2020. Geoffrey IV "the Plantagenet" , Comte d'Anjou, Duc de Normandie
Plantagenet, a surname conveniently but unhistorically applied to the royal line descended from the union of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, with the Empress Maud, who are now styled by historians the Angevin House, that are descendants from the Counts of Anjou. It was historically only a nickname of Geoffrey, as was Curtmantel of his son Henry II, and was derived from his wearing in his cap a sprig of the broom (genet) plant. When the fashion of personal nicknames passed away, the members of the royal family were usually named from their birthplace, as Thomas "of Brotherton" and Edmund "of Langley," and so forth. But Edward I and his younger brother, the founder of the House of Lancaster, had still nicknames, respectively, as Longshanks and Crouchback. These two sons of Henry III, Edward and Edmund, were Plantagenet kings. Edmund, the younger, was created Earl of Lancaster, and his great-granddaughter Blanche married John of Gaunt or Ghent, and their descendants fought for the throne as Lancastrians in the War of the Roses. John of Gaunt was the son of Edward III, and his younger brother Edmund of Langley was created Duke of York, and founded the House of York, the other side in the War of the Roses. Although no other dynasty has reigned so long over England, the whole male issue (legitimate) of Count Geoffrey Plantagenet is clearly proved to have become extinct in 1499.
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