sentences:  Each branch of the family had competing claims through seniority, legitimacy, and/or the sex of their ancestors, despite patriarchal rule of the day.Thus, the senior Plantagenet line was ended with the death of Richard II, but not before the execution of Thomas of Woodstock for treason.The heirs presumptive through Lionel of Antwerp were passed over in favour of the powerful Henry IV, descendant of Edward III through John of Gaunt.