Angevin

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Angevin (IPA: /ˈændʒəvɪn/) (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, 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 Jerusalem.

The Second Angevin dynasty 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 or Junior or Younger House of Anjou ruled Naples.

[edit] Trivia

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.