The House of Plantagenet was the first truly armigerous royal dynasty of England. Their predecessor, Henry I of England, had presented items decorated with a lion heraldic emblem to his son-in-law, Plantagenet founder Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, and his family experimented with different lion-bearing coats until these coalesced during the reign of his grandson, Richard I (1189–1199), into a coat of arms with three lions on a red field, formally Gules, three lions passant guardant or (armed and langued azure), that became the Royal Arms of England, and colloquially those of England itself. The various cadet branches descended from this family bore differenced versions of these arms, while later members of the House of Plantagenet would either quarter or impale these arms with others to reflect their political aspirations.
Overview of Plantagenet arms
Before Edward III
After Edward III
House of Lancaster
House of York
Non-Plantagenet families
The heiresses of Norfolk and Kent transmitted the Plantagenet arms to non-Plantagenet families:
Henry VI of England granted differenced versions of the Plantagenet arms to his maternal half-brothers. This was an extraordinary grant, since they were not descended from the English royal family.
House of Plantagenet
Descendants of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou
Descendants of John, King of England
Descendants of Henry III of England
Descendants of Edward I of England
Descendants of Edward II of England
Descendants of Edward III of England
Descendants of Edward, the Black Prince
Descendants of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
Descendants of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester
House of Lancaster
Descendants of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Descendants of Henry IV of England
Descendants of Henry V of England
House of York
Descendants of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York
Descendants of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York
Descendants of Edward IV of England
Descendants of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence
Descendants of Richard III of England
House of Beaufort
Descendants of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
Descendants of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset
See also
Royal arms of England
House of Plantagenet
Issue of Edward III of England
House of Lancaster
House of York
House of Beaufort
War of the Roses
References
Citations
Bibliography
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