PLANTAGENET, HOUSE OF

or House of Anjou

Royal house of England (1154–1485) that provided 14 kings, including six from the cadet houses of Lancaster and York . The line descended from Geoffrey, count of Anjou

died 1151

, and the empress Matilda , daughter of the English king Henry I . Some historians apply the name House of Anjou, or Angevin dynasty , to only Henry II , Richard I , and John , and label their successors, including Edward I , Edward II , and Edward III , as Plantagenets. The name may have originated as a nickname (Plante-geneste) for Count Geoffrey, who planted broom shrubs (Latin Genista ) to improve his hunting covers. The Wars of the Roses saw the defeat of the last Plantagenet king, Richard III , in 1485. The legitimate line ended with Edward of Warwick

died 1499

.