Plantagenet England

  General Description  
The Plantagenet Dynasty originated from a powerful aristocratic family from Anjou in France. Geoffrey, count of Anjou (from 1129) and duke of Normandy (from 1144), was the patrilineal ancestor of the Plantagenet kings through his marriage to Empress Matilda, the daughter of King Henry I of England. The nickname ‘plantagenet’ allegedly comes from the yellow flower planta genista that Geoffrey wore in his hat.
Though the monarch still had ultimate power in the kingdom, the period of Plantagenet England saw a move away from absolute monarchy. A series of conflicts with the powerful barons and the church led to the signing of the Magna Carta by King John in 1215; a treaty between the king and the barons with compromises on both sides, neither of which were adhered to, which led to a series of civil wars known as the Barons’ Wars in the thirteenth century.
The Hundred Years’ War with France (1337-1453) originated from a dispute over the French throne between the Plantagenets and the French House of Valois. There were three phases of the war separated by truces, but ultimately the Plantagenets were defeated and reneged their claim.
During this period a distinct English identity was shaped, which is still recognisable today. This was partly due to ongoing conflicts with their surrounding neighbours on the isle, the Scots, Welsh and Irish, but also with their distancing from relations with France. The English language was solidified and became the primary language of the country, eschewing the French and Latin languages which had also commonly been used. Through military campaigns, Wales was brought under English rule. The basis of English law and government administration also has its roots in this period. Despite the economic and demographic expansion of England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, famines and the Black Death of the early fourteenth century curbed England’s growth.
The rivalry between the two main cadet branches of the Plantagenet dynasty – Lancaster and York – led to the War of the Roses (1455-1487). Elite in-fighting, civil war and succession struggles resulted in the male lines of both dynasties becoming almost extinct. This left open an opportunity for Henry Tudor (of the Beaufort family branch) to push his tenuous claim to the throne by defeating and killing Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. He assumed the throne as Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York (the daughter of former king, Edward IV). Through this marriage alliance the Plantagenet dynasty ended, and the period of Tudor England began.
^{[1] [2]}

[1]: (Prestwich 2005) Prestwich, Michael. 2005. Plantagenet England 1225-1360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XTBKFDCI

[2]: (Ormrod 2000) Ormrod, W. ‘England: Edward II and Edward III’, in The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6: C.1300–c.1415, ed. Michael Jones, vol. 6, The New Cambridge Medieval History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 271–96, https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521362900.014. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Y46E5QCH