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00:00Out of the chaos, darkness and violence of the Middle Ages, one family rose to seize
00:20control of England. Generation after generation they ruled the country for
00:29more than 300 years, ruthlessly crushing all competition to become the greatest
00:39English dynasty of all time. The Plantagenets. What I love about the
00:50Plantagenet story is that it's more shocking, more brutal, more astonishing than
00:55anything you'll find in fiction. I want to show you the Plantagenets as I see them.
01:00Real, living, grieving people, driven by ambition, jealousy, hatred and revenge.
01:08These kings murdered, betrayed and tyrannised their way to spectacular success.
01:14For better and for worse, the Plantagenets forged England as a nation. This time,
01:20Edward II was the king most famous for the story of his agonising death. But the
01:27story of his life is even more extraordinary. One of obsession, bloodlust,
01:33political savagery and, above all, revenge.
01:40war!
01:51And bo
01:59July the 11th, 1307.
02:27Prince Edward, the 20-year-old heir to the throne, is near London as word of his father's death races south to meet him.
02:52This is the news that Prince Edward's been waiting for all his life.
02:55So the very first thing you'd expect him to do is to saddle up, ride north, claim his birthright and save his country.
03:02But he doesn't.
03:04In fact, the first thing he does is to issue orders for the recall of the most divisive man in the kingdom.
03:11Piers Gaveston, Edward's best friend, and one of the finest knights around.
03:26But he's been banished to France by the old king for being a bad influence on the prince.
03:33Gaveston's insufferable arrogance and his hold over Edward mean he's hated by every noble in the land.
03:39Gaveston doesn't have much time for them either. He's famous for making up rude nicknames for them.
03:45He calls one Whoreson, another Burst Belly, and a third The Black Dog.
03:48And of course, that just makes them hate him even more.
03:52Gaveston's return will clearly be nothing but trouble, but Edward can't see it. All he cares about is getting his mate back.
03:56Hello!
03:57Gaveston doesn't have much time for them either. He's famous for making up rude nicknames for them.
04:00He's famous for making up rude nicknames for them. He calls one Whoreson, another Burst Belly, and a third The Black Dog.
04:06And of course, that just makes them hate him even more.
04:13Gaveston's return will clearly be nothing but trouble, but Edward can't see it. All he cares about is getting his mate back.
04:21Edward is the sort of guy who can only see one step ahead.
04:27He wants what he wants now, no matter what the cost.
04:32He's utterly incapable of seeing that all his actions have consequences,
04:37most of them bad ones.
04:40This blindness will ultimately lead both Edward and his kingdom to ruin.
04:52And disaster looms right from the start.
05:00Edward marries 12-year-old Isabella, daughter of the King of France,
05:04a match designed to shore up relations with the kingdom's biggest enemy.
05:11Their joint coronation should be a moment of triumph and unity.
05:17But it isn't.
05:21This is the great hall at the Palace of Westminster,
05:24where Edward and Isabella's coronation feast takes place.
05:27There's lavish decorations, fountains flowing with wine.
05:32But there's one problem.
05:33This looks less like a coronation feast for Edward and his queen,
05:37and more like a party for Edward and Gaveston.
05:43Edward and Isabella's coats of arms should be on the walls.
05:47Instead, it's Edward and Gaveston's.
05:49Worse, Gaveston swans around in imperial purple,
05:55a colour only kings should wear.
05:58Worse still, the king and his friend talk to no one but each other throughout.
06:07Isabella is stoic,
06:09but the rest of the French nobles are so incensed they storm out.
06:13With them goes all the goodwill the marriage was designed to create.
06:22The English nobles are hacked off too.
06:26Not least Edward's cousin, Thomas of Lancaster,
06:29the most powerful earl in England.
06:33Lancaster hates Gaveston,
06:34and to him the whole event is an outrage.
06:39It's proof Edward can't see past his obsession with his friend
06:44to the far more important job of being king.
06:48And if Edward can't see it,
06:50then Lancaster's going to make him see it.
06:52Just three months later,
07:05at Edward's first parliament,
07:07Lancaster and a group of other leading nobles turn up,
07:10armed.
07:11What does that mean, Thomas?
07:13Who wants to do you harm?
07:15Their message to Edward is simple.
