History UsefulNotes / TheHouseOfPlantagenet

Spent a massive amount of money on the Crusade, sold titles, raised taxes, ''etc''.. Having managed to annoy Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, he was spotted in a village near Vienna eating roast chicken while dressed as a peasant, so was captured and held prisoner from 1192 to 1194. Cue one literal king's ransom (the sum was 2-3 times the annual income of the English crown). Richard spent most of the rest of his reign fighting Philip II Augustus of France and doing quite well. In 1199, he got shot by a crossbow bolt, was badly treated, and died. He wanted to let the fellow (in some accounts a ''young boy'') who shot him go, but Mercadier, the captain of Richard's mercenaries, flayed him alive as soon as Richard had died, perhaps at the command of Richard's sister. [[SarcasmMode Charming]].

* The first season of ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'' depicts the accidental murder of Richard III by the fictitious Edmund Plantagenet, leading to the reign of the similarly-fictitious Richard IV.
** In-universe, Henry VII [[OrwellianEditor retconned Richard IV's reign into nonexistence]] and made Richard III a villain.

* The traditional setting for the Myth/RobinHood mythos is under Prince John.

* Almost every retelling of Myth/RobinHood features Kings Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland. Few of them are remotely historically accurate.

Spent a massive amount of money on the Crusade, sold titles, raised taxes, ''etc''.. Having managed to annoy Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, he was spotted in a village near Vienna eating roast chicken while dressed as a peasant, so was captured and held prisoner from 1192 to 1194. Cue one literal king's ransom (the sum was 2-3 times the annual income of the English crown). Richard spent most of the rest of his reign fighting Philip II Augustus of France and doing quite well. In 1199, he got shot by a crossbow bolt, was badly treated, and died. He wanted to let the fellow (in some accounts a ''young boy'') who shot him go, but Mercadier, the captain of Richard's mercenaries, flayed him alive as soon as Richard had died, perhaps at the command of Richard's sister. Charming.

Ten years old at his succession, he showed what he could do at the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, where he [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome defused the immediate threat to London while the leader, Wat Tyler, was butchered shortly behind them]], and ultimately ordered the remaining rebels to surrender, which they did. This went to his head, however, and [[NewerThanTheyThink he started the tradition]] of addressing the King as "Majesty" and "Highness". Like his great-grandfather, didn't care for the war with France, and was much more interested in art and architecture; he was also fond of good food, and had his cooks write a great cookbook, the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forme_of_Cury Forme of Cury]]'', one of the greatest surviving resources on the (upper-class) medieval kitchen (and a great source of inspiration if you ever want to make an unusual or especially fancy dish--you'll be surprised what medieval English chefs got up to, especially considering [[HollywoodCuisine what their modern equivalents are famous for]]). A group of nobles (the "Merciless Parliament") had some of his favorites executed for abusing his youth, and he repaid them in kindness ten years later, including [[KickTheDog having his Uncle, Thomas of Woodstock,]] [[EvilNephew smothered]].

2. After a dispute over who should be the High King of Ireland, he took advantage of a Papal Edict of 1158 ― issued by the only English Pope, Adrian IV (born Nicholas Breakspeare ([[MeaningfulName No, really]])) ― that gave overlordship of Ireland to the King of England to establish an English zone of control (The Pale) around Dublin, which had [[TheIrishQuestion repercussions for]] [[TheTroubles centuries to come]].

Didn't take to being controlled very well. As soon as he was of age he seized power in his own right, executed his father's murderers and exiled his mother. Much more like his grandfather in both physical prowess and military talent. Oversaw the start of UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar, and had several noticeable victories against France and Scotland, such as the Battle of Crécy in 1346, before the Black Death put everything on hold. He never quite regained the initiative after that, and eventually signed a truce in 1367, leaving England better off than when they started. Spent a lot of his time after that trying to [[StatusQuoIsGod prevent the mass social changes unleashed by the plague]], but [[AvertedTrope ultimately failed]].

