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Shocking Successes that Came from Stressful Situations in History

Khalid Elhassan April 30, 2021 37 min

German troops crossing a bridge into the Rhineland on March 7th, 1936. The Article

19. Subjected to Pressure from His Wife and From His King, the Earl of Derby Played Both Sides

As King Richard III marched out to meet Henry Tudor, Thomas Stanley, 1^st Earl of Derby, was conflicted. His family had originally been Lancastrians, the side championed by Tudor. However, Stanley had switched sides and defected to the Yorkists, now headed by Richard III. Stanley was handsomely rewarded for betraying the Lancastrians with lands and estates, and powerful government positions. As a result, he was greatly indebted to the Yorkists. However, he also happened to be married to Henry Tudor’s mother, so he was the challenger’s stepfather.

Stuck between the rock of loyalty and the hard place of peace and tranquility at home, Stanley dealt with the pressure by playing both sides. He secretly contacted his stepson, to sound out the possibility and potential rewards of defecting back to the Lancastrians. Things got awkward, however, when King Richard got wind of that correspondence. He seized Stanley’s son as a hostage to ensure against his father’s treachery. He then ordered the Earl to join the Yorkist army with his contingent, which Stanley reluctantly did.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.