Records: House Plantagenet 1377

## **One Year Under Continuity Rules**

It had been a year since Crown Prince (and effectively Prince Regent ) Edward of Woodstock – now King Edward IV – had reorganized and formalized what it meant to be *Plantagenet*. The meaningful rules came down to the dynasty having a central core, the traditional royal blood line in the middle, but the overall house was now a legal entity of its own, regardless of what heirs there were.
In some ways, this gave Continuity of Government assurances, where peaceful transitions and protective regencies could be handled to ensure the good of England . It lowered the chance that collateral nobility that might tapped in lines of succession , but it also reduced the chance that foreign royalty would inherit England (and let it languish – or worse, plunder it).

### **Policy Consistency**

House Plantagenet was putting its money where its mouth was. It was stlll a hereditary monarchy , but had abandoned agnatic succession in favor or absolute primogeniture , regardless of sex, but acounting for medical (mental) fitness. This was largely seen as a dig toward France, but it still codified gender equality where few did before it.
While the "absolute" prioritized the first born, it also recognized the blood connection of successive siblings. This was a natural part of the lines of succession, and it was pointed out that if Richard hadn't been there for the Edwards, he'd already be king.
Accepting siblings into the modern House of Plantagenet also meant there were really, really, *really* distant relatives that could be in the House. This... *was excellent*.
There were central rules to lines of succession and access to power, but part of the point was that they wanted to spread a wide net. They wanted to create an organization where people could be inducted into the greater family and put into positions of trust that would help the overall family.
All it would take is agreeing to be subject to the family indoctrination: to learn the rules and swear to them.

### **This is *House Plantagenet***

While this was a model of family protection in the succession sense, it was also a model of family inclusion and protection of blood-relation, regardless of their proximity to the Crown. The House Plantagenet portion was specific to defining their family to point of origin of the name itself, through whom they could reliably trace lineage: Geoffrey V of Anjou . The sense of identity was significant: they traced their armorial , along with their blood, back to him.
This was complicated, as this included the true Angevin sense: *including the Province of Anjou*. By extension, this included what history would class as the greater Angevin Empire, which was key to defending the claim to sovereignty over Aquitaine (much less the claim against France itself).
By those rules, then, every surviving blood relative of Geoffrey of Anjou could fall under the new rules of House Plantagenet and be recognized as blood.

## **Those Recognized as Family**

There were two categories: those who were family by blood and those who were family by marriage. Those who were family by marriage received protections, but not necessarily full rights. Likewise, children of those by marriage who were born in a previous marriage did not qualify. Those were by blood had both protections and rights, but in order to empower those rights, had to accept the duties and responsibilities (go through the indoctrination).
Likewise, inter-marrying between Plantagenets followed strict Laws of Consanguinity . Those laws had been bent in the past and didn't often do well when that happened. Moving forward, first-cousins were frowned upon, and closer was forbidden. The idea was to bring in fresh blood and expand the family.

This got complicated, especially given the politics of the time, including the Audit & Rectification that downgraded the positions of King Edward III's other sons, and the outcome of the Battle of Arundel, where the wife of FitzAlan 11 barely survived the conduct of her husband.

### Those on the Rolls

#### The *Royal* Family

* Edward IV: King of England and Head of House
* Queen Consort Joan of Kent: Expected Plantagenet by Marriage, but technically (and recognized as) Plantagenet by Blood: she was was a granddaughter of Edward I of England.
* Crown Prince Edward of Angoulême
* Prince of Aquitaine Richard of Bordeaux

#### The *Noble* Family

* John of Gaunt. Duke of Lancaster, who'd been relieved of his duties representing the English Crown, though not disinherited from his duchy. John turned to Castile after the A&R.
* Edmund of Langley, Earl of Cambridge. While he retained his two earldoms, he was neither appointed Constable nor Warden. Given his marriage to Isabella of Castile, he was turning an eye to turning over a new leaf in Castile.
* Thomas of Woodstock. Having done poorly at his first appointment, was never actually knighted *or* made Earl of Buckingham. He did accept an administrative role in the House of Plantagenet and that reset his eventual timeline.
* Elizabeth de Bohun. Widow of Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel, her connection also came as granddaughter of Edward I of England. After the fall of her husband, she was more than willing to swear by House Indoctrination.
* There were a dozen other mid-level nobles, mostly in England, and *dozens* of minor Plantagenets, low-level aristocracy or descendants that were completely out of consideration as heritable nobility, who were otherwise tracked down and offered membership – and employment – in the administrative household of House Plantagenet. This included the valet de chambre, cooks, footmen, maids and so on.
	+ The few mid and low-level nobles that were found so far outside of England were a special class – and were tapped as liaison and possible scout for Plantagenet interests in their given area.

### **The Wide Future of the House**

One of the hotly debated topics at this point was how far the reach of the Plantagenets could go, especially given how wide a net they were casting.

There were thoughts of making Aquitaine its own kingdom – with Richard of Bordeaux as the crown. How much would House Plantagenet branch out to cover in that respect?

Likewise, as John of Gaunt looked to claiming Castile, the House of Plantagenet could be a resource, but how much would a Castilian branch follow the English-made dictates of House rule? Who would contribute what monies to the Greater House? Where would it reside?

These were the types of points still under consideration.