A fascinating and little known aspect of the history of France! A journey within an unknown dynasty
from which descends Elysabeth 2 and the English royalty!
1066, William the Conqueror (William in English), Duke of Normandy, vassal of Rouen of France,
descendant of the vikings, crosses the Channel and following his victory at the battle of Hastings becomes
king of England.
In 1128, Geoffroy Plantagenêt, Count of Anjou, son of Foulques d’Anjou king of Jerusalem from
1131, marries Guillaume’s granddaughter!
His son Henri II Plantagenêt will marry Alienor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine, becoming then
King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Duke of Aquitaine. He then finds himself
at the head of an “empire” bigger and more powerful than that of the king of France of which he is supposed to be the vassal!
The territory of the Plantagenets will then cover England and all the western part of France, until the war of
hundred years after which, in the 15th century, this dynasty will finally find itself confined to England.
A tourist route that can be an opportunity to discover, in addition to the monuments of the Middle Ages dating from
the Plantagenêt era, Norman gastronomy and the wines of Anjou, the landing beaches, the landscapes
of the west of France or the castles of the Loire dating from the Renaissance…
An atypical and fascinating circuit!
