The House of Plantagenet () was a
royal house
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in repu ...
which originated from the lands of
Anjou Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
* County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
**Duk ...
in France. The family held the
English throne
The Throne of England is the throne of the Monarch of England. "Throne of England" also refers metonymically to the office of monarch, and monarchy itself.Gordon, Delahay. (1760) ''A General History of the Lives, Trials, and Executions of All the ...
from 1154 (with the accession of
Henry II at the end of
the Anarchy
The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legiti ...
) to 1485, when
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
died in battle.
Under the Plantagenets,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
was transformed. The Plantagenet kings were often forced to negotiate compromises such as
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...
, which had served to constrain their royal power in return for financial and military support. The king was no longer considered an absolute monarch in the nation—holding the prerogatives of judgement, feudal tribute, and warfare—but now also had defined duties to the kingdom, 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 the
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
as the primary language.
In the 15th century, the Plantagenets were defeated in the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
and beset with social, political and economic problems. Popular revolts were common-place, 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
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...
, a decades-long fight for the English succession, culminating in the
Battle of Bosworth Field
The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Augu ...
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 of legitimised Lancastrian descent became king of England; five months later, he married
Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which ma ...
, thus giving rise to the
Tudor dynasty
The House of Tudor was a royal house of largely Welsh and English origin that held the English throne from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd and Catherine of France. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and it ...
. 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
The English Renaissance was a Cultural movement, cultural and Art movement, artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginni ...
and the advent of
early modern Britain
Early modern Britain is the history of the island of Great Britain roughly corresponding to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Major historical events in early modern British history include numerous wars, especially with France, along with the E ...
.
Terminology
''Plantagenet''
Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York
Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (21 September 1411 – 30 December 1460), also named Richard Plantagenet, was a leading English magnate and claimant to the throne during the Wars of the Roses. He was a member of the ruling House of Plantage ...
, adopted Plantagenet as his family name in the 15th century. ''Plantegenest'' (or ''Plante Genest'') had been a 12th-century nickname for his ancestor
Geoffrey,
Count of Anjou
The Count of Anjou was the ruler of the County of Anjou, first granted by Charles the Bald in the 9th century to Robert the Strong. Ingelger and his son, Fulk the Red, were viscounts until Fulk assumed the title of Count of Anjou. The Robertians ...
and
Duke of Normandy
In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western Kingdom of France, France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles the Simple, Charles III in ...
. One of many popular theories suggests the blossom of the
common broom
''Cytisus scoparius'' ( syn. ''Sarothamnus scoparius''), the common broom or Scotch broom, is a deciduous leguminous shrub native to western and central Europe. In Britain and Ireland, the standard name is broom; this name is also used for other ...
, a bright yellow ("gold") flowering plant, called ''
genista
Genista is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, native to open habitats such as moorland and pasture in Europe and western Asia. They include species commonly called broom, though the term may also refer to other genera, i ...
'' in
medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
, as the source of the nickname.
It is uncertain why Richard chose this specific name, although during the
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...
(1455–1487) it emphasised Richard's status as Geoffrey's patrilineal descendant. The retrospective usage of the name for all of Geoffrey's male-line descendants was popular during the subsequent
Tudor dynasty
The House of Tudor was a royal house of largely Welsh and English origin that held the English throne from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd and Catherine of France. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and it ...
, perhaps encouraged by the further legitimacy it gave to Richard's great-grandson,
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
. It was only in the late 17th century that it passed into common usage among historians.
''Angevins''
is French for "from
Anjou Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
* County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
**Duk ...
". The three Angevin kings were the 12th-century Geoffrey of Anjou's son,
Henry II, and grandsons
Richard I
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
and
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
. "Angevin" can also refer to the period of history in which they reigned. Many historians identify the Angevins as a distinct English royal house. "Angevin" is also used in reference to any sovereign or government derived from Anjou. As a noun, it refers to any native of Anjou or an Angevin ruler, and specifically to other
counts and dukes of Anjou
The Count of Anjou was the ruler of the County of Anjou, first granted by Charles the Bald in the 9th century to Robert the Strong. Ingelger and his son, Fulk the Red, were viscounts until Fulk assumed the title of Count of Anjou. The Robertians ...
, including the ancestors of the three kings who formed the English royal house; their cousins, who held the crown of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
; and to unrelated members of the French royal family who were later granted the titles and formed different dynasties, such as the
Capetian House of Anjou
The Capetian House of Anjou or House of Anjou-Sicily, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct French House of Capet, part of the Capetian dynasty. It is one of three separate royal houses referred to as ''Angevin'', meaning "from Anjou" ...
and the
Valois House of Anjou
The House of Valois-Anjou (, it, Casa Valois-Angiò) was a noble French family and cadet branch of the House of Valois. Members of the house served as monarchs of Naples, as well as several other territories.
History
The house was founded in the ...
. Consequently, there is disagreement between those who consider John's son,
Henry III, to be the first Plantagenet monarch, and those who do not distinguish between Angevins and Plantagenets and therefore consider the first Plantagenet to be Henry II.
The term "
Angevin Empire
The Angevin Empire (; french: Empire Plantagenêt) describes the possessions of the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and W ...
" was coined by
Kate Norgate
Kate Norgate (8 December 1853 – 17 April 1935) was a British historian. She was one of the first women to achieve academic success in this sphere, and is best known for her history of England under the Angevin kings and for coining the name ...
in 1887. There was no known contemporary collective name for all of the territories under the rule of the Angevin Kings of England. This led to circumlocutions such as "our kingdom and everything subject to our rule whatever it may be" or "the whole of the kingdom which had belonged to his father". The "Empire" portion of "Angevin Empire" has been controversial, especially as these territories were not subject to any unified laws or systems of governance, and each retained its own laws, traditions, and feudal relationships. In 1986 a convention of historians concluded that there had not been an Angevin state, and therefore no "Angevin Empire", but that the term (French for "Plantagenet area") was acceptable. Nonetheless, historians have continued to use "Angevin Empire".
Origin
![The Children of Henry2 England](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/The_Children_of_Henry2_England.jpg)
The later
counts of Anjou
The Count of Anjou was the ruler of the County of Anjou, first granted by Charles the Bald in the 9th century to Robert the Strong. Ingelger and his son, Fulk the Red, were viscounts until Fulk assumed the title of Count of Anjou. The Robertians ...
, including the Plantagenets, descended from
Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais Geoffrey II, de Château-Landon (died 1043 or 1046) was the Count of Gâtinais.John Burke & Sir Bernard Burke, C.B., ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage'', Edited by Peter Townsend (Burke's Peerage Ltd.,London, 1963)p. xciiiDetlev Schwennic ...
, and his wife
Ermengarde of Anjou. In 1060 the couple inherited the title via
cognatic kinship
Cognatic kinship is a mode of descent calculated from an ancestor counted through any combination of male and female links, or a system of bilateral kinship where relations are traced through both a father and mother. Such relatives may be known ...
from
an Angevin family that was descended from a noble named
Ingelger
Ingelger (died 888), also called Ingelgarius, was a Frankish nobleman, who was the founder of the County of Anjou and of the original House of Anjou. Later generations of his family believed that he was the son of Tertullus (Tertulle) and Petro ...
, whose recorded history dates from 870.
During the 10th and 11th centuries, power struggles occurred between rulers in northern and western France including those of Anjou,
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
,
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
,
Poitou
Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...
,
Blois
Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours.
With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...
,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
, and the kings of France. In the early 12th century Geoffrey of Anjou married
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...
,
King Henry I's only surviving legitimate child and heir to the English throne. As a result of this marriage, Geoffrey's son
Henry II inherited the English throne as well as Norman and Angevin titles, thus marking the beginning of the Angevin and Plantagenet dynasties.
The marriage was the third attempt of Geoffrey's father,
Fulk V, Count of Anjou
Fulk ( la, Fulco, french: Foulque or ''Foulques''; c. 1089/1092 – 13 November 1143), also known as Fulk the Younger, was the count of Anjou (as Fulk V) from 1109 to 1129 and the king of Jerusalem with his wife from 1131 to his death. During t ...
, to build a political alliance with Normandy. He first espoused his daughter,
Alice, to
William Adelin
William Ætheling (, ; 5 August 1103 – 25 November 1120), commonly called Adelin (sometimes ''Adelinus'', ''Adelingus'', ''A(u)delin'' or other Latinised Norman-French variants of '' Ætheling'') was the son of Henry I of England by his wife M ...
, Henry I's heir. After William drowned in the wreck of the ''
White Ship
The ''White Ship'' (french: la Blanche-Nef; Medieval Latin: ''Candida navis'') was a vessel transporting many nobles, including the heir to the English throne, that sank in the Channel during a trip from France to England near the Normandy ...
'' Fulk married another of his daughters,
Sibylla, to
William Clito
William Clito (25 October 110228 July 1128) was a member of the House of Normandy who ruled the County of Flanders from 1127 until his death and unsuccessfully claimed the Duchy of Normandy. As the son of Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William ...
, son of Henry I's older brother,
Robert Curthose
Robert Curthose, or Robert II of Normandy ( 1051 – 3 February 1134, french: Robert Courteheuse / Robert II de Normandie), was the eldest son of William the Conqueror and succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 1087, reigning until 1106. ...
. Henry I had the marriage annulled to avoid strengthening William's rival claim to Normandy. Finally Fulk achieved his goal through the marriage of Geoffrey and Matilda. Fulk then passed his titles to Geoffrey and became
King of Jerusalem
The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader states, Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Church, Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was Siege of Jerusalem (1099), conqu ...
.
[.]
Angevin kings
Arrival in England
![France 1154-en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/France_1154-en.svg)
When Henry II was born in 1133, his grandfather, Henry I, was reportedly delighted, saying that the boy was "the heir to the kingdom". The birth reduced the risk that the King's realm would pass to his son-in-law's family, which was possible if the marriage of Matilda and Geoffrey ended childless. The birth of a second son, also named
Geoffrey, increased the likelihood of partible inheritance following French custom, in which Henry would receive the English maternal inheritance and Geoffrey the Angevin paternal inheritance. This would separate the realms of England and Anjou.