07:18Gaveston must go.
07:20Edward responds by accusing them of treachery.
07:24He gets a chilling reply.
07:33It's an explicit threat.
07:36If you don't get rid of him,
07:37we'll get rid of you.
07:41But whatever Lancaster threatens him with,
07:44on Gaveston,
07:46Edward won't budge.
07:49And Lancaster can't make him.
07:53Yet.
07:57But the battle lines have been drawn.
07:59The bitter hatred between Edward and his cousin
08:02and this fight over Gaveston
08:04will define the whole future of the kingdom
08:07and bloody murder will now stalk England
08:09for the rest of Edward's reign.
08:14The battle lines have been drawn so far,
08:23and he has a good idea andоду back
08:33it could be given us.
08:35All the time,
08:37let's see.
08:37With Gaveston's help, Edward has very quickly run the country into the ground.
08:50The finances, security and political stability have all gone to their dogs.
08:57By 1310, Lancaster's patience is exhausted.
09:01He comes up with a plan to tear Edward and Gaveston apart.
09:07Lancaster has been conducting a whispering campaign against the king,
09:13using popular hatred of Gaveston to help sell his case.
09:17He claims that Gaveston's been lining his pockets at the king's expense.
09:21Now, annoying as Gaveston is, that's probably one of the few things he hasn't been doing.
09:26But the mud sticks, and by February 1310,
09:29Lancaster has a committed group of nobles ready to stand up to the king,
09:34and that allows him to do something extraordinary.
09:37And the evidence exists here, in the National Archives.
09:43He's going to crush Edward, and destroy Gaveston at the same time.
09:49These are the ordinances, 41 articles which Lancaster claims will bring stability and reform to the kingdom.
09:56Sounds great, but taken as a whole, they actually do something very different.
10:01They strip Edward of pretty much all his powers as king.
10:06It's an unprecedented attack.
10:09The ordinances take away the king's right to impose taxation,
10:13raise armies, dispense justice, and make law.
10:16All these rights will now rest with the nobles,
10:21and Lancaster will be far more powerful than the king.
10:25But even that's not enough for Lancaster, because this is personal.
10:31And there's a clause here that proves it.
10:34It's not to do with rights or laws.
10:36It's to do with Gaveston.
10:37This is it, clause 20.
10:43It's even got Gaveston's name beside it.
10:45It says he has malmené, misled, and malconseillé, ill-counseld,
10:53nostre seigneur le roi, our lord the king.
10:57It orders his immediate exile.
11:03Also says that if Gaveston returns, he is to be treated as a traitor.
11:08And the penalty for traitors is death.
11:11So what does Edward do?
11:15He should fight Lancaster to protect his basic rights as king.
11:18He doesn't.
11:19He seems perfectly happy to let his enemies strip away his right to make peace or war,
11:25to dispense justice, to collect taxation.
11:27So long as they drop clause 20, leave his mate alone.
11:35But Lancaster has Edward over a barrel.
11:38If he doesn't agree to all the ordinances,
11:42then Lancaster and his new allies will go to war against him.
11:46The king has no choice.
11:48He turns his back on his friend.
11:51He accepts the ordinances, and Gaveston is banished.
11:55Forever.
11:56On pain of death.
12:00It beggars belief that Edward would be willing to give up all his power just to save his friend.
12:07That's led people to suspect that Edward and Gaveston were more than just friends.
12:11That they were lovers, and that Edward's desire for Gaveston outweighed everything else.
12:18So is it true?
12:22Well, possibly.
12:24I don't think we'll ever really know what went on behind the closed doors of the royal bedchamber.
12:29But frankly, it didn't really matter.
12:32To the people of the time, Edward could have been bedding his priest, his pageboy and his horse,
12:37so long as he was governing the kingdom properly.
12:40To the nobles' minds, Gaveston stopped Edward from doing that.
12:43And that's why Gaveston had to go.
12:51Lancaster may think he's finally got the king under control.
12:55But he hasn't.
12:56Because when it comes to Gaveston, Edward is literally a law unto himself.
13:01Just three months later, defying Lancaster and all sense, Edward calls Gaveston back.
13:09Again.
13:12And if that wasn't crazy enough, what Edward does next is utter insanity.
