What’s in it for me? A rip-roaring romp through medieval England and Europe.
The House of Plantagenet produced the greatest kings to ever rule England. It also produced the most terrible. These kings were as famous for their restlessness and charisma as they were for their quick tempers and cruelty. During the Middle Ages, they ruled England for more than a quarter of a millennium, a period that saw the country transform from a civil war–plagued island backwater into an organized, highly-legislated European power.
In these blinks, we’ll journey through the Plantagenet story. It’s a tale of high drama – including daring escapes, dangerous liaisons, and diabolical violence. We’ve got 250 years of history and eight kings to get through, so let’s get going!
In these blinks, you’ll learn
how the Plantagenets came to be named after the hairstyle of a dapper young noble;
that there’s a very thin line between having too many royal progeny and not enough; and
how critical it was for Plantagenet kings to keep their wives onside.
The beginning of a dynasty
The year is 1120 and King Henry I of England is inconsolable. His beloved son, and heir apparent, has just drowned crossing the English Channel.
King Henry is forced to look in a new direction to secure his dynasty: toward his daughter Matilda. Like her recently deceased brother, Matilda is haughty and arrogant, and she doesn’t inspire confidence among her father’s barons. To improve her claim to England’s throne, King Henry organizes a marriage between Matilda and the powerful landowner, Geoffrey of Anjou. Geoffrey’s a dapper fellow. He’s especially fond of wearing a yellow broom flower in his hair – a flower that, in Latin, is called planta genista. The House of Plantagenet is born.
Geoffrey and Matilda don’t much care for each other, but that doesn’t matter. Their marriage is an important political match, and they have basically one objective. In 1133 they achieve it; their first child is born. They name him Henry, like his grandfather.
But the barons still aren’t convinced. When the old king dies, the barons reject Matilda. They throw their weight behind another claimant, Matilda’s cousin Stephen.
Stephen becomes king, but he’s not very good at his job. His weak leadership soon destabilizes England. Matilda – brooding in France – perks up her ears. Maybe here’s a chance for her to regain what she considers rightfully hers: the crown of England.
What happens next proves disastrous for England. Matilda’s and Stephen’s forces chase each other throughout the countryside for nine years, spreading devastation everywhere they go. Endless battles are fought, but the two sides remain at a stalemate. English society collapses. This period of chaos gets an ominous name: The Anarchy.
Meanwhile, Matilda’s son Henry is coming into his own. He’s gangly, ginger-haired, and whip-smart with a large chip on his shoulder. He’s built a reputation for himself around France as a precocious youth with a keen head for strategy. He’s been leading military expeditions across the Channel into England since he was 13. None has been very successful, but Henry has still shown bravery and a decent sense of war and diplomacy.
Henry’s reputation catches the attention of a remarkable woman: the 28-year-old Eleanor of Aquitaine. She’s a powerful noblewoman, recently cast aside by the king of France for being too worldly and politically opinionated. But the ascendant youth with an ax to grind seems much more her style than the monkish French king. For the 19-year-old Henry, Eleanor has significant territory and a royal pedigree to offer – as well as all the worldliness of an older woman.
It’s a match that will spawn a dynasty.
The rise of King Henry II
By 1153, after nine years of The Anarchy, England is exhausted. The English barons are sick of war. And so Henry offers them peace. He’ll stop fighting if they agree to allow him to become king. It’s not too long before the barons have come over to his side.
Stephen dies in 1154, and Henry is crowned King Henry II soon after. He’s received by the English people as a conquering hero. A new age begins.
Eleanor and Henry waste no time in securing their position: by Christmas 1158 they have four children under the age of four. This is good politics: the more Plantagenets there are, the more straightforward the line of succession will be in the future. But lots of royal children can also spell trouble, as Henry later finds out.
Henry enjoys a lot of success on campaigns in France, but back in England trouble’s brewing. Henry is close friends with his advisor Thomas Becket. Becket’s a religious man, and this makes him the ideal candidate, at least in Henry’s mind, to be the new archbishop of Canterbury. Henry needs the support of the church to consolidate his rule in England, and a friendly face as the head of the church in England will make things go more smoothly, right?
Things don’t quite go as planned. Influential clergymen are scandalized by Becket’s low background, and Becket takes the critique to heart. As soon as he’s elevated to archbishop, he suddenly starts doing the opposite of what Henry has been hoping – he sides with the church on nearly all matters. It doesn’t take long for Becket to become a real nuisance for the king. Tension escalates. Finally, in a pique of rage, Henry utters a provocative insult toward his former friend – “What miserable drones and traitors have I nurtured and promoted in my household who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born clerk?”
