Plantagenet, the name of the royal house of England from 1154 to 1485. The Plantagenet kings were also called Angevins because they belonged to the House of Anjou. Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, founded the house. The name refers to his habit of wearing a sprig of the broom flower (French: plante de genêt) on his cap. Geoffrey was married to Matilda, daughter of Henry I, and their eldest son became Henry II. After the death of Richard II in 1399, the houses of York and Lancaster, two rival branches of the Plantagenets, contended for the throne.