13:19The king sends letters out across the country announcing Gaveston's return
13:24and adding that he's overturning the ordinances.
13:28All of them.
13:31When Edward's letters read out in town squares like this, it does two things.
13:40First, it brings England to the brink of civil war.
13:44And second, it paints a pretty big target on Gaveston's back.
13:48So you'd be forgiven for thinking, this is just the start of some much bigger plan.
13:52But you'd be wrong.
13:53Because actually, this is the plan.
13:56Edward's just going to overturn the ordinances and see what happens.
14:00And that's Edward all over.
14:02He's so fixated on what he wants today, he simply can't see what's obviously going to happen next.
14:13Lancaster's response is no surprise to anyone except the king.
14:18Gaveston is hunted down and brought here to Warwick Castle, home of one of Lancaster's allies.
14:24The next day, he's hauled up in front of a court organised by Lancaster.
14:37It's composed entirely of nobles who detest him.
14:42Gaveston isn't even allowed to speak in his defence.
14:44It's a kangaroo court, pure and simple.
14:57Make no mistake, Lancaster's crossing a line here.
15:00He's trying Gaveston under Article 20 of the ordinances, which make it very clear.
15:07If Gaveston comes back to England, he dies.
15:11Problem is, Edward's overturned the ordinances, so this court held here at Warwick Castle has about as much authority as a lynch mob.
15:20Piers Gaveston, best friend and trusted advisor to the king of England, is convicted of treason and sentenced to death.
15:31But however they want to dress it up, this isn't justice, it's political murder.
15:36On the 19th of June, 1312, Lancaster's men march Piers Gaveston out of Warwick Castle, all the way to Blacklow Hill, for execution.
15:53This monument marks the lonely spot where Gaveston was killed.
16:13He's brought here because unlike Warwick Castle, this land belongs to Lancaster, and he wants to send the king a message.
16:21He wants him to know who's doing this to him.
16:25This is personal.
16:51When Edward hears about Gaveston's death, he goes half crazy with grief.
16:59First he blames Gaveston for getting caught, then more reasonably, he blames Lancaster.
17:05Interestingly, the only person he doesn't blame is himself.
17:08But he's the one who brought Gaveston back again and again, despite being warned very clearly what would happen if he did.
17:16He's the one who put his friend in danger.
17:20He might not want to admit it, but the buck stops with him.
17:27Edward swears revenge on Lancaster.
17:31But with the ordinances reissued and everyone against him, the king is in no position to revenge himself on anyone.
17:38And things are about to get even worse.
17:48Edward's been neglecting the never-ending war with Scotland.
17:52By 1314, it's reached crisis point.
17:55He has to march an army north immediately, or the war will be lost.
17:59Now, for Edward, this is actually an opportunity.
18:03Winning in Scotland could really help turn things around for him.
18:06But as ever, disaster is about to strike.
18:10And as ever, Edward can't see it coming.
18:20In the crucial battle that decides the war, Edward's army is massacred.
18:29And it's all Lancaster's fault.
18:32When Edward led his troops to Scotland, Lancaster was legally obliged to bring his forces to support him.
18:46The last thing Lancaster wants is to see Edward succeed.
18:50So when the time came to march north, Lancaster and his cronies simply didn't turn up.
18:56The king suffers a historic defeat.
19:01Most of his army are slaughtered.
19:04Edward is lucky to escape with his life.
19:06And there is now only one thing in his mind.
19:10He will do absolutely anything to get revenge on Lancaster.
19:15After Bannockburn, Edward is humiliated, financially ruined and friendless.
19:29He desperately needs strong new allies to help him.
19:33And here at Coffili Castle, in the wild west of medieval Britain, is where he finds them.
19:43They're called the Dispensers.
19:45This castle tells you everything you need to know about the Dispensers.
19:55In a place where neighbours are constantly at war over money and power,
19:59the Dispensers have the biggest, baddest castle of them all.
20:08There are two of them, both called Hugh.
20:10Dad is a long-time supporter of Edward, but it's his son who's the driving force.
20:19Hugh Dispensers Jr. is as ruthless as he is ambitious.
20:23He's not afraid to take on anyone, and he's got the brains and muscle to back it up.
20:31The Dispensers help Edward drag himself out of the mire,
20:35restoring the royal finances and getting the country up and running again.
