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This is Caernarfon Castle
in North Wales.

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Its vast walls are built

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out of layers of different-coloured stone

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in imitation of the walls
of the imperial city of Constantinople,

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while, on top of the battlements
of the great tower there,

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now worn to stumps
by the sea winds and the rain,

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perch stone sculptures
of imperial eagles,

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for this castle was built by a man

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whose ambitions were truly imperial:

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King Edward I, conqueror of Wales

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and Hammer of the Scots.

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(Horse neighing)

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'Edward was the founder
of a line of kings,

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'father, son and grandson

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'who all bore
the Anglo-Saxon name Edward

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'and they carried England
to new heights of power.

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'They would conquer Wales, Scotland
and even France -

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'or at least
the first and third Edwards would

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'but the second Edward
unconventional and self-indulgent

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'would open the old debate
about royal power.

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'His weaknesses brought the monarchy
to the brink of disaster

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'and may have inflicted
a uniquely horrible death on the king.'

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Nor was it all gore and glory,

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for the Edwards were law givers
as well as soldiers

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parliamentarians as well as conquerors,

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with the result that
by the end of the Edwardian century,

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the shape of an England ruled by king,
lords and commons

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was already becoming clear.

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'In 1272, Edward I inherited the crown

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'from his father Henry III,

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'but his inheritance was flawed.

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'During the later years
of his father's reign,

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'the Crown had sunk to
its lowest depths.

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'Edward and his father
had been kept under house arrest

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'and the king forced to rule
through a group of barons.

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'Edward would never forget
this humiliation.

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'lt was Edward
who led the Royalist fightback,

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'and it was Edward
who learned the painful lesson

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'of what could happen to a weak king.

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These were Edward's first battles.

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He learned early that he had to fight
for the rights of the Crown.

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When he was young,
he fought like the leopard,

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with speed and cunning.

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When he got older,
he fought like the lion,

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with awe-inspiring power.

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'There's a story told
that at his coronation in 1274

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'he removed the crown from his head

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'and swore that he'd never wear it again

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'until he'd regained
what his father had lost.'

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'To do this, Edward's first task
was to reunite his realm

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'divided by the barons' revolt.

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'But, instead of waging a vendetta
against his surviving opponents,

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'he forgave them,

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'allowing them to buy back the property
that his father had confiscated.

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'The result made Edward
appear magnanimous

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'but it also raised money for the Crown.

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'Edward had learned
from the rebel barons as well

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'and understood that it was in
the towns and villages of England

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'that the roots of his power lay.

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'So he decided to reinforce the bonds
between king and people

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'by ordering a huge nationwide
investigation into official corruption.

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'lt would be king and people
versus the fat cats.

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'The results were recorded
in what are known as the Hundred Rolls.'

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Here, for instance, in the Stamford Roll

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is a bit of local dirt
on the bailiff of the town

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Hugo Bunting.

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One of the things he is accused of
is levying an illicit toll

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of five shillings
on a certain William Gabercockie

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when he took his millstones
through the middle of the town.

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"Duxit per medium ville."

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Now, this is just for Stamford.

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Multiply for all England
and you get information overload,

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so very few actual prosecutions
took place.

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But it's the PR that was most important.

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Edward was showing that he cared,

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that the king's rights
complemented the rights of his subjects

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and that he was able to guarantee
equal justice for all his subjects,

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no matter how humble.

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It would be hard to think
of a better beginning for a reign

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or of a more effective answer
to those who

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like the baronial revolutionaries
of his father's reign,

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claimed that strong royal government

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meant oppressive royal government.

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'Edward's next task was to restore
the authority of the king of England

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'over the whole of Britain.'

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'In different ways,
the rulers of Wales and Scotland

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'had taken advantage
of Henry III's weakness

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'to regain power and independence
at the expense of their English overlord.

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'In 1276, from
his wild fastness in north Wales

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'Llywelyn ap Gruffudd had extended
control over most of Wales.'

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'But Edward was loath to accept the rise
of Wales as an independent power

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'so he insisted on the homage
or ritual submission

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'which the rulers of Wales traditionally
paid to the king of England.'

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'There resulted a struggle of wills.

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'For Llywelyn,
his homage was a bargaining counter

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'in a relationship of semi-equals.'

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For Edward, it was a non-negotiable
acknowledgement

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of his superiority over a subject

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and inferior.

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Three more times, Prince Llywelyn
was summoned to perform homage

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and three times he refused.

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Finally, and with plenty of time
to make his preparations,

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Edward declared war.

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'Edward mobilised the whole country.

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'Merchants and craftsmen laboured
to supply the army.

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'Huge arsenals of weapons
were stockpiled

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'and Llywelyn was no match
for the resources of England.

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'But it took two campaigns,

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'in 1277 and 1282, to subdue the Welsh.'

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'Edward effectively laid siege to Llywelyn
in Snowdonia

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'and starved him out.

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'Edward was not the first
king of England to fight the Welsh,

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'but Edward carried the old policy
to new extremes.

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'There would be no more
native princes of Wales

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'acknowledging the vague overlordship
of a king of England.

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'Instead, Wales was crushed under
the heel of a brutal military occupation

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'whose symbol was the mighty castles

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'which still dominate the landscape

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'and the Welsh were treated
as second-class citizens

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'ruled over by an English-speaking elite.'

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It was Edward's treatment of
the rebel leaders that shows most clearly

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that he was a new kind of king

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with a new, harder attitude to kingship,

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which he'd learned
during the struggles of his father's reign.

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Ever since the Norman Conquest,

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barons and kings had fought each other
with few hard feelings on either side.

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No longer,

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because Edward now declared
that to wage war against the king

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was treason.

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Treason was effectively a new crime

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for which a new
terrible punishment was devised.

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The first to suffer it was Dafydd
ap Gruffudd, Prince Llywelyn's brother.

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'Because he'd betrayed the king,

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'he was dragged
to the place of execution by horses.

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'Because he'd killed noblemen
he was hanged,

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'and because he had committed murder
at Easter

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he was cut down while still alive

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'castrated

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'disembowelled

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'and his entrails burned

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'and because he'd committed crimes
in different parts of the kingdom,

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'his body was hacked into four

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'and the quarters distributed
throughout the realm.'

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'The fate of Wales
was scarcely less brutal.

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'lf the Hundred Rolls had shown
that Edward was an astute politician,

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'the conquest of Wales demonstrated

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'his brutal, lion-like strength.'

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This is Beaumaris Castle

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on the island of Anglesey,

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built by Edward I

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to set the seal on his final crushing
of Welsh resistance.

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Edward's empire now stretched secure

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from east to west across the British Isles.

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But, in the south, the King of France was
threatening Edward's lands in Gascony,

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whilst in the north

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Scotland, at last
seemed about to fall into his grasp.

