House of Plantagenet

Angevin royal dynasty that ruled England in the Middle Ages

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

House of Plantagenet
Count of Poitou Earl of Buckingham Earl of Cornwall Earl of Chester Earl of Essex Earl of Ulster Earl of Norfolk Earl of Kent Earl of Lancaster Earl of Leicester Earl of Salisbury Earl of Richmond
Dissolution	1499 (male) 1541 (female)
Deposition	1485 (1485)
Cadet branches	House of Lancaster House of York House of Beaufort (legitimised)

The House of Plantagenet

English throne from 1154, with the accession of Henry II, until 1485, when Richard III

died.

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

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

The rivalry between the House of Plantagenet's two cadet branches of York and Lancaster brought about the

Tudor dynasty. The Tudors worked to centralise English royal power, which allowed them to avoid some of the problems that had plagued the last Plantagenet rulers. The resulting stability allowed for the English Renaissance and the advent of early modern Britain

and while the Plantagenets died out nearly every English monarch from Henry VII till the present since have been their descendants.

Terminology

Plantagenet

In the 15th century, near the end of the dynastic line,

Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy. One of many popular theories suggests the blossom of the common broom, a bright yellow ("gold") flowering plant, called genista in medieval Latin, as the source of the nickname.^[1]

It is uncertain why Richard of York chose this specific name, although during the

Tudor dynasty, perhaps encouraged by the further legitimacy it gave to Richard's great-grandson, Henry VIII.^[2] It was only in the late 17th century that it passed into common usage among historians.^[3]

Angevins

Further information: Angevin kings of England and Angevin Empire

Angevin is French for "of Anjou". The three Angevin kings were the 12th-century Geoffrey of Anjou's son, Henry II, and grandsons Richard I and John. Noble houses were regularly denominated by a territory or place of birth, eg., House of Normandy, House of Wessex. "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, including the ancestors of the three kings who formed the English royal house; their cousins, who held the crown of Jerusalem; 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 and the Valois House of Anjou.^[4] 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.^[5]

The term "Angevin Empire" was coined by Kate Norgate 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 espace Plantagenet (French for "Plantagenet area") was acceptable.^[6] Nonetheless, historians have continued to use "Angevin Empire".^[7]

Origin

The later

counts of Anjou, including the Plantagenets, descended from Geoffrey II, Count of Gâtinais, and his wife Ermengarde of Anjou. In 1060, the couple inherited the title via cognatic kinship from an Angevin family that was descended from a noble named Ingelger, whose recorded history dates from 870.^[8]

During the 10th and 11th centuries, power struggles occurred between rulers in northern and western France, including those of Anjou, Normandy, Brittany, Poitou, Blois and Maine, and the kings of France. In the early 12th century, Geoffrey of Anjou married Empress Matilda, King Henry I's only surviving legitimate child and heir to the English throne from the House of Normandy. 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.^[9]

The marriage was the third attempt of Geoffrey's father,

Fulk V, Count of Anjou, to build a political alliance with Normandy. He first espoused his daughter, Matilda, to William Adelin, Henry I's heir. After William drowned in the wreck of the White Ship, Fulk married another of his daughters, Sibylla, to William Clito, son of Henry I's older brother, Robert Curthose. 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.^[10]

Angevin kings

See also: Angevin kings of England

Arrival in England

Further information: The Anarchy

When Henry II was born in 1133, his maternal 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.^[11]

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 to seize the crown of England. Stephen's contested accession initiated the widespread civil unrest later called the Anarchy.^[12]

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, invaded England.^[13] 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.^[14]

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
  count of Nantes when the citizens of Nantes rebelled against their ruler. Henry had supported the rebellion.^[17]
• Louis VII of France was granted an annulment of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine on 18 March 1152, and she married Henry (who would become Henry II) on 18 May 1152. Consequently, the Angevins acquired the Duchy of Aquitaine.^[18]
• Stephen's wife and elder son, Eustace, died in 1153, leading to the Treaty of Wallingford. The treaty agreed the peace offer that Matilda had rejected in 1142, recognised Henry as Stephen's heir, guaranteed Stephen's second son William his father's estates and allowed Stephen to be king for life. Stephen died soon afterwards, and Henry acceded to the throne in late 1154.^[19]

Angevin zenith

Of Henry's siblings,

Alix) through her first marriage to King Louis, produced eight children in thirteen years:^[20]

