Plantagenet, House

Plantagenet, House of

 or House of Anjou

Royal house of England (1154–1485) that provided 14 kings, including six from the cadet houses of Lancaster and York. The line descended from Geoffrey, count of Anjou (died 1151), and the empress Matilda, daughter of the English king Henry I. Some historians apply the name House of Anjou, or Angevin dynasty, to only Henry II, Richard I, and John, and label their successors, including Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III, as Plantagenets. The name may have originated as a nickname (Plante-geneste) for Count Geoffrey, who planted broom shrubs (Latin Genista) to improve his hunting covers. The Wars of the Roses saw the defeat of the last Plantagenet king, Richard III, in 1485. The legitimate line ended with Edward of Warwick (died 1499).