Lancaster

The House of Lancaster was a branch of the Plantagenets, begun in 1267 when Henry III created the Earldom of Lancaster for his second son Edmund Crouchback. Edmund's son Thomas became the most powerful baron in England, but was executed in 1322 for rebelling against Edward II.

Thomas's brother Henry and nephew Henry of Grosmont served Edward III, the latter becoming Duke of Lancaster. When Grosmont died without a male heir in 1361, his daughter Blanche brought the inheritance to her husband John of Gaunt, Edward III's son.

Their son Henry Bolingbroke seized the crown in 1399 as Henry IV. The house gave England three kings: Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI. The male line ended in 1471, when Henry VI's son Edward died at Tewkesbury and Henry was murdered in the Tower during the Wars of the Roses. The claim passed through the Beaufort line to Henry Tudor, founder of the Tudor dynasty.