In order to secure an orderly succession, Geoffrey and Matilda sought more power from Henry I, but quarrelled with him after the king refused to give them power that might be used against him. When he died in December 1135, the couple were in Anjou, allowing Matilda's cousin
Stephen
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
to seize the crown of England. Stephen's contested accession initiated the widespread civil unrest later called the Anarchy.
Count Geoffrey had little interest in England. Instead he commenced a ten-year war for the duchy of Normandy, but it became clear that to bring this conflict to a successful conclusion Stephen would need to be challenged in England. In 1139 Matilda and her half-brother,
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, invaded England. From the age of nine, Henry was repeatedly sent to England to be the male figurehead of the campaigns, since it became apparent that he would become king if England were conquered. In 1141 Stephen was captured at the
Battle of Lincoln and later exchanged for Robert, who had also been captured. Geoffrey continued the conquest of Normandy and in 1150 transferred the duchy to Henry while retaining the primary role in the duchy's government.
Three events allowed the Angevins' successful termination of the conflict:
* 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
William of Newburgh
William of Newburgh or Newbury ( la, Guilelmus Neubrigensis, ''Wilhelmus Neubrigensis'', or ''Willelmus de Novoburgo''. 1136 – 1198), also known as William Parvus, was a 12th-century English historian and Augustinian canon of Anglo-Saxon de ...
, 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.
W. L. Warren
Wilfred Lewis Warren (24 August 1929 – 19 July 1994) was an historian of medieval England. Educated at Exeter College, Oxford, he worked as a professor of modern (post-Classical antiquity, classical) Post-classical history, history and dean of th ...
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. The young Geoffrey died in 1158, before receiving Anjou, but he had become
count of Nantes The counts of Nantes were originally the Frankish rulers of the Nantais under the Carolingians and eventually a capital city of the Duchy of Brittany. Their county served as a march against the Bretons of the Vannetais. Carolingian rulers would so ...
when the citizens of Nantes rebelled against their ruler. Henry had supported the rebellion.
*
Louis VII of France
Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...
was granted an annulment of his marriage to
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from ...
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
The Duchy of Aquitaine ( oc, Ducat d'Aquitània, ; french: Duché d'Aquitaine, ) was a historical fiefdom in western, central, and southern areas of present-day France to the south of the river Loire, although its extent, as well as its name, fluc ...
.
* Stephen's wife and elder son,
Eustace
Eustace, also rendered Eustis, ( ) is the rendition in English of two phonetically similar Greek given names:
*Εὔσταχυς (''Eústachys'') meaning "fruitful", "fecund"; literally "abundant in grain"; its Latin equivalents are ''Fæcundus/Fe ...
, died in 1153 leading to the
Treaty of Wallingford
The Treaty of Wallingford, also known as the Treaty of Winchester or the Treaty of Westminster, was an agreement reached in England in the summer of 1153. It effectively ended a civil war known as ''the Anarchy'' (1135–54), caused by a dispute o ...
. The treaty agreed the peace offer that Matilda had rejected in 1142, recognised Henry as Stephen's heir, guaranteed Stephen's second son
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
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.
Angevin zenith
Of Henry's siblings,
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and Geoffrey died unmarried and childless, but the tempestuous marriage of Henry and Eleanor, who already had two daughters (
Marie
Marie may refer to:
People Name
* Marie (given name)
* Marie (Japanese given name)
* Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973
* Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tr ...
and
Alix
''Alix'', or ''The Adventures of Alix'', is a Franco-Belgian comics series drawn in the ligne claire style by Jacques Martin. The stories revolve around a young Gallo-Roman man named Alix in the late Roman Republic. Although the series is re ...
) through her first marriage to King Louis, produced eight children in thirteen years:
*
William IX, Count of Poitiers
William (17 August 1153 – 1156) was the first son of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was born in Normandy on the same day that his father's rival, Eustace IV of Boulogne, died.
William either died aged 3 on ...
(1153–1156)
*
Henry the Young King
Henry the Young King (28 February 1155 – 11 June 1183) was the eldest son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine to survive childhood. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Mai ...
(1155–1183)
*
Matilda, Duchess of Saxony (1156–1189)married
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180.
Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...
,
Duke of Bavaria
The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and Monarch, kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic States of Germany, state in th ...
. The eldest amongst the couple's children, Richenza, is probably the daughter English chroniclers call Matilda, who was left in Normandy with her grandparents in 1185 and married firstly to Geoffrey,
count of Perche The county of Perche was a medieval county lying between Normandy and Maine (province), Maine.
It was held by an independent line of counts until 1226. One of these, Geoffroy V, would have been a leader of the Fourth Crusade had he not died before ...
, and secondly to
Enguerrand de Coucy. The eldest son,
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
, became
duke of Saxony
This article lists dukes, electors, and kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 6th century to the end of the German monarchies in 1918.
The electors of Saxony from John the Steadfast on ...
and
count palatine of the Rhine
The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...
. His brother Otto was nominated by his uncle Richard I as
earl of York
In Anglo-Saxon England, the Earl of York or Ealdorman of York was the ruler of the southern half of Northumbria. The titles ealdorman and earl both come from Old English. The ealdormanry (earldom) seems to have been created in 966 following a peri ...
and
count of Poitiers
Among the people who have borne the title of Count of Poitiers (or ''Poitou'', in what is now France but in the Middle Ages became part of Aquitaine) are:
*Bodilon
* Warinus (638–677), son of Bodilon
*Hatton (735-778)
Carolingian Counts
...
before being elected
emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
in opposition to the
Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
candidate. Otto was crowned in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
but he was later excommunicated and declared deposed. Childless, Otto lost power following the defeat of the
Welf Welf is a Germanic first name that may refer to:
*Welf (father of Judith), 9th century Frankish count, father-in-law of Louis the Pious
*Welf I, d. bef. 876, count of Alpgau and Linzgau
*Welf II, Count of Swabia, died 1030, supposed descendant of W ...
and Angevin forces at the Battle of Bouvines. The youngest child,
William of Winchester
William of Winchester (11 April 1184 – 13 December 1213), also called in English William of Lunenburg (german: Wilhelm von Lüneburg) or William Longsword, a member of the House of Welf, was heir to his family's allodial lands in the Duchy of Sa ...
married
Helena daughter of
Valdemar I of Denmark
Valdemar I (14 January 1131 – 12 May 1182), also known as Valdemar the Great ( da, Valdemar den Store), was King of Denmark from 1154 until his death in 1182. The reign of King Valdemar I saw the rise of Denmark, which reached its medieval zen ...
. Their only son,
also called Otto, was the sole male heir of his uncle Henry. The ducal house of
Brunswick-Lüneburg and the British royal
house of Windsor
The House of Windsor is the reigning royal house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. In 1901, a line of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (itself a cadet branch of the House of Wettin) succeeded the House of Hanover to t ...
both descend from him.
*
Richard I, King of England (1157–1199). He had no legitimate offspring, but is thought to have had two illegitimate sons, of whom little is known, called Fulk and Phillip, Lord of Cognac.
*
Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
Geoffrey II ( br, Jafrez; , xno, Geoffroy; 23 September 1158 – 19 August 1186) was Duke of Brittany and 3rd Earl of Richmond between 1181 and 1186, through his marriage to Constance, Duchess of Brittany. Geoffrey was the fourth of five sons ...
(1158–1186)married
Constance
Constance may refer to:
Places
*Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English
*Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada
* Constance, Kentucky
* Constance, Minnesota
* Constance (Portugal)
* Mount Constance, Washington State
People
* Consta ...
daughter of
Duke Conan of Brittany and became duke of Brittany by right of his wife. The couple's son Arthur was a competitor to John for the Angevin succession.
*
Eleanor, Queen of Castile (1161–1214)married
King Alfonso VIII of Castile. The couple's children included
King Henry of Castile and four queen consorts, Berengaria, Queen of Leon, Urraca, Queen of Portugal, Blanche, Queen of France and Eleanor, Queen of Aragon.
*
Joan, Queen of Sicily (1165–1199)married firstly
King William II of Sicily and secondly
Count Raymond VI of Toulouse. Her children included
Raymond VII of Toulouse
Raymond VII (July 1197 – 27 September 1249) was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne and Marquis of Provence from 1222 until his death.
Family and marriages
Raymond was born at the Château de Beaucaire, the son of Raymond VI of Toulouse ...
.
*
John, King of England
John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empi ...
(1166–1216)
![English - Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket - Walters W3415V - Open Reverse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/English_-_Martyrdom_of_Saint_Thomas_Becket_-_Walters_W3415V_-_Open_Reverse.jpg)
Henry also had illegitimate children with several mistresses, possibly as many as twelve. These children included
Geoffrey,
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, Peter and four children who died young by
Alys, the daughter of Louis VII, while she was betrothed to his son Richard.
William's many competencies and importance as a royal bastard led to a long and illustrious career.
Henry reasserted and extended previous suzerainties to secure possession of his inherited realm. In 1162 he attempted to re-establish what he saw as his authority over the English Church by appointing his friend
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
as
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
upon the death of the incumbent archbishop,
Theobald Theobald is a Germanic dithematic name, composed from the elements '' theod-'' "people" and ''bald'' "bold". The name arrived in England with the Normans.
The name occurs in many spelling variations, including Theudebald, Diepold, Theobalt, Tybal ...
. Becket's defiance as Archbishop alienated the king and his counsellors. Henry and Becket had repeated disputes over issues such as church tenures, the marriage of Henry's brother, and taxation.
Henry reacted by getting Becket and other English bishops to recognise sixteen ancient customs in writing for the first time in the
Constitutions of Clarendon
The Constitutions of Clarendon were a set of legislative procedures passed by Henry II of England in 1164. The Constitutions were composed of 16 articles and represent an attempt to restrict ecclesiastical privileges and curb the power of the Chur ...
, governing relations between the king, his courts and the church. When Becket tried to leave the country without permission, Henry tried to ruin him by filing legal cases relating to Becket's previous tenure as chancellor. Becket fled and remained in exile for five years. Relations later improved, and Becket returned, but they declined again when Henry's son was crowned as
coregent
A coregency is the situation where a monarchical position (such as prince, princess, king, queen, emperor or empress), normally held by only a single person, is held by two or more. It is to be distinguished from diarchies or duumvirates such ...
by the
Archbishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...