Four sycophantic knights are inspired into action; thinking they’re acting at Henry’s pleasure, they murder the archbishop in Canterbury Cathedral. The whole of Europe is appalled at the idea that the king ordered the murder of an archbishop. And Henry’s forced to flee to a backwater corner of his empire: Ireland.
Ultimately, his subjects move on and Henry returns to his realm. Many believe, though, that he’ll certainly be subject to divine punishment for his behavior. This prophecy comes true the very next year: his wife and three eldest sons rise up against him.
Family feuds
The family feud starts with a gift. King Henry decides to give his son John some castles in France. This makes John’s older brother – another Henry, who’s styled himself as “the Young King” – jealous. Their mother, Eleanor, is also frustrated by Henry and her lack of power.
She fans the flames of ambition in each of her sons, and they rebel en masse. Their first action is to flee to the court of the French king and seek refuge from Henry’s ire.
Eleanor doesn’t make it. She’s soon captured and imprisoned by her husband. Ultimately, the whole rebellion doesn’t amount to much. Henry’s an experienced military commander with loyal subordinates, and his rebellious family can’t hope to challenge him in any meaningful way.
But King Henry has more important business than revenge. He’s busy at home: knocking down rivals’ castles and putting up his own. He’s also brought the system of criminal law under royal control for the first time. With this action, he plants the power of the Plantagenet crown deep into English society.
By now, Henry’s in his fifties. The world’s moving on. Over in France, King Louis VII dies after a long reign. His 16-year-old son Philip II takes over the throne. The sight of a young king replacing an old father isn’t lost on Henry’s sons.
But which son will replace Henry? Henry the Young King wants the throne, but it’s not to be. He dies of dysentery while his father is yet alive. This leaves his younger brother Richard as the next in line.
Henry II finally dies in 1189 – after 34 years on the throne. Richard is crowned, and he moves quickly to consolidate his power. One way to do this is to boost his image as a great warrior. Richard needs a war, and there’s plenty of war to be had in the Holy Land. The Third Crusade is on, and Richard the Lionheart – as he becomes known – recognizes there’s glory to be found there.
But, before he can set off, he has to sort out two issues. First, his finances; second, his relationship with Philip II. To fundraise for the crusade, Richard roams the English and French countryside, collecting taxes and soldiers itching to travel. As for Philip II, in 1190, he and Richard sign a mutual defense pact, agreeing to go on crusade together, share spoils, and not attack each other’s territories in the meantime.
But neither trusts the other; they’ve each seen far too much betrayal for that. From this point on, the relationship will only deteriorate.
The treacherous brother
Richard isn’t making things easy for Philip II. For starters, he’s broken off the long engagement he’s had with Philip’s sister. Also, on the way to the Holy Land, he’s taken to invading whatever city he wishes, not bothering to share the spoils as agreed. Then, upon arrival in the Holy Land, Richard starts poaching away Philip’s mercenaries.
After a few months, Philip’s had enough humiliation; he sails home. Richard’s glad to be rid of his French counterpart: he likens his relationship with Philip in the East to being a cat with a hammer tied to its tail.
Richard takes to crusading like a duck to water. But in 1192, he gets some disturbing news – his youngest brother, John, is plotting with his nemesis Philip II to supplant him on the throne. He suddenly realizes he’s probably done enough in the name of Christianity in the Holy Land. It might be time to go home.
But Europe’s changed. He’s made plenty of enemies in his years abroad, alienating most of the nobles of Europe and enraging the rest. On his way home through Europe, Richard is captured and delivered as a prisoner to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI.
But Richard still has support at home. His allies work tirelessly to raise a massive ransom for his release. They succeed after only six months. Richard returns to England a triumphant hero.
Meanwhile, Philip II continues to invade Plantagenet territories with the help of Richard’s treacherous brother John. Richard has to put an end to this nuisance. It’s not easy, but through military skill and subtle negotiations, Richard emerges victorious after a few years of war. In 1199, Philip II and Richard meet to call a truce.
But peace doesn’t come for Richard. During a break in negotiations, he rides off to put down a rebellion and is shot in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt. The wound festers. He dies at the age of 41.
Europe is shocked. The venal John is now in line to be king of England. But – having gotten a sense of John’s personality – most of the Plantagenet empire strongly favor John’s nephew Arthur. Wracked by insecurity, John imprisons Arthur in appalling conditions. He then kills the young boy with his bare hands.