• William IX, Count of Poitiers (1153–1156)
• Henry the Young King (1155–1183)
• Princess Helena of Denmark. 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 both descend from him.^[21]
• Philip, Lord of Cognac.^[22]
• Duke Conan IV of Brittany and became duke of Brittany by right of his wife. The couple's son, Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, was a competitor to his uncle John for the Angevin succession and disappeared mysteriously as an adolescent in 1203.^[23]
• King Henry I of Castile and four queen consorts, Berengaria of Leon, Urraca of Portugal, Blanche of France and Eleanor of Aragon.^[24]
• Raymond VII of Toulouse.^[25]
• John, King of England (1166–1216)

Henry also had illegitimate children with several mistresses, possibly as many as twelve. These children included Geoffrey, William, Peter and four children who died young by Alys, the daughter of Louis VII, while she was betrothed to his son Richard.^[25] William's many competencies and importance as a royal bastard led to a long and illustrious career.^[26]

Henry reasserted and extended previous suzerainties to secure possession of his inherited realm.^[27] In 1162, he attempted to re-establish what he saw as his authority over the English Church by appointing his friend Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury upon the death of the incumbent archbishop, Theobald. 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.^[28]

Henry reacted by getting Becket and other English bishops to recognise sixteen ancient customs in writing for the first time in the

coregent by the Archbishop of York, which Becket perceived as a challenge to his authority.^[28]

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 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.^[28]

From 1155, Henry claimed that Pope Adrian IV had given him authorisation to reform the Irish church by assuming control of Ireland, but Professor Anne Duggan's research indicates that the Laudabiliter is a falsification of an existing letter and that was not in fact Adrian's intention.^[29] 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.^[30]

In 1172, Henry gave John the castles of Chinon, Loudun and Mirebeau as a wedding gift. This angered Henry's eighteen-year-old son, Henry the Young King, who believed that those were his. A rebellion by Henry II's wife and three eldest sons ensued. Louis VII of France supported the rebellion. William the Lion, king of the Scots, and others joined the revolt. After eighteen months, Henry subdued the rebels.^[31]

In Le Mans in 1182, Henry II gathered his children to plan a partible inheritance: 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. Geoffrey died in 1186 after an accident in a tournament. In 1189, Richard and Philip II of France 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;^[32] even his favourite legitimate son, John, had rebelled although the constantly loyal illegitimate son Geoffrey remained with Henry until the end.^[33]

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, he made an enemy of Leopold V, Duke of Austria, 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. His ruthlessness was demonstrated by his massacre of 2,600 prisoners in Acre.^[34] He obtained victories during the Third Crusade, but failed to capture Jerusalem. According to Steven Runciman Richard was "a bad son, a bad husband and a bad king".^[35] Jonathan Riley-Smith described him as "vain ... devious and self-centred".^[36] In an alternate view John Gillingham points out that for centuries Richard was considered a model king.^[37]

Returning from the crusade with a small band of followers, Richard was captured by Leopold and was passed to Emperor Henry VI. Henry held Richard captive for eighteen months (1192–1194) while his mother raised the ransom, valued at 100,000 marks. 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.^[38]

Decline and the loss of Anjou

Richard's failure to provide an heir caused a succession crisis and conflict between supporters of the claim of his nephew,

Guillaume des Roches led the magnates of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine declaring for Arthur.^[39] 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 and his sister Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany.^[40]

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 Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal.^[39] 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.^[41]

John's reputation was further damaged by the rumour, described in the

Sir James Holt suggests this was the inevitable result of superior French resources. John Gillingham identifies diplomatic and military mismanagement and points out that Richard managed to hold the Angevin territory with comparable finances.^[42] Nick Barratt has calculated that Angevin resources available for use in the war were 22 per cent less than those of Philip, putting the Angevins at a disadvantage.^[43]

By 1214, John had re-established his authority in England and planned what Gillingham has called a grand strategy to recapture Normandy and Anjou.[44] The plan was that John would draw the French from Paris, while another army, under his nephew Otto IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, 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. Otto retreated and was soon overthrown, William was captured by the French and John agreed to a five-year truce.^[26][39]

From then on John also gave up the claim to Brittany of Eleanor and had her confined for life.^[45] John's defeat weakened his authority in England, and his barons forced him to agree to Magna Carta in 1215, which limited royal power. Both sides failed to abide by the terms of Magna Carta, leading to the First Barons' War, in which rebellious barons invited Prince Louis, the husband of Blanche, Henry II's granddaughter, to invade England.^[39] Louis did so but in October 1216, before the conflict was conclusively ended, John died.^[46] 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.^[47]

