Medieval Britain was a dangerous place especially if you were a king who didn’t have the backing of the nobles and knights. Edward II came out second best after an encounter with a red-hot poker, Richard II was killed in Pontefract castle, Henry VI was murdered in the Tower of London on the day of the Battle of Tewkesbury, and Edward V, one of the Princes in The Tower, was done away with on the orders of…well Richard III is usually cited as the culprit but there’s insufficient proof in my opinion. And of course Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 by Henry VII.
This period was the time of The Hundred Years War – which lasted 116 years from 1337 to 1453 – the Wars of The Roses, campaigns against Wales and Scotland and various rebels including Wat Tyler in 1381 and John Cade in 1450. There was also The Black Death which accounted for about 1/3 of England’s population at the end of the 1340s and the beginning of the 1350s plus further outbreaks of plague in the next 20 years or so.
Yes, it was a wonder the country survived at all, especially after the hammerings by the Scots at Bannockburn in 1314 and Otterburn in 1388. But England did survive and thrived somehow especially in terms of administration, government, and the beginnings of a parliamentary system.
Julian Worker is a writer of travel books, mystery stories, and fictional lists. His work can be seen here.
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