#House of Plantagenet

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Liber Regalis

Among the remarkable treasures in our collection is the Liber Regalis - or 'royal book.'

The beautifully illustrated 14th-century English medieval illuminated manuscript gives ceremonial instructions and the order of service for the coronation.

The Abbey has been the coronation church since 1066.

The manuscript is thought to have been made for the crowning of Richard II's queen, Anne of Bohemia, here in 1382.

Despite various changes over the centuries, the instructions it gives still form the basis of the coronation service today.

You can see the Liber Regalis on display in our museum, the Abbey Galleries.

—

Richard II (6 January 1367 – c. 14 February 1400)

Anne of Bohemia (11 May 1366 – 7 June 1394)

[nanshe-of-nina]

Favorite History Books || The Daughters of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Comparative Study of Twelfth-Century Royal Women by Colette Bowie ★★★★☆

This study compares and contrasts the experiences of the three daughters of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. The exogamous marriages of Matilda, Leonor, and Joanna, which created dynastic links between the Angevin realm and Saxony, Castile, Sicily and Toulouse, served to further the political and diplomatic ambitions of their parents and spouses. It might be expected that their choices in religious patronage and dynastic commemoration would follow the customs and patterns of their marital families, yet the patronage and commemorative programmes of Matilda, Leonor, and Joanna provide evidence of possible influence from their natal family which suggests a coherent sense of family consciousness. To discern why this might be the case, an examination of the childhoods of these women has been undertaken (Part I), to establish what emotional ties to their natal family may have been formed at this impressionable time. In Part II, the political motivations for their marriages are analysed, demonstrating the importance of these dynastic alliances, as well as highlighting cultural differences and similarities between the courts of Saxony, Castile, Sicily, and the Angevin realm. Dowry and dower portions (Part III) are important indicators of the power and strength of both their natal and marital families, and give an idea of the access to economic resources which could provide financial means for patronage. Having established possible emotional ties to their natal family, and the actual material resources at their disposal, the book moves on to an examination of the patronage and dynastic commemorations of Matilda, Leonor and Joanna (Parts IV-V), in order to discern patterns or parallels. Their possible involvement in the burgeoning cult of Thomas Becket, their patronage of Fontevrault Abbey, the names they gave to their children, and finally the ways in which they and their immediate families were buried, suggest that all three women were, to varying degrees, able to transplant Angevin family customs to their marital lands. The resulting study, the first of its kind to consider these women in an intergenerational dynastic context, advances the hypothesis that there may have been stronger emotional ties within the Angevin family than has previously been allowed for.

[harryofderby]

You want Henry V to live longer so that he could finish conquering France.

I want Henry V to live longer so that he could finally compose music for all parts of the Mass and not just the Gloria and the Sanctus.

We are not the same.

[world-of-wales]

⋆ William, The Conqueror to William, The Prince of Wales ⋆

⤜ The Prince of Wales is William I's 24th Great-Grandson via his paternal grandmother's line.

William I of England

Henry I of England

Empress Matilda

Henry II of England

John of England

Henry III of England

Edward I of England

Edward II of England

Edward III of England

Lionel of Antwerp, Ist Duke of Clarence

Philippa Plantagenet, Vth Countess of Ulster

Roger Mortimer, IVth Earl of March

Anne Mortimer

Richard Plantagenet, IIIrd Duke of York

Edward IV of England

Elizabeth of York

Margaret Tudor

James V of Scotland

Mary Stewart, Queen of Scotland

James I of England

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia

Sophia, Electress of Hanover

George I of Great Britain

George II of Great Britain

Frederick, Prince of Wales

George III of the United Kingdom

Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

George V of the United Kingdom

George VI of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Charles III of the United Kingdom

William, The Prince of Wales

[dreamconsumer]

Edward of Caernarvon (later Edward II of England; 1284-1327) by Frances Brundage.

[henryfitzempress]

Moodboard: Henry II, King of England (1154-1189).

[roehenstart]

Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile. Unknown artist.

She was Queen of Castile and Toledo as wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile (1170-1214).

[poprostudave]

Czas porzucić rolę Boga i przywdziać szaty diabła.

Ryszard Plantagenet, książę Gloucester

Aya Kanno "Baraou no Souretsu", tom 11.

[margueritedanjou]

A contemporary portrait of Henry VI, King of England c. 1455.

[nanshe-of-nina]

— John Lackland to Maude de Braose

Sorry man. You are too weird and unpleasant. Can you please never talk to anyone again and starve to death in a small cell? Thank you.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

TODAY IN HISTORY:

7 February 1301

Edward of Caernarfon, later King Edward II of England, is named Prince of Wales.

It's the first time the son of the King of England was named the Prince of Wales, making Edward II the first of the current line of Princes of Wales.

—

Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327.

The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne following the death of his older brother Alphonso.

Beginning in 1300, Edward accompanied his father on campaigns to pacify Scotland.

In 1307, he was knighted in a grand ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Edward succeeded to the throne later that year, following his father's death.

In 1308, he married Isabella of France, the daughter of the powerful King Philip IV, as part of a long-running effort to resolve the tensions between the English and French crowns.

