If the tutors were born out of a gamble at Bosworth, the Stanle's were the ones holding the dice.

The name might not evoke the same feelings of power and grandeur as like the

Howards or the Perseys or the Nevels, but the Stanley family played one of the most pivotal roles

in establishing the Tudor dynasty and then managed to stay alive, wealthy, and influential

all the way through to the stewards.

That alone deserves a round of applause. This was a family that perfected the art of calculated

hesitation. They didn't always back the winning side immediately, but they almost always backed

it eventually and just in time to avoid disaster.

Today we are diving into the story of the Stanleys from the late Middle Ages,

through the Wars of the Roses, into the height of the Tudor Court,

and on to the uneasy balancing act of Elizabethan politics.

This isn't a story of flash and scandal. It's a story of

patient power. And it culminated in a battlefield in 1485.

Hello, my friend, and welcome, welcome to the Renaissance English History podcast, a part of the

Agora Podcast Network. I am your host, Heather. I am, as always, thrilled and delighted that you

are here with me today when we're talking about the Stanley family. Let's get right into it.

In the mid-15th century, the Stanleys were already an established northern power.

Their main seat was at Latham House in Lancashire, and their reach extended across Cheshire into Wales.

They weren't dukes or royal cousins, but they didn't need to be. They had land, money, and, most

importantly, influence over the fierce, loyal retinues

of the Northwest. You did not want to fight a Northern Rebellion without a Stanley on your side.

By the 1470s, Thomas Stanley had positioned himself carefully within the Yorkist regime.

...