Casino Royale: The Rise and Fall of the de Beaumont Earls of Leicester.

Explore Norman England from 1066-1204 through the lives, events and intrigues of the first four Earls of Leicester.

The 12th May 2025 marks the 5 year anniversary of the first of Jim Butler’s Hidden Histories of Leicester videos. To mark the occasion, he will be launching the first part of his next Hidden Histories project on that date. Please see below for the release schedule and a brief synopsis of each episode. This eight-part series will be available on Jim Butler’s YouTube channel.

www.youtube.com/@HiddenHistoriesofLeicester

Part 1: Conquest – Monday 12th May 2025
As one of the only named individuals to fight alongside William the Conqueror at Hastings, the teenage Robert de Beaumont soon makes a name for himself in Norman England. But an ancient feud with the Sheriff of Leicestershire is renewed when both support opposing claimants to the English throne.

Part 2: Birthright – Thursday 15th May 2025
Few could have predicted the events that would see Robert de Beaumont rise through court, but now he must use all his guile if he’s to silence his enemies and become the 1st Earl of Leicester.

Part 3: Succession – Monday 19th May 2025
When tragedy strikes the heart of the English and Norman nobility, the de Beaumont twins, successors to Earl Robert’s titles and estates, must each roll the dice in the hope of backing the next King of England.

Part 4: Anarchy – Thursday 22nd May 2025
The royal line of succession is broken. English nobles must now choose sides in the approaching civil war, none more so than the young Earls, Robert and Waleran de Beaumont. Both will rise, but one will fall, through the bloody turmoil that is The Anarchy.

Part 5: Rebellion – Monday 26th May 2025
Under Henry I’s firm rule, England and Normandy are once again reunited, but a martyr and a monarch would soon threaten the fledgling Plantagenet dynasty. It now falls to the third Earl of Leicester, Robert ‘Blanchemains’, to choose whether to support his anointed king or the young upstart intent on claiming all for himself. As the dice are rolled, the town of Leicester and its innocent residents will find themselves at the bloody heart of the Rebellion.

Part 6: Restitution – Thursday 29th May 2025
With the people of Leicester left to pick-up the pieces of their shattered town, Earl Robert ‘Blanchemains’ and his Leicester garrison both seek to take their revenge, one on the King and the other on the neighbouring East Midlands towns. But all this bitter fighting will come at a cost, and can the Earl or Leicester or the town ever regain their former strength?

Part 7: Crusade – Monday 2nd June 2025
After Blanchemains’ actions threatened not only the de Beaumont legacy but also the very town of Leicester, it falls to the fourth and final Robert de Beaumont to try to restore the family’s battered fortunes. But first he must prove his worth to King Richard ‘The Lion heart’ across both the literal and political battlefields of the Holy Lands. But, unbeknownst to both King Richard and the crusading Earl, trouble and treachery await their return.

Part 8: Severance – Thursday 5th June 2025
When the Lionheart’s final foray into Normandy is cut tragically short, Earl Robert must now throw his support behind the new King, John. But with twilight descending on both the Anglo-Norman kingdom and the house of de Beaumont, what next for the Earldom of Leicester, let alone the English throne?