Word spreads, and John’s power in Europe unravels fast. In 1203, John leaves Normandy for good, abandoning all Plantagenet claims in Europe. It took his grandfather, father, and brother almost 100 years to establish dominion on the continent; it takes John only a few months to scupper it.
Bad King John
John’s the first English king in generations who’s forced to remain in his own realm. And as he learns to rule, England learns what it’s like to have a restless, bellicose Plantagenet king in its midst.
John’s a great student of English justice. He sits in judgment everywhere he goes and seems concerned with the plight of the poor – both highly unusual for English kings. John’s actions aren’t that altruistic though: justice is a lucrative proposition, as any fines and forfeitures of property revert back to the Crown. This, and new taxes levied on all movable goods in the country, make John a very rich king.
But these aren’t John’s only source of income. He squeezes his subjects at every opportunity, frequently using appalling cruelty to exact his price. He puts a tax on England’s Jewish families, who are the only people in England allowed to engage in moneylending. When Jewish people aren’t able to pay, he imprisons and tortures them.
John also increases the prices barons have to pay for rites of passage like having their sons knighted or their daughters married. John reserves the right to arbitrarily inflate these payments, or forgo them entirely depending on his mood. This is incredibly frustrating for his already restive barons.
All this money means that John’s able to stamp out rebellion on the fringes of his kingdom. Rebels and barons in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland are all bribed or squashed, and, as a result, John begins to get his confidence back. But in 1214, he overreaches himself. He takes the fight to Philip II, with the goal of regaining lost Continental territories. His forces are routed, utterly, at the battle of Bouvines.
The devastating loss at Bouvines is the last straw. The barons just can’t keep quiet anymore. It’s obvious that Plantagenet rule is in need of reform. But what, and how?
John doesn’t wait around for them to figure it out: he attacks. Civil war consumes England – again. It’s only when the barons take London that John’s compelled to hear them out.
They meet at Runnymede to figure out how to bring kingship within “reasonable” bounds. Negotiations are tough, but finally an important precedent is set: the king’s no longer allowed to operate unilaterally. From now on, he has to consult the barons before taking sweeping action, and he has to act according to the law. The agreement is called Magna Carta.
King versus barons
True to his treacherous nature, no sooner has Magna Carta been signed than John violates it. Civil war escalates once again.
But then, a reprieve: shortly after war resumes in 1215, John dies of dysentery.
By nearly all accounts, John was ill-suited to kingship. But presiding over Magna Carta rescues his legacy. Magna Carta is an astounding, influential document, and comes to define the relationship between the king and his subjects.
Time for the next king. John’s son, the somber Henry III, is only nine years old when his father dies. He’s far too young to wield power, so he’s placed under the protection of John’s royalist supporters. Henry lacks a proper father figure, and his entire reign will be characterized by an endless search for guidance and fatherly support.
He isn’t able to cast off his advisors and rule his own government until the age of 27. Even then, the barons cling tightly to Magna Carta to prevent him from having too much control.
Henry may be an incompetent political figure, but he understands the need to maintain his image. When he decides to marry a well-connected French princess, his wedding is, well, fit for a king.
Around the same time the king marries, another royal wedding takes place – a scandalous surprise union between Henry’s sister and the glamorous courtier Simon de Montfort. This marriage rankles the barons. The king’s sister is the most eligible bride in the land; her marrying de Montfort means she can’t marry into their families. As a result, political animosity toward Henry grows. Tension is briefly interrupted by the birth of Henry’s first son, Edward, in 1239. But a royal baby can’t hide the crisis forever.
Henry makes things worse with the barons with a madcap scheme to invade Sicily. The barons don’t think this a wise move; Sicily is a long way away, and an invasion would be expensive. Finally, in 1258, they reach the end of their patience. Four armed men break into the king’s quarters and inform him that the realm will now be run by a committee of barons.
The committee of barons forces the king to change some policies. But this doesn’t bring stability. The issue now is the growing influence of the increasingly rebellious Simon de Montfort – the king's brother-in-law. Civil war between the opposing forces of de Montfort and the king soon breaks out.
The two sides meet in battle at Lewes in 1264. The star of the battle is Henry’s soldierly and serious son, Edward. But even his brilliant performance can’t save the day for the royalists. Simon de Montfort becomes de facto king, and the 25-year-old Prince Edward is taken as a hostage.
Edward Longshanks
Prince Edward doesn’t stay captive for long. After a few months, he makes a dramatic escape and begins plotting with barons unhappy with de Montfort to restore the Plantagenet crown.