, which Becket perceived as a challenge to his authority.
Becket later excommunicated those who had offended him. When he received this news, Henry said: "What miserable drones and traitors have I nurtured and promoted in my household who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born clerk." Four of Henry's knights killed Becket in
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...
after Becket resisted a failed arrest attempt. Henry was widely considered complicit in Becket's death throughout Christian Europe. This made Henry a pariah; in penance, he walked barefoot into Canterbury Cathedral, where he was severely whipped by monks.
From 1155 Henry claimed that
Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian IV ( la, Adrianus IV; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear); 1 September 1159, also Hadrian IV), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 to his death in 1159. He is the only Englishman t ...
had given him authorisation to reform the Irish church by assuming control of Ireland, but Professor Anne Duggan's research indicates that the
Laudabiliter
''Laudabiliter'' was a bull issued in 1155 by Pope Adrian IV, the only Englishman to have served in that office. Existence of the bull has been disputed by scholars over the centuries; no copy is extant but scholars cite the many references to ...
is a falsification of an existing letter and that was not in fact Adrian's intention.
It originally allowed Henry's brother William some territory. Henry did not personally act on this until 1171 by which time William was already dead. He invaded Ireland to assert his authority over knights who had accrued autonomous power after they recruited soldiers in England and Wales and colonised Ireland with his permission. Henry later gave Ireland to his youngest son, John.
In 1172 Henry gave John the castles of
Chinon
Chinon () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department, Centre-Val de Loire, France.
The traditional province around Chinon, Touraine, became a favorite resort of French kings and their nobles beginning in the late 15th and early 16th centuri ...
,
Loudun
Loudun (; ; Poitevin dialect, Poitevin: ''Loudin'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Vienne Departments of France, department and the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, western France.
It is located south of the town of Chin ...
and
Mirebeau
Mirebeau (; Poitevin: ''Mirebea'') is a commune in the Vienne department, in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, western France.
History
Fulk Nerra (970-1040), Count of Anjou conquered Mirebeau and built a castle there. His son, Geoffrey of Anjo ...
as a wedding gift. This angered Henry's eighteen-year-old son,
Henry the Young King
Henry the Young King (28 February 1155 – 11 June 1183) was the eldest son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine to survive childhood. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Mai ...
, who believed these were his. A
rebellion
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
by Henry II's wife and three eldest sons ensued.
Louis VII of France
Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...
supported the rebellion.
William the Lion
William the Lion, sometimes styled William I and also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough"''Uilleam Garbh''; e.g. Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1214.6; Annals of Loch Cé, s.a. 1213.10. ( 1142 – 4 December 1214), reigned as King of Scots from 11 ...
, king of the Scots, and others joined the revolt. After eighteen months, Henry subdued the rebels.
![Seal - Richard I of England](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Seal_-_Richard_I_of_England.jpg)
In
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
in 1182, Henry II gathered his children to plan a
partible inheritance
Partible inheritance is a system of inheritance in which property is apportioned among heirs. It contrasts in particular with primogeniture, which was common in feudal society and requires that the whole or most of the inheritance passes to the el ...
: his eldest surviving son, Henry, would inherit England, Normandy and Anjou; Richard (his mother's favourite) would inherit the Duchy of Aquitaine;
Geoffrey would inherit Brittany; and John would inherit Ireland. This resulted in further conflict. The younger Henry rebelled again, but died of
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
. Geoffrey died in 1186 after an accident in a tournament. In 1189, Richard and
Philip II of France
Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French ...
reasserted their various claims exploiting the aging Henry's failing health. Henry was forced to accept humiliating peace terms, including naming Richard his sole heir. The old King died two days later, defeated and miserable. French and English contemporary moralists viewed this fate as retribution for the murder of Becket; even his favourite legitimate son, John, had rebelled although the constantly loyal illegitimate son Geoffrey remained with Henry until the end.
Following Richard's coronation he quickly put the kingdom's affairs in order and departed on a Crusade for the Middle East. Opinion of Richard has fluctuated. He was respected for his military leadership and courtly manners. He rejected and humiliated the sister of the king of France. He deposed the king of Cyprus and later sold the island. On the
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...
, he made an enemy of
Leopold V, Duke of Austria
Leopold V (1157 – 31 December 1194), known as the Virtuous (german: der Tugendhafte) was a member of the House of Babenberg who reigned as Duke of Austria from 1177 and Duke of Styria from 1192 until his death. The Georgenberg Pact resulted in L ...
, by showing disrespect to his banners as well as refusing to share the spoils of war. He was rumoured to have arranged the assassination of
Conrad of Montferrat
Conrad of Montferrat (Italian: ''Corrado del Monferrato''; Piedmontese: ''Conrà ëd Monfrà'') (died 28 April 1192) was a nobleman, one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the ''de facto'' King of Jerusalem (as Conrad I) by vi ...
. His ruthlessness was demonstrated by his
massacre of 2,600 prisoners in Acre. He obtained victories during the Third Crusade, but failed to capture
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. According to
Steven Runciman
Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman ( – ), known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume ''A History of the Crusades'' (1951–54).
He was a strong admirer of the Byzantine Empire. His history's negative ...
Richard was "a bad son, a bad husband and a bad king".
Jonathan Riley-Smith
Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith (27 June 1938 – 13 September 2016) was a historian of the Crusades, and, between 1994 and 2005, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge. He was a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
Pro ...
described him as "vain ... devious and self-centred". In an alternate view
John Gillingham
John Bennett Gillingham (born 3 August 1940) is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. On 19 July 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
Gillingham is renowned as an expert on ...
points out that for centuries Richard was considered a model king.
Returning from the crusade with a small band of followers, Richard was captured by Leopold and was passed to
Emperor Henry VI
Henry VI (German: ''Heinrich VI.''; November 1165 – 28 September 1197), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1169 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was also King of Sic ...
. Henry held Richard captive for eighteen months (1192–1194) while his mother raised the ransom, valued at 100,000
marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members
* Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...
. In Richard's absence, Philip II overran large portions of Normandy and John acquired control of Richard's English lands. After returning to England, Richard forgave John and re-established his authority in England. He left again in 1194 and battled Philip for five years, attempting to regain the lands seized during his captivity. When close to complete victory, he was injured by an arrow during a siege and died ten days later.
Decline and the loss of Anjou
![Magna Carta (British Library Cotton MS Augustus II](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Magna_Carta_%28British_Library_Cotton_MS_Augustus_II.106%29.jpg)
Richard's failure to provide an heir caused a succession crisis and conflict between supporters of the claim of his nephew,
Arthur
Arthur is a common male given name of Brittonic languages, Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. An ...
, and John.
Guillaume des Roches
William des Roches (died 1222) (in French Guillaume des Roches) was a French knight and crusader who acted as Seneschal of Anjou, of Maine and of Touraine. After serving the Angevin kings of England, in 1202 he changed his loyalty to King Philip II ...
led the magnates of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine declaring for Arthur.
Once again Philip II of France attempted to disturb the Plantagenet territories on the European mainland by supporting his vassal Arthur's claim to the English crown. John won a significant victory while preventing Arthur's forces from capturing his mother, seizing the entire rebel leadership at the
Battle of Mirebeau
The Battle of Mirebeau was a battle in 1202 between the House of Lusignan-Breton alliance and the Kingdom of England. King John of England successfully smashed the Lusignan army by surprise.
Background
After Richard I's death on 6 April 1199 ...
and his sister
Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany
Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany (c. 1184 – 10 August 1241), also known as Damsel of Brittany, Pearl of Brittany, or Beauty of Brittany, was the eldest daughter of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, and Constance, Duchess of Brittany. Her father, ...
.
John disregarded his allies' opinions on the fate of the prisoners, many of them their neighbours and kinsmen. Instead he kept his prisoners so vilely and in such evil distress that it seemed shameful and ugly to all those who were with him and who saw this cruelty' according to the
L'Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal.
As a result of John's behaviour the powerful Thouars, Lusignan, and des Roches families rebelled and John lost control of Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and northern Poitou. His son, King Henry III, maintained the claim to the Angevin territories until December 1259 when he formally surrendered them and in return was granted Gascony as duke of Aquitaine and a vassal of the king of France.
John's reputation was further damaged by the rumour, described in the
Margam annals, that while drunk he himself had murdered Arthur and if not true it is almost certain John ordered the killing.
There are two contrasting schools of thought explaining the sudden collapse of John's position.
Sir James Holt suggests this was the inevitable result of superior French resources.
John Gillingham
John Bennett Gillingham (born 3 August 1940) is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. On 19 July 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
Gillingham is renowned as an expert on ...
identifies diplomatic and military mismanagement and points out that Richard managed to hold the Angevin territory with comparable finances. Nick Barratt has calculated that Angevin resources available for use in the war were 22 per cent less than those of Phillip, putting the Angevins at a disadvantage.
By 1214 John had re-established his authority in England and planned what Gillingham has called a grand strategy to recapture Normandy and Anjou. The plan was that John would draw the French from
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, while another army, under his nephew
Otto IV
Otto IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until his death in 1218.
Otto spent most of his early life in England and France. He was a follower of his uncle Richard the Lionheart, who made him Count of Poitou in 1196 ...
, the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
, and his half-brother William attacked from the north. He also brought his niece Eleanor of Brittany, aiming to establish her as Duchess of Brittany. The plan failed when John's allies were defeated at the
Battle of Bouvines
The Battle of Bouvines was fought on 27 July 1214 near the town of Bouvines in the County of Flanders. It was the concluding battle of the Anglo-French War of 1213–1214. Although estimates on the number of troops vary considerably among mo ...
. Otto retreated and was soon overthrown, William was captured by the French and John agreed to a five-year truce.
From then on John also gave up the claim to Brittany of Eleanor and had her confined for life. John's defeat weakened his authority in England, and his barons forced him to agree to the
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...
, which limited royal power. Both sides failed to abide by the terms of the Magna Carta, leading to the
First Barons' War
The First Barons' War (1215–1217) was a civil war in the Kingdom of England in which a group of rebellious major landowners (commonly referred to as barons) led by Robert Fitzwalter waged war against King John of England. The conflict resulte ...