20:40In return, they get to do whatever the hell they like.
20:47As soon as they've gained the King's confidence,
20:50the Dispensers start snatching things for themselves.
20:53Over the next three years, they grab territory after territory in the Welsh borders,
21:00trampling on anyone who gets in their way.
21:03Edward must realise the Dispensers are massively destabilising the balance of power in the kingdom.
21:08And it must be obvious they're only out for themselves.
21:11But I think as long as they ultimately serve up revenge on Lancaster,
21:15he doesn't care who they upset in the process.
21:17He can't see how the effects of the Dispensers' Welsh power grab
21:22could possibly turn out badly for him.
21:24But it does, because Edward backing the Dispensers creates a new and very dangerous enemy.
21:37Roger Mortimer, one of the most powerful barons in the kingdom.
21:40Up to this point, he's actually been on Edward's side.
21:46But when the Dispensers grab a chunk of his turf and the King does nothing,
21:51Mortimer turns on him
21:52and leads a popular uprising against the Dispensers and the King.
21:58Mortimer's men kick the Dispensers out of Wales.
22:11Then they march on London.
22:13Mortimer demands that the Dispensers are banished
22:26and that puts Edward in a hopeless position.
22:29The King cannot be seen to back down, so he has to refuse.
22:34But with Mortimer's army ready to sack London,
22:38his refusal could easily get him killed.
22:40Salvation comes from an unlikely source.
22:52No longer a helpless child,
22:5525-year-old Queen Isabella falls to her knees in front of the court
22:59and begs Edward to reconsider for her sake.
23:03So just as Mortimer demanded, Edward banishes the Dispensers,
23:08but crucially, he's able to claim he's doing it for his Queen.
23:13She's given her husband a face-saving way out of a no-win situation.
23:18And it finally spurs him into action.
23:21With Isabella by his side,
23:37the King is finally going to take the fight to his enemies.
23:40And it finally lapsed him into action.
23:50She's under gradual and
24:08In October 1321, Queen Isabella makes a surprise stop here at Leeds Castle in Kent,
24:22seeking shelter on her way to Canterbury.
24:26Leeds Castle is the stronghold of Bartholomew Battlesmere,
24:30one of Mortimer's most prominent allies.
24:35Unsurprisingly, when she gets to these gates,
24:38Battlesmere's men refuse to let her in.
24:40Isabella insists it turns nasty,
24:43and in the melee that follows, six of her people are killed.
24:47Now, clearly, Isabella's got a core of steel,
24:49but why would she come to this castle,
24:52owned by one of her husband's enemies?
24:54Well, in reality, this is just a pretext.
24:58Isabella's putting her life on the line
25:00to give her husband an excuse to start a fight.
25:03Just days later, Edward turns up with an army and siege engines,
25:10and Leeds Castle surrenders.
25:15Edward and Isabella look on as 13 of Battlesmere's defenders are executed for resisting.
25:21Watching with them are the Dispensers,
25:31Edward's ruthless enforcers,
25:33brought back from exile to manage his campaign.
25:36Because this is just the start.
25:39For the first time in his entire life,
25:42Edward has a well-thought-out strategic plan.
25:46With the Dispensers secretly recalled,
25:48and Isabella by his side,
25:49he's going to pick off his enemies one by one.
25:52First Battlesmere,
25:53then Mortimer,
25:54and finally the real prize,
25:57Lancaster.
26:01Edward heads to Wales,
26:03picking off Mortimer's allies on the way.
26:07The offensive catches Mortimer off guard.
26:11Edward quickly captures him
26:12and bangs him up in the Tower of London.
26:14The momentum is now with the King,
26:20but Lancaster has a big army
26:22and powerful allies in the north.
26:25He'll be a much tougher proposition to take down.
26:29Then, something extraordinary happens
26:31that absolutely no-one saw coming.
26:35One of Edward's supporters,
26:37the Archbishop of York,
26:38receives a series of damning letters,
26:40and they're here,
26:41copied into the government archives.
26:43The letters are between two Scottish ministers.
26:47Here you can see the name of one of them,
26:48Sir James Douglas.
26:50And they refer to an agreement
26:51with an English noble
26:52who's named as King Arthur.
