House of Plantagenet

The House of Plantagenet^[a] (/plænˈtædʒənət/ plan-TAJ-ə-nət) was a royal house which originated in the French County of Anjou. The name Plantagenet is used by modern historians to identify four distinct royal houses: the Angevins, who were also counts of Anjou; the main line of the Plantagenets following the loss of Anjou; and the Houses of Lancaster and York, two of the Plantagenets cadet branches. The family held the English throne from 1154, with the accession of Henry II, until 1485, when Richard III died.

"Plantagenet" redirects here. For other uses, see Plantagenet (disambiguation).

House of Plantagenet

House of Ingelger

12th century

Geoffrey V of Anjou

Richard III of England

1499 (male)
1541 (female)

1485 (1485)

House of Lancaster
House of York
House of Beaufort (legitimised)

England was transformed under the Plantagenets, although only partly intentionally. The Plantagenet kings were often forced to negotiate compromises such as Magna Carta, which constrained royal power in return for financial and military support. The king was no longer just the most powerful man in the nation, holding the prerogative of judgement, feudal tribute and warfare, but had defined duties to the realm, underpinned by a sophisticated justice system. A distinct national identity was shaped by their conflict with the French, Scots, Welsh and Irish, as well as by the establishment of Middle English as the primary language.

In the 15th century, the Plantagenets were defeated in the Hundred Years' War and beset with social, political and economic problems. Popular revolts were commonplace, triggered by the denial of numerous freedoms. English nobles raised private armies, engaged in private feuds and openly defied Henry VI.

The rivalry between the House of Plantagenet's two cadet branches of York and Lancaster brought about the Wars of the Roses, a decades-long fight for the English succession. It culminated in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, when the reign of the Plantagenets and the English Middle Ages both met their end with the death of King Richard III. Henry VII, a Lancastrian, became king of England; five months later he married Elizabeth of York, thus ending the Wars of the Roses and giving rise to the Tudor dynasty. The Tudors worked to centralise English royal power, which allowed them to avoid some of the problems that had plagued the last Plantagenet rulers. The resulting stability allowed for the English Renaissance and the advent of early modern Britain and while the Plantagenets died out nearly every English monarch from Henry VII till the present since have been their descendants.

Count Geoffrey died in 1151 before finalizing the division of his realm between Henry and Henry's younger brother Geoffrey, who would have inherited Anjou. According to , who wrote in the 1190s, Count Geoffrey decided that Henry would receive England and Anjou for as long as he needed the resources for the conflict against Stephen. Count Geoffrey instructed that his body should not be buried until Henry swore an oath that the young Geoffrey would receive Anjou when England and Normandy were secured.^[15] W. L. Warren cast doubt on this account on the grounds that it was written later, based on a single contemporary source, it would be questionable that either Geoffrey or Henry would consider such an oath binding and it would break the inheritance practice of the time.^[16] The young Geoffrey died in 1158, before receiving Anjou, but he had become count of Nantes when the citizens of Nantes rebelled against their ruler. Henry had supported the rebellion.^[17]

William of Newburgh

was granted an annulment of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine on 18 March 1152, and she married Henry (who would become Henry II) on 18 May 1152. Consequently, the Angevins acquired the Duchy of Aquitaine.^[18]

Louis VII of France

Stephen's wife and elder son, , died in 1153, leading to the Treaty of Wallingford. The treaty agreed the peace offer that Matilda had rejected in 1142, recognised Henry as Stephen's heir, guaranteed Stephen's second son William his father's estates and allowed Stephen to be king for life. Stephen died soon afterwards, and Henry acceded to the throne in late 1154.^[19]

Eustace

Main line[edit]

Baronial conflict and the establishment of Parliament[edit]

All subsequent English monarchs were descendants of the Angevin line via John, who had five legitimate children with Isabella:^[48]

Edward (b. 1382; died as a child)—buried at , Monmouth.

Monmouth Castle

(1386–1422)—had one son:

Henry

(1439–1476)—(Mitochondrial DNA taken from a descendant of her second daughter, Anne St Leger, Baroness de Ros, was used in the identification of the remains of Richard III, which were found in 2012.^[94])

Anne of York

Henry (b. 1441; died as a child)

(1442–1483)

Edward

(1443–1460)

Edmund

(1444–1503)—married John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk; she was the mother of several claimants to the throne.

Elizabeth

(1446–1503)—married Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.

Margaret

William (b. 1447; died as a child)

John (b. 1448; died as a child)

(1449–1478)

George

Thomas (b. 1450/51; died as a child)

(1452–1485)

Richard

Ursula (b. 1455; died as a child)

In her will, Cecily stated that Katherine and Humphrey were her children, but they may have been her grandchildren through de la Pole.

Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon

George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon

Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland

Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland

António, Prior of Crato

Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma

and his infant daughter

Philip III of Spain

Jones, Dan (10 May 2012). . HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-00-745749-6.

House of Plantagenet