Plantagenet

Plantagenet is the name applied, in England, to the descendants of Geoffrey of Anjou, father of King Henry II of England, (1113-1151CE). It derives from the flower of the broom (planta genesta), which Geoffrey adopted as an emblem.

From the Plantagenets of England (including the Houses of York and of Lancaster came the rulers, at different times, of Jerusalem, England, Normandy, Gascony and Guyenne, although they lost Anjou itself, to the French crown in 1206.

The first to use the name as a surname was Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, father to Edward IV and Richard III, adopting it apparently around 1448CE.

The family became extinct in the legitimate line during the 16th century. Edward, Earl of Warwick, Edward and Richard's nephew, was executed in 1499 by Henry VII, and Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, was executed in 1541 by Henry VIII.