As established during his father's reign, a talented general. Also the first King truly raised as an Englishman since 1066. Didn't care too much for the French territories, and was far more interested in re-establishing Roman Britannia. Successfully conquered and annexed Wales, and [[TropeMaker started the tradition]], via some clever LoopholeAbuse, of the heir to the throne being named the Prince of Wales.[[note]]It's a really funny story, actually. According to legend, the Welsh nobles, after Edward announced he was reviving the title--"Prince of Wales" had traditionally meant "sovereign ruler of Wales"--went up to him demanding "a prince born in Wales and speaking no language other than Welsh." He agreed, and presented them with his infant son Edward, born at Caernarfon Castle in Wales, who didn't speak any language at all -- Welsh included.[[/note]] Controlled large parts of Scotland around the end of the 13th Century, becoming known as "The Hammer of the Scots". [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade Was not as evil as you see in ]] ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' ([[WordOfDante Dante]] thought well of him), but when re-crowned on the Scottish stone of Scone (pronounced ''skoon''), is reported to have said "A man does a good thing when he rids himself of shit." The stone was kept in Westminster Abbey until recently. Expelled all Jews from England; Jews were not [[YouHaveToHaveJews allowed to return]] for over 350 years.

3. The most (in)famous thing was that he got into a savage argument with the original TurbulentPriest, his one time friend UsefulNotes/ThomasBecket, Archbishop of Canterbury, over whether the Church was subordinate to secular authority. His expression of frustration was construed to be a Royal Command: a RhetoricalRequestBlunder. Four knights made haste to Canterbury and brutally murdered Becket. The murder of an archbishop at the altar of his own cathedral on orders from the King was considered the worst crime in Christendom for a long time, and [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade clouded Henry's reputation in history]]. It was something Henry [[MyGreatestFailure appeared to truly show regret and remorse for]] and he was publicly whipped as penance by the canons of Canterbury Cathedral. (Becket, on the other hand, got made into a saint and had a great film made about him in which he was played by Creator/RichardBurton).

* Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is a FantasyCounterpartCulture inspired by medieval England. The Targaryen family is based on the Plantagenets (with a few Capetian-Valois thrown in). The "devil's brood" becoming "The Blood of the Dragon" (with literal dragons under their command). Several PosthumousCharacter based on them: Jaehaerys I (Henry II), Daeron the Young Dragon (Richard I), Prince Rhaegar (Edward the Black Prince) and Queen Rhaenyra (Empress Matilda). The Baratheon family, descendants of Targaryens via a recent marriage are based on the Yorkist-Plantagenets -- King Robert (Edward IV), Renly (George Clarence) and Stannis (Richard III).

* ''Edward II'', the play by Creator/ChristopherMarlowe.

* Creator/WilliamShakespeare's reputation was made, to a certain extent, by his writing of ten (10) "history plays" detailing the final years of the Plantagenets. The earliest of them would be ''Theatre/KingJohn''--but it did not become as well known as the succeeding eight (8) plays. The aforementioned eight plays have been classified based on the generation they portray (minor and major tetralogies). Some choose to give them the all-encompassing label of ''Henriad''[[note]]elevating these stories to the same level of Literature/TheIliad and Literature/TheAeneid[[/note]]. The last, ''Theatre/HenryVIII'', is discussed under UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfTudor.

* Creator/WilliamShakespeare's reputation was made, to a certain extent, by his writing of eight (8) "history plays" detailing the final years of the Plantagenets. Some would divide them based on the generation (minor and major tetralogies), and some choose to give them the all-encompassing label of ''Henriad''[[note]]elevating these stories to the same level of Literature/TheIliad and Literature/TheAeneid[[/note]].

*** '[[Theatre/HenryVIPart2 Part 2]]''
*** ''[[Theatre/HenryVIPart3 Part 3]]''

*** ''Theatre/RichardIII'' also by Shakespeare.

* ''Theatre/RichardII'', the play by Creator/WilliamShakespeare.
* ''Theatre/HenryIVPart1'' and ''Theatre/HenryIVPart2'', also by Shakespeare.
* ''Theatre/HenryV'' also by Shakespeare.
* ''Theatre/HenryVIPart1'', ''[[Theatre/HenryVIPart2 Part 2]]'', and ''[[Theatre/HenryVIPart3 Part 3]]'' also by Shakespeare.
* ''Theatre/RichardIII'' also by Shakespeare.