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This struggle, on two fronts,
to subdue Scotland

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and to preserve his lands in France,

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was to dominate
the rest of Edward's reign

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and, for better and for worse

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to shape the reigns of his son

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and his grandson as well.

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'Behind me lies Edinburgh,

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'the capital city of Scotland.'

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With devolution, it's once again
the seat of a Scottish parliament

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and the focus of a revived
and intensified sense

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of Scotland's separate nationhood.

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But, when Edward came to the throne

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that sense of separate identity
was not nearly so clear.

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Scotland was an ancient monarchy,

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but its kings were much intermarried
with the English royal house.

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They had vast land-holdings in England.

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They swore fealty to the English kings.

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They fought for them
as well as with them

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and they sat in English councils
and parliaments.

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In short, were they separate monarchs

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or were they the greatest subjects
of the kings of England?

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It was a highly ambiguous relationship,

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but Edward
with his sharp lawyer's mind

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and his acute awareness
of his own rights,

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hated ambiguity.

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When he could
he would make the relationship

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of the king of Scotland
and the king of England clear

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on his own terms

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and in his own interests.

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'Edward's opportunity came in 1291.

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'The sole heir of the Scottish throne
was the little Norwegian princess,

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'the granddaughter
of the deceased King of Scots.

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'She was brought back to Scotland
but died on the way.

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'As feudal overlord of the country,

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'Edward claimed the right
to choose the next king.

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'Edward would be kingmaker in Scotland

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'and he would remake
the relations between the two kingdoms.'

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'Of the 13 candidates
Edward chose John Baliol.

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'Baliol had a good claim, but he was also
the most anglicised of the candidates,

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the founder of an Oxford college
and a major landowner in England.'

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Moreover, Edward was clear

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that even after
he'd chosen Baliol as king,

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he remained sovereign lord of Scotland.

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He, Edward, was finally responsible

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forjustice and good government
in Scotland

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and he would enforce
those responsibilities

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as he enforced his laws in England

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in his own English courts.

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'Knowing Edward's attitude,
Scotsmen appealed to him

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'to have their own king's judgements
overruled.

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'Even Baliol's acquiescence was tested,

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'but when Baliol complained,

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'Edward informed him that he could
summon even Baliol himself

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'to appear before him at Westminster.

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'Before long, he did just that.

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'For Baliol, it was a humiliation too far.

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'The Scots were provoked into rebellion,

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'Edward to invasion.'

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'Berwick was the first town to fall.

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'lt was said that Edward was so angry
that the town had dared to resist him

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'that he fell on it with the anger
of a wild boar pursued by dogs.

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'From Berwick
Edward pushed up the coast to Dunbar.

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'The Scots taunted the English troops,
calling them "tailed dogs".

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'The castle fell after only a few days.

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'Edward then took his army on
a military promenade through Scotland.

222
00:14:09,649 --> 00:14:14,038
'The great fortress of Edinburgh fell
after only five days' siege,

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'and Stirling before Edward even arrived.

224
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'He boasted that Scotland
was conquered in only 21 weeks.

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'Now Edward had achieved
what he'd probably always wanted -

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'the direct rule of Scotland.

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'So, in a cruel inversion of a coronation

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'the vestments
symbols and regalia of kingship

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'were stripped off Baliol.

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'Edward literally un-kinged him.'

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'Even more radically,

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'Edward decided
to un-kingdom Scotland.'

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Take this piece of sandstone here.

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It looks ordinary enough,

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but then why the glass
and the high security?

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Because it's the stone, rich with legend,

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on which, for 400 years,
the kings of Scotland were crowned.

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After the conquest,
Edward took the stone to England,

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where it remained, under the coronation
throne in Westminster Abbey

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for the next 700 years.

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By removing the Stone of Destiny,

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Edward was declaring that Scotland
had ceased altogether to be a kingdom,

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and become a mere province of England.

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Edward was now
at the pinnacle of power.

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He was an English Caesar,

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a new Arthur

247
00:15:37,100 --> 00:15:40,850
a mightier, mightier conqueror.

248
00:15:43,889 --> 00:15:46,879
'Finally, Edward took on
the King of France,

249
00:15:46,980 --> 00:15:51,330
'who, in the first example of what
became known as the Auld Alliance

250
00:15:51,408 --> 00:15:53,120
'had allied with John Baliol

251
00:15:53,220 --> 00:15:56,730
and confiscated
Edward's French territories.'

252
00:15:58,288 --> 00:16:02,158
To fight his great wars,
Edward needed taxation

253
00:16:02,250 --> 00:16:07,158
and the only effective way of raising
taxation was to summon a parliament,

254
00:16:07,250 --> 00:16:09,808
usually to Westminster here.

255
00:16:09,889 --> 00:16:13,240
A parliament was necessary
constitutionally,

256
00:16:13,340 --> 00:16:15,408
because Magna Carta had laid down

257
00:16:15,500 --> 00:16:19,168
that no one could be taxed
without their consent.

258
00:16:19,250 --> 00:16:21,600
It was also necessary practically,

259
00:16:21,700 --> 00:16:25,528
because it had proved impossible
to raise taxes any other way

260
00:16:25,620 --> 00:16:28,330
without the taxpayers going on strike.

261
00:16:29,769 --> 00:16:34,158
'As usual, the most important group
of taxpayers were the middle earners,

262
00:16:34,250 --> 00:16:38,200
'the knights, the country gentlemen
and the leading townsfolk,

263
00:16:38,288 --> 00:16:41,879
'so, in 1295
on the eve of the Scottish invasions

264
00:16:41,980 --> 00:16:45,600
'Edward summoned representatives
of these groups

265
00:16:45,700 --> 00:16:48,690
'to what became known
as the Model Parliament.

266
00:16:48,769 --> 00:16:51,639
'They'd have a stake
in Edward's vision for England,

267
00:16:51,740 --> 00:16:53,690
'but they'd have to pay for it.'

268
00:16:53,769 --> 00:16:58,360
The result was that Edward
the most naturally autocratic of kings,

269
00:16:58,460 --> 00:17:02,649
followed in the footsteps
of the great rebel Simon de Montfort

270
00:17:02,740 --> 00:17:06,048
to become the Father of Parliament.

271
00:17:07,980 --> 00:17:09,769
'lt was a shrewd gesture,

272
00:17:09,848 --> 00:17:13,200
'but fierce guerrilla resistance
to the English conquest

273
00:17:13,288 --> 00:17:15,240
'broke out in Scotland

274
00:17:15,328 --> 00:17:18,400
'and Edward was forced into war
on two fronts.

275
00:17:18,500 --> 00:17:20,450
'As the costs escalated

276
00:17:20,528 --> 00:17:25,920
'the king faced broad-based opposition
led by an important group of nobles.

