Margaret of Anjou Pt 2 | The She Wolf of France | The Woman Who Lost the Wars of the Roses

From History Calling

In 1461, MARGARET OF ANJOU, Queen of England, the wife of Henry VI and the woman who was the SHE WOLF OF FRANCE according to William Shakespeare, was on the run with her husband and their son, Prince Edward of Wales, after Henry had been deposed as part of the ongoing saga that was the Wars of the Roses (a long running battle for the throne between the York and Lancastrian branches of the Plantagenet royal family). Margaret would spend the next 10 years fighting to restore her husband, who was one of England’s weakest ever kings, to his throne. She went for help to the Kings and Queens of Scotland and France, made an alliance with her old enemy, Richard, Earl of Warwick (the so-called Kingmaker) and even married her son to Warwick’s daughter, Anne Neville (another of the women who fought the Wars of the Roses). Margaret’s life was very difficult during this time however. She faced financial hardship, her husband was captured in 1465 and Margaret never saw him again after 1463. She did have her allies though, most notably her brother and sister-in-law, Jasper Tudor and Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of the future Henry VII and eventually, in 1470-1 the readeption of Henry VI took place, during which he was freed from captivity and restored to his throne. Margaret was then in France and by the time she made it to England, the tables had turned again and Henry was reimprisoned as Edward IV took back the throne. Margaret then suffered the greatest catastrophe of her life. The death of Prince Edward, her only child, at the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471 and the death (possibly murder) soon afterwards of her husband forever ended her stake in the English crown and has meant that she has gone down in history as the woman who lost the Wars of the Roses. The former Queen was captured, paraded through London and held captive for several years until she was ransomed back to France. She died in relative poverty and obscurity in 1482. This documentary from History Calling will take you through the final 21 years of the Life of Margaret of Anjou, a woman who deserves to be remembered as the warrior Queen of England given how hard she fought for its throne. It is the latest in a series on the women who fought the Wars of the Roses. It was also answer the question what were the Wars of the Roses (or indeed what was the Cousins’ War, as this conflict is also known) and help newcomers to this era of history in understanding the Wars of the Roses.