Once again, the two sides raise armies. The final showdown comes on a freezing day at Evesham in 1265. The battle is fierce, but this time Prince Edward comes out on top. De Montfort isn’t so lucky: he’s hacked to pieces on the battlefield.
Edward is nicknamed Longshanks for his imposing physique. Tall, powerfully built, the new king is also mercurial. Throughout his reign, he changes allegiances many times and doesn’t always keep true to his word. He also has the famous Plantagenet temper: it’s said that once he literally scared a man to death. But he’s also a devoted husband and father. He and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, have 16 children.
After doing some diplomatic work to help heal England’s deep divisions on behalf of his father, Edward’s sword hand again begins to itch. He slakes his thirst for violence on crusade in the Holy Land. On his way back to England, Edward receives the news that his father has died: Edward is now king of England by law, as well as in practice.
After a fabulous coronation, Edward’s most pressing concern is the Welsh – they’ve been stirring up trouble in the west. He raises his first great army in 1277 and vows to settle once and for all what has long been a problem for the Plantagenets. The army comprises fighters, of course, but also engineers to clear land and build a series of massive castles deep in the Welsh heartland. Many of these huge fortresses still dominate the Welsh landscape today.
It takes years, but ultimately Edward defeats Llywelyn the Last, Prince of Wales, and his various relatives. He now turns his attention to the rebellious Scots. He decides to install a puppet king on the Scottish throne. The Scots don’t like it. Open war between England and Scotland breaks out.
Things are getting worse with France, too. When Edward refuses to submit to King Philip IV’s bullying, the two crowns go to war. But that isn’t all: in 1296, the French and the Scots sign an alliance. Edward’s enemies are now working together.
It ends up being an exhausting few years. Edward dashes around putting out fires in France and Scotland just to have them erupt again. He’s now over 60 years old, and he feels it. Plus, he’s worried his son and heir, also named Edward, might not have what it takes to rule.
A weak king
Edward II is tall and fair and looks a lot like his father. But that’s where the similarities end. By all accounts, he’s a poor candidate for king. For one thing, he spends all his time on frivolous pursuits. But most damaging is his proclivity for favorites.
His first favorite is Piers Gaveston, a clever and ambitious French knight. He inspires an unhealthy obsession in the young king, and many speculate that the two are lovers.
When his father dies and he becomes king, Edward makes Gaveston the Earl of Cornwall, the most valuable Plantagenet title. To bestow it on a lowly member of the household retinue scandalizes the barons. But Gaveston and Edward don’t stop there.
The barons’ outrage continues at the king’s coronation, at which Gaveston is given special honors. At the banquet afterward, tapestries adorn the walls, emblazoned with the coats of arms of Edward and Gaveston – not Edward and his wife Isabella, princess of France. In one stroke, Edward manages to deeply insult both his barons and the French royal family.
The English barons force Edward to exile his favorite. Further, they form a council called the Ordainers to oversee Edward’s kingship. It’s evidence of how little they trust his leadership. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and cousin to the king, emerges as the most powerful of Edward’s Ordainers.
Edward is infuriated and humiliated. He fights back: recalling Gaveston and rejecting the Ordainers. Once again, England’s at war. The barons soon capture Gaveston. Lancaster assembles a court, finds Gaveston guilty, and executes him. It’s a shocking escalation. Edward, inconsolable, never forgives Lancaster.
Predicting the king’s wrath, Lancaster retreats to his northern estates to begin mustering forces around him. Meanwhile, Edward’s fixated on a new set of favorites. This time it’s a father and son: Hugh Despenser the Elder and Hugh Despenser the Younger.
War comes once again when Edward goes on the attack against Lancaster. His forces are triumphant, and his vengeance ruthless. He executes Lancaster, as well as most of the rebels, in grotesque fashion. The Despensers are richly rewarded with confiscated land and titles. This cruelty and favoritism only undermines his reign further.
Edward’s about to face his downfall, but it comes from somewhere he never expects. His years of neglecting and humiliating his wife, Isabella, are about to come back to haunt him.
The great Plantagenet
Queen Isabella meets Roger Mortimer at the French court in 1325. It’s an auspicious meeting: first, they become lovers, and then they bring down the king of England.
A few months after she meets Mortimer, Isabella’s in France on diplomatic business when she senses an opportunity. She calls for her son with Edward II, also named Edward, to join her. Once mother and son are safe under the protection of Isabella’s family in France, she refuses to return.
They don’t stay in France forever. The next year, they sail for England to install Prince Edward in place of the troubled king. Barons flock to her side, and the king hemorrhages allies. After only a few months, Isabella’s supporters capture the king. The Despensers are publicly tortured to death.
