Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.

Between 1199 and 1399, English politics was full of high drama, as the Plantagenet monarchs reacted and adapted

to plague, warfare, uprisings and economic crises. But according to medieval historians

Caroline Bert and Richard Partington in their new book, Arise England. This age also shines a light on England's emerging

statehood. Speaking to Emily Briffitt and drawing on some listener questions, Caroline and Richard

consider how the reigns of six Plantagenet Kings altered the face of English governance.

Hi Richard and Caroline. Thank you so much for joining me on the

History Extra podcast. Would you both mind introducing yourselves to us? Hi, I'm Caroline. I'm a

history lecturer at Cambridge and my specialism is in medieval history, particularly the 13th century.

Hello everyone. I'm Richard Partington. I'm the senior tutor of St. John's College in the University of Cambridge and teach history in the university like Caroline does. And I'm a political historian with a particular interest in the 14th century in foreign policy and war, in crime and the law, and in political leadership. Today we're going to be delving into the world of the Plantagenets. Now, the term Plantagenet is one

that we often use more generally to identify to several distinct houses. I wonder, could you

speak a little bit about this longer identity before we talk about the main line? Sure. So the

plantagenets, if you take the dynasty as a whole, you'd be starting in 1154 with Henry II, and you might go all the way to 1485, though you might decide that actually you'll stop in 1399 and call anyone from 1399 onwards to the Lancasterians.

The period that we're looking at is a period within that overall pantaginate dynasty. So between 1199, that's the start of King John's reign,

and 1399, which is when Richard II was deposed by Henry Bollingbroke. The Lancashions or the Yorkists,

if we're going all right, it's 1485. That's true. Good point. But yeah, the Lancashions took over.

What they called themselves at the time

was their name and their number in the list of kings with the same name since the conquest,

and that was it. So it would be Edward, King of England and of France, Lord of Ireland,

the third Edward after the conquest. That's what they said. So where does the name Plantagenet actually come from?

It's a really good question to which I don't have the answer, but my guess is that it's a convenient

invention of later historians, a bit like the term the Hundred Years' War, or the Wars of the Roses,

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