277
00:17:26,940 --> 00:17:30,450
'To appease them,
he was forced to reissue Magna Carta

278
00:17:30,528 --> 00:17:32,440
'and to promise once more

279
00:17:32,528 --> 00:17:38,160
'that there would be no taxation
without consultation of the whole realm.

280
00:17:38,250 --> 00:17:42,278
'Neverrtheless, to pursue
his obsession of conquering Scotland,

281
00:17:42,380 --> 00:17:45,769
'Edward resorted to any means
to raise money.

282
00:17:46,740 --> 00:17:51,170
'Finally, in 1305, William Wallace,
the leader of Scottish resistance

283
00:17:51,250 --> 00:17:52,680
'was betrayed

284
00:17:52,769 --> 00:17:56,358
'and Edward decided
to make an example of him.'

285
00:17:56,460 --> 00:17:59,170
Wallace was brought on horseback

286
00:17:59,250 --> 00:18:02,038
here, to the place of judgement,

287
00:18:02,140 --> 00:18:05,130
in Westminster Hall, for his trial.

288
00:18:05,220 --> 00:18:07,328
As was usual in cases of treason

289
00:18:07,420 --> 00:18:10,608
there was no jury
or counsel for the accused.

290
00:18:10,700 --> 00:18:13,130
Otherwise, both the facts of the case

291
00:18:13,220 --> 00:18:16,288
and the forms of law
were carefully observed.

292
00:18:16,380 --> 00:18:20,250
The judges accused Wallace
of having encouraged the Scots

293
00:18:20,328 --> 00:18:23,160
to ally with Edward's enemies,
the French

294
00:18:23,250 --> 00:18:25,200
of having invaded England

295
00:18:25,288 --> 00:18:28,278
and killed women
children and churchmen

296
00:18:28,380 --> 00:18:33,400
and, above all, of having
traitorously conspired the king's death

297
00:18:33,500 --> 00:18:37,368
and marched in war
with banners flying against him.

298
00:18:37,460 --> 00:18:41,848
Wallace indignantly denied
that he'd ever been a traitor

299
00:18:41,940 --> 00:18:46,608
presumably meaning that he'd never
recognised Edward as king.

300
00:18:46,700 --> 00:18:49,690
This only made his crime the worse,

301
00:18:49,769 --> 00:18:52,720
and he was sentenced
to the worst punishment

302
00:18:52,808 --> 00:18:55,400
that the law could give.

303
00:18:56,700 --> 00:18:59,490
'At Smithfield
now London's meat market

304
00:18:59,568 --> 00:19:01,868
'Wallace was horrifically tortured

305
00:19:01,980 --> 00:19:03,930
'and killed.

306
00:19:05,380 --> 00:19:10,009
'Like the Welsh rebel Dafydd,
he too was hanged,

307
00:19:10,088 --> 00:19:12,470
'disembowelled, beheaded

308
00:19:14,048 --> 00:19:15,558
'and quartered.'

309
00:19:20,088 --> 00:19:21,759
'lt was a graphic message

310
00:19:21,848 --> 00:19:25,680
'of what happened
to those who crossed King Edward.'

311
00:19:27,660 --> 00:19:31,009
'No sooner had Edward dealt
with Wallace

312
00:19:31,088 --> 00:19:33,880
'than a new enemy took his place,
Robert the Bruce.

313
00:19:33,980 --> 00:19:36,490
'Despite the absence
of the Scottish crown

314
00:19:36,568 --> 00:19:38,519
'and the Stone of Destiny,

315
00:19:38,608 --> 00:19:42,519
'Bruce had himself crowned
King of Scots in 1306.

316
00:19:44,220 --> 00:19:47,130
'Bruce continued to terrorise the English.

317
00:19:47,220 --> 00:19:50,838
'Edward retaliated
with punitive campaigns,

318
00:19:50,940 --> 00:19:53,500
'and it was on his way north, in 1307,

319
00:19:53,568 --> 00:19:56,519
'to wage
yet another campaign against Bruce

320
00:19:56,608 --> 00:19:59,598
'that Edward died, at the age of 68.

321
00:20:00,848 --> 00:20:04,798
There's a story that his last wish
was that his body should be boiled

322
00:20:04,900 --> 00:20:07,930
until the bones were clean of flesh

323
00:20:08,009 --> 00:20:12,038
and his skeleton be carried
at the head of every English army

324
00:20:12,140 --> 00:20:14,650
until the Scots were finally crushed.

325
00:20:14,740 --> 00:20:17,009
It didn't quite work out like that.

326
00:20:17,088 --> 00:20:18,960
Instead, his body was buried

327
00:20:19,048 --> 00:20:22,519
in his father's great church
at Westminster Abbey.

328
00:20:22,608 --> 00:20:25,118
But, inscribed on his tomb

329
00:20:25,220 --> 00:20:28,368
was the words "Malleus Scotorum" -

330
00:20:28,460 --> 00:20:31,250
Hammer of the Scots.

331
00:20:32,140 --> 00:20:36,808
What Edward had done
was right and just by his standards,

332
00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:39,890
but he had the weakness of his strength.

333
00:20:39,980 --> 00:20:43,130
If he had been less rigid
and less hammer-like

334
00:20:43,220 --> 00:20:46,528
the union of England and Scotland,
then so close

335
00:20:46,608 --> 00:20:50,150
might have come about
quickly and naturally

336
00:20:50,250 --> 00:20:54,798
and both countries would have
been spared centuries of war,

337
00:20:54,900 --> 00:20:57,328
bloodshed and devastation.

338
00:21:00,460 --> 00:21:03,608
'Edward was
a supremely self-confident king

339
00:21:03,700 --> 00:21:07,730
'with a clear sense of the power
and the rights of the Crown.

340
00:21:08,460 --> 00:21:12,808
'He may be remembered for his wars
but his legacy is much greater.

341
00:21:12,900 --> 00:21:17,650
'At home, Edward reaffirmed the direct
bonds between Crown and people.

342
00:21:17,740 --> 00:21:22,250
'Abroad, his victories began to foster
a sense of national pride.

343
00:21:24,250 --> 00:21:26,920
'But how would England cope
with his successor

344
00:21:27,009 --> 00:21:32,130
'a man ruled by private obsessions
rather than royal ambition?'

345
00:21:36,140 --> 00:21:39,920
'Edward I was a difficult act to follow
for any son,

346
00:21:40,009 --> 00:21:43,078
'but Edward II
was particularly ill-equipped

347
00:21:43,180 --> 00:21:45,368
'to step into his father's shoes.

