Dan Jones

speaker

253 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2026 last heard 11 Jun

Dan Jones’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.

Appearances

newest first · ▶ plays the moment

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford · Presenting...This is History: A Dynasty to Die For · 11 Jun 2026 podcast

Anyway, the ins and outs of that episode don't need to concern us here.

The fact is that marrying the sister of Enrique the Impotent doesn't fill Edward with much confidence.

And, more to the point, he has other irons in the fire.

Or rather, his consigliere, the Earl of Warwick, does.

For the past three years, Warwick's been putting feelers out around Europe for potential wives for Edward, and there are a number of plausible candidates.

The Duke of Burgundy has a sister.

She's one possibility.

Then there's Mary of Gelders, the widow of James II of Scotland, who's been sheltering Queen Margaret of Anjou and Henry VI.

Mary of Gilders is older than Edward, and although there are many rumours about her exciting love life since she's been widowed, a Scottish alliance might not be the worst idea in the world, especially given Mary's current Lancastrian inclinations.

Then there's France.

Warwick has put a word in with the recently crowned French king, Louis XI, wondering if he has any daughters who might make a suitable English queen.

Since Louis' daughter is only three, he's nixed that idea.

but he's offered up another option, his sister-in-law, Bona of Savoy.

On the grounds of her name alone, old Bona is the opposite of Enrique the Impotent's sister, and a French alliance has been a reliable route in international marriage diplomacy for generations, stretching all the way back to Edward I's day.

For more on Edward I, listen back to season four of A Dynasty to Die For.

I'd start with episode four, A New Arthur.

The point is Warwick has plenty of options, and if anything, the problem is choosing which of these eligible young European princesses is going to be the match most fitting for King Edward and the House of York, now that their problems with the Lancastrians are starting to recede.

By the end of summer 1464, Warwick is leaning towards a French match, and he's about to send a diplomatic delegation to the town of Saint-Omer, south of Calais, to get serious about thrashing out details.

It looks like Warwick's first big coup on the international stage is about to materialise, and all he needs is for Edward to sign off on it.

The House of York will be properly up and running as a royal dynasty.

Showing 221–240 of 253 · page 12 of 13