Armorial of the House of Plantagenet
Their predecessor, Henry I of England, had presented items decorated with a lion heraldic emblem to his son-in-law, Plantagenet founder Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, and his family experimented with different lion-bearing coats until these coalesced during the reign of his grandson, Richard I (1189–1199), into a coat of arms with three lions on a red field, formally Gules, three lions passant guardant or (armed and langued azure), that became the Royal Arms of England, and colloquially those of England itself.
The various cadet branches descended from this family bore differenced versions of these arms, while later members of the House of Plantagenet would either quarter or impale these arms with others to reflect their political aspirations.
The heiresses of Norfolk and Kent transmitted the Plantagenet arms to non-Plantagenet families: Henry VI of England granted differenced versions of the Plantagenet arms to his maternal half-brothers.
[7] At the end of his life, his second seal showed three lions, clearly the three-lion coat used by his successors.
Quarterly, 1st England, 2nd France ancien, 3rd, Gules, a cross saltire and an orle of chains linked together Or (Navarre), 4th, Azure, a bend Argent cotised potent-counter-potent Or (Champagne)[25] Married to: King of Edward II; 1308–1327 (later King Edward III) Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Azure, semée of fleurs de lys Or (France), 2nd and 3rd, Gules, three lions passant guardant Or (England)[27] In 1340, Edward III claimed the throne of France as an inheritance from his mother, Isabella, daughter of King Philip IV of France, and adopted new arms, Quarterly France and England.
Quarterly, Castile and Leon, impaling, quarterly, France and England, a label of three points ermine[37] See: House of Lancaster Married to: John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; 1359–1369.
Quarterly, 1st and 4th, France ancien, 2nd and 3rd England, with a label of five points ermine (Richmond)[41] As Duke of Lancaster and Hereford: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, France ancien, 2nd and 3rd England, with a label of five points two of ermine (Richmond) and three Azure flory Or (Lancaster)[41] Quarterly, 1st and 4th, France ancien, 2nd and 3rd England, within a bordure componée Argent and Azure[42] See: House of Beaufort
Changed to France moderne in line with changes made in that kingdom: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, France moderne, 2nd and 3rd England[45] In 1376, the kings of France altered the royal coat of arms, replacing the field semée fleurs de lys with three fleurs de lys, alluding to the Trinity.
As modified, the monarchs of England continued to bear arms in this form until the crown union with Scotland in 1603.
Quarterly, 1st and 4th, France ancien, 2nd and 3rd England, with a label of three points Argent each point charged with three torteaux Gules[54] Executed in 1415 at the orders of King Henry V, for Treason.
Quarterly, 1st and 4th, France moderne, 2nd and 3rd England, with a label of three points Argent each point charged with three torteaux Gules[56] Originator of the claim of the House of York to the throne, by combining the claims of Clarence (from his mother) and York (from his father).
Quarterly, 1st, quarterly, 1st and 4th, France moderne, 2nd and 3rd England, 2nd and 3rd de Burgh, 4th Mortimer, overall a baston sinister Azure, and over all an escutcheon of pretence quarterly of six: 1st, barry of six argent and azure, in chief three torteaux (Grey); 2nd, barry of ten argent and azure, an orle of martlets gules (Valence); 3rd, gules, seven mascles three, three, one or (Quincy); over these three quarterings a label of three points ermine; 4th, gules, a lion rampant within a bordure engrailed or (Talbot); 5th, gules, a fess between six cross croslets or (Beauchamp); 6th, gules, a lion statant guardant argent, crowned or (L'Isle).
Executed in 1478 at the orders of King Edward IV (his own brother), for having designs on the throne.
Gules, a saltire Argent[60] Married to: Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales; 1470–1471.
Died at age 10 in 1484, Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick nominated heir in his place.
Quarterly, 1st and 4th, France ancien, 2nd and 3rd England, within a bordure componée Argent and Azure[42] Married to: John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset; 1399–1410 Married to: Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence; 1411–1421 Married to: Sir Oliver St John, of Bletsoe; 1425–1437.
Quarterly, France moderne and England, a bordure Azure charged alternatively with fleurs de lys and martlets Or, impaling, Quarterly, 1st and 4th, France moderne, 2nd and 3rd England, within a bordure componée Argent and Azure[72] Married to: Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond; 1455–1456.
Half brother to King Henry VI, legitimated by Parliament in 1453.
Quarterly, 1st and 4th, France moderne, 2nd and 3rd England[74] Defeats King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, claims the throne as King Henry VII.
