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(the house of plantagenet (/plænˈtædʒɪnɪt/) was a ‘royal house’ which originated from the lands of ‘anjou’ in ‘france’)
(the name ‘plantagenet’ is used by modern historians to identify 4 distinct royal houses – the ‘angevins’ who were also ‘counts’ of ‘anjou’, the main body of the ‘plantagenets’ following the loss of ‘anjou’, and the houses of ‘lancaster’ and ‘york’, the plantagenets’ 2 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’)
These 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.
He now had defined duties to the realm, underpinned by a sophisticated justice system.
A distinct national identity was shaped by conflict with the French, Scots, Welsh and Irish, and the establishment of 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, culminating 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’, of ‘lancastrian’ descent, became ‘king of england’; 2 years 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”)
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