House of Plantagenet,also calledhouse of AnjouorAngevin dynasty, royal house of England, which reigned from 1154 to 1485 and provided 14 kings, 6 of whom belonged to the cadet houses ofLancasterandYork. The royal line descended from the union between Geoffrey, count ofAnjou(d. 1151), and the empressMatilda, daughter of the English kingHenry I.Although well established, the surname Plantagenet has little historical justification. It seems to have originated as a nickname forCount Geoffreyand has been variously explained as referring to his practice of wearing a sprig of broom (Latingenista) in his hat or, more probably, to his habit of planting brooms to improve his hunting covers. It was not, however, a hereditary surname, and Geoffreys descendants in England remained without one for more than 250 years, although surnames became universal outside the royal family.Some historians apply the name house of Anjou, or Angevin dynasty, toHenry II(who was also count of Anjou) and his 13 successors; other historians label only Henry II and his sons,Richard IandJohn, as the Angevin kings and, for want of a better name, label their successors, notablyEdward I,Edward II, andEdward III, as Plantagenets. The first official use of the surname Plantagenet by any descendant of Count Geoffrey occurred in 1460, whenRichard, duke ofYork, claimed the throne as Richard Plantaginet.Edward IIIs numerous children and their marriages greatly affected English history. Edwards heir, the Black Prince, left an only son, who succeeded his grandfather as Richard II, on whose death (1399) this line became extinct. Lionel, the next surviving son of Edward III, left an only child, Philippa, who married the Earl of March, in whose heirs was the right to the succession. ButJohn of Gaunt, the next son, who had married the heiress of Lancaster and had been created duke of Lancaster in consequence, refounded the Lancastrian line, which obtained the throne in the person of his only son by her, Henry IV, on the deposition of Richard II. The next son of Edward III,Edmund of Langley, who was created duke of York (1385), founded the Yorkist line, and was father of two sons, Edward, second duke, who was slain at Agincourt, and Richard, earl of Cambridge, who by marrying the granddaughter and eventual heiress of Lionels daughter, Philippa, brought the right to the succession into thehouse of York.Between their son andHenry VI(grandson of Henry IV) and the sons and heirs of these rivals was fought out the dynastic struggle known as theWars of the Roses, which proved fatal to several members of both houses. It did not end until the last Yorkist king,Richard III, was defeated at Bosworth Field in 1485 by Henry Tudor, who becameHenry VIIand founder of the house of Tudor.

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