Forebearer: Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, 1113-1151

Best known as the father of Henry II and ancestor of the Plantagenets, Geoffrey (1113-1151) was a capable soldier and administrator whose achievements paled beside those of his more colorful wife Empress Matilda, and his royal Plantagenet offspring.

Geoffrey was the son of Fulk V, Count of Anjou, who later became King of Jerusalem, leaving his properties of Anjou, Maine and Tourraine to his son.  Geoffrey was given the nickname or sobriquet of Plantagenet (Latin, planta-genista), from the sprig of yellow broom he wore in his hat as a distinguishing mark.  Heraldry and armorial bearings were in their infancy during this time, so soldiers wearing armor on the battlefield had to tell themselves apart in some way.  Despite his young age, Geoffrey had already distinguished himself as a warrior, enough that King Henry I of England, desperate for heirs to his throne, negotiated a match between Geoffrey and his much older widowed daughter, Matilda.  There was a method to Henry's madness.  Geoffrey's lands bordered Normandy and would make a good buffer zone between the English and French territories on the Continent.  This idea did not go down well with Matilda at all.  Matilda was conscious of her own rank as the daughter of a King and the widow of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick V.  She was 11 years older than her husband, who was knighted by his father-in-law Henry in 1128, when Geoffrey was just 15 years old.

Within weeks of the wedding, Matilda bailed, heading back to her father in England.  Henry finally prevailed on his daughter to return to her husband and make the best of things.  Later, when Matilda and Henry had a falling out of their own, Matilda and Geoffrey reconciled.  She would bear him three children.  The future Henry II, born 1133, Geoffrey, Count of Nantes, and William, Viscount of Dieppe.  William would die unmarried and Geoffrey would later be forced to cede his claims to the family inheritance to his older brother, not figuring into the family story after that point.  Meanwhile, Geoffrey, Sr., in 1135, on his father-in-law's death, promptly invaded Normandy to secure this portion of Matilda's inheritance.  With his help, Matilda could concentrate on consolidating England, something she was unable ultimately to do. 

While Matilda and Stephen battled for control of England, Geoffrey wrested Normandy from the control of its own rebellious barons, who weren't about to acknowledge a woman as head of state unless they were forced to, and kept the French at bay.  He was so efficient at keeping Normandy in check that he was created Duke of Normandy in his own right in 1244.  He also successfully put down three baronial revolts in the Plantagenets' home province of Anjou.  Constant fighting on the Continent kept him from joining Matilda in England.  Matters there had devolved in a stalemate between her and her rival Stephen known as the Anarchy.  It was a period considered so dire at the time that one chronicler claimed Christ and the Saints were all asleep.   In 1153, the Treaty of Wallingford finally settled that Stephen should remain King of England for life, with Henry as his successor.  Stephen conveniently died in 1154 and the barons proclaimed Henry King of England.  His father didn't get to see this day.

In 1151, Geoffrey, Sr., was stricken with fever.  He had just enough time to ride home, collapse on his bed, make a few bequests to charity and die.  He was buried at St. Julien's Cathedral in Le Mans, France.  Geoffrey's funeral monument shows gold lions on a field of blue.  Some sources take this as the first incidents of a lion crest for the Plantagenet family in particular.  Others claim that Henry I may have used a lion as a symbol, and given his son-in-law the right to use it.  The effigy on the tomb may be a later addition.  There's no other evidence that Geoffrey used any distinguishing marks other than the broom plant badge.  Whether from Geoffrey or Henry I, lions became associated with the family and with the monarchs of England, and the lion in various forms has been part of the royal crest ever since. 

Royal: Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany 1158-1186

Family in-fighting can be some of the most intricate and stressful situations imaginable.  Throw in titles, land, money and power and the problems only grow.  For the children of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, there could be no peace in the family as long as one brother was left with more of the above than the others.

In the Medieval era, inheritance laws weren't always so cut and dried.  Even if one son inherited the title and the lion's share of land, the others had to have something.  Their survival depended on it and the peace of the various family realms depended on it, because they would fight if they didn't get it.  And, they often brought allies and in-laws into the mix.  Henry and Eleanor had four sons who survived to adulthood.  It was understood that Henry, the oldest, would inherit England and Normandy.  Richard would inherit most of his mother's dominions, including Aquitaine and Poitou.  That would leave Geoffrey and John out if somebody didn't do something.  To that end, Henry II turned his attention to Brittany, where he had been at war on and off with the Duke, Conan IV.  If the name sounds Celtic, that's because Brittany did have Celtic origins.  Henry ultimate prevailed, forcing Conan to abdicate in favor of his own daughter, Constance, who was destined to marry Geoffrey.  Constance was turned over to Henry to be raised until she was old enough to be Geoffrey's wife.  They were married in July, 1181.  They would have three children, Arthur, Eleanor (whom we've met in a previous post) and Matilda.

However, none of the boys were satisfied with their lot of the family land.  Henry the Young King chafed at his father's heavy-handed control as he grew older.  He was insecure about Richard's ambitions.  Richard made no secret that he wouldn't be satisfied with just Aquitaine, he also wanted England, Normandy and Anjou.  Geoffrey wanted more than just Brittany and John felt left out altogether.  And, they had allies who could play on these fears and ambitions.  Namely, Louis VII of France and later his son, Phillip II Augustus.  As long as the Plantagenet boys were fighting their father or each other, they wouldn't be coming into French domains, or so the logic ran.  Geoffrey and Phillip were also tournament buddies and good friends, leading some to suppose that there was a physical side to their relationship.  Whether that was the case or not, we will never know.  However, rumors of their plotting and something more led to an even greater mystery.  How actually did Geoffrey die in 1186 at the age of 27?

He was in Paris for either one of two reasons.  Either he and Phillip were plotting against Henry II or Richard or both.  Or, he was there to compete in a tournament.  According to one story, Geoffrey was trampled to death in a tournament melee.  According to another story, Geoffrey and Phillip began quarreling about Normandy and Geoffrey threatened to lay waste to the province, including that part of it nominally under French control.  He began having chest pains and died soon after.  Some sources discount option B as a possible French invention, that God struck Geoffrey for insulting French honor, believing the tournament scenario more likely.  He was buried in the Cathedral at Notre Dame de Paris, where his half-sister Marie of Champagne established a chantry for prayers for his soul.  Sources discount the story that Phillip Augustus was so torn up he tried to throw himself into the burial vault.  Geoffrey's death with, at the time, no male heir was one less Plantagenet anyone had to worry about.  He left behind his wife Constance, who was pregnant with their son Arthur at the time.  More on this first of many young princes in the tower later.  During the French Revolution, in 1797, Geoffrey's skeleton was unearthed, revealing that he would've been about 5'6" tall.  So much for the tall, blonde Plantagenet myth.