Angevin kings of England

This article is about the English royal house of the 12th and early 13th century. For other houses of Anjou, see House of Anjou.

Angevins

Arms adopted in 1198
Parent houseHouse of Plantagenet
CountryEngland, France
FounderKing Henry II of England
Current headExtinct[1]
Final rulerJohn, King of England
Titles

The Angevin kings of England (/ˈændʒɪvɪn/; "from Anjou") were Henry II and his sons, Richard I and John, who ruled England from 1154 to 1216. With ancestral lands in Anjou, they were related to the Norman kings of England through Matilda, the daughter of Henry I, and Henry II's mother. They were also related to the earlier Anglo-Saxon kings of England through Matilda's great-great-grandfather, Edmund Ironside. Their descendants, the main line of the House of Plantagenet, continued to rule England until 1485; some historians make no distinction between the Angevins and the Plantagenets, while others name John's son Henry III the first Plantagenet king.[2][3][4][5][6]

Henry II gained control of a large collection of lands in western Europe which would retrospectively be referred to as the Angevin Empire. He inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the counties of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine from his father Geoffrey of Anjou in 1150–51, and gained control of the Duchy of Aquitaine from his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152. He successfully pursued his claim to England, being declared King Stephen's heir in 1153 and inheriting the kingdom in 1154.[7] Henry also exerted influence on the Duchy of Brittany, installing his son Geoffrey as duke; the Kingdom of Scotland; and oversaw the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–75.

The expansion of Henry's power caused conflict with Louis VII of France and his successor Philip II, who were the feudal overlords of his French territories. Henry also struggled to control his sons Henry, Geoffrey, Richard and John, who rebelled against him in 1173–4, 1183, and 1189.

Henry died in 1189 and was succeeded by his eldest living son, Richard, whose reputation for martial prowess won him the epithet "Cœur de Lion" or "Lionheart".[8] He was born and raised in England but spent very little time there during his adult life, perhaps as little as six months. Despite this Richard remains an enduring iconic figure both in England and in France, and is one of very few kings of England remembered by his nickname as opposed to regnal number.[9] When Richard died, his brother John – Henry's fifth and last surviving son – took the throne. In 1204, John lost many of the Angevins' continental territories, including Anjou, to the French crown. He and his successors were still recognized as dukes of Aquitaine. The loss of Anjou, for which the dynasty is named, and other French fiefs made John the last of the Angevin kings of England.[10]

  1. ^ "The Angevins". The Official Website of The British Monarchy. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016.
  2. ^ Blockmans & Hoppenbrouwers 2014, p. 173
  3. ^ Aurell 2003
  4. ^ Gillingham 2007a, pp. 15–23
  5. ^ Power 2007, pp. 85–86
  6. ^ Warren 1991, pp. 228–229
  7. ^ Gillingham 2001, p. 1
  8. ^ Turner & Heiser 2000, p. 71
  9. ^ Harvey 1948, p. 58.
  10. ^ "The Angevins". The Royal Household. Retrieved 2023-08-12.