The early Plantagenets in the process of the British nationalization (1154-1216)

The Plantagenets were a dynasty that ruled England for nearly three and a half centuries between 1154 and 1485. Henry II, the first son of Geoffrey Plantagenet V, Count of Anjou, who gave the dynasty its name with a type of broomwort (plant-genista) native to Western Europe that he wore on his clothes, by his wife Matilda, daughter of King Henry I of England, ascended the throne of England in 1154 and became the founder of the Plantagenet Dynasty. Between 1154 and 1189, Henry II ruled over England and a vast territory, including Anjou and Maine, which he inherited from his father, and Normandy, which he inherited from his Norman ancestors. Adding the Duchy of Aquitaine, which Henry acquired through his marriage to Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, who had divorced King Louis VII of France, the map of what is now known as the Angevin Empire emerges. Henry II and his sons Richard I (the Lionhearted) and John (the Lackland), the early Plantagenets, ruled this state between 1154 and 11216. While Henry II transformed the state he acquired through inheritance, marriage and wars into an empire, he made great contributions to the development of England's constitutional system and the Common Law, especially with his legal and administrative reforms. While Henry's son Richard I stands out with his participation in the Third Crusade, his younger son John is known both for the loss of England's territories on the continent and for signing the Magna Carta, the first constitutional text. In addition to their contribution to England's system of government and administration, the early Plantagenets had a significant impact on the shaping of the English nation and modern English. Keywords: House of Plantagenet, Angevin Empire, Henry II, Richard I, John the Lackland.