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    101 Amazing Facts about The Plantagenets
    101 Amazing Facts about The Plantagenets
    101 Amazing Facts about The Plantagenets
    Ebook64 pages51 minutes

    101 Amazing Facts about The Plantagenets

    By Jack Goldstein

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    About this ebook

    Why was Edward I also known as Edward Longshanks? What do historians think happened to the Princes in the Tower? Who became known as ‘The Kingmaker’ and why? And who shocked Europe with the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury? All of these questions and more are answered in this excellent book containing over one hundred facts about the Plantagenets. Separated into sections covering either an individual monarch or era (such as the Angevins or the House of York), the book is perfect for anyone studying this fascinating period in English History as well as those with a general interest in the age.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAUK Authors
    Release dateApr 1, 2015
    ISBN9781785381812
    101 Amazing Facts about The Plantagenets

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    Book preview

    101 Amazing Facts about The Plantagenets - Jack Goldstein

    www.jackgoldsteinbooks.com

    The Plantagenet Dynasty

    The Plantagenet family ruled England (as well as other areas in Europe) in the medieval era. Their dynasty lasted from 1154 until 1485 (if we include the Houses of Lancaster and York).

    Historians normally divide the dynasty into three distinct eras. These are the Angevins (1154-1216), the ‘true’ Plantagenet era (1216-1399) and the Houses of Lancaster and York (1399-1485).

    The very first English king from the Plantagenet family was the Angevin (a word referring to the province of Anjou, the family’s initial seat of power) Henry II, who took the English throne in 1154 after the earlier-than-expected death of King Stephen, who had nominated Henry as his successor.

    When Henry II took the English throne, he soon became the most powerful monarch in Europe. In addition to all of England and a huge amount of territory he already owned in modern-day France, he added areas of Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

    Although Henry II and the two subsequent monarchs - King Richard I (‘the Lionheart’) and King John I - were kings of England, they are not seen as English kings. They almost always spoke in medieval French, the language of their key territory of Anjou, and certainly Henry and Richard spent comparatively little time in England itself.

    Henry III, who became king of England in 1216 is considered to be the first ‘true’ Plantagenet era Monarch and is arguably the first English king of the dynasty. He spent much more time in England than his three predecessors (even though he still held land in France), and took a personal interest in the governance of the country.

    This middle era lasted through King Henry III (1216-1272), King Edward I (1272-1307), King Edward II (1307-1327), King Edward III (1327-1377) and King Richard II (1377-1399).

    Whilst still being a descendent of the Plantagenets, Henry IV took the throne in 1399 by force; he was not ‘chosen’ as the heir by Richard II, who was in fact his cousin. It was this action that would escalate a major dispute between the two branches of the Plantagenet family, known as the Houses of Lancaster (Henry IV’s side) and York.

    This final Plantagenet era saw much fighting for the throne between the two Houses; the fiercest of this took place between 1455 and 1487 (although 1471 is often seen as the end of the most intense period) and we now refer to this period as The Wars of the Roses, so called because the symbol for the House of York was a white rose, and the symbol for the House of Lancaster a red one.

    The throne changed hands a great deal during a relatively short amount of time; monarchs in this era were Henry IV (1399-1413), Henry V (1413-1422), Henry VI (1422-1461 and again from 1470-1471), Edward IV (1461-1470 and again from 1471-1483), Edward V (1483), and Richard III (1483-1485). Richard III is seen as the last Plantagenet king; his successor Henry VII chose a red and white rose as a symbol of a new era - the Tudors.

    King Richard the Lionheart

    The Angevins

    Henry II was born on the 5th of March 1133 to Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda, the daughter of King Henry I of England. At the age of twenty, he had brought a military force with him to England with a view to taking the English throne for himself from King Stephen who - like his father Geoffrey - was a grandson of William the Conqueror. Henry and Stephen agreed to a peace treaty, and Henry took the throne when

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