revolt,

turns monstrous tyrant

and Henry Bolingbroke rises up

to bring the whole dynasty
crashing down.