, in which rebellious barons invited
Prince Louis, the husband of
Blanche, Henry II's granddaughter, to invade England.
Louis did so but in October 1216, before the conflict was conclusively ended, John died. The official website of the British Monarchy presents John's death as the end of the Angevin dynasty and the beginning of the Plantagenet dynasty.
Main line
Baronial conflict and the establishment of Parliament
All subsequent English monarchs were descendants of the Angevin line via John, who had five legitimate children with
Isabella
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...
:
*
Henry III – king of England for most of the 13th-century
*
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...
–
king of the Romans
King of the Romans ( la, Rex Romanorum; german: König der Römer) was the title used by the king of Germany following his election by the princes from the reign of Henry II (1002–1024) onward.
The title originally referred to any German k ...
in the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
*
Joan Joan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters
*:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine
* Joan (surname)
Weather events
*Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multip ...
– queen consort of
Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II (Medieval Gaelic: '; Modern Gaelic: '; 24 August 1198 – 6 July 1249) was King of Scotland from 1214 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of York (1237) which defined the boundary between England and Scotland, virtually unch ...
*
Isabella
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...
– wife of the Holy Roman Emperor,
Frederick II
*
Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was introd ...
– wife of
William Marshal
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 or 1147 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Norman French: ', French: '), was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English kings— Henry II, his sons the "Young King" ...
's son (also named William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, William), and later the English rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort.
John also had illegitimate children with several mistresses. These children probably included nine sons called Richard FitzRoy, Richard, Oliver, Henry, Osbert Gifford, Geoffrey, John FitzJohn or Courcy, Odo or Eudes FitzRoy, Ivo, Henry, Richard the constable of Wallingford Castle and three daughters called Joan, Lady of Wales, Joan, Matilda the abbess of Barking and Isabella la Blanche. Joan was the best known of these, since she married Prince Llewelyn the Great of Wales.
![WLA vanda Cast of Tomb Effigy Henry III](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/WLA_vanda_Cast_of_Tomb_Effigy_Henry_III.jpg)
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, was appointed regent for the nine-year-old King Henry on King John's death. Thereafter, support for Louis declined, and he renounced his claims in the Treaty of Lambeth after Marshal's victories at the battles of Battle of Lincoln (1217), Lincoln and Battle of Sandwich (1217), Sandwich in 1217.
The Marshal regime issued an amended Magna Carta as a basis for future government.
Despite the Treaty of Lambeth, hostilities continued and Henry was forced to compromise with the newly crowned Louis VIII of France and Henry's stepfather, Hugh X of Lusignan. They both overran much of Henry's remaining continental lands, further eroding the Angevins' power on the continent. In his political struggles, Henry perceived many similarities between himself and England's patron saint, Edward the Confessor. Consequently, he named his first son Edward and built the existing magnificent shrine for the Confessor.
In early 1225 a great council approved a tax of £40,000 to dispatch an army, which quickly retook Gascony. During an assembly feudal prerogatives of the king were challenged by the barons, bishops and magnates who demanded that the king reissue ''Magna Carta'' and the Charter of the Forest in exchange for support. Henry declared that the charters were issued of his own "spontaneous and free will" and confirmed them with the royal seal, giving the new Magna Carta#The Great Charter 1225, Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest of 1225 much more authority than any previous versions.
Henry III had nine children:
* Edward I of England, Edward I (1239–1307)
* Margaret of England (1240–1275). Her three children predeceased her husband, Alexander III of Scotland; consequently, the crown of Scotland became vacant on the death of their only grandchild, Margaret, Maid of Norway in 1290.
* Beatrice of England, Beatrice, Countess of Richmond (1242–1275). She initially married John de Montfort of Dreux, and later married John II, Duke of Brittany.
* Edmund Crouchback (1245–1296), who was granted the titles and estates of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Leicester, earldom of Leicester after Henry defeated Montfort in the Second Barons' War. Henry later granted Edmund the earldoms of Earl of Lancaster, Lancaster and Earl Ferrers, Ferrers. From 1276, through his wife, Edmund was Count of Champagne and Brie.
Later Lancastrians would attempt to use Henry IV's maternal descent from Edmund to legitimise his claim to the throne, spuriously claiming that Edmund was the eldest son of Henry III but had not become king due to deformity. Through his second marriage to Blanche of Artois, Blanche, the widow of Henry I of Navarre, Edmund was at the centre of European aristocracy. Blanche's daughter, Joan I of Navarre, Joan, was queen regnant of Navarre and queen consort of France through her marriage to Philip IV of France, Philip IV. Edmund's son Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, Thomas became the most powerful nobleman in England, adding to his inheritance the earldoms of Earl of Lincoln, Lincoln and Earl of Salisbury, Salisbury through his marriage to the heiress of Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln.
* Four others who died as children: Richard (1247–1256), John (1250–1256), William (c. 1251/1252–1256), Katherine of England, Katherine (c. 1252/3–1257) and Henry (no recorded dates).
Henry was bankrupted by his military expenditure and general extravagance. The pope offered Henry's brother
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...
the Kingdom of Sicily, but the military cost of displacing the incumbent Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor Frederick was prohibitive. Matthew Paris wrote that Richard stated: "You might as well say, 'I make you a present of the moon – step up to the sky and take it down'." Instead, Henry purchased the kingdom for his son Edmund, which angered many powerful barons. The barons led by Henry's brother-in-law Simon de Montfort forced him to agree to the Provisions of Oxford, under which his debts were paid in exchange for substantial reforms. In France, with the Treaty of Paris (1259), Treaty of Paris, Henry formally surrendered the territory of his Angevin ancestors to Louis IX of France, receiving in return the title duke of Aquitaine and the territory of Gascony as a vassal of the French king.
![Montfort Evesham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Montfort_Evesham.jpg)
Disagreements between the barons and the king intensified. The barons, under Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, captured most of southeast England in the Second Barons' War. At the Battle of Lewes in 1264, Henry and Prince Edward were defeated and taken prisoner. De Montfort assembled the Montfort's Parliament, Great Parliament, recognized as the first Parliament because it was the first time the cities and boroughs had sent representatives.
Edward escaped, raised an army and defeated and killed de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.
Savage retribution was inflicted upon the rebels, and authority restored to Henry. With the realm now peaceful, Edward left England to join Louis IX on the Ninth Crusade; he was one of the last crusaders. Louis died before Edward's arrival, but Edward decided to continue. The result was disappointing; Edward's small force only enabled him to capture Acre, Israel, Acre and launch a handful of raids. After surviving an assassination attempt, Edward left for Sicily later in the year, never to participate in a crusade again. When Henry III died, Edward acceded to the throne; the barons swore allegiance to him even though he did not return for two years.
Constitutional change and the reform of feudalism
Edward I married Eleanor of Castile, daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile, King Ferdinand of Castile, a great-grandson of Henry II through his second daughter Eleanor in 1254. Edward and Eleanor had sixteen children; five daughters survived to adulthood, but only one son survived Edward:
* Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar, Eleanor, Countess of Bar (1264/69−1298)
* Three daughters (Joan, Alice, and Juliana/Katherine) and two sons (John and Henry) born between 1265 and 1271. They died between 1265 and 1274 with little historical trace.
* Joan of Acre, Joan, Countess of Gloucester (1272–1307)
* Alphonso, Earl of Chester (1273–1284)
* Margaret of England, Duchess of Brabant, Margaret, Duchess of Brabant (1275–1333)
* Mary of Woodstock (1278–1332), who became a nun
* Isabella (1279–1279)
* Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, Elizabeth, firstly Countess of Holland and on widowhood, secondly Countess of Hereford (1282–1316). Among her eleven children were the earls of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton, and the countesses of Earl of Ormond (Scotland), Ormond and Devon.
* Edward II of England, Edward II
* Two other daughters (Beatrice and Blanche), who died as children.
Following Eleanor's death in 1290, Edward married Margaret of France, Queen of England, Margaret of France, daughter of Philip III of France, in 1299. Edward and Margaret had two sons, who both lived to adulthood, and a daughter who died as a child:
* Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, Thomas (1300–1338), whose daughter Margaret, Duchess of Norfolk, Margaret inherited his estates. Margaret's grandson, Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray, was the first duke of Norfolk, but Richard II exiled him and stripped him of his titles.
* Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, Edmund, Earl of Kent (1301 to 1330). Edmund's loyalty to his half-brother, Edward II, resulted in his execution by order of the rebel Mortimer and his lover, Edward's queen, Isabella. His daughter, Joan, inherited his estates and married her own cousin, Edward the Black Prince; together, they had Richard II, Richard, who later became the English king.
* Eleanor (1306–1311).
Evidence for Edward's involvement in legal reform is hard to find but his reign saw a major programme of legal change. Much of the drive and determination is likely to have come from the king and his experience of the baronial reform movement of the late 1250s and early 1260s. With the Statutes of Mortmain, Edward imposed his authority over the Church; the statutes prohibited land donation to the Church, asserted the rights of the Crown at the expense of traditional feudal privileges, promoted the uniform administration of justice, raised income and codified the legal system. His military campaigns left him in heavy debt and when Philip IV of France confiscated the Duchy of Gascony in 1294, Edward needed funds to wage war in France. When Edward summoned a precedent-setting Model Parliament, assembly in order to raise more taxes for military finance, he included lesser landowners and merchants. The resulting parliament included barons, clergy, knights, and burgesses for the first time.
Expansion in Britain
![Wales after the Treaty of Montgomery 1267](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Wales_after_the_Treaty_of_Montgomery_1267.svg)
On his accession, Edward I sought to organise his realm, enforcing his claims to primacy in the British Isles. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd claimed to rule North Wales "entirely separate from" England but Edward viewed him to be "a rebel and disturber of the peace". Edward's determination, military experience and skilful naval manoeuvres ended what was to him rebellion. The invasion was executed by one of the largest armies ever assembled by an English king, comprising Anglo-Norman cavalry and Welsh archers and laying the foundation for future victories in France. Llywelyn was driven into the mountains, later dying in battle. The Statute of Rhuddlan established England's authority over Wales, and Edward's son was proclaimed the first English Prince of Wales upon his birth. Edward spent vast sums on his two Welsh campaigns with a large portion of it spent on a network of castles.