26:56But what he's doing is guaranteeing
26:58he won't support any English invasion of Scotland.
27:02There's only one person that King Arthur could be.
27:05The King's cousin,
27:07Thomas of Lancaster.
27:08So this is a smoking gun.
27:14It's proof that Lancaster's been colluding with the enemy.
27:19And that is treason.
27:21Ever since Bannockburn,
27:23Edward suspected that Lancaster is in bed with the Scots.
27:27Now he can prove it.
27:29The king immediately publishes the Lancaster letters,
27:35then marches his army north.
27:39As Edward approaches,
27:41Lancaster's support melts away.
27:43No-one wants to back a traitor.
27:46The Earl is captured, fleeing for his life.
27:48This is what remains of Lancaster's favourite castle, Pontefract.
27:59And it's here that he's brought in chains to face Edward.
28:07In a bitter irony,
28:13Edward locks him up in a tower
28:14that Lancaster had himself built specifically in anticipation
28:18of imprisoning the king.
28:22The next day, Lancaster's hauled from his tower to face the court.
28:27Now, this is the king's big chance
28:29to restore the rule of law to England
28:31by giving his cousin a fair trial.
28:33After all, the evidence is overwhelming.
28:37Lancaster has committed treason,
28:39and he would be found guilty.
28:41But as ever, this is personal.
28:43Edward's not interested in justice.
28:45He wants what he's always wanted.
28:47Revenge.
28:52Lancaster is tried by a jury of his enemies.
28:55No defence.
28:57No right to speak.
28:58And sentenced to death.
29:00I'm in.
29:01Judicial murder.
29:03Exactly what he did to Gaveston.
29:06It takes three blows of the sword to kill Lancaster.
29:18As the last blow lands on Lancaster's neck,
29:22Edward finally has his revenge on the man who killed his friend.
29:25But at what price?
29:26The king of England has committed the political murder
29:30of the country's premier earl, his first cousin,
29:33a man with plantagenet royal blood in his veins.
29:37Pandora's box is open, and no-one is safe.
29:41On the day of Lancaster's execution,
29:47six of his supporters follow him to the gallows.
29:50Another three are executed the next day.
29:54In the months that follow, the executions continue.
29:58No trial, no evidence, just the word of the king.
30:02117 rebels have their lands confiscated,
30:05and at least 15 others join Roger Mortimer in the tower.
30:08It must look to the whole kingdom like Edward's bloodlust is insatiable,
30:13but in reality, behind the scenes,
30:15the Dispensers are pulling the strings.
30:18It's payback time for the humiliation of their exile.
30:24Edward makes Hugh Dispenser Jr.
30:26chamberlain of the royal household,
30:28giving the Dispensers complete control
30:31of the machinery of government and the country's finances.
30:38Soon, all access to Edward has to go through them.
30:48The Dispenser regime makes them hate it right across the kingdom.
30:53But the Dispensers don't care.
30:55The king is now their puppet,
30:56and they're not done yet.
31:01Two years later, in autumn 1324,
31:04war breaks out with France,
31:06and the Dispensers get an opportunity
31:08to move on the one person
31:10who could still interfere with their control of the king,
31:13Queen Isabella.
31:16The king of France is Isabella's brother.
31:19Technically, she's an enemy alien,
31:20and that's how the Dispensers treat her.
31:25On national security grounds,
31:27they purge her household of French people,
31:30confiscate her lands,
31:32and her younger children are ripped from her
31:37to be looked after by Dispenser's wife.
31:40No!
31:41No!
31:44Edward does nothing to help her.
31:46Imagine how Isabella must feel.
31:56She's put up with the humiliation of Gaveston.
31:59When Edward went after Lancaster,
32:00she was right behind him.
32:02She even put her own life on the line at Leeds Castle.
32:05She's done everything Edward could have asked of a queen,
32:08and more,
32:08and this is her reward.
32:10Edward can't know it,
32:17but this is the beginning of the end of his rule.
32:25Six months later,
32:27Edward and the Dispensers are here in Dover.
32:30The war with France is going disastrously wrong.
32:34The king has no choice but to turn to his wife for help.
32:37He sends Isabella to France
32:40to negotiate a truce with her brother, King Charles.
