Q WHO were the Plantagenets and how did they get their name? What connection did they have with the Normans and how did they come to acquire the English throne? - Doug McKenna, Stockton.

ATHE Plantagenets, also known as the Angevins because they originated from Anjou in the Loire valley of France, were a powerful dynastic family.

The Angevins trace their origins to a tenth century leader called Fulk Nerra, who acquired land in Anjou and Maine. Maine was an area of contention between the Normans and Angevins and Nerra's grandson, also called Fulk, was involved in a struggle for this territory with Henry I, the Norman king of England, who was the son of William the Conqueror.

After peace was made, Fulk's son, Geoffrey of Anjou, married Henry's daughter Matilda. She was due to become queen of England on her father's death in 1135, but Count Stephen of Blois was hastily crowned by Anglo-Norman barons. A civil war ensued but, when Stephen's heir died, it was agreed that Matilda and Geoffrey's son, Henry Plantagenet, should succeed as Henry II.

Henry became the first Plantagenet king of England in 1154 and is principally remembered for his part in the death of Archbishop Thomas Becket. The Plantagenet name came from his father, Geoffrey, who wore a sprig of broom or gorse, known as planta genista, in his hat.

Henry acquired most of the remaining part of what is now western France through marriage to Eleanor, heiress of Aquitaine and was already Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy. The early Angevin kings of England were generally more interested in France than they were in England, merely regarding England as a source of revenue, military manpower and prestige.

For instance, Henry's son and successor, Richard the Lionheart, rarely visited England, couldn't speak English and preferred to spend his time in France or on the Crusades in the Middle East. On Richard's death in 1199, his brother John, who lost possession of Anjou and other territories, succeeded as king of England. The Plantagenet kings succeeding John in England were Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III and Richard II. After Richard II, the ruling Plantagenets split into two branches known as the Houses of York and Lancaster.

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Published:24/03/2003