Edward asserted that the List of Scottish monarchs, king of Scotland owed him feudal allegiance, and intended to unite the two nations by marrying his son Edward II of England, Edward to Margaret, Maid of Norway, Margaret, the sole heir of King Alexander III of Scotland, Alexander III.
When Margaret died in 1290, Competitors for the Crown of Scotland, competition for the Scottish crown ensued. By invitation of Scottish magnates, Edward I resolved the dispute, ruling in favour of John Balliol, who duly swore loyalty to him and became king. Edward insisted that he was Scotland's sovereign and possessed the right to hear appeals against Balliol's judgements, undermining Balliol's authority. Balliol allied with France in 1295; Edward invaded Scotland the following year, deposing and exiling Balliol.
Edward was less successful in Gascony, which was overrun by the French. With his resources depleting, Edward was forced to reconfirm the Charters, including Magna Carta, to obtain the necessary funds. In 1303 the French king restored Gascony to Edward by signing the Treaty of Paris (1303), Treaty of Paris. Meanwhile, William Wallace rose in Balliol's name and recovered most of Scotland. Wallace was defeated at the Battle of Falkirk (1298), Battle of Falkirk, after which Robert the Bruce rebelled and was crowned king of Scotland. Edward died while travelling to Scotland for another campaign.
![Peers and commoners fighting - The Holkham Bible Picture Book (c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Peers_and_commoners_fighting_-_The_Holkham_Bible_Picture_Book_%28c.1320-1330%29%2C_f.40_-_BL_Add_MS_47682.jpg)
King Edward II's coronation oath on his succession in 1307 was the first to reflect the king's responsibility to maintain the laws that the community "shall have chosen" ( in French).
He was not unpopular initially but faced three challenges: discontent over the financing of wars; his household spending; and the role of his favourite Piers Gaveston.
When Parliament decided that Gaveston should be exiled the king was left with no choice but to comply.
Edward engineered Gaveston's return, but was forced to agree to the appointment of Ordainers, led by his cousin Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, to reform the royal household with Piers Gaveston exiled again.
When Gaveston returned again to England, he was abducted and executed after a mock trial.
The ramifications of this drove Thomas and his adherents from power. Edward's humiliating defeat by Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn, confirming Bruce's position as an independent king of Scots, leading to Lancaster being appointed head of the king's council.
Edward finally repealed the Ordinances after defeating and executing Lancaster at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322.
The French monarchy asserted its rights to encroach on Edward's legal rights in Gascony. Resistance to one judgement in Saint-Sardos, Lot-et-Garonne, Saint-Sardos resulted in Charles IV declaring the duchy forfeit. Charles's sister, Isabella of France, Queen Isabella, was sent to negotiate and agreed a treaty that required Edward to pay homage in France to Charles. Edward resigned Aquitaine and Ponthieu to his son Edward III of England, Edward, who travelled to France to give homage in his stead. With the English heir in her power, Isabella refused to return to England unless Edward II dismissed his favourites, and she became the mistress of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Roger Mortimer.
The couple invaded England and, with Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, captured the king.
Edward II abdicated on condition that his son would inherit the throne rather than Mortimer. Although there is no historical record of the cause of death, he is popularly believed to have been murdered at Berkeley Castle by having a red-hot poker thrust into his bowels.
[; ] A coup by Edward III ended four years of control by Isabella and Mortimer. Mortimer was executed. Though removed from power, Isabella was treated well, and lived in luxury for the next 27 years.
Conflict with the House of Valois
![Philip iv and family](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Philip_iv_and_family.jpg)
In 1328 Charles IV of France died without a male heir. Queen Isabella made a claim to the throne of France on behalf of her son Edward, on the grounds that he was a matrilineal grandson of Philip IV of France. However, the precedents set by Philip V's succession over his niece Joan II of Navarre and Charles IV's succession over his nieces meant that the senior grandson of Philip III in the male line, Phillip of Valois, became king. Not yet in power, Edward paid homage to Phillip as Duke of Aquitaine.
In 1337 Phillip confiscated Aquitaine and Ponthieu from Edward, alleging he was harbouring Phillip's fugitive cousin and enemy, Robert III of Artois, Robert of Artois.
In response, Edward proclaimed himself king of France to encourage the Flemish to rise in open rebellion against the French king. The conflict, later known as the Hundred Years' War, included a significant English naval victory at the Battle of Sluys,
and a victory on land at Battle of Crécy, Crécy, leaving Edward free to capture the important port of Calais. A subsequent victory against Scotland at the Battle of Neville's Cross resulted in the capture of David II of Scotland, David II and reduced the threat from Scotland.
The Black Death in England, Black Death brought a halt to Edward's campaigns by killing perhaps a third of his subjects.
The only Plantagenet known to have died from the Black Death was Edward III's daughter Joan of England (1335–1348), Joan in Bordeaux.
![Battle of crecy froissart](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Battle_of_crecy_froissart.jpg)
Edward, the Black Prince resumed the war with destructive chevauchées starting from Bordeaux. His army was caught by a much larger French force at Poitiers, but the ensuing Battle of Poitiers, battle was a decisive English victory, resulting in the capture of John II of France. John agreed to a Second Treaty of London, treaty promising the French would pay a four million écus ransom. The subsequent Treaty of Brétigny was demonstrably popular in England, where it was both ratified in parliament and celebrated with great ceremony.
To reach agreement, clauses were removed that would have had Edward renounce his claim to the French crown in return for territory in Aquitaine and the town of Calais. These were entered in another agreement to be effected only after the transfer of territory by November 1361, but both sides prevaricated over their commitments for the following nine years. Hostages from the Valois family were held in London while John returned to France to raise his ransom. Edward had restored the lands of the former Angevin Empire, holding Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine and the coastline from Flanders to Spain. When the hostages escaped back to France, John was horrified that his word had been broken and returned to England, where he eventually died.
Fighting in the Hundred Years' War spilled from the French and Plantagenet lands into surrounding realms, including the dynastic conflict in Kingdom of Castile, Castile between Peter of Castile and Henry II of Castile. The Black Prince allied himself with Peter, defeating Henry at the Battle of Nájera. Edward and Peter fell out when Peter was unable to reimburse Edward's military expenses, leaving him bankrupt.
The Plantagenets continued to interfere, and John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, the Black Prince's brother, married Peter's daughter Constance of Castile, Duchess of Lancaster, Constance, claiming the Crown of Castile in her name. He invaded with an army of 5,000 men; however, fighting was inconclusive, before Gaunt agreed to a treaty with John I of Castile, King Juan of Castile.
Terms of the treaty included the marriage of John of Gaunt's daughter Catherine of Lancaster, Katherine to Juan's son, Henry III of Castile, Enrique.
Charles V of France maintained the terms of the treaty of Brétigny but encouraged others in Aquitaine to challenge the authority of the Plantagenets in Aquitaine.
The prince, who had suffered a debilitating illness for nearly a decade which often restricted his movement to being carried in a litter,
returned to England, where he soon died.
John of Gaunt assumed leadership in France with limited success, and peace negotiations over several years were inconclusive.
Descendants of Edward III
The marriage of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault produced thirteen children and thirty-two grandchildren:
* Edward, the Black Prince, Edward (1330–1376)married his cousin Joan of Kent, a granddaughter of Edward I, with whom he had two sons:
:* Edward (1365–1371/2)
:* Richard II of England, Richard (1367–1400)
* Isabella of England, Lady of Coucy, Isabella (1332–1382)married Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy, and had two daughters:
:* Marie I de Coucy, Countess of Soissons, Marie
:* Philippa de Coucy, Countess of Oxford, Philippa
* Joan of England (1335–1348), Joan (1335–1348)
* William (1334/6–1337)
* Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, Lionel (1338–1368)had one daughter with Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster, Elizabeth de Burgh:
:* Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster, Philippa (1355–1378/81)through Philippa, the House of York, by
cognatic kinship
Cognatic kinship is a mode of descent calculated from an ancestor counted through any combination of male and female links, or a system of bilateral kinship where relations are traced through both a father and mother. Such relatives may be known ...
, asserted that its claim to the throne was superior to the House of Lancaster's. Philippa's granddaughter and heir, Anne Mortimer, married Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, the Duke of York's heir. The Earl of Northumberland, earls of Northumberland and Clifford, significant supporters of the Lancasters during the Wars of the Roses, were descendants of Philippa through her other daughter, Elizabeth Mortimer.
* John of Gaunt (1340–1399)married Blanche of Lancaster, the heiress to the duchy of Lancaster and a direct descendant of Henry III, and had seven children with her:
:* Philippa of Lancaster, Philippa (1360–1415)married John I of Portugal.
:* John (c. 1362/1364)died as an infant.
:* Elizabeth of Lancaster, Duchess of Exeter, Elizabeth (1364–1426)married John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke; John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter; and John Cornwall, 1st Baron Fanhope; respectively.
:* Edward of Lancaster (1365–1365)
:* John of Lancaster (1366)died as an infant.
:* Henry IV of England, Henry (1367–1413)
:* Isabella of Lancaster (b. 1368)died as a child.
:After Blanche's death in 1369, John married Constance of Castile, Duchess of Lancaster, Constance of Castile, trying unsuccessfully to obtain the throne of Castile. The marriage produced two children:
:* Catherine of Lancaster (1372–1418)married Henry III of Castile, with whom she was a great-grandmother of Catherine of Aragon, first wife of
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
of England.
:* John (1374–1375)
:Constance died in 1394, after which John married Katherine Swynford on 13 January 1396. Their four children were born before they married. The pope legitimised them in 1396, as did Richard II by charter, on the condition that their children could not ascend the throne:
:* John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, John (c. 1371/1372–1410)grandfather of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, Margaret Beaufort,
Henry VII's mother.
:* Henry Beaufort, Henry (1375–1447)
:* Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, Thomas (1377–1427)
:* Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, Joan (1379–1440)Joan's son, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and her grandson, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, were leading supporters of the House of York.
* Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, Edmund (1341–1402)founder of the House of York. He had three children with Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York, Isabella of Castile:
:* Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, Edward (1373–1415)killed at the Battle of Agincourt.
:* Constance of York, Constance (1374–1416)
:* Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, Richard(1375–1415)
* Blanche (1342)died as a child.
* Mary of Waltham (1344–1362)married John V, Duke of Brittany. No issue.
* Margaret, Countess of Pembroke, Margaret (1346–1361)married John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (4th Creation), John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. No issue.
* Joan (b. 1351)
* Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, Thomas (1355–1397)murdered or executed for treason by order of Richard II; his daughter, Anne of Gloucester, Anne, married Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford, Edmund Stafford.
Edward's long reign had forged a new national identity, reinforced by Middle English beginning to establish itself as the spoken and written language of government. As a result, he is considered by many historians in cultural respects the first 'English' post-conquest ruler.
Demise of the main line
![Richard II King of England](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Richard_II_King_of_England.jpg)
The Black Prince's ten-year-old son succeeded as Richard II of England on the death of his grandfather, nominally exercising all the powers of kingship, supported by various councils. His government levied Taxation in medieval England, poll taxes to finance military campaigns which, combined with the poor state of the economy, resulted in the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, followed by brutal reprisals against the rebels.
The king's uncle Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester; Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel; and Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick; became known as the Lords Appellant when they sought to impeach five of the king's favourites and restrain what was increasingly seen as tyrannical and capricious rule. Later they were joined by Henry IV of England, Henry Bolingbroke, the son and heir of John of Gaunt, and Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk. Initially, they were successful in establishing a commission to govern England for one year, but they were forced to rebel against Richard, defeating an army under Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, at the skirmish of Radcot Bridge (Battle), Radcot Bridge.
Richard was reduced to a figurehead with little power. As a result of the Merciless Parliament, de Vere and Michael de la Pole, 1st Earl of Suffolk, who had fled abroad, were sentenced to death in their absence. Alexander Neville, Alexander Neville, Archbishop of York, had all his possessions confiscated. Several of Richard's council were executed. On John of Gaunt's return from Spain, Richard was able to re-establish his power, having Gloucester murdered in captivity in Calais. Warwick was stripped of his title. Bolingbroke and Mowbray were exiled.
When John of Gaunt died in 1399, Richard disinherited John's son, Henry, who invaded England in response with a small force that quickly grew in numbers. Meeting little resistance, Henry deposed Richard to have himself crowned Henry IV of England. Richard died in captivity early the next year, probably murdered, bringing an end to the main Plantagenet line. None of Henry's heirs were free from challenge on the grounds of not being the true heir of Richard II and that the Lancastrian dynasty had gained the throne by an act of usurpation.
House of Lancaster
Henry IV
Henry married his Plantagenet cousin Mary de Bohun, who was paternally descended from Edward I and maternally from Edmund Crouchback. They had seven children:
* Edward (b. 1382; died as a child)buried at Monmouth Castle, Monmouth.
* Henry V of England, Henry (1386–1422)had one son:
:* Henry VI of England, Henry (1421–1471)also had one son:
::* Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, Edward (1453–1471)
* Thomas, Duke of Clarence, Thomas (1387–1421)killed at the Battle of Baugé. His marriage to Margaret Holland proved childless; he had an illegitimate son named John, also known as the Bastard of Clarence.
* John, Duke of Bedford, John (1389–1435)had two childless marriages: to Anne of Burgundy, daughter of John the Fearless, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. John had an illegitimate son and daughter, named Richard and Mary, respectively.
* Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Humphrey (1390–1447)died under suspicious circumstances while imprisoned for treason against Henry VI; his death may have been the result of a stroke.
* Blanche of England, Blanche (1392–1409)married Louis III, Count Palatine of the Rhine, in 1402.
* Philippa of England, Philippa (1394–1430)married Eric of Pomerania, king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, in 1406.
![Enguerrand de Monstrelet - Slag bij Azincourt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Enguerrand_de_Monstrelet_-_Slag_bij_Azincourt.jpg)
Henry went to convoluted legal means to justify his succession. Many Lancastrians asserted that his mother had had legitimate rights through her descent from Edmund Crouchback, who it was claimed was the elder son of Henry III of England, set aside due to deformity.
As the great-grandson of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, was the heir presumptive to Richard II and Henry used multiple rationales stressing his Plantagenet descent, divine grace, powerful friends, and Richard's misgovernment.
In fact Mortimer never showed interest in the throne. The later marriage of his sister Anne de Mortimer, Anne to Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge consolidated this claim to the throne with that of the more junior House of York. Henry planned to resume war with France, but was plagued with financial problems, declining health and frequent rebellions.
He defeated a Scottish invasion, a serious rebellion by Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland in the North and Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion in Wales.
Many saw it as a punishment from God when Henry was later struck down with unknown but chronic illnesses.
Henry V
Henry IV died in 1413. His son and successor, Henry V of England, aware that Charles VI of France's mental illness had caused instability in France, invaded to assert the Plantagenet claims and won a near total victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt.
In subsequent years Henry recaptured much of Normandy and secured marriage to Catherine of Valois. The resulting Treaty of Troyes stated that Henry's heirs would inherit the throne of France, but conflict continued with Charles VII of France, the Dauphin.
Henry VI
When Henry died in 1422, his nine-month-old son succeeded him as Henry VI of England. During the minority of Henry VI the war caused political division among his Plantagenet uncles, Bedford, Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, and Cardinal Beaufort. Humphrey's wife was accused of treasonable necromancy after two astrologers in her employ unwisely, if honestly, predicted a serious illness would endanger Henry VI's life, and Humphrey was later arrested and died in prison.
Depopulation stemming from the Black Death led to increased wages, static food costs and a resulting improvement in the standard of living for the peasantry. However, under Henry misgovernment and harvest failures depressed the English economy to a pitiful state known as the Great Slump (15th century), Great Slump. The economy was in ruins by 1450, a consequence of the loss of France, piracy in the channel and poor trading relations with the Hanseatic League. The economic slowdown began in the 1430s in the north of the country, spreading south in the 1440s, with the economy not recovering until the 1480s.
It was also driven by multiple harvest failures in the 1430s and disease amongst livestock, which drove up the price of food and damaged the wider economy. Certain groups were particularly badly affected: cloth exports fell by 35 per cent in just four years at the end of the 1440s, collapsing by up to 90 per cent in some parts of the South-West. The Crown's debts reached £372,000, Henry's deficit was £20,000 per annum, and tax revenues were half those of his father.
House of York
Pre-regnal history
Edward III made his fourth son Edmund the first duke of York in 1362. Edmund was married to Isabella, a daughter of King Peter of Castile and María de Padilla and the sister of Constance of Castile, who was the second wife of Edmund's brother John of Gaunt. Both of Edmund's sons were killed in 1415. The younger, Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, Richard, became involved in the Southampton Plot, a conspiracy to depose Henry V in favour of Richard's brother-in-law Edmund Mortimer. When Mortimer revealed the plot to the king, Richard was executed for treason. Richard's childless older brother Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, Edward was killed at the Battle of Agincourt later the same year.
Constance of York was Edmund's only daughter and was an ancestor of Queen Anne Neville. The increasingly interwoven Plantagenet relationships were demonstrated by Edmund's second marriage to Joan Holland. Her sister Alianore Holland, Countess of March, Alianore Holland was mother to Richard's wife, Anne Mortimer. Margaret Holland, another of Joan's sisters, married John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, John of Gaunt's son. She later married Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, Thomas of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's grandson by King Henry IV. A third sister, Eleanor Holland, Countess of Salisbury, Eleanor Holland, was mother-in-law to Richard Neville, 5th Earl of SalisburyJohn's grandson by his daughter Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland. These sisters were all granddaughters of Joan of Kent, the mother of Richard II, and therefore Plantagenet descendants of Edward I.
Edmund's son Richard was married to Anne Mortimer, the daughter of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March and Alianore Holland, Eleanor Holland and great-granddaughter of Edward III's second surviving son Lionel. Anne died giving birth to their only son in September 1411. Richard's execution four years later left two orphans: Isabel of Cambridge, Countess of Essex, Isabel, who married into the Bourchier family, and a son who was also called Richard.
Although his earldom was forfeited, Richard (the father) was not attainder, attainted, and the four-year-old orphan Richard was his heir. Within months of his father's death, Richard's childless uncle, Edward Duke of York, was killed at Agincourt. Richard was allowed to inherit the title of Duke of York in 1426. In 1432 he acquired the earldoms of March and Ulster on the death of his maternal uncle Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, who had died campaigning with Henry V in France, and the earldom of Cambridge which had belonged to his father.
Being descended from Edward III in both the maternal and the paternal line gave Richard a significant claim to the throne if the Lancastrian line should fail, and by cognatic primogeniture arguably a superior claim.
He emphasised the point by being the first to assume the Plantagenet surname in 1448. Having inherited the March and Ulster titles, he became the wealthiest and most powerful noble in England, second only to the king himself. Richard married Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, Cecily Neville, a granddaughter of John of Gaunt, and had thirteen or possibly fifteen children:
* Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, Anne of York (1439–1476)(Mitochondrial DNA taken from a descendant of her second daughter, Anne St Leger, Baroness de Ros, was used in the identification of Exhumation of Richard III, the remains of Richard III, which were found in 2012.)
* Henry (b. 1441; died as a child)
* Edward IV of England, Edward (1442–1483)
* Edmund, Earl of Rutland, Edmund (1443–1460)
* Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk, Elizabeth (1444–1503)married John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk; she was the mother of several claimants to the throne.
* Margaret of York, Margaret (1446–1503)married Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.
* William (b. 1447; died as a child)
* John (b. 1448; died as a child)
* George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, George (1449–1478)
* Thomas (b. 1450/51; died as a child)
* Richard III of England, Richard (1452–1485)
* 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.
Conflict over the crown
When Henry VI had a mental breakdown, Richard was named regent, but the birth of a male heir resolved the question of succession.
When Henry's sanity returned, the court party reasserted its authority, but Richard of York and the Nevilles defeated them at a skirmish called the First Battle of St Albans. The ruling class was deeply shocked and reconciliation was attempted.