32:44When Isabella sails for France,
32:46she does so knowing the Dispensers have her children,
32:49and that's why they're pretty confident she'll have to behave.
32:52But they've massively underestimated her,
32:54because this is a woman who will one day become known as the She-Wolf,
32:58and Edward and the Dispensers are about to find out why.
33:01In France, Isabella's influence with her brother does the trick.
33:11She gets him to agree to a treaty.
33:14But there's a catch.
33:16The French king demands that Edward comes to France to seal the deal.
33:24Edward going to France is something the Dispensers simply can't allow.
33:28Now, their control over the country depends on having the king in their clutches.
33:33Without him, the whole thing could unravel.
33:36In desperation, the Dispensers persuade Edward to send a message claiming to be ill,
33:41so they must be delighted when the reply comes back, expressing sympathy,
33:45and saying that, under the circumstances,
33:48the French king would be happy to accept the homage of Edward's son,
33:51the 12-year-old Prince Edward, instead.
33:54Sounds reasonable?
33:55So, Edward sends the heir to the throne to France,
34:05along with a message telling Isabella to return immediately.
34:13It's a massive miscalculation.
34:15With Prince Edward safely by her side in Paris,
34:22here at the French court in the conciergerie,
34:25Isabella makes her move.
34:27And it's extraordinary.
34:28As far as Isabella is concerned,
34:55until the Dispensers are gone,
34:57her husband is as good as dead.
35:02Neither the king nor the Dispensers
35:03had appreciated the danger of losing control of both the queen
35:07and the heir to the throne.
35:09But with Isabella declared against them,
35:11she quickly becomes the focus for opposition.
35:15Edward and Hugh might have thought that by snatching her children,
35:18they could force her to toe the line,
35:19but they've no idea who they're dealing with.
35:27Isabella's opposition doesn't stop its speeches.
35:32A month later, she's wearing her black robes of mourning,
35:36when she meets a rich, powerful and charismatic man
35:41who's just escaped from the Tower of London.
35:45Roger Mortimer, her husband's bitterest enemy.
35:51The attraction is immediate.
35:56Within weeks, they're lovers.
35:59Even Paris is shocked.
36:00Isabella, the she-wolf, and Roger Mortimer,
36:08sworn enemy of the king.
36:11For Edward II,
36:12they are a very dangerous combination.
36:15In the autumn of 1326,
36:42Isabella and Mortimer head back to England
36:45with one simple aim,
36:48regime change.
36:51D-Day, September 24th, 1326.
36:55And even with Mortimer by her side,
36:57for Isabella, this is a hell of a gamble.
36:59I mean, let's face it,
37:01she's an adulterous foreign queen
37:02with an escaped convict lover,
37:05backed by a handful of men
37:07closer in number to a moderate house party
37:09than a proper invasion force.
37:11This has all the hallmarks
37:13of a suicide mission.
37:18But Isabella and Mortimer
37:20have called it right.
37:25Popular hatred of the dispensers
37:27and the king is so deep
37:28and so widespread
37:29that as his wife and her lover
37:31ride through the shires,
37:33supporters flock to their side.
37:35In less than a month,
37:37the queen takes the country.
37:40The king is forced to flee for his life.
37:46Edward's running out of options fast.
37:49He's supposed to be
37:50the anointed king of England,
37:51but now he's reduced to a man on the run.
37:54His only remaining supporter
37:58is a man who, if it's possible,
38:01is hated even more than he is.
38:03Instead, he tried to get a message to Isabella.
38:06If only they could talk,
38:07maybe they could smooth things over.
38:09The time for talking is long gone,
38:13but as usual,
38:15Edward can't see it.
38:20Edward and Hugh are captured,
38:22running scared on a forest path
38:24in the Welsh mountains.
38:25Isabella bangs Edward up
38:39in Kenilworth Castle.
38:41She hasn't decided
38:42what to do with him yet.
38:46But she's got big plans
38:48for Hugh Dispenser.
38:50Dispenser Senior
38:51has already been beheaded
38:53and fed to the dogs.
38:55And he's the lucky one.
39:01When Hugh the Younger
39:02arrives here in Hereford
39:03and sees a 50-foot gallows
39:05being erected over the town,
39:07he probably begins to suspect
39:08the trial he's about to receive
39:10isn't going to be entirely fair.
