Hello everyone! After a long hiatus due to a family holiday, I’m back! I am ready to go and fill up your quiet moments with interesting historical facts and figures!
After a long deliberation about who and what to talk about I have decided to dedicate some time to discussing the Plantagenet family. This is a dynasty which can boast some of the most confusing, interesting, crazy and disturbing moments in British history and I can’t wait to get started! But before we get to the drama, I thought I’d just quickly tell you all about why the Plantagenets are called Plantagenet!
The Plantagenets purportedly got their name from the yellow broom flower, in Latin called Planta Genista, which is a flower they used as an emblem on their helmets.
Although the dynasty itself spans multiple decades, the early Plantagenets didn’t use this name to describe themselves or their family. The name was only adopted by Richard of York; the third Duke of York who served as Lord Protector during the reign of Henry VI (who some call the Mad King- very Game of Thrones!) It was only in the 17thcentury that historians began to refer to this dynasty as the Plantagenets and the name has certainly stuck!
Now as I have stated the dynasty is exceptionally confusing, with multiple kings called Henry, Edward, and Richard and as such I won’t be covering all the various Kings and Queens. I will instead handpick some of the most interesting and unique ones and discuss them in the blog posts. I will also be posting some more general historical facts on the Instagram page some of them relating to the Plantagenets- so go check it out! Happy history folks!
Historia Mundis 