348
00:21:45,460 --> 00:21:49,730
'He may have looked like his father,
tall, handsome and strong,

349
00:21:49,808 --> 00:21:52,038
'but, in fact, they'd little in common.

350
00:21:52,140 --> 00:21:53,930
'Disturbingly, it was noted

351
00:21:54,009 --> 00:21:57,920
'that Edward shunned
the traditional pastimes of princes,

352
00:21:58,009 --> 00:22:04,108
'preferring instead common pursuits like
rowing, swimming and boat-building.'

353
00:22:05,220 --> 00:22:07,778
At the beginning of Edward's reign,

354
00:22:07,848 --> 00:22:13,240
the contrast in character with his father
wasn't necessarily seen as a bad thing.

355
00:22:13,328 --> 00:22:17,108
Edward I had undoubtedly been
a great king,

356
00:22:17,220 --> 00:22:19,328
but, especially towards the end,

357
00:22:19,420 --> 00:22:23,528
his realm had paid a terrible price
for his driving ambition,

358
00:22:23,608 --> 00:22:26,680
and men were looking forward
to a quieter life

359
00:22:26,769 --> 00:22:29,920
under his apparently
more accommodating son.

360
00:22:30,009 --> 00:22:33,548
The symbol of the change
was the new coronation oath

361
00:22:33,660 --> 00:22:36,970
which Edward swore
here in Westminster Abbey.

362
00:22:37,048 --> 00:22:42,318
Out went Edward I's promise
to defend the rights of the crown.

363
00:22:42,420 --> 00:22:44,490
In came a new oath

364
00:22:44,568 --> 00:22:47,440
that the king would uphold and defend

365
00:22:47,528 --> 00:22:49,759
the laws and righteous customs

366
00:22:49,848 --> 00:22:53,519
which the community of the realm
shall choose.

367
00:22:53,608 --> 00:22:57,200
"I so agree and promise," Edward swore.

368
00:22:57,288 --> 00:22:59,278
In those few words

369
00:22:59,380 --> 00:23:02,690
he'd abandoned any claim
to absolute royal power,

370
00:23:02,769 --> 00:23:07,078
and he undertook instead
to rule by consent

371
00:23:07,180 --> 00:23:10,288
and in cooperation with the nobles.

372
00:23:11,568 --> 00:23:15,798
'A brave new world
it seemed, had dawned.

373
00:23:15,900 --> 00:23:19,250
'Edward, the hope was,,
would be a conciliator

374
00:23:19,328 --> 00:23:21,440
'not an authoritarian monarch.

375
00:23:22,500 --> 00:23:25,568
'But he lacked
his father's strength of will,

376
00:23:25,660 --> 00:23:30,410
'and had, for contemporaries,
an even more worrying personality flaw,

377
00:23:30,500 --> 00:23:33,410
'which was evident
even at his coronation.

378
00:23:33,500 --> 00:23:37,769
'Edward was crowned
with his wife, Queen Isabella, by his side,

379
00:23:37,848 --> 00:23:43,200
'but it was his childhood friend
Piers Gaveston, who stole the show.

380
00:23:43,288 --> 00:23:46,400
'Edward had eyes and ears only for Piers,

381
00:23:46,500 --> 00:23:51,490
'and Piers, in turn, gave himself
the airs and graces of a royal favourite.

382
00:23:51,568 --> 00:23:54,598
'At the coronation
he openly flouted convention

383
00:23:54,700 --> 00:23:59,210
'by wearing purple robes
rather than the traditional gold.

384
00:23:59,288 --> 00:24:02,358
'To add injury to insult,
Edward presented Piers

385
00:24:02,460 --> 00:24:06,490
'with the best of his new wife's jewels
and wedding presents.'

386
00:24:06,568 --> 00:24:10,108
Whether or not the relationship
between Edward and Piers

387
00:24:10,220 --> 00:24:13,808
was actively homosexual is unclear.

388
00:24:13,900 --> 00:24:17,490
No contemporary explicitly says
that it was.

389
00:24:17,568 --> 00:24:20,078
Instead, they use phrases like,

390
00:24:20,180 --> 00:24:24,048
"The love that surpasseth
the love of a woman."

391
00:24:25,288 --> 00:24:27,200
'One wrote...'

392
00:24:27,288 --> 00:24:31,358
(Reader) "I do not remember to have
heard that one man so loved another.

393
00:24:31,460 --> 00:24:33,410
"Jonathan cherished David

394
00:24:33,500 --> 00:24:36,288
"but we do not read
that they were immoderate.

395
00:24:36,380 --> 00:24:40,078
"Our king, however,
was incapable of moderate favour,

396
00:24:40,180 --> 00:24:43,410
"and, on account of Piers
was said to forget himself."'

397
00:24:44,500 --> 00:24:46,608
In short, Edward and Piers

398
00:24:46,700 --> 00:24:50,318
were breaking the rules
and they were offending those

399
00:24:50,420 --> 00:24:54,038
who saw themselves
as the guardians of the rules -

400
00:24:54,140 --> 00:24:56,700
the English nobility.

401
00:24:57,848 --> 00:25:01,720
'Only two months
after the celebrations of the coronation

402
00:25:01,808 --> 00:25:06,519
'the nobility delivered an ultimatum
to their new king,

403
00:25:06,608 --> 00:25:09,480
'either exile Piers or face civil war.

404
00:25:11,460 --> 00:25:13,410
'Piers was sent to France

405
00:25:13,500 --> 00:25:15,930
'but Edward wasn't to be browbeaten.

406
00:25:18,288 --> 00:25:23,200
'Edward had inherited his father's
determination as well as his looks.

407
00:25:23,288 --> 00:25:26,828
'Just as Edward I had conquered
Wales and Scotland

408
00:25:26,940 --> 00:25:30,640
'so Edward II
would have Piers by his side.

409
00:25:31,740 --> 00:25:34,890
'He cajoled, bribed
and threatened his nobles

410
00:25:34,980 --> 00:25:38,368
'until they relented
and allowed Piers to return.

411
00:25:40,180 --> 00:25:43,960
'The king rode to Chester
to be reunited with his friend

412
00:25:44,048 --> 00:25:47,118
'but Piers had learnt nothing
from his exile.

413
00:25:47,220 --> 00:25:52,130
'He continued to treat the leading
magnates of the country with contempt,

414
00:25:52,220 --> 00:25:55,130
'by giving them nicknames
like Bursbelly,

415
00:25:55,220 --> 00:25:57,519
'Joseph the Jew, the Cuckold's Bird,

416
00:25:57,608 --> 00:25:59,519
'and the Black Dog of Arden.

417
00:26:00,568 --> 00:26:05,160
'This amused Edward, but it made
deadly enemies of Piers' targets.'

