Angevin Empire

Angevin Empire
Empire Plantagenêt[a]
1154–1214
The royal banner of England: a red flag with three pale golden lions passant guardant with blue claws and tongues, each on its own row.
Royal banner
(first used after 1198)
The Angevin Empire in 1190
The Angevin Empire in 1190
StatusComposite monarchy[3]
CapitalNo official capital. Court was generally held at Angers and Chinon.
Official languagesOld French[4] • Medieval Latin[b]
Regional languages
Religion
Roman Catholicism (official)
GovernmentFeudal monarchy
King, Duke, Count and Lord 
• 1154–1189
Henry II
• 1189–1199
Richard I
• 1154–1204 (Aquitaine only)
Eleanor of Aquitaine
• 1199–1214
John
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Henry II inherits the Kingdom of England
25 October 1154
1169–1177
1202–1204
28 September 1214
CurrencyFrench livre, silver penny, gold penny
Today part of

The term Angevin Empire (/ˈænɪvɪn/; French: Empire Plantagenêt) describes the possessions held by the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly all of present-day England, half of France, and parts of Ireland and Wales, and had further influence over much of the remaining British Isles. It may be described as an early example of a composite monarchy.[5] The empire was established by Henry II of England, who succeeded his father Geoffrey as Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou (from the latter of which the term Angevin is derived). Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, acquiring the Duchy of Aquitaine, and inherited his mother Empress Matilda's claim to the English throne, succeeding his rival Stephen in 1154. Although their title of highest rank came from the Kingdom of England, the Plantagenets held court primarily on the continent at Angers in Anjou, and at Chinon in Touraine.

The influence and power of the Angevin kings of England brought them into conflict with the kings of France of the House of Capet, to whom they also owed feudal homage for their French possessions, bringing in a period of rivalry between the dynasties. Despite the extent of Angevin rule, Henry's son John was defeated in the Anglo-French War (1213–1214) by Philip II of France following the Battle of Bouvines. John lost control of most of his continental possessions, apart from Guyenne and Gascony in southern Aquitaine. This defeat set the scene for further conflicts between England and France, leading up to the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), in which England for a time would re-establish English rule over much of western, central and northern France, before losing its possessions again, this time permanently.

  1. ^ Holt, James Clarke (1975). The End of the Anglo-Norman Realm. Oxford University Press. p. 229. ISBN 9780197257302.
  2. ^ Aurell, Martin (2003). L'Empire des Plantagenêt, 1154–1242. Perrin. p. 1. ISBN 9782262019853.
  3. ^ John H. Elliott (2018). Scots and Catalans: Union and Disunion. Yale University Press. p. 31. ISBN 9780300240719.
  4. ^ Wood, Michael. "William the Conqueror: A Thorough Revolutionary". BBC History. Retrieved 20 January 2015. Robert of Gloucester: 'The Normans could then speak nothing but their own language, and spoke French as they did at home and also taught their children. So that the upper class of the country that is descended from them stick to the language they got from home, therefore unless a person knows French he is little thought of. But the lower class stick to English and their own language even now.'
  5. ^ Elliott (2018), p. 10: "Another such composite monarchy was that inherited by James VI of Scotland from Elizabeth I in 1603, although, until James succeeded to the English throne, this was a composite monarchy made up of conquered rather than inherited lands. Twelfth-century England itself formed part of a composite state, straddling the British Isles and France, that was later to be known as the Angevin Empire, but the French connection did not prevent Henry II (r.1154–89) from asserting, or more correctly reasserting, the claims of his predecessors to English overlordship over all of Britain".


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