[nanshe-of-nina]

Favorite History Books || Philippa of Hainault: Mother of the English Nation by Kathryn Warner ★★★★☆

Edward III, king of England, was fifteen years old at the time of his wedding in York on 24 or 25 January 1328, and Philippa of Hainault, his bride, was perhaps fifteen months or so younger and, according to one chronicler, about to turn fourteen. Although their marriage was to endure for more than four decades and would prove to be a most happy and successful one that produced a dozen children, it could hardly have begun in a more unromantic fashion. Edward’s mother Queen Isabella had arranged her son’s marriage with Philippa’s father Willem, count of Hainault in 1326 so that he would provide ships and mercenaries for her to invade her husband Edward II’s kingdom in order to bring down the man she loathed above all others, Edward II’s adored chamberlain and perhaps lover Hugh Despenser the Younger. Just a month before his wedding to Philippa, Edward III had attended the funeral of his deposed, disgraced and possibly murdered father, the former king, at St Peter’s Abbey in Gloucestershire. Whether intentionally or not, Edward III and Philippa of Hainault married on his parents’ twentieth wedding anniversary, and on the first anniversary of the young Edward’s reign as king of England. Philippa of Hainault accompanied her husband abroad on many of his military and diplomatic missions; the couple hated to be apart for long and spent as much time together as they possibly could. Despite Philippa’s decades-long marriage to one of medieval England’s most famous and successful kings, there has only ever been one full-length biography of her, published by Blanche Christabel Hardy in 1910 and titled Philippa of Hainault and Her Times. In addition, two chapters in Agnes Strickland’s nineteenth-century work The Lives of the Queens of England cover the basics of Philippa’s life, and Lisa Benz St John’s 2012 book Three Medieval Queens examines the lives of Philippa and her two predecessors as queen of England.

[harryofderby]

Today ( the 9th day of April) is the 611th anniversary of the coronation of Henry V of England in the year 1413 wherein it snowed heavily which some people took as a bad omen while some others foresaw a brilliant reign

[world-of-wales]

⋆ William, The Conqueror to Prince Louis of Wales ⋆

⤜ William I is Prince Louis of Wales' 25th Great-Grandfather via his paternal line through Prince Philip

William I of England

Henry I of England

Empress Matilda

Henry II of England

John of England

Henry III of England

Edward I of England

Edward II of England

Edward III of England

Lionel of Antwerp, Ist Duke of Clarence

Philippa Plantagenet, Vth Countess of Ulster

Roger Mortimer, IVth Earl of March

Anne Mortimer

Richard Plantagenet, IIIrd Duke of York

Edward IV of England

Elizabeth of York

Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland

James V, King of Scotland

Mary Stewart, Queen of Scotland

James I of England

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia

Sophia, Electress of Hanover

George I of Great Britain

George II of Great Britain

Frederick, Prince of Wales

George III of the United Kingdom

Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine

Princess Alice of Battenberg

Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark

King Charles III of the United Kingdom

William, The Prince of Wales

Prince Louis of Wales

[dreamconsumer]

King Edward I of England (1239-1307).

[henryfitzempress]

“Marriages amongst the elite in the fourteenth century were rarely love matches. Politics, territory and wealth determined the course of matrimony for young noblemen and women. The marriage between Gaunt and Blanche was another link in the political union between two powerful houses—Plantagenet and Lancaster.

As Gaunt and Blanche were distant cousins, their marriage required a Papal dispensation, as interfamilial marriage was in breach of Canon law. In the New Year of 1359, at the Papal court at Avignon, Pope Innocent VI was duly presented with a request from the King of England: that he 'enable his son John, the Earl of Richmond and the Lady Blanche, daughter of Henry, Duke of Lancaster, to intermarry, they being related in the third and fourth degrees of kindred’.

The Pope sanctioned the marriage and, soon after the dispensation reached England, the date for the wedding was set for May.

The ceremony would be held at Reading Abbey, one of the largest royal monasteries in Europe. The abbey was founded by the youngest son of William the Conqueror, Henry I, who invested heavily in it, supporting learning as well as prayer by funding an extensive library.

Support of the abbey remained in royal consciousness following Henrys death, for Empress Matilda - his daughter - donated a sacred relic: the hand of Saint James of Santiago. Over the next three centuries Reading Abbey grew to become a popular place of worship and burial for the elite, as well as a suitable location for Parliament to convene outside of London.

In May 1359, members of the nobility gathered to witness the marriage of John of Gaunt to Blanche of Lancaster. It was a union of cousins as well as great allies, heavy with the promise of peace between historic rivals, Lancaster and the Crown. The union made sense.

Blanche's elder sister, Maude, was married to William III, Count of Holland, Zeeland and Hainault, and the match between John and Blanche would strengthen domestic relations.

On a personal level, it was also a nod to the friendship between Edward and Henry, and the loyalty the Duke had shown throughout the highs and lows of the war in France.

Seventeen-year-old Blanche was an attractive choice of bride for the nineteen-year-old John of Gaunt. She was beautiful, pious, young and, shared with her sister Maude, she stood to inherit her father's enormous fortune, which through marriage would be controlled by Gaunt.

As medieval tradition dictated, when a woman married a man, she relinquished to him her chattels - land, property and money.

In the presence of a priest and of three or four respectable persons summoned for the purpose, John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster exchanged rings and were married in the eyes of God and witnesses, overseen by the clerk of the Queen's chapel.

Blanche was showered with generous gifts: sliver buckles from the king and two rings of ruby, and pearl and diamond from John of Gaunt.

The wedding was an elaborate celebration and the subsequent banquet was particularly extravagant: guests were served richly spiced food and wine on tables covered in linen, silk and cloth of gold, and minstrels played for the durations the feasting.

The celebrations continued for days, with jousts held locally to mark the occasion. The wedding party then cheerfully made its way to London, where preparations were underway for an ever larger and more spectacular event.”

Castor, H. The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, The Duke of Lancaster. 2021.

Fancast: Holliday Grainger as young Lady Blanche of Lancaster & Ben Barnes as young John of Gaunt.