Richard I spent most of his reign abroad ― he was only in England for 6 months of his 10-year reign ― most famously leading the [[TheCrusades Third Crusade]] against [[WorthyOpponent Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, better known as Saladin]].

When his [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage beloved wife]], Eleanor of Castile died in 1294, he established 12 stone crosses along the route her body took to be buried in Westminster Abbey, which why it's called "Charing Cross" (although the notion that "Charing" comes from French ''chère reine'' = "dear queen" is a myth).

* ''Theatre/HenryIVPart1'' and ''HenryIVPart2'', also by Shakespeare.

You either like him or hate him. His refusal to admit Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury caused [[ThePope Pope Innocent III]] to place the English Church under an interdict from 1208 to 1214. He was considered to be kind and friendly with the Jews, which was one of the things his enemies used to rally against him. The barons who hated him got him to sign the ''Magna Carta'' (Great Charter) in 1215, which the Pope annulled (not entirely unjustified; since John ''was'' forced to sign it, that is a pretty strong argument against its legitimacy). This caused the Barons to invite Prince Louis of France to invade England. John then died of dysentery while on campaign (though the legend persisted that he had been poisoned by a monk), and the Barons lost their appetites for French rule, so they reissued Magna Carta in the name of his nine-year-old son.\\

* The ''Literature/LordDarcy'' stories depict an AlternateHistory where the Plantagenets ''still'' rule England in the 1960s. Which is now called the "Angevin Empire", and controls half of Europe. (And is having a little cold war with the Polish Empire.)

Richard's main achievement in his reign was improving conditions in Northern England, where he was pretty popular, too. In fact, he generally improved conditions for the lower orders and was loved for it by some, while said actions antagonised the nobility. He was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, the last English king to die in battle, and was succeeded by Henry Tudor as Henry VII, who beat him with foreign support (he was a Lancastrian, though several others had better claims). Through marriage, Henry VII united York and Lancaster into TheHouseOfTudor. The last Plantagenet claimant to the throne was executed in 1499.

At 6'4", the tallest Monarch in English History. During his first reign, was pretty much a puppet for his cousin Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick ("the {{Kingmaker}}"). Warwick resented the growing power Edward's wife and her family had over him, and led an army against him, allowing Henry VI to reclaim the throne in the process. In a repeat of Henry IV, Edward landed on the coast and gathered support for his cause. Warwick and Henry's son were killed in battle, and Henry was quietly disposed of, leaving the cause of Lancaster to be championed by an obscure nobleman with only a tenuous claim to the throne, Henry [[TheHouseOfTudor Tudor]].

* ''Theatre/HenryVIPart1'', ''[[HenryVIPart2 Part 2]]'', and ''[[Theatre/HenryVIPart3 Part 3]]'' also by Shakespeare.

* ''AKnightsTale'' is set during the reign of Edward III, and the Black Prince features prominently.

Part of the broader House of Anjou (hence the term "Angevin"), which was noted for having its members turn up just about everywhere you look in medieval European history, much like the Hapsburgs would later on (though the Angevins didn't quite reach the same scale). They also got the nickname "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Devil's Brood]]" from an old legend that they were descended from a union between some past Count of Anjou and the daughter of Satan himself, which offered as good an explanation as any for the family's leanings toward violence and infighting. (Interestingly, the Plantagenets themselves did little to discourage the legend.)

Didn't take to being controlled very well. As soon as he was of age he seized power in his own right, executed his father's murderers and exiled his mother. Much more like his grandfather in both physical prowess and military talent. Oversaw the start of the HundredYearsWar, and had several noticeable victories against France and Scotland, such as the Battle of Crécy in 1346, before the Black Death put everything on hold. He never quite regained the initiative after that, and eventually signed a truce in 1367, leaving England better off than when they started. Spent a lot of his time after that trying to [[StatusQuoIsGod prevent the mass social changes unleashed by the plague]], but [[AvertedTrope ultimately failed]].