Painting of Henry II

Plantagenet

This 19th-century chromolithograph depicts flagellants in Tournai in 1349, publicly scourging themselves in response to the Black Death. Known as the Brothers of the Cross, such groups believed self-punishment could help cleanse society of divine wrath.

It felt like the end of the world, but this medieval ‘apocalypse’ left a legacy no one saw coming

Richard III. (Photo by Getty Images/Alamy)

The final mystery of Richard III: how 21st-century science cracked a 500-year-old cold case

A 20th-century painting shows John applying his seal to the 1215 charter

Henry III and the Magna Carta that mattered

A c1300 depiction of a man paying taxes

Do you know the correct date of Magna Carta? Here’s why you might be wrong

The bloody rise of Henry V: how his brutal upbringing propelled him to greatness

Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, in the Tower of London as imagined in Paul Delaroche’s 1852 painting.

Philippa Langley on the Princes in the Tower: “It was clear we had to consider the possibility that they survived”

A 1930s depiction of a Norman hunt. The invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066 marked the beginning of England’s Royal Forest (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Charter of the Forest: your guide to the 13th-century law

Henry III of England.

David Carpenter on Henry III“He was not a great king but he was respected as a most Christian one”

An effigy of Henry III

The Plantagenet royal dynasty: England's ultimate family drama

King Henry V (left) in a late-16th- or early 17th-century portrait by an unknown artist; and his son Henry VI (right) in a c1500s portrait (Photos by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Why Henry VI’s reign was such a disaster

HistoryExtra's Monarchy Masterclass with Tracy Borman

HistoryExtra Monarchy Masterclass with Tracy BormanThe Plantagenets (1216–1485)

An oil on panel portrait of Elizabeth Woodville

Elizabeth Woodville: Edward IV’s controversial queen consort

Part ten in our 20-part series looking at decisive moments of the last 1,000 years in British history explores 1450–1499

Turning points1483: Richard grabs the throne

Chaucer reading his work to the court of Richard II

Katherine Swynford: the scandalous duchess and ancestress of royal dynasties

Pragmatist or heartless? A portrait of the young Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492). The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The power behind the throne: women in the Wars of the Roses

A portrait of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York

Like father, like son: Richard Plantagenet and Richard III

Download your free Wars of the Roses poster

5 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Plantagenets

A 20th-century fresco 'Plucking the Red and White Roses in the Old Temple Gardens' by Henry Payne. It depicts a scene by Shakespeare, showing Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset being challenged by Richard, 3rd Duke of York to choose between the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. (Photo by Artefact / Alamy Stock Photo)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about the houses of Lancaster and York

Portrait of Sarah Gristwood for BBC History Magazine

History explorer: Tewkesbury Abbey and four more places linked to the Wars of the Roses

QuizRichard III: how much do you know about the last Plantagenet king?

The battle of Towton during the War of the Roses, 1461. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Wars of the Roses: the 15th-century clash of kings that heralded the dawn of the Tudor dynasty

Portrait of John of Gaunt

John of Gaunt: father of England’s medieval monarchy and self-styled Spanish king

Battle of Barnet: This lively, if inaccurate, 15th- century illustration of the shows a coronet- wearing Edward skewering Warwick with his lance

The battle of Barnet, 1471: the Wars of the Roses clash that killed the Kingmaker

Richard III: your guide to the last Yorkist king of England

Richard III

What if…Richard III had won at Bosworth?

The Wars of the Roses: everything you wanted to know

Richard III

Richard the radical: was Richard III a champion of the people?

Henry VI of England. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images)

Henry VI may have had a "sex coach" - plus 4 more curious facts about his life

A Triple Bond Broken: The Destruction of the House of York