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:^[48]

• Henry III – king of England for most of the 13th-century
• Richard – king of the Romans in the Holy Roman Empire^[49]
• Joan – queen consort of Alexander II of Scotland^[50]
• Isabella – wife of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II^[51]
• Eleanor – wife of William Marshal's son (also named William), and later the English rebel Simon de Montfort.^[52]

John also had illegitimate children with several mistresses. These children probably included nine sons called

Llewelyn the Great of Wales.^[54]

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 Lincoln and Sandwich in 1217.^[41] The Marshal regime issued an amended Magna Carta as a basis for future government.^[41] 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.^[55] Consequently, he named his first son Edward and built the existing magnificent shrine for the Confessor.^[56]

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 Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest of 1225 much more authority than any previous versions.^[41]

Henry III had nine children:^[57]

• 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.^[58]
• Beatrice, Countess of Richmond (1242–1275). She initially married John de Montfort of Dreux, and later married John II, Duke of Brittany.
• Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln.^[61]
• Four others who died as children: Richard (1247–1256), John (1250–1256), William (c. 1251/1252–1256), 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 the Kingdom of Sicily, but the military cost of displacing the incumbent 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, 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.^[41]

Disagreements between the barons and the king intensified. The barons, under

Great Parliament, recognized as the first Parliament because it was the first time the cities and boroughs had sent representatives.^[62] Edward escaped, raised an army and defeated and killed de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265.^[63]

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 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.^[63]

Constitutional change and the reform of feudalism

Edward I married Eleanor of Castile, daughter of 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:^[64]

• 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, Countess of Gloucester (1272–1307)
• Alphonso, Earl of Chester (1273–1284)
• Margaret, Duchess of Brabant (1275–1333)
• Mary of Woodstock (1278–1332), who became a nun
• Isabella (1279–1279)
• 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 Ormond and Devon.
• Edward II
• Two other daughters (Beatrice and Blanche), who died as children.

Following Eleanor's death in 1290, Edward married 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:^[65]

• Thomas (1300–1338), whose daughter Margaret inherited his estates. Margaret's grandson, Thomas Mowbray, was the first duke of Norfolk, but Richard II exiled him and stripped him of his titles.
• 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 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.^[63]

Expansion in Britain

See also: Wars of Scottish Independence and Conquest of Wales by Edward I

Marcher barons

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.^[63]

Edward asserted that the king of Scotland owed him feudal allegiance, and intended to unite the two nations by marrying his son Edward to Margaret, the sole heir of King Alexander III.^[63] When Margaret died in 1290, 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.^[63]

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

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" (aura eslu in French).

When Gaveston returned again to England, he was abducted and executed after a mock trial.[68] The ramifications of this drove Thomas and his adherents from power. Edward's humiliating defeat by Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, confirming Bruce's position as an independent king of Scots, leading to Lancaster being appointed head of the king's council.^[67] Edward finally repealed the Ordinances after defeating and executing Lancaster at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322.^[67]

The French monarchy asserted its rights to encroach on Edward's legal rights in Gascony. Resistance to one judgement in Saint-Sardos resulted in Charles IV declaring the duchy forfeit. Charles's sister, 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, 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.^[67]

The couple invaded England and, with Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, captured the king.^[69] 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.^[70] 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.^[67]

Conflict with the House of Valois

In 1328,

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.^[71]

Fighting in the Hundred Years' War spilled from the French and Plantagenet lands into surrounding realms, including the dynastic conflict in

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.^[72] The prince, who had suffered a debilitating illness for nearly a decade which often restricted his movement to being carried in a litter,^[72] returned to England, where he soon died.^[75] John of Gaunt assumed leadership in France with limited success, and peace negotiations over several years were inconclusive.^[73]

Descendants of Edward III

The marriage of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault produced thirteen children and thirty-two grandchildren:^[76]

• 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 (1367–1400)

• Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy
  , and had two daughters:

• Marie
• Philippa

• Joan
  (1335–1348)
• William (1334/6–1337)
• Lionel (1338–1368)—had one daughter with Elizabeth de Burgh
  :

• Anne Mortimer, married Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, the Duke of York's heir. The 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 (1360–1415)—married John I of Portugal.
• John (c. 1362/1364)—died as an infant.
• 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 (1367–1413)
• Isabella of Lancaster (b. 1368)—died as a child.

