Eleanor Of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England

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This evocative book, both solidly documented and full of original ideas, renews studies on Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor was that remarkable queen, who, 'by reason of her excessive beauty, destroyed or injured nations', according to one contemporary chronicler. It was a stage play set at a time of dramatic tension within the Angevin family, a chance to explore relationships in depth. Overall, this is a solid, tight and clean, Near Fine copy in a Very Good+ slipcase, which is lightly rubbed, and has some mild wear to the edges and corners. When their sons grew to maturity and Henry would not delegate power to them in the territories he had assigned them, they grew angry and resentful, and Eleanor – like Matilda of Flanders in a similar situation - took their part.

I am a Londoner, born and bred, although I have also lived in Norfolk and Sussex, and now reside in Surrey.At 67, a great age in the twelfth century, she emerged from captivity an infinitely wiser woman, her dignity and her prodigious energy undiminished. The book manages the neat trick of providing much food for thought while being a highly enjoyable read.

Katherine announced her last pregnancy to him here in 1518, and Henry was so overjoyed that he gave a great banquet to celebrate the child`s quickening – but sadly, the baby, a daughter, died soon after birth, leaving the King without a son to succeed him. It has been the subject of many books over the years, a beautiful film, Stealing Heaven (1988), and several plays, the latest of which, In Extremis, was produced at Shakespeare`s Globe in 2007 and proved so popular that it was brought back in 2008.His successor, the Yorkist King Edward IV, came there for the hunting, as did his brother Richard III, during his coronation progress in 1483, and his rival and successor, Henry VII, first sovereign of the House of Tudor. Alison Weir, who lives in Surrey but often tours Oxfordshire to discover scenes of her subjects, is probably now our most popular historian (her first book on Eleanor has sold more than 150,000 copies). It was here, in 1572, in the wake of the fearful massacre of French Protestants on the Eve of St Bartholemew, that Elizabeth received the French ambassador in deepest mourning, with her whole court swathed in black and standing in reproachful silence. It’s good, but slightly inclined to choose a view that gives Eleanor maximum agency where that’s verifiable or not.

To all those who came to my talks or who wrote to me, may I say it has been wonderful, and highly enlightening, to have had the chance to discuss Eleanor with fellow enthusiasts. I can never understand, therefore, why the makers of historical films feel they have to change the facts. ELEANOR reveals that her ship got blown off course in the Mediterranean and was captured by Barbary pirates, who took it to the coast of Africa, whence the crew managed to escape. Was there anything in the writing of The Life of Elizabeth I that made you naturally turn to Eleanor as your next subject?And like them, perhaps, I often feel that the past was, in many ways, a better world than we have now. The action takes place over one Christmas in the 1180s, when Eleanor is summoned from prison to join her feuding husband and sons at Chinon for the festival. This is a subject on which, as an historian whose life is spent verifying every last detail, I have strong views.

Eleanor played a controversial role in her younger years, but her towering reputation rests largely on what she did in her later years. Everswell, a conceit unique for its time that may have been modelled on the water gardens of the Norman kings of Sicily, was a secret retreat that would, in time, become associated with the most famous of Henry`s many mistresses, Rosamund de Clifford, with whom the King lived openly between 1173 and 1176. One night in September 1238, a madman, having demanded that the King cede the realm to him and been effectively shown the door, climbed through the window of Henry III`s chamber and hid under the bed, clutching a knife.This means it is more academic, and for casual history lovers, it can come across as a bit dry in some places. At the news, PETRONILLA and RAOUL break apart, shocked, but are unable to resist falling back into each other's arms, and they remain kissing for the rest of the scene, seemingly oblivious to the furore their love has caused.