418
00:26:06,009 --> 00:26:08,118
Piers' mockery of the nobility

419
00:26:08,220 --> 00:26:11,088
was the classic response of the outsider

420
00:26:11,180 --> 00:26:15,608
confronted by a clique
of crusty old insiders,

421
00:26:15,700 --> 00:26:20,769
because the English nobility saw
government as being rather like a club.

422
00:26:20,848 --> 00:26:25,920
Membership, they felt, should be limited
to people of the right background.

423
00:26:26,009 --> 00:26:28,920
In other words
to nobles like themselves -

424
00:26:29,009 --> 00:26:31,440
and everybody should obey the rules,

425
00:26:31,528 --> 00:26:34,038
including the king himself.

426
00:26:34,140 --> 00:26:38,568
Rule number one was to respect
the rights and privileges,

427
00:26:38,660 --> 00:26:43,130
the sensitivities and values
of the right sort of people,

428
00:26:43,220 --> 00:26:47,328
by which, once again,
the nobility meant themselves.

429
00:26:47,420 --> 00:26:52,088
Now, of course, this attitude was
selfish and class-ridden

430
00:26:52,180 --> 00:26:54,368
but it was also the only way

431
00:26:54,460 --> 00:26:57,930
that the idea of royal government
as responsible government

432
00:26:58,009 --> 00:27:00,470
could be given real meaning.

433
00:27:00,568 --> 00:27:05,240
Only the nobility were strong enough
to hold the king to account,

434
00:27:05,328 --> 00:27:08,720
and that, in the circumstances of 1312

435
00:27:08,808 --> 00:27:12,348
meant forcing him, by violence,
if necessary,

436
00:27:12,460 --> 00:27:15,450
to get rid of Piers Gaveston.

437
00:27:16,568 --> 00:27:18,720
'Edward and Piers fled north

438
00:27:18,808 --> 00:27:23,000
'Edward abandoning his pregnant wife
Isabella to his enemies.

439
00:27:23,088 --> 00:27:25,440
'She would not forget the insult.

440
00:27:26,220 --> 00:27:28,170
'But it was all for nothing.

441
00:27:28,250 --> 00:27:32,278
'Piers was caught and taken prisoner
by the Earl of Warwick,

442
00:27:32,380 --> 00:27:35,210
'the man whom he'd mocked
as The Black Dog.'

443
00:27:37,848 --> 00:27:39,640
'There was no formal trial.

444
00:27:39,740 --> 00:27:44,410
'Instead, Warwick and four nobles
decided Piers' fate.

445
00:27:44,500 --> 00:27:46,450
'The verdict was death.'

446
00:27:50,838 --> 00:27:54,509
Edward was grief-stricken
at Gaveston's murder

447
00:27:54,598 --> 00:27:57,160
but it was more than a personal loss.

448
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,108
He'd also lost face as king.

449
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:05,390
Gaveston was the thing in the whole
world that mattered most to him

450
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:09,910
but he'd not been powerful enough
or feared enough to protect his life

451
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,190
or to avenge his death.

452
00:28:12,278 --> 00:28:16,269
What was the authority
of such a king worth?

453
00:28:18,358 --> 00:28:21,068
'But now, Edward, under attack at home

454
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,940
'had the opportunity
to recoup his position abroad.

455
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:31,230
'Bruce's long guerrilla campaign
in Scotland was at last bearing fruit.

456
00:28:31,318 --> 00:28:34,390
'He drove the English
from their key castles,

457
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:38,098
'and he even dared
to strike across the English border

458
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,269
'with increasingly devastating raids.

459
00:28:41,358 --> 00:28:44,750
'By 1313, war was unavoidable.'

460
00:28:47,118 --> 00:28:50,740
Edward and his nobles
sank their differences sufficiently

461
00:28:50,838 --> 00:28:55,670
to mount a vast punitive expedition
against Scotland.

462
00:28:55,759 --> 00:28:57,868
Here, in the field of battle

463
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,828
Edward might yet redeem himself.

464
00:29:03,278 --> 00:29:08,670
'The English and Scottish armies met
on the 23rd of June 1314

465
00:29:08,759 --> 00:29:10,788
'just outside Stirling.

466
00:29:11,838 --> 00:29:15,509
'Much to the English surprise,
the Scots took the initiative.

467
00:29:15,598 --> 00:29:18,190
'At daybreak, it was they who advanced,

468
00:29:18,278 --> 00:29:22,430
'but then Edward's surprise
turned to amazement.

469
00:29:22,519 --> 00:29:26,548
'Edward was reported to say,
"They kneel and ask for mercy."

470
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:31,028
'One of his Scottish officials
knew his countrymen better and replied,

471
00:29:31,118 --> 00:29:34,470
"'They ask for mercy, but not from you.

472
00:29:34,558 --> 00:29:38,828
"'To God they pray.
For them, it's death or victory."'

473
00:29:44,318 --> 00:29:48,910
'The battle began and the English
knights charged the Scots' front line,

474
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,068
'but the Scots held firm.

475
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:55,950
'Unable to break the front rank
the English retreated,

476
00:29:56,038 --> 00:29:58,548
'but their retreat turned into a rout.

477
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,950
'Encumbered by their armour, many men
drowned in the boggy ground.

478
00:30:03,038 --> 00:30:04,990
'The losses were huge,

479
00:30:05,078 --> 00:30:07,828
'and Bannockburn became infamous

480
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,750
'as England's most shameful defeat
by the Scots.'

481
00:30:16,278 --> 00:30:20,588
Leaving his troops to be massacred,
Edward fled from the battlefield

482
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,670
and, with only a handful of followers,

483
00:30:23,759 --> 00:30:26,390
rode desperately for Dunbar.

484
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:31,308
He took refuge overnight in the castle
here, which was in friendly hands,

485
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:33,588
and then, the following morning,

486
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,670
set sail for England.

487
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,588
The war with Scotland
had given Edward

488
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,108
the opportunity to redeem his reputation.

489
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:47,190
Instead the shattering defeat
of Bannockburn sent it to new depths.

490
00:30:47,278 --> 00:30:50,818
He'd proved to be as bad a general
as he was a politician,

491
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,868
and his flight made him seem
like a coward as well.

492
00:30:54,960 --> 00:31:00,430
He now appeared to be un-manly
as well as un-kingly.

493
00:31:00,519 --> 00:31:04,269
"How," people asked,
"could such a creature as this

494
00:31:04,358 --> 00:31:07,308
"be the son of the great Edward?"

495
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,828
They answered their own question
by saying that he wasn't,

496
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,390
that he was a changeling
and not royal at all.

497
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:18,019
Thus began the rumours
about the king's birth,

498
00:31:18,118 --> 00:31:22,308
which his own fondness
for such peasant activities as rowing,

499
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:25,430
thatching, fishing and boat-building

500
00:31:25,519 --> 00:31:27,470
seemed only to confirm.

