House of Plantagenet

The Plantagenets were a royal dynasty that ruled England from the accession of Henry II in 1154 until the death of Richard III in 1485. The name derives from the nickname of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, the father of Henry II, who married the English claimant Matilda, and the family also ruled a large area of France. Notable kings include Richard the Lionheart, John, who sealed Magna Carta in 1215, Edward I, who conquered Wales, and Edward III, who began the Hundred Years' War. In the fifteenth century the family divided into the rival houses of Lancaster and York, whose struggle became the Wars of the Roses. The dynasty ended when Richard III was killed at Bosworth Field, and the Tudors took the throne.

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