The Percy Family - The Noble House Who Nearly Tore England in Half!

Tonight on Sleepy Nobles, we tell the complete story of the House of Percy — the family that held northern England for nearly a thousand years. They came out of Normandy with the Conqueror's armies in 1067, and they planted themselves on the wild border of England and Scotland, where the land was hard and the peace was never guaranteed. Over the centuries that followed, they gathered castles, titles, and the loyalty of thousands. They made kings and unmade them. They fought beside the Crown and they rebelled against it. They lost everything — again and again — and yet they always returned. And when at last the bloodline faltered, it was saved by a child, a girl married three times before her sixteenth birthday, who carried the Percy name forward into the modern age. Tonight, we tell the whole story. Slowly and softly, to ease you into sleep. 💛 What to expect in tonight's story: William de Percy and the whiskers — the Norman lord who founded a dynasty with an unusual face Hotspur — the border warrior so fierce the Scots named him, and his doomed rebellion at Shrewsbury The Wars of the Roses — three earls dead in battle within a generation The Sixth Earl and Anne Boleyn — the love affair that changed English history The Wizard Earl — sixteen years in the Tower, befriending Raleigh and studying the stars Elizabeth Percy — the three-times-married heiress who saved everything Hugh Smithson — the Yorkshire baronet who took the Percy name and built a dukedom Alnwick Castle today — Harry Potter, poison gardens, and nine centuries of stone A sleep-friendly, gently narrated historical documentary, told slowly and with care to help guide you toward rest. No sudden sounds. No background music. Just the story, told the way a great story deserves to be told — at the pace of a dying fire and a quiet night. 💛 Subscribe to Sleepy Nobles for new sleep history content every week. 🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss a story. CHAPTERS 0:00:00 — Introduction — The Family That Refused to Die 0:16:00 — William de Percy & the Norman Foundation (1067) 0:32:00 — Henry de Percy & the Purchase of Alnwick (1309) 0:48:00 — Hotspur — The Border Warrior & the Road to Shrewsbury 1:04:00 — The Wars of the Roses — Three Earls in a Generation 1:20:00 — The Sixth Earl, Anne Boleyn & the Tudor Tragedies 1:36:00 — The Wizard Earl — Sixteen Years in the Tower 1:52:00 — Elizabeth Percy & the Reinvention of a Dynasty 2:06:00 — Alnwick Today — Nine Centuries of Stone