After Blanche's death in 1369, John married 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 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:

• Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII
  's mother.
• Henry (1375–1447)
• Thomas (1377–1427)
• 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 (1341–1402)—founder of the House of York. He had three children with Isabella of Castile:

• Edward (1373–1415)—killed at the Battle of Agincourt
  .
• Constance
  (1374–1416)
• Richard—(1375–1415)

• Blanche (1342)—died as a child.
• Mary of Waltham (1344–1362)—married John V, Duke of Brittany. No issue.
• John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
  . No issue.
• Joan (b. 1351)
• Thomas (1355–1397)—murdered or executed for treason by order of Richard II; his daughter, Anne, married 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.[71]

Demise of the main line

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 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.^[77]

The king's uncle

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, 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.^[77]

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

Henry married his Plantagenet cousin Mary de Bohun, who was paternally descended from Edward I and maternally from Edmund Crouchback.^[78] They had seven children:^[79]

• Edward (b. 1382; died as a child)—buried at Monmouth Castle, Monmouth.
• Henry (1386–1422)—had one son:

• Henry (1421–1471)—also had one son:

• Edward (1453–1471)

• Margaret Holland
  proved childless; he had an illegitimate son named John, also known as the Bastard of Clarence.
• 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 (1390–1447)—died under suspicious circumstances while imprisoned for treason against Henry VI; his death may have been the result of a stroke.
• Louis III, Count Palatine of the Rhine
  , in 1402.
• Philippa (1394–1430)—married Eric of Pomerania, king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, in 1406.

Henry went to convoluted legal means to justify his succession. Many Lancastrians asserted that his mother had had legitimate rights through her descent from

In fact, Mortimer never showed interest in the throne. The later marriage of his sister 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.^[82] 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.^[82] Many saw it as a punishment from God when Henry was later struck down with unknown but chronic illnesses.^[81]

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.^[83] 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 the Dauphin.

Henry VI

When Henry V died in 1422, his nine-month-old son succeeded him as

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. 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.^[85] 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.^[86]

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.^[87] 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.^[88] The Crown's debts reached £372,000, Henry's deficit was £20,000 per annum, and tax revenues were half those of his father.^[89]

House of York

Pre-regnal history

Richard II made his uncle (Edward III's fourth son) Edmund the first

Although his earldom was forfeited, Richard (the father) was not 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

• the remains of Richard III, which were found in 2012.^[94]
  )
• Henry (b. 1441; died as a child)
• Edward (1442–1483)
• Edmund (1443–1460)
• Elizabeth (1444–1503)—married John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk; she was the mother of several claimants to the throne.
• 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
  (1449–1478)
• Thomas (b. 1450/51; died as a child)
• 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.^[92] 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.^[92] York and the Nevilles fled abroad, but the Nevilles returned to win the Battle of Northampton, where they captured Henry.^[92]

When Richard of York joined them he surprised Parliament by claiming the throne and forcing through the

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, 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,^[96] and the later probable murder of Henry VI extinguished the House of Lancaster.^[97]

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:^[98]

• Elizabeth (1466–1503)—queen consort to Henry VII of England
• Mary (1467–1482)
• Cecily (1469–1507)—initially married John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, and later married Thomas Kyme (or Keme) following John's death.
• Edward (1470–c. 1483)—briefly succeeded his father as King Edward V.
• Margaret (1472; died that year)
• Richard (1473–c. 1483)
• Anne (1475–1511)—married Thomas Howard
• 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.

Tudor

When

Warwick's sister, and therefore Edward IV's niece,

Her daughter 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 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 and Henry were arrested for treason along with several friends and associates, including Henry's wife and brother-in-law—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.^[114]

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

Edward Stafford, 3rd 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.^[115]

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.

• 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, 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 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? For where is Bohun? Where is 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.^[118]

Timeline of Plantagenet monarchs

Genealogy

See also:

Plantagenet monarchs' family tree

Notes

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Plantagenet.

— Royal house — House of Plantagenet Deposition: 1485
Preceded by House of Blois	Ruling House of England Angevins (until 1214) House of Lancaster (1399–1461) House of York (1461–1485) 1154–1485	Succeeded by House of Tudor
Preceded by House of Penthièvre	Ruling House of Brittany 1181–1203	Succeeded by House of Thouars
Preceded by House of Ingelger	Ruling House of Anjou until 1203	Succeeded by House of Anjou (Capetian)