The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England

The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England is a popular history book by Dan Jones. It was first published in 2012 in the UK and 2013 in the US, where it appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. In 2014, it was adapted into a four-part television series that Jones presented.

The book tells a narrative history of Plantagenet kings and queens, beginning with civil war between rival claimants, Stephen and Matilda, through to the deposition of Richard II in 1399. It charts the changing fortunes of the monarchs and the realm and the structural and cultural shifts of the period.

Jones’s third book, The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors (2014), is a sequel to The Plantagenets and continues chronologically from shortly after this book’s end.

Dan Jones has written eight history books and two historical fiction books. He worked as a presenter and writer on history documentaries and docu-dramas. Jones is also a journalist and writes about various topics including history and sport.

This guide uses the 2013 William Collins paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material contains graphic violence, including depictions of war, mutilation, killing, and rape. Additionally, Jones uses language that reflects the attitudes of the historical figures in his work, including anti-Muslim, anti-foreigner, anti-LGBTQ+, antisemitic, and ableist sentiments.

Summary

Due to the death of his heir, Henry I’s death threw England and Normandy into a period of civil war between rival claimants, Stephen and Matilda, who set up opponent centers of governance. The territories were socio-politically unstable. As she aged, Matilda’s son, Henry, took up the cause. A capable leader with martial skills and negotiating strengths, he became the sole king of England after Stephen died in 1154. He acquired vast continental territories and constantly traveled throughout them during his reign. His marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine brought her an important duchy, a medieval country, territory, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess; she was an important political player during her lifetime. Henry II’s reign saw judicial and governmental reforms that established lasting processes and principles. He weathered an extreme dispute with his once-friend Thomas Beckett in his role as Archbishop of Canterbury, a personal embodiment of his broader struggles to manage his relationship with the Church. He also overcame his wife and sons’ rebellion against him and managed the aftermath so the dynasty survived intact.

Due to the deaths of Henry II’s eldest two sons, Richard I inherited the throne. Already Duke of Aquitaine, he was a warlike king who spent time crusading. However, he was killed during a fight for his territorial rights on the continent against the French king. His youngest brother, John, took the throne, and likely killed the main rival claimant backed by France, the young Arthur, in his captivity. John failed to secure his father’s continental lands, and retreated to England, spending most of his rule there.

John’s reign featured costly military successes in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland and domestic civil strife. He gained a reputation as a tyrant. He exploited all systems and relationships available to him for financial gain, brutally punishing magnates who did not comply. He responded to the papacy’s interdiction and excommunication by using the opportunity to seize church revenue streams. In 1215, England collapsed into civil war. The Magna Carta, one attempt to formalize terms for peace, failed as a treaty. However, it had long-lasting symbolic and constitutional significance; future negotiations in the development of political structures and ethos often revolved around it.

His son, Henry III, fostered a culture of kingship focused on divinity and history, invoking the figure of Edward the Confessor. To back up military goals with funding, Henry offered political negotiation with his barons, who sought confirmation of their rights and powers; he reissued the Magna Carta and other charters before an assembly that resembled an early parliament. However, this later disintegrated into conflict; Henry’s one-time friend, Simon de Montfort, led the opposition. After the civil war and a period in power, Edward, Henry’s son, defeated de Montfort and reform and compromise achieved reconciliation.

Edward I returned from crusading to inherit the crown on his father’s death in 1272. He asserted a ruthless Christian militarism to rebuild Plantagenet kingship as a powerful force, invoking the myth of Arthur, achieving significant control of the British Isles, and defending remaining continental lands. He balanced his enormous debts and financial demands by maintaining reasonable political credit, despite tension at times. He and his barons negotiated through regular assemblies, creating precedents for parliaments.

Under his son, Edward II, the country descended into civil war again. Edward II was criticized for his favoritism, particularly his relationships with Gaveston and the Despensers. His rule prioritized his and his friends’ interests. The rule of law led to a cycle of violence and extra-judicial executions. His reign saw the structures and ethos of governance jostling for survival and power. Eventually, he was removed from power by his wife, Isabella, and her ally and lover, Mortimer, who exercised arbitrary and self-interested government in the name of the heir, Edward III.

They were overthrown by Edward III in 1330 who took full control of the crown. Edward III achieved significant military successes in France and Scotland, with the support of skilled generals including his son, Prince Edward (later called the Black Prince). He developed the English war machine’s tactics and technology. He backed this up with a national mythology interweaving the mythology of Arthurian Britain, a new cult of St. George, and the development of a chivalric code of brotherhood, as exemplified in the Order of the Garter. Edward III’s reign created a shared culture that bonded the political community behind his war efforts.

Problems emerged at the end of his reign, including the population’s decimation by the Black Death and the civil discord created by Edward’s measures to contain the impact on the political classes (such as capping wages). Richard II ascended to the throne in 1377 and was soon faced with the first mass popular uprising, The Peasants’ Revolt. Though the young king handled this first test well, his reign descended into chaos and violence. He built a lavish cult of divine kingship, governed in the interests of his favorites and failed to form bonds with or protect his magnates. Tensions escalated into open hostilities; power shifted back and forth. Eventually, he was deposed and replaced by his cousin, Henry IV, in 1399, in a process performed before a parliamentary assembly. This contentious succession continued to rear its head throughout the subsequent Wars of The Roses, which lasted until 1485. This period saw enormous changes in English and British culture and structures.