501
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,700
'Nor was Edward any more successful
as a husband.

502
00:31:34,798 --> 00:31:37,259
'Enraged by his neglectful treatment,

503
00:31:37,358 --> 00:31:41,509
'Edward's wife Isabella
had taken a lover, Mortimer

504
00:31:41,598 --> 00:31:43,509
'and fled to France with him.

505
00:31:43,598 --> 00:31:47,348
'lt was from there that they planned
their invasion of England.

506
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,190
'In September 1326,
Isabella landed in England

507
00:31:51,278 --> 00:31:53,390
'and met with little resistance.

508
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:58,750
'She seized the crown in the name
of her and Edward's eldest son

509
00:31:58,838 --> 00:32:00,910
'a third Edward.'

510
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:06,670
Isabella and Mortimer may have had
no difficulty in seizing the throne

511
00:32:06,759 --> 00:32:09,190
but it proved less easy to justify it

512
00:32:09,278 --> 00:32:12,308
because there was
no constitutional machinery

513
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:15,430
to depose a crowned and anointed king.

514
00:32:15,519 --> 00:32:19,108
Instead, they resorted to
the astonishing legal innovation

515
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,868
of the Articles of Accusation

516
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,750
which convicted the king,
the fount of justice,

517
00:32:24,838 --> 00:32:28,710
of a series of high crimes
against his country.

518
00:32:28,798 --> 00:32:32,190
'Instead of good government
by good laws,

519
00:32:32,278 --> 00:32:34,548
'he'd been ruled by evil counsel.'

520
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:39,630
Instead of justice, he'd sent noblemen
to shameful and to illegal deaths.

521
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,430
He'd lost Scotland and Gascony

522
00:32:42,519 --> 00:32:45,670
and he had depressed
and impoverished England.

523
00:32:45,759 --> 00:32:49,068
In short
he had broken his solemn contract

524
00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:51,618
with his people and his country

525
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,150
and he must pay the price.

526
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:57,509
'For the first time in English history,

527
00:32:57,598 --> 00:33:01,548
'a reigning monarch
was formally deposed from the throne.

528
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,910
'Edward's miserable state
was described in a poem

529
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,430
'which he may have written himself.'

530
00:33:08,519 --> 00:33:10,710
(Reader) "In winter, woe befell me

531
00:33:10,798 --> 00:33:12,750
"By cruel fortune threatened

532
00:33:12,838 --> 00:33:14,588
"My life now lies a ruin

533
00:33:16,118 --> 00:33:18,868
"Once was I feared and dreaded

534
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,259
"But now all men despise me

535
00:33:21,358 --> 00:33:23,630
"And call me a crownless king

536
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:25,950
"A laughing stock to all"

537
00:33:28,078 --> 00:33:30,028
'Edward was imprisoned here

538
00:33:30,118 --> 00:33:33,308
'in this guardroom
in the keep of Berkeley Castle.'

539
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:35,828
He soon escaped, but was recaptured.

540
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,150
Thereafter
his imprisonment became stricter

541
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,710
and heavy locks and bolts
were bought for the doors.

542
00:33:42,798 --> 00:33:45,230
Finally, he was murdered.

543
00:33:45,318 --> 00:33:47,618
It couldn't be seen as murder, of course

544
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:52,348
and pains were taken to leave
as few marks as possible on the body.

545
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:55,269
According to most
contemporary accounts,

546
00:33:55,358 --> 00:33:59,828
he was pressed down with a table
with heavy weights and suffocated.

547
00:34:00,558 --> 00:34:05,150
But this story, first written down
about 30 years after the king's death,

548
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:08,150
suggests a more horrible end.

549
00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:10,190
The king was held down

550
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:15,070
and then a hollow instrument
like the end of a trumpet

551
00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:18,070
was forced into his fundament

552
00:34:18,159 --> 00:34:21,550
and a red-hot poker thrust up through it

553
00:34:21,639 --> 00:34:23,590
into his bowels.

554
00:34:24,639 --> 00:34:27,949
The Articles of Accusation
had been an inversion

555
00:34:28,039 --> 00:34:29,989
of Edward's coronation oath.

556
00:34:30,079 --> 00:34:32,349
If this story is correct,

557
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,630
his death was a vile parody

558
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:40,230
of the pleasures he was supposed
to have enjoyed with Piers Gaveston.

559
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:46,989
'In April 1331,

560
00:34:47,079 --> 00:34:49,750
'a three-day tournament was proclaimed

561
00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:51,829
'in the name of the new king,

562
00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:53,869
'Edward III.

563
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,550
'His father had banned the tournament.

564
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:01,110
'Edward III excelled at the joust.

565
00:35:01,199 --> 00:35:05,429
'Indeed, whilst Edward II
had disappointed

566
00:35:05,518 --> 00:35:09,059
'the traditional expectations
of what a king should be,

567
00:35:09,159 --> 00:35:12,469
'Edward III
was the perfect image of kingship.

568
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,469
'Like Elizabeth I
and Queen Victoria after him

569
00:35:17,559 --> 00:35:21,429
'Edward III personified
the values of his age.

570
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,670
'Edwardian England was an age
of knights and fantasy castles,

571
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:28,710
'of honours and arms.

572
00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:30,829
'lt was a culture rooted in war

573
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:34,539
'and leading the country into battle
was a hero king.'

574
00:35:37,119 --> 00:35:40,989
After the disasters of his father's reign,
it was natural

575
00:35:41,079 --> 00:35:44,619
that Edward would model himself
on his grandfather,

576
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:46,909
the heroic warrior king, Edward I,

577
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,949
but it was a return with a difference.

578
00:35:50,039 --> 00:35:54,309
Edward had none of his grandfather's
ruthless, driving energy

579
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,940
or his stiff-backed authoritarianism
either.

580
00:35:58,039 --> 00:36:02,429
Instead, he cultivated
an easy, winning charm.

581
00:36:02,518 --> 00:36:05,268
He was a good family man
with a pretty wife

582
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:08,590
and a rapidly growing brood
of fine sons.

583
00:36:08,679 --> 00:36:11,829
He was capable
of striking populist gestures,

584
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,989
as, when he entered a town in triumph,

585
00:36:15,079 --> 00:36:17,909
not on horseback, but on foot

586
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,829
and leading his wife
and eldest son by the hand.

587
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:26,429
He would meet the humblest knight
in the tournament, man to man

588
00:36:26,518 --> 00:36:27,869
and win.

589
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,789
In short
Edward was the perfect gentleman,

590
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,550
affable, sporting and brave,
who would rule England

591
00:36:35,639 --> 00:36:37,789
as one of the club

592
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:42,030
as first amongst the equals
of his nobility.

