House of Plantagenet

House of Plantagenet
Armorial of Plantagenet
Parent house	House of Ingelger
Country	Kingdom of England  Kingdom of France Lordship of Ireland Principality of Wales Holy Roman Empire (titular)
Founded	12th century
Founder	Geoffrey V of Anjou
Final ruler	Richard III of England
Titles	King of England King of France (claim) King of the Romans (titular) King of Sicily (claim) Lord of Ireland Lord of Cyprus Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitaine Duke of Normandy Duke of Brittany Duke of Gascony Duke of Cornwall Duke of Gloucester Duke of Clarence Duke of Aumale Count of Anjou Count of Maine Count of Mortain Count of Nantes 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^[a] (/plænˈtædʒənət/ plan-TAJ-ə-nət) was a royal house which originated in the French County of Anjou. The name Plantagenet is used by modern historians to identify four distinct royal houses: the Angevins, who were also Counts of Anjou; the main line of the Plantagenets following the loss of Anjou; and the houses of Lancaster and York, two of the Plantagenets cadet branches. The family held the English throne from 1154, with the accession of Henry II, until 1485, when Richard III died.

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