By Wes Porter ——Bio and Archives--November 15, 2019
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Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, Touraine and Maine, was known as ‘The Fair’ or ‘The Handsome.’ He also bore the nickname ‘Plantagenet’ from the sprig of yellow broom flowers, Genista monspessulaana, that he wore in his hat. In French, these are genêt, so planta genista, or Broom Shrub.
A happy redhead, famed for his fighting abilities, Geoffrey of Anjou (1113-1151), later Duke of Normandy by conquest, drew the attention of the English King Henry I. His daughter, the Empress Matilda, married Geoffrey when he was aged 15, She was 11 years older at the time and although the marriage was a stormy one, she bore him three sons before he died at 38. The eldest of these sons was to become Henry II of England, commencing the Plantagenets in 1154. They lasted until 1399.
There has been much consideration given to the identity of the planta genista, although modern belief indicates the Genista monspessulaana, not to be confused with the Common or Scotch Broom, Cytisus scoparius of the UK. Folklore maintained of this latter “If you sweep the house with broom in May/You’ll sweep the head of the house away.” Across La Manche, the flower buds might be pickled in vinegar and used as a substitute for capers.
In his A Dictionary of Plant Lore (1995 University of Oxford Press), Roy Vickery recounts how on his perambulations, Geoffrey chose a sprig of genista as his badge. While rising he noticed the rocky hillsides on either side covered with the yellow blooms where little else could grow.
It must then have been during the summer months when Geoffrey could indulge in his fancy. Snapping off a sprig, he proclaimed, “And thus shall that golden plant ever be my cognizance, firmly rooted among rocks, and yet upholding that which is ready to fall. I will bear it in my crest, amid battlefields if need be, at tournaments, and when dispensing justice.”
Ever since a Plantagenet has been, as you might say, a sprig off the old plant.
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Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.