593
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,150
'This was a quiet revolution.

594
00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:51,110
'For Edward, there would be no divisive
upstart favourite like Piers.

595
00:36:51,199 --> 00:36:53,630
'Instead, Edward, unlike his father

596
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:56,018
'or even grandfather, truly accepted

597
00:36:56,119 --> 00:36:59,820
'that he had to work in harmony
with the nobility.

598
00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:03,909
'Indeed, to do so was a pleasure
as well as a duty.

599
00:37:05,679 --> 00:37:09,268
'The result was that Edward encouraged
aristocratic culture

600
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:12,349
'which bound
the kings and nobles together.

601
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,389
'lts most vivid expression
was in heraldry.

602
00:37:16,639 --> 00:37:21,230
Originally, your coat of arms
had a purely practical function

603
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:26,110
of identifying you on the battlefield when
you were encased in a suit of armour,

604
00:37:26,199 --> 00:37:29,820
but soon
a whole world of meaning was added.

605
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,789
Your coat of armour showed
who your ancestors were,

606
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:37,869
who you'd married, whether you were
a younger or an elder son

607
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:39,710
and what honours you'd won.

608
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,389
Edward III was an aficionado of all this

609
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,869
and he established
a new order of chivalry

610
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:50,659
based on King Arthur
and the Knights of the Round Table,

611
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,030
called the Order of the Garter.

612
00:37:54,119 --> 00:37:57,110
The story goes that, at a court ball,

613
00:37:57,199 --> 00:38:00,820
a lady let slip her garter,
which fell to the floor.

614
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:04,190
Amidst the laughter,
the king himself bent down,

615
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:07,949
retrieved it and silenced the titters
by saying,

616
00:38:08,039 --> 00:38:10,909
"Honi soit qui mal y pense."

617
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:14,469
"Shame be to him that thinks evil of it."

618
00:38:14,559 --> 00:38:16,510
Be that as it may,

619
00:38:16,599 --> 00:38:21,949
the garter, with its blue and gold ribbon
encircling your coat of arms,

620
00:38:22,039 --> 00:38:25,949
became the supreme mark
of noble honour.

621
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:31,940
'But all this glamour and glitz
masked a darker imperative.'

622
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:36,789
Edward and his nobles belonged
to a killing culture

623
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:41,630
in which you gained honour and respect
by slaughter.

624
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:45,230
Sport in particular was all about the kill.

625
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:47,268
You killed animals in the hunt

626
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,900
and you came near
to killing human beings in the joust

627
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:52,949
and the tournament

628
00:38:53,039 --> 00:38:55,309
and war, where you killed for real,

629
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,349
was the noblest sport of them all.

630
00:38:59,119 --> 00:39:03,909
But war was also a political necessity
as well.

631
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:09,070
'As the chronicler Froissart noted...'

632
00:39:09,159 --> 00:39:12,349
(Reader) "The English will never love
and honour their king

633
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:17,829
"unless he be victorious and a lover of
arms, and war against their neighbours,

634
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,869
"and especially against such that are
greater and richer than themselves."

635
00:39:24,518 --> 00:39:28,030
'Edward's first target was Scotland.

636
00:39:29,518 --> 00:39:33,190
'Scotland had eluded his grandfather
Edward I

637
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:37,829
'and defeated
and humiliated his father Edward II.

638
00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:40,750
'So, for Edward III

639
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:44,869
'war with Scotland
was a matter of honour.'

640
00:39:46,679 --> 00:39:49,590
'Edward took personal charge
of his armies

641
00:39:49,679 --> 00:39:53,150
'and managed to instil
his own military enthusiasm

642
00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:57,429
'from the nobles at the top
to the common soldier at the bottom.

643
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:04,429
'And it was the common soldier
who largely won the wars,

644
00:40:04,518 --> 00:40:07,829
'thanks to the powerful new weapon,
the longbow.

645
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:11,949
'Edward understood
the value of the longbow,

646
00:40:12,039 --> 00:40:14,710
'and later in his reign, he passed an act

647
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:18,110
'which banned other sports
such as football and bowls

648
00:40:18,199 --> 00:40:21,789
'to force a concentration on archery.

649
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:25,659
'The border town of Berwick
now back in Scottish hands

650
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:27,710
'was Edward's first target.

651
00:40:33,679 --> 00:40:36,349
'On Halidon Hill, just outside Berwick,

652
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:38,429
'the English and Scots met.

653
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,190
'lt was a first victory
for Edward and the longbow.

654
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:45,230
'As the Scots approached,

655
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:50,710
'the English archers fired their deadly
wave of arrows with devastating impact.

656
00:40:51,639 --> 00:40:55,110
'England's honour,
lost at Bannockburn, was restored

657
00:40:55,199 --> 00:40:57,659
'and balladeers celebrated.'

658
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:03,429
(Reader) "Scots out of Berwick
and Aberdeen

659
00:41:03,518 --> 00:41:05,900
"At the burn of Bannock
you were far too keen

660
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:08,030
"King Edward has avenged it now

661
00:41:08,119 --> 00:41:10,110
"And fully too, I ween"

662
00:41:12,679 --> 00:41:16,590
Edward's victory,
high up here on Halidon Hill,

663
00:41:16,679 --> 00:41:19,989
was the making of him,
as a man and as a king.

664
00:41:20,079 --> 00:41:22,030
He'd smashed the Scots

665
00:41:22,119 --> 00:41:25,110
even more completely
than his grandfather,

666
00:41:25,199 --> 00:41:29,070
the imperial Edward I,
the Hammer of the Scots, had ever done.

667
00:41:29,159 --> 00:41:31,750
He'd won Berwick-on-Tweed over there

668
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:34,909
then Scotland's main port
and trading city,

669
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:38,110
and, for the first time in over 20 years,

670
00:41:38,199 --> 00:41:42,070
he'd freed the north of England
from the risk of invasion.

671
00:41:42,159 --> 00:41:44,989
But his personal gains
were even greater.

672
00:41:45,079 --> 00:41:48,949
He showed himself
to be a natural general and leader of men

673
00:41:49,039 --> 00:41:52,630
and a master
of the new tactics of the longbow,

674
00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:57,150
and he'd done all this at the age of 21.

675
00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:00,268
Already, he was hailed as a new Arthur.

676
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:03,829
Would he, like Arthur, reunify Britain?

677
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:07,389
Or would he seek
for wider fields to conquer?

678
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:12,469
'Edward chose the wider fields

679
00:42:12,559 --> 00:42:15,309
'and his next target would be France,

680
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:19,018
'the country with which
England had been intertwined

681
00:42:19,119 --> 00:42:22,739
'in peace and war
since the Norman Conquest.