39:15And he's right.
39:16Like Gaveston and Lancaster before him,
39:18he's not allowed to speak
39:19in his own defence
39:20and he's tried by people who hate him.
39:23And the sentence he receives
39:25is so spectacularly vicious
39:27and inhuman,
39:28he actually tries to starve himself
39:30to death just to avoid it.
39:38In front of a huge crowd,
39:40Dispenser is hung
39:41almost to the point of death.
39:43But he's not getting off that lightly
39:47because Isabella has a point to prove.
39:51This is a very personal execution
39:54and a very public statement.
39:59Isabella has a ringside seat
40:00as Dispenser is strapped to a ladder
40:03for the next part of his ordeal.
40:05The Queen wants everyone to know
40:09that Dispenser has come
40:11between her and her husband.
40:13He's damaged her marriage
40:15and this is her revenge.
40:23Dispenser's genitals are cut off
40:25and burned in front of him.
40:37Incredibly, Isabella is beating
40:39as she watches it happen.
40:42Even more incredibly,
40:44throughout all of this,
40:46Hugh Dispenser never makes a sound.
40:49But Isabella isn't done.
40:51Dispenser's entrails are pulled out
40:54and shown to him.
40:56Then he screams.
41:03Finally, almost mercifully,
41:06he's beheaded.
41:09Murderous, personal vindictiveness
41:11has become the defining characteristic
41:13of Edward II's reign.
41:15The only person who could have stopped it
41:17was Edward.
41:19Instead, he embraced it.
41:21And now it's coming for him.
41:24Edward, who's being held here
41:32at Kenilworth Castle,
41:34is Isabella and Mortimer's
41:36last remaining problem.
41:38He may be a defeated tyrant,
41:40but he's still the rightful King of England,
41:43anointed by God.
41:45On the other hand,
41:46they've been so blatant
41:47about their adultery,
41:49they can hardly just give him
41:50his crown back.
41:51So Edward's wife and her lover
41:53have him declared incorrigible
41:55and he's deposed
41:56by Act of Parliament.
42:00Once King of England,
42:02he's now just plain Edward of Carnarvon,
42:04the place of his birth.
42:09For the first time
42:10since the Dark Ages,
42:11a reigning monarch
42:12has been forced from the throne.
42:13England has a new king,
42:16Edward III,
42:17but it's Isabella as regent
42:18who's really snatched the crown.
42:20The she-wolf
42:21has earned her name.
42:31This is Barclay Castle
42:33in Gloucestershire
42:33and it's here
42:35the end game
42:35is played out.
42:39Whilst he's still alive,
42:40the king remains a threat.
42:45There have already been
42:46three attempts
42:47to spring him from prison
42:48and restore him to power.
42:52In truth,
42:53he's been a dead man walking
42:54since his wife
42:55snatched the throne.
43:03Publicly,
43:06it will be claimed
43:07that Edward has died
43:08of natural causes,
43:09but as news of his death spreads,
43:11suspicion of murder grows.
43:14The story we're told
43:16is that he's tortured
43:17and murdered
43:17by having a red-hot poker
43:19inserted via a trumpet device
43:21placed in his rectum.
43:29Even after everything
43:30Edward had done,
43:31how could a king
43:32be tortured and killed
43:33in such a horrific fashion?
43:36The answer, of course,
43:37he wasn't.
43:49This is the room
43:50where Edward II
43:50was murdered.
43:52Not killed with a poker,
43:53but most probably
43:54smothered in his bed.
43:55No!
43:56No!
43:56No!
43:58The poker story
43:59only came about
44:00about 60 years
44:01after Edward was killed,
44:03but it's become
44:04the standard version.
44:05And that's because
44:06the idea
44:06of a humiliated,
44:08emasculated,
44:09possibly homosexual king
44:11being buggered to death
44:12is too good a story
44:14to be troubled
44:15by the truth.
44:16Next time,
44:24the Plantagenet story
44:26reaches its catastrophic
44:27climax,
44:29as Richard II,
44:30the boy king
44:31who crushed
44:31the Peasants' Revolt
44:32turns monstrous tyrant,
44:35and Henry Bolenbroke
44:36rises up
44:36to bring the whole dynasty
44:38crashing down.
44:39We'll be right back!