York and the Nevilles fled abroad, but the Nevilles returned to win the Battle of Northampton (1460), Battle of Northampton, where they captured Henry.
When Richard of York joined them he surprised Parliament by claiming the throne and forcing through the Act of Accord, which stated that Henry would remain as king for his lifetime, but would be succeeded by York. Margaret found this disregard for her son's claims unacceptable, and so the conflict continued. York was killed at the Battle of Wakefield and his head set on display at Micklegate Bar along with those of Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, who had been captured and beheaded.
The Scottish queen Mary of Guelders provided Margaret with support but London welcomed York's son Edward IV of England, Edward, Earl of March and Parliament confirmed that Edward should be made king. He was crowned after consolidating his position with victory at the Battle of Towton.
Edward's preferment of the former Lancastrian-supporting Woodville family, following his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, led Warwick and Clarence to help Margaret depose Edward and return Henry to the throne. Edward and Richard III of England, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, fled, but on their return, Clarence switched sides at the Battle of Barnet, leading to the death of the Neville brothers. The subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury brought the demise of the last of the male line of the Beauforts. The battlefield casualty of Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, and the later probable murder of Henry VI extinguished the House of Lancaster.
Edward IV
By the mid-1470s, the victorious House of York looked safely established, with seven living male princes: Edward IV, his two sons, his brother George and George's son, his brother Richard and Richard's son. Edward and Elizabeth Woodville themselves had ten children, seven of whom survived him:
* Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth (1466–1503)queen consort to Henry VII of England
* Mary of York, Mary (1467–1482)
* Cecily of York, Cecily (1469–1507)initially married John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, and later married Thomas Kyme (or Keme) following John's death.
* Edward V of England, Edward (1470–c. 1483)briefly succeeded his father as King Edward V.
* Margaret of York (1472), Margaret (1472; died that year)
* Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, Richard (1473–c. 1483)
* Anne of York (daughter of Edward IV), Anne (1475–1511)married Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Howard
* George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Bedford, George (1477–1479)
* Catherine of York (1479–1527)married William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon.
* Bridget of York (1480–1517)became a nun possibly had an illegitimate daughter called Agnes of Eltham
Princes in the Tower and Richard III
Dynastic infighting and misfortune quickly brought about the demise of the House of York. George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, plotted against his brother and was executed. Following Edward's premature death in 1483, the Three Estates of the Realm, assembled in an informal Parliament, declared Edward's two sons illegitimate on the grounds of an alleged prior marriage to Lady Eleanor Talbot, leaving Edward's marriage invalid.
Richard III ascended the throne, and the Princes in the Tower's fate is unclear.
[ Richard's son predeceased him and Richard was killed in 1485] after an invasion of foreign mercenaries led by Henry VII of England, Henry Tudor, who claimed the throne through his mother Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, Margaret Beaufort. Tudor assumed the throne as Henry VII, founding the Tudor dynasty and bringing the Plantagenet line of kings to an end.
House of Tudor and other Plantagenet descendants
Tudor
When Henry VII, of England seized the throne there were eighteen Plantagenet descendants who might today be thought to have a stronger hereditary claim, and by 1510 this number had been increased further by the birth of sixteen Yorkist children. Henry mitigated this situation with his marriage to Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which ma ...
. She was the eldest daughter of Edward IV, and all their children were his cognatic heirs. Indeed, Polydore Vergil noted Henry VIII's pronounced resemblance to his grandfather Edward: "For just as Edward was the most warmly thought of by the English people amongst all English kings, so this successor of his, Henry, was very much like him in general appearance, in greatness of mind and generosity and for that reason was the most acclaimed and approved of all."
This did not deter Margaret of York, Margaret of York, Duchess of BurgundyEdward's sister and Elizabeth's auntand members of the de la Pole familychildren of Edward's sister and John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk from frequent attempts to destabilise Henry's regime. Henry imprisoned Margaret's nephew Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, Edward, Earl of Warwick, the son of her brother George, in the Tower of London, but in 1487 Margaret financed a rebellion led by Lambert Simnel whose true identity remains uncertain, though he himself presented himself as 'Edward VI'. John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln, joined the revolt, probably anticipating that it would further his own ambitions to the throne, but he was killed in the suppression of the uprising at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487. Warwick was implicated by two further failed invasions supported by Margaret by the so called Perkin Warbeck claiming to be Edward IV's son Richard of Shrewsbury, and supposedly Warbeck's later planned escape for them both; Warwick was executed in 1499; with his death the House of Plantagenet went extinct in the legitimate male line.[Ulwencreutz, Lars. ''Ulwencreutz's the Royal Families in Europe V'' (2003), p. 202] Edward's execution may simply have been a precondition for the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales to Katherine of Aragon in 1501.
De La Pole
John de la Pole's attainder meant that his brother Edmund inherited their father's titles, but much of the wealth of the duchy of Suffolk was forfeit. Edmund did not possess sufficient finances to maintain his status as a duke, so as a compromise he accepted the title of earl of Suffolk. Financial difficulties led to frequent legal conflicts and Edmund's indictment for murder in 1501. He fled with his brother Richard, while their remaining brother, William, was imprisoned in the Towerwhere he would remain until his death 37 years lateras part of a general suppression of Edmund's associates. Philip I of Castile, Philip the Fair had been holding Edmund and in 1506 he returned him to Henry. Edmund was imprisoned in the Tower. In 1513, he was executed after Richard de la Pole, whom Louis XII of France had recognised as king of England the previous year, claimed the kingship in his own right. Richard, known as the White Rose, plotted an invasion of England for years but was killed in 1525 at the Battle of Pavia while fighting as the captain of the French landsknechts during François I of France's invasion of Italy.
Pole
Warwick's sister, and therefore Edward IV's niece, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was executed by Henry VIII in 1541. By then, the cause was more religious and political rather than dynastic. The attainder of her father, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, Clarence, was a legal bar to any claims to the throne by his children. Additionally her marriage, arranged by Henry VII, to Sir Richard Pole, his half-cousin and trusted supporter, was not auspicious. Nevertheless, it did allow the couple to be closely involved in court affairs. Margaret's fortunes improved under Henry VIII and in February 1512 she was restored to the Earl of Salisbury, earldom of Salisbury and all the Warwicks' lands. This made her the first and, apart from Anne Boleyn, the only woman in 16th-century England to hold a peerage title in her own right.
Her daughter Ursula Pole, Baroness Stafford, Ursula married the son of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham's fall after arguments with the king over property, and Margaret's open support for Catherine of Aragon and Mary I of England, Princess Mary began the Poles' estrangement from the king. Hope of reconciliation was dashed by ''De unitate'', the letter that Margaret's son Reginald Pole wrote to Henry VIII, in which Reginald declared his opposition to the royal supremacy. In 1538 evidence came to light that Pole family members in England had been in communication with Reginald. Margaret's sons Geoffrey Pole, Geoffrey and Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu, Henry were arrested for treason along with several friends and associates, including Henry's wife and brother-in-lawSir Edward Neville, Edward Neville. Among those arrested was the king's cousin Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, his wife and 11-year-old son. Courteney's wife was released two years later, but their son spent 15 years in the Tower until Queen Mary released him. Except for the surviving Geoffrey Pole, all the others implicated were beheaded.
Margaret was attainted. The possibility of an invasion involving Reginald via her south coast estates and her embittered relationship with Henry VIII precluded any chance of pardon. However, the decision to execute her seems a spontaneous, rather than a premeditated, act. According to the Calendar of State Papers, her execution was botched at the hands of "a wretched and blundering youth ... who literally hacked her head and shoulders to pieces in the most pitiful manner". In 1886 she was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on the grounds she had laid down her life for the Holy See "and for the truth of the orthodox Faith".
Stafford
Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, combined multiple lines of Plantagenet descent: from Edward III by his son Thomas of Woodstock, from Edward III via two of his Beaufort grandchildren, and from Edward I from Joan of Kent and the Holland family. His father failed in his rebellion against Richard III in 1483 but was restored to his inheritance on the reversal of his father's attainder late in 1485. His mother married Henry VII's uncle Jasper Tudor, and his wardship was entrusted to the king's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. In 1502, during Henry VII's illness, there was debate as to whether Buckingham or Edmund de la Pole should act as regent for Henry VIII. There is no evidence of continuous hostility between Buckingham and Henry VIII, but there is little doubt of the duke's dislike of Thomas Wolsey, whom he believed to be plotting to ruin the old nobility. Therefore, Henry VIII instructed Wolsey to watch Buckingham, his brother Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and three other peers. Neither Henry VIII nor his father planned to destroy Buckingham because of his lineage and Henry VIII even allowed Buckingham's son and heir, Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford, to marry Ursula Pole, giving the Staffords a further line of royal blood descent. Buckingham himself was arrested in April 1521; he was found guilty on 16 May and executed the next day. Evidence was provided that the duke had been listening to prophecies that he would be king and that the Tudor family lay under God's curse for the execution of Warwick. This was said to explain Henry VIII's failure to produce a male heir. Much of this evidence consisted of ill-judged comments, speculation and bad temper, but it underlined the threat presented by Buckingham's descent.
Tudor succession
As late as 1600, with the Tudor succession in doubt, older Plantagenet lines remained as possible claimants to a disputed throne, and religious and dynastic factors gave rise to complications. Thomas Wilson (record keeper), Thomas Wilson wrote in his report ''The State of England, Anno Domini 1600'' that there were 12 "competitors" for the succession. At the time of writing (about 1601), Wilson had been working on intelligence matters for Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, Lord Buckhurst and Sir Robert Cecil.
The alleged competitors included five descendants of Henry VII and Elizabeth, including the eventual successor James I of England, but also seven from older Plantagenet lines:
* 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
* Philip III of Spain and his infant daughter
Ranulph Crewe, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, argued that by 1626 the House of Plantagenet could not be considered to remain in existence in a speech during the Oxford Peerage case, which was to rule on who should inherit the Earl of Oxford, earldom of Oxford. It was referred by Charles I of England to the House of Lords, who called for judicial assistance. Crewe said:
I have labored to make a covenant with myself, that affection may not press upon judgement; for I suppose there is no man that hath any apprehension of gentry or nobleness, but his affection stands to the continuance of a house so illustrious, and would take hold of a twig or twine-thread to support it. And yet time hath his revolutions; there must be a period and an end to all temporal things – finis rerum – an end of names and dignities, and whatsoever is terrene; and why not of De Vere family, de Vere? For where is Bohun family, Bohun? Where is House of Mowbray, Mowbray? Where is Mortimer? Nay, which is more, and most of all, where is Plantagenet? They are entombed in the urns and sepulchres of mortality! yet let the name of de Vere stand so long as it pleaseth God.
