Putting the record straight

In the Razes genealogy, an English blood line Planta is claimed to have originated in the early tenth century: In this debunked genealogy of Henri Lobineau of the Dossier secrets, it is claimed that a daughter of the Carolingian king Charles le Chauve married Bernard Plantevelue's nephew, Sigisbert VI Plantard, who became known as Prince Ursus before his rebellion and exile to Brittany in 881AD. Sigisbert's son, Guillaume II Plantard, is then said to have sought refuge in England in 914AD to escape Viking raids and to have established an English blood-line called Planta. For this same Plantard family, there is also claimed to be a link to the Plantagenet kings of England: The debunked genealogy claims that, from the Merovingian blood line of Dagobert II, through his son Sigisbert IV, came Godfroi de Bouillon, who captured Jerusalem in 1099 and formed the Knights Templars, as well as the Prieuré de Sion. It is claimed that a niece, Melusine, of Godfroi (1061-1100) married Fulques V, count of Anjou whose son, Geffrey Plante Genest, fathered the Plantagenet kings of England.

Funery enamel of Geffrey Plante Genest in Le Mans Cathedral

Turning to more serious academic research, I know of no evidence for the Plant family name from as early as the 10th century in England. On the other hand, the DNA evidence indicates that the Plant family descends from a single male-line ancestor and that it was spreading around England from as early as the 13th century after the accession to the English throne in 1154 of Geffrey Plante Genest's son, Henry II. There are now an estimated 12,000 Plants living in England and a further 5,000 in the USA for example.

What can be said with some caution is that, though there is as yet no evidence for a male-line genetic connection, there is some evidence for an association dating back to the 13th century between the English Plant family and the Plantagenets. I have published this in, for example, the academic journal Nomina [John S Plant (2005), Modern methods and a Controversial Surname: Plant, Nomina, vol. 28, pp. 115-133 ]. Though Plantagenet was not used as a royal surname until the mid-15th century, there were several similar names in proximity to Geffrey Plante Genest's illegitimate offspring, the de Warennes; and these names provide the real evidence for the origins of the English Plant family surname as well as that of the royal Plantagenets.

The real evidence is rather more fragmentary than the usual stuff of popular fiction and pseudo-history. Poetic licence could turn it into a beguiling spectacle; but, I shall stick to a cold description of the facts. The evidence indicates that the Plant surname was associated with the de Warenne descendants of Geffrey Plante Genest; and, I shall outline this evidence in the next few paragraphs.

In 1164, Geffrey Plante Genest's illegitimate son, Hamelin (1130-1202), married Isabel de Warenne and thereby acquired the title of the earldom of Surrey, becoming the 5th earl. Their son and heir William de Warenne (1166-1240), married Maud (Matilda) Marshall of Pembroke in 1225 who was the widow of Hugh le Bigod, earl of Norfolk, whose son and heir had a butler and serjent who was called Roger Planteng' or Plantyn or Plantin in Norfolk records (1254-68). Early spellings of the Plant name occur nearby: Plente (1272-84) and Plauntes (1275) in Norfolk; Plante in Cambridgeshire (1279); and, de Plantes in Huntingdonshire (1282).

The Plant name is found near de Warenne lands in Somerset, north Wales, north Norfolk, and east Cheshire. This many proximities between the early Plant family and de Warenne lands may be taken to be more than just a meaningless coincidence though the Plante Genest influence on the formative Plant surname may have begun earlier when another illegitimate descendant of Geffrey Plante Genest - William Longspée - held Charlton in Somerset. The proximities may be listed more fully as follows. In c.1280, `Robert Plonte of Saltforde, once bailif of Marsfelde' is mentioned in records for Bath: Maresfield adjoins the de Warenne honour of Lewes in Sussex though this may refer instead to Marshfield near Saltford; Saltford adjoined the Longspée manor of Charlton in Somerset which passed into de Warenne hands. In the late-thirteenth-century Welsh Wars, William's son and heir, John de Warenne (1231-1305), who had become the 7th earl at the age of 5, was assigned responsibility for the commissariat; and, in 1301, Richard Plant was granted a license to dig coal at Eweloe, near the de Warenne land of Bromfield and Yale near Chester. The 8th and last de Warenne earl, grandson of the 7th earl, died in 1347 without legitimate heirs, and his illegitimate son, Sir Edward de Warren, settled at Poynton in east Cheshire. There is a 1352 complaint about the removal of goods by James Plant and thirty others from the erstwhile de Warenne hundred of Gallow and Brothercross in north Norfolk; these thirty-one had twenty-six different surnames, seven of which subsequently appear around Macclesfield manor adjoining the new de Warenne seat at Poynton: Plont; Halle; Kent; Knyght; Lovell; Nichol; and Bataille or Batiller.

