Angevin

[an-juh-vin]

Angevin [Fr.,=of Anjou], name of two medieval dynasties originating in France. The first ruled over parts of France and over Jerusalem and England; the second ruled over parts of France and over Naples, Hungary, and Poland, with a claim to Jerusalem.

First House of Anjou

The older house issued from one Fulk, who became count of Anjou in the 10th cent. Fulk V (see Fulk) of Anjou, one of his descendants, became (1131) king of Jerusalem. A younger son inherited the kingship of Jerusalem as Baldwin III and was succeeded by Almaric I, Baldwin IV, and Baldwin V, with whom the branch ended (1186).

Fulk V's elder son, Geoffrey IV (Geoffrey Plantagenet), inherited Anjou. He married Matilda of England, daughter of English King Henry I, and conquered Normandy. Their son became (1154) the first Angevin (or Plantagenet) king of England as Henry II. His successors were Richard I, John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II, after whom the English branch split into the houses of Lancaster and of York.

A nephew of Richard I and John became (1196) duke of Brittany as Arthur I. From his sister and her husband, Peter of Dreux, a Capetian noble who became Duke Peter I of Brittany, the subsequent rulers of Brittany issued. The Breton line of the Angevins came to an end with the marriages of Anne of Brittany and her daughter to the kings of France.

Second House of Anjou

The second house of Anjou was a cadet branch of the Capetians and originated with Charles, a younger brother of King Louis IX of France. Charles was made count of Anjou by Louis, acquired Provence by marriage, and in 1266 was invested by the pope with the kingdom of Naples and Sicily as Charles I. Charles lost Sicily but retained Naples. His successors were Charles II, Robert, and Joanna I of Naples and Provence.

On the death (1382) of Joanna I the succession to Naples was contested by two cadet branches, both descended from Charles II of Naples. The first was represented by Charles of Durazzo (Charles III of Naples), a great-grandson through the male line, and by his children, Lancelot and Joanna II. They retained, for the most part, actual possession of the kingdom despite the efforts of the rival line, issued from Margaret, a daughter of Charles II. Margaret married Charles of Valois; their son and grandson were kings Philip VI and John II, respectively, of France. John made his younger son, Louis, duke of Anjou; Joanna I of Naples adopted Louis as heir; Louis thus became Louis I of Naples and Provence. His successors were Louis II, Louis III, and René.

Although Louis III and René were successively designated as heirs by Joanna II, Naples was seized by King Alfonso V of Aragón and eventually remained in Spanish hands. René became duke of Lorraine by marriage. His nephew and heir, Charles, count of Maine, died in 1481 without issue; and Anjou, Maine, Provence, and the Angevin claim to Naples all passed to the French crown. The theoretical claim to Jerusalem stemmed from Charles I of Naples, whom Pope John XXI invested (c.1276) with the title. René's claim to the title was transmitted to the house of Lorraine.

The Hungarian branch of Anjou began (1308) with Charles Robert (King Charles I of Hungary), a grandson of Charles II of Naples. Charles I's son became king of Hungary and Poland as Louis I. Hungary passed to Louis's daughter Mary and to her husband Sigismund (later Holy Roman emperor), and Poland passed to Ladislaus II of Poland, husband of Louis's daughter Jadwiga.

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Angevin

Angevin (French, from Old French, from Medieval Latin Andegavinus, from Andegavia, Anjou, France) is the name applied to the residents of Anjou, a former province of the Kingdom of France, as well as to the residents of Angers.

It is also applied to three distinct medieval dynasties which originated as counts (from 1360, dukes) of the western French province of Anjou, of which angevin is the adjectival form, but later came to rule far greater areas including England, Ireland, Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Naples and Sicily, Albania, and Jerusalem.

The First Angevin Dynasty (1128-1485), also called the House of Plantagenet, ruled England in some form or another from the reign of Henry II, beginning in 1154, until the House of Tudor came to power when Richard III fell at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. They also ruled Ireland and laid claim to Jerusalem.

The Second Angevin dynasty (1246-1435) or Senior or Elder House of Anjou was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, established by Charles, Count of Anjou, the youngest son of Louis VIII of France. In its time, the Capetian House of Anjou ruled Naples and Sicily, Hungary and Croatia, and Poland.

The Third Angevin Dynasty (1350-1480) or Junior or Younger House of Anjou ruled Naples.

Literature

In Wolfram von Eschenbach's 13th century epic poem Parzival, King Arthur and his father Uther Pendragon appear as members of the junior branch of an imagined 5th century or 6th century House of Anjou.