Edward II understands that abdication will mean a grisly end, but he ultimately relents. His son Edward becomes King Edward III. And as the former king predicted, his end is grisly; Edward II is later murdered in prison.
Edward III is just 14 at his coronation – the crown has to be padded to fit his teenage head. It’s clear that Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer will take charge of the real business of government. At least that’s their plan. But Edward soon grows up. He begins to chafe under the thumb of his mother and her consort.
Edward addresses the problem directly. In 1330, his allies creep through Nottingham Castle to Queen Isabella’s private quarters. Arriving, they arrest Mortimer. He’s tried and hanged as a traitor. There’s no doubt: Edward’s now in control of his government.
Edward III is the pinnacle of Plantagenet kingship. He loves pomp and pageantry and recognizes the importance of keeping his nobles on-side. One of his first acts is creating a new class of nobles, who’ll be loyal to him and his court.
He’s a skilled and charming sportsman: frequently he goes incognito at tournaments and jousts alongside his companions. But he doesn’t just excel at sports: in 1333, he reopens the war with Scotland, delivering a stunning victory at Halidon Hill.
But it’s impossible to defeat the Scots as long as they still enjoy support from across the Channel. In typical Edward style, he turns his attention to the source of the problem: France.
In 1340, he steps off a ship in the Flemish city of Ghent and makes an extraordinary demand. He calls on the townspeople to recognize him as the king of England and France, claiming royal lineage through his mother, Queen Isabella. It’s the opening salvo of the Hundred Years’ War.
From hubris to downfall
Edward’s war gets off to a good start, with a decisive naval victory over the French at Sluys. He then delivers another crushing defeat to the French at Crécy in 1346. This time, he has the help of his teenage son, who’s nicknamed the Black Prince.
For the next decade, Edward goes from strength to strength: victories against foreign opponents as well as reforms at home that shore up the barons’ wealth. In a crowning achievement to Edward’s age of glory, the French king is actually captured at the battle of Poitiers. It’s obvious to everyone: England is once again ascendant.
But it doesn’t last. Things start unraveling for Edward when the Black Prince catches a debilitating disease while campaigning in Castile. He never fully recovers.
The Black Prince’s illness is a blow to Edward. The death of his beloved wife, Philippa, in 1369, is another great loss. Just seven years later, the once-powerful Edward III is senile, and his heir is dead. The Black Prince’s nine-year-old son Richard is now the heir apparent.
At first, Richard II is adored everywhere he goes. The adoration inspires the boy to enjoy an unhealthy opinion of himself. He proves impetuous and mercurial and is prone to screaming when displeased. Soon, Parliament does what it’s done to several of his ancestors: it takes power out of his hands.
After stewing for years, Richard takes hateful revenge. He puts to death in gruesome fashion the barons that voted against him, including one of his uncles.
When another uncle dies of natural causes in 1399, Richard’s first cousin Henry Bolingbroke becomes the most powerful noble in England. Threatened by Henry’s legitimate claim to the throne, Richard banishes him from the realm.
Things move quickly from here. From Paris, Henry watches the king descend into psychosis, seemingly at war with his own country. When Richard makes the bizarre decision to invade Ireland, Henry knows his moment has come.
Henry lands in July 1399, and by August, he’s the master of an exhausted England. He arrests the friendless king and imprisons him in the Tower of London.
Richard II is the last Plantagenet. Believing that kingship was his by divine right, rather than family lineage, he’s produced no heirs. Now, there’s no one better than Henry to assume the mantle. In 1399, Henry Bolingbroke becomes Henry IV, the first king of a new dynasty: the House of Lancaster.
Final summary
The final message in these blinks:
Well, we’ve been on quite the journey. We started with Henry II, the first Plantagenet king who rescued England after a bitter civil war. Henry was a wise king, but he fell out with the Archbishop of Canterbury and then his entire family.
Henry was succeeded by his son Richard I – the Lionheart. Richard spent most of his life away from England, either fighting or in captivity. Bad king John was next – he lost all his family’s lands on the continent and annoyed the barons, who forced him to sign Magna Carta. His son Henry III also had trouble with the barons.
Then we had the three Edwards. Edward I was a powerful ruler who conquered Wales, Edward II was known for being weak, and Edward III was the epitome of a Plantagenet king, winning battles in Scotland and France. Finally, there was the prima-donna king, Richard II, who lost his throne to Henry Bolingbroke, the first king of a new dynasty.
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