682
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:28,420
'War with France offered the chance
of rich booty, vast ransoms

683
00:42:28,518 --> 00:42:32,750
'and controlling the lucrative trade
in the English Channel.

684
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:36,469
'But not even Edward
could have guessed

685
00:42:36,559 --> 00:42:40,989
'that he was about to start a war
that would last 100 years.

686
00:42:41,079 --> 00:42:44,070
'But if Edward and his nobles
fought the war,

687
00:42:44,159 --> 00:42:47,469
'it was the grey men of parliament
who paid for it.'

688
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:53,518
From here, high up on the London Eye,
you can see the Houses of Parliament.

689
00:42:53,599 --> 00:42:57,630
Their proper name
is still the Palace of Westminster.

690
00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:01,340
Back in Edward's reign,
it was the king's real palace

691
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:04,909
but it was also becoming
the home of parliament too,

692
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,349
with a special parliament chamber.

693
00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:11,219
What was turning parliament
into a regular institution

694
00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:15,099
was Edward's need for money
to fight his wars with France -

695
00:43:15,199 --> 00:43:19,710
that and his willingness to do whatever
was necessary to persuade parliament

696
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:23,750
to dig their hands deep
into their constituents' pockets.

697
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,829
It meant doing deals, greasing palms,

698
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:29,869
slapping backs.

699
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:34,268
Edward's victories were reported
in detail to parliament.

700
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:38,059
Parliament was consulted
on the war diplomacy,

701
00:43:38,159 --> 00:43:41,429
and parliament ratified
the peace treaties with France.

702
00:43:41,518 --> 00:43:44,349
It was good politics, but it was more,

703
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:48,219
because it turned Edward's wars
into a joint enterprise

704
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:50,989
between the king and the English nation.

705
00:43:51,079 --> 00:43:55,268
It made the English monarchy
a national monarchy as well,

706
00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:58,230
of which Englishmen could be proud,

707
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:01,309
and in which they felt they had a stake

708
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:03,349
and an investment.

709
00:44:05,719 --> 00:44:09,030
'Edward's war became England's war.

710
00:44:09,119 --> 00:44:13,469
'Bishops and priests led patriotic
services and prayed for success.

711
00:44:13,559 --> 00:44:17,099
'Dispatches from the front were read out
in every town

712
00:44:17,199 --> 00:44:22,059
'and triumphant peals of bells
celebrated victory.

713
00:44:23,518 --> 00:44:25,590
'lt was in August 1346

714
00:44:25,679 --> 00:44:29,829
'that Edward's style of kingship
was fully vindicated.

715
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:34,150
'The English and French met
at Crecy near Calais.

716
00:44:35,199 --> 00:44:38,869
'The French were confident
that victory was theirs

717
00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:42,190
'for they outnumbered the English
eight to one.

718
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:46,670
'But Edward unleashed
the full martial potential of his country.

719
00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:51,619
'Now the training of the longbow
and the promise of rich plunder

720
00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:56,230
'all under the command of the king
created a truly terrifying force.

721
00:44:58,199 --> 00:45:02,989
'By nightfall, the battle was over
and a witness described the scene.'

722
00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:07,389
(Reader) "When no more shouting
or cries could be heard

723
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:10,070
"the English concluded
that the enemy were routed

724
00:45:10,159 --> 00:45:14,309
"so they lit great numbers of lanterns
and torches as it was very dark.

725
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:16,590
"They hailed it as a glorious victory

726
00:45:16,679 --> 00:45:19,429
"and several times that night,
they gave thanks to God

727
00:45:19,518 --> 00:45:21,820
"for showing them such great mercies."

728
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:27,469
'The French fled
leaving behind 4,000 dead knights.

729
00:45:27,559 --> 00:45:32,150
'Edward's armies had gone into battle
wearing the cross of St George,

730
00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:36,750
'and St George,
the patron saint of soldiers and nobles,

731
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:39,829
'became the patron saint of England.'

732
00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:45,230
This great window
in Gloucester Cathedral

733
00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:47,780
is known as the Crecy Window.

734
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:50,030
It was built to commemorate the victory

735
00:45:50,119 --> 00:45:55,710
and it contains the shields
of King Edward and his companions.

736
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:59,789
There, in the middle, is the coat of arms
of King Edward himself,

737
00:45:59,880 --> 00:46:04,670
now showing the lilies of France
as well as the lions of England.

738
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:06,710
There's Lord Berkeley's,

739
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:11,630
who'd been forgiven for having acted
as gaolor to Edward's father.

740
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:15,309
There's Lord Baddestone's
who probably paid for the window

741
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:18,230
out of the fortune he made
from the war in France.

742
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:20,880
The war in France made England rich.

743
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:23,518
It also remade England.

744
00:46:23,599 --> 00:46:27,070
England had been culturally
in the shadow of France

745
00:46:27,159 --> 00:46:29,268
ever since the Norman Conquest,

746
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:32,389
but now that France was, shattered
and defeated

747
00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:35,869
England had got the confidence
to strike out on its own

748
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:38,230
as in the architecture here.

749
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:42,630
The window is an early masterpiece

750
00:46:42,719 --> 00:46:46,829
of the new English perpendicular style,

751
00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:48,750
so it's more than a window.

752
00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:50,550
It's a kind of symphony

753
00:46:50,639 --> 00:46:55,070
in which architecture, heraldry
and religion all come together

754
00:46:55,159 --> 00:47:00,670
in a single hymn of praise
to England's god, to England's king

755
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:02,829
and to England itself.

756
00:47:06,518 --> 00:47:10,750
'After Crecy, Edward's popularity
reached its zenith.

757
00:47:13,079 --> 00:47:15,829
(Reader) "The English thought
a new sun had risen

758
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:18,349
"because of the abundance of peace
in England,

759
00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:22,059
"the plentitude of goods
and the glory of the victories."

760
00:47:22,159 --> 00:47:27,099
(Starkey) 'The century of Edwards
had reshaped the English monarchy.

761
00:47:27,199 --> 00:47:31,230
'The king was now more closely
identified with the interests of his people

762
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:34,190
'and he would never again be able
to rule effectively

763
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:36,710
'without the consent of parliament.

764
00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:42,030
'He was expected to fight wars, but they
had to be wars in the national interest.

765
00:47:43,639 --> 00:47:45,940
'The most memorable legacy
of the Edwards

766
00:47:46,039 --> 00:47:50,070
'was the forging of a nation
that defined itself through war

767
00:47:50,159 --> 00:47:53,230
'symbolised by the flag
of the soldier saint.

768
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:56,469
'A superman like Edward I
could manage it

769
00:47:56,559 --> 00:47:59,510
'or a man's man, like Edward III

770
00:47:59,599 --> 00:48:01,869
'but could their successors?'