It could be speculated, for example, that the Plants were the illegitimate offspring of the Longspée or de Warenne family; but that would be entering the realms of fantasy. With academic discipline, what can be said is:

• the meaning of Plant was probably `offspring';
• there is an indication of illegitimacy in their heraldic blazon;
• the DNA evidence shows that they are a single family down the male line;
• an early Plant, Robert Plonte of Saltforde, had been the bailiff of Maresfield, a title which places him in the `franklin class' of status which would have brought him into contact with a major local land-holder; and,
• the early Plants are found in proximity to Longspée and the de Warennes who descended from Plante Genest.

The evidence is consistent with an early de Warenne connection, though there is no evidence of a genetic connection between the nobility and the Plants. There is no evidence that their connection to Plante Genest was through male-line descent, though the Plant family was found in proximity to Longspée and de Warenne lands and they held a title of moderate status. Robert Plante had been the bailff of Maresfield: the Bailiff or Bailey or sergeant was a free man of importance as the mouthpiece of the lord by whom he was appointed. This is compatible with a possibility that the Plants could have been lesser offspring of Plante Genest, but there is no more than circumstantial evidence and this does not constitute adequate proof. More cautiously, the proximities of status and geography merely mean that there could have been a fashion, albeit perhaps clandestine, by which the `shoot' metaphor was passed from Plante Genest to the formative Plant surname.

We may also consider the Plant blazon, which indicates illegitimate cadetship with a subsequent allegiance to the red rose: the latter can be compared to the Lancastrians' heraldic red rose. The de Warennes themselves were in illegitimate cadetship to royalty, and they succumbed to their distant Lancastrian cousins after having feuded with them c.1320. It is possible that the Plants reflected that cultural tradition, though their blazon does not reveal their status within such a setting. The status of the de Warennes themselves was much reduced after the mid-fourteenth century, apart from a line descending from the 8th earl's uncle which is said to have removed to Ireland and then to France.

As outlined above, there is circumstantial evidence of a link between the Plant surname and Plante Genest not least through the de Warennes. That there was a genetic link between Hamelin de Warenne and Geffrey Plante Genest has the authority of the Complete Peerage, XII/1 pp. 499-500, where an article begins with:

V. 1164 Hammel illegit s. of Geoffrey V, styled `Plantagenet'(b) Count of Anjou, Touraine and Maine, sometime Duke of Normandy, by an unknown woman, held lands in Touraine, presumably the gift of his half-br. Henry II, and appears to have been styled vicomte of Touraine(c). He became Earl of Surrey in consequence of his marriage to the Countess Isabel in 1164;(d) in which year he attended the Council of Northampton.(e) ...

The sprig of broom is hairy, and I have conjectured [John S Plant (2005) Nomina, vol. 28, pp. 115-133 ] that it may relate to the earlier name Plantevelue which means `hairy shoot'. This seems more likely than the fiction that is currently circulating that the name Plantard led to the Plantagenet family name:

• debunking the family link of Plantagenet to Plantard
• forebears of Geffrey Plante Genest

The evidence that Hamelin de Warren was Geffrey Plante Genest's son comes partly from the expression Hamelinus Comes de Warren Regis Henrici Frater (i.e. Count Hamelin de Warren brother of King Henry), which appears in contemporary acta, according to Count Raoul de Warren though he does not specify whether these are acta of the Privy Council of Henry, Richard, or John.

French origins of Plant Name