Timeline of Plantagenet monarchs
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Period = from:1150 till:1500
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from: 1154 till: 1399 color: a text:Angevin
from: 1399 till: 1461 color: l text:House of Lancaster, Lancaster
from: 1461 till: 1470 color: y text:House of York, Y
from: 1470 till: 1471 color: l text:House of Lancaster, L
from: 1471 till: 1485 color: y text:House of York, York
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
barset:Rulers
from: 1154 till: 1189 color:a text: Henry II
from: 1170 till: 1183 color:a text:Henry the Young King
Henry the Young King (28 February 1155 – 11 June 1183) was the eldest son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine to survive childhood. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Mai ...
from: 1189 till: 1199 color:a text:Richard I
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
from: 1199 till: 1216 color:a text:John of England, John
from: 1216 till: 1272 color:a text: Henry III
from: 1272 till: 1307 color:a text:Edward I of England, Edward I
from: 1307 till: 1327 color:a text:Edward II of England, Edward II
from: 1327 till: 1377 color:a text:Edward III of England, Edward III
from: 1377 till: 1399 color:a text:Richard II of England, Richard II
from: 1399 till: 1413 color:l text:Henry IV of England, Henry IV
from: 1413 till: 1422 color:l text:Henry V of England, Henry V
from: 1422 till: 1461 color:l text: Henry VI
from: 1461 till: 1470 color:y text:Edward IV of England, Edward IV
from: 1470 till: 1471 color:l text:Henry VI (again)
from: 1471 till: 1483 color:y text:Edward IV (again)
from: 1483 till: 1483 color:y text:Edward V of England, Edward V
from: 1483 till: 1485 color:y text:Richard III of England, Richard III
barset:skip
Genealogy
:''This family tree includes selected members of the House of Plantagenet who were born legitimate.''
Angevins
Henry II of England, 1133–1189, had 5 sons;
:1. William IX, Count of Poitiers
William (17 August 1153 – 1156) was the first son of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was born in Normandy on the same day that his father's rival, Eustace IV of Boulogne, died.
William either died aged 3 on ...
, 1153–1156, died in infancy
:2. Henry the Young King
Henry the Young King (28 February 1155 – 11 June 1183) was the eldest son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine to survive childhood. Beginning in 1170, he was titular King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Mai ...
, 1155–1183, died without issue
:3. Richard I of England, 1157–1199, died without legitimate issue
:4. Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, 1158–1186, had 1 son;
::A. Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, 1187–1203, died without issue
:5. John of England, 1167–1216, had 2 sons;
Plantagenets
::A. Henry III of England, 1207–1272, had 6 sons;
:::I. Edward I of England, 1239–1307, had 6 sons.
::::a. John of England, 1266–1271, died young
::::b. Henry of England, 1267–1274, died young
::::c. Alphonso, Earl of Chester, 1273–1284, died young
::::d. Edward II of England, 1284–1327, had 2 sons;
:::::i. Edward III of England, 1312–1377, had 8 sons;
::::::1. Edward, the Black Prince, 1330–1376, had 2 sons;
:::::::A. Edward, 1365–1372, died young
:::::::B. Richard II of England, 1367–1400, died without issue
::::::2. William of Hatfield, 1337–1337, died in infancy
::::::3. Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, 1338–1368, 1 daughter.
:::::::A. Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster, 1355–1381, married Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, 2 sons and 2 daughters
:::::::: I Elizabeth Mortimer, 1371–1417 married Henry Percy (Hotspur), 1 son, 2 daughter
::::::::: To the Earls of Northumberland
:::::::: II Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, 1373–1398, married Eleanor daughter of Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent and Alice Holland, Countess of Kent granddaughter of Eleanor of Lancaster
::::::::: a. Anne de Mortimer, 1373–1399, married Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (see below) and it is through her descent from Lionel that the House of York claimed precedence over the House of Lancaster.
::::::::: To the House of York
::::::::: b. Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, 1391–1425, heir presumptive to Richard II, no descendants
::::::6. Thomas of England, 1347–1348, died in infancy
::::::7. William of Windsor, 1348–1348, died in infancy
::::::8. Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, 1355–1397, had 1 son;
:::::::A. Humphrey Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Buckingham, 1381–1399, died without issue
:::::ii. John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, 1316–1336, died without issue
::::e. Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, 1300–1338, had 2 sons;
:::::i. Edward of Norfolk, 1320–1334, died young
:::::ii. John Plantagenet, 1328–1362, died without issue
::::f. Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, 1301–1330, had 2 sons;
:::::i. Edmund Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Kent, 1326–1331, died young
:::::ii. John Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Kent, 1330–1352, died without issue
:::II. Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, 1245–1296, had 3 sons;
::::a. Thomas Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, 1278–1322, died without issue
::::b. Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, 1281–1345, had 1 son;
:::::i. Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 1310–1361, died without male issue, 2 daughters
:::::: Maud, Countess of Leicester, 1339–1362, died without issue
:::::: Blanche of Lancaster, married John of Gaunt and had 1 son and two daughters
::::::: To House of Lancaster
::::c. John of Beaufort, Lord of Beaufort, 1286–1327, died without issue
:::III. Richard of England, 1247–1256, died young
:::IV. John of England, 1250–1256, died young
:::V. William of England, 1251–1256, died young
:::VI. Henry of England, 1256–1257, died young
::B. Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, 1209–1272, had 5 sons;
:::I. John of Cornwall, 1232–1233, died in infancy
:::II. Henry of Almain, 1235–1271, died without issue
:::III. Nicholas of Cornwall, 1240–1240, died in infancy
:::IV. Richard of Cornwall, 1246–1246, died in infancy
:::V. Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall, 1249–1300, died without issue
House of Lancaster
::::::4. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 1340–1399, had 4 sons;
:::::::A. John of Lancaster, 1362–1365, died in infancy
:::::::B. Edward Plantagenet, 1365–1368, died in infancy
:::::::C. John Plantagenet, 1366–1367, died in infancy
:::::::D. Henry IV of England, 1366–1413, had 5 sons;
::::::::I. Edward Plantagenet, 1382–1382, died in infancy
::::::::II. Henry V of England, 1386–1422, had 1 son;
:::::::::a. Henry VI of England, 1421–1471, had 1 son;
::::::::::i. Edward of Westminster, 1453–1471, died without issue
::::::::III. Thomas, Duke of Clarence, 1387–1421, died without issue
::::::::IV. John, Duke of Bedford, 1389–1435, died without issue
::::::::V. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 1390–1447, died without male issue
:::::::E. John, 1374–1375, died in infancy
House of Beaufort (illegitimate branch of House of Lancaster)
:::::::F. John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, 1373–1410, illegitimate, had 4 sons;
::::::::I. Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl of Somerset, 1401–1418, died without issue
::::::::II. John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1403–1444, died without male issue
:::::::::a. Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby 1430–1509, married Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, 1 son
::::::::::i. Henry VII of England married Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which ma ...
:::::::::: To the House of Tudor
::::::::III. Thomas Beaufort, Count of Perche, 1405–1431, died without issue
::::::::IV. Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, 1406–1455, had 4 sons;
:::::::::a. Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, 1436–1464, had 1 son;
::::::::::i. Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, 1460–1526, illegitimate, had 1 son;
:::::::::::1. Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester, 1496–1549, had 4 sons;
::::::::::::A. William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester, 1526–1589, had 1 son;
:::::::::::::I. Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester, 1568– 1628, had 8 sons;
::::::::::::B. Francis Somerset
::::::::::::C. Charles Somerset
::::::::::::D. Thomas Somerset
:::::::::b. Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, 1439–1471, died without issue
:::::::::c. John Beaufort, Marquess of Dorset, 1441–1471, died without issue
:::::::::g. Thomas Beaufort, 1455–1463, died young
:::::::G. Cardinal (Catholic Church), Cardinal Henry Beaufort Bishop of Winchester, 1375–1447, died without issue
:::::::H. Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, 1377–1427, had 1 son;
::::::::I. Henry Beaufort, died young
House of York
::::::5. Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, 1341–1402, had 2 sons;
:::::::A. Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, 1373–1415, died without issue
:::::::B. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, 1375–1415, had 1 son;
::::::::I. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, 1411–1460, had 8 sons;
:::::::::a. Henry of York, 1441–1441, died in infancy
:::::::::b. Edward IV of England, 1442–1483, had 3 sons and 7 daughters;
::::::::::i. Edward V of England, 1470–?, died without issue
::::::::::ii. Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, 1473–?, died without issue
::::::::::iii. George Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford, 1477–1479, died young
::::::::::iv. Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which ma ...
married Henry VII of England, 4 sons and 4 daughters
::::::::::: To the House of Tudor
:::::::::c. Edmund, Earl of Rutland, 1443–1460, died without issue
:::::::::d. William of York, 1447–1447, died in infancy
:::::::::e. John of York, 1448–1448, died in infancy
:::::::::f. George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, 1449–1478, had 2 sons and 2 daughters;
::::::::::i. Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, 1475–1499, died without issue
::::::::::ii. Richard of York, 1476–1477, died in infancy
::::::::::iii. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, 1473–1541, considered by some to be the last of the Plantagenets, had 4 sons and one daughter, considered the source of one of the Alternative successions of the English crown.
:::::::::::A. Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu
:::::::::::: To the Earl of Huntingdon, Marquess of Hastings and Earl of Loudoun
:::::::::g. Thomas of York, 1451–1451, died in infancy
:::::::::h. Richard III of England, 1452–1485, had 1 son;
::::::::::i. Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales, 1473–1484, died young
Notes
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{{Authority control
House of Plantagenet,
House of Anjou,
English people of French descent
French noble families, Plantagenet
Roman Catholic monarchs
Royal houses of England