Tanzanite's Castle Full of Books

I am happy to welcome Christy English, author of To Be Queen:  A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine who is going to share some thoughts about Eleanor and the love of her life. 


Eleanor of Aquitaine had been married to another man for fourteen years when she met the love of her life. Eleanor was Queen of France, though her marriage to Louis VII had long since soured, never producing a male heir either for France or for the Aquitaine. The machine of the Vatican was already in motion, working to set Eleanor free by annulling her marriage. Then in August of 1151, Henry, Duke of Normandy, came to the court of Paris and the map of Europe was not the same again for almost five hundred years.


Henry was son of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and Matilda, Empress of Germany, rightful heir to throne of England. Henry had just conquered the duchy of Normandy at the age of eighteen, and he came to be confirmed in his dukedom by his overlord, Louis VII of France. When Henry met Louis, it is said that during the same audience, he met Eleanor of Aquitaine, the woman who within a year’s time would be his wife.

We do not know the details of their courtship. Though it is ripe for speculation for historical fiction writers, including myself, there were no eye-witness accounts of Eleanor and Henry’s meeting, nor of the beginning of their alliance. But by the time Henry left Paris, they no doubt had a confirmed agreement, if not a secret engagement, for when Eleanor was freed from her marriage to Louis in March of 1151, the first person she wrote to was Henry as he prepared to invade England.

Henry left his plans for ship building and regaining his birthright behind, and came to Potiers to marry Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitou in May of 1151.


Eleanor and Henry were married for thirty-seven years. And for the first fourteen, they were happy. After her marriage to Louis VII, which produced only two girls, in the first fourteen years of her time with Henry, Eleanor gave birth to eight children. Eleanor served as regent in Anjou and Normandy while Henry was fighting for his birthright in England, and when he became King of the English, Eleanor was crowned at his side.

Though they spent a good deal of time apart, their marriage was a partnership that ruled lands stretching in the North from the borders of Scotland to Wales in the West and down to the Aquitaine and Gascony in the South. Henry took other women as lovers, but he always came back to Eleanor. The personal side of their marriage began to splinter in 1166, when Henry took Rosemund de Clifford as a mistress and set her up first in Oxford Castle, and later building a residence for her at Woodstock.

 
(picture to the left is a partial map of the holdings of England in France in 1154).  After the birth of their last child, Prince John, Eleanor returned to her homeland to rule Aquitaine and Poitou directly. While there, in 1173, she fermented a rebellion against Henry in an attempt to take his lands in France from him. Had she succeeded, her sons would have ruled Normandy, Brittany, Anjou and the Aquitaine, with her steady hand on the helm, the power behind the throne. Of course, Henry defeated his sons in that rebellion and locked Eleanor of Aquitaine away for the rest of his reign, knowing full well that is he left her free, she would only raise another rebellion against him. Henry knew his wife well. He knew that she would never give up.


After the first fourteen years of their marriage, the historical facts sound as if Henry and Eleanor ceased to love each other, or perhaps never loved each other at all, making only a political alliance when they wed in May of 1152. But I don’t think that’s true. I think they loved each other deeply.

For years after Rosemund de Clifford came into Henry’s life, Eleanor and Henry’s partnership still worked smoothly, and continued to until the rebellion in 1173. A marriage that gave birth to a child every two years when Henry and Eleanor spent so much time apart indicated a passion for each other that did not abate until Eleanor left for the Aquitaine in 1168.

The most telling fact that leads me to think that they loved each other truly, is that when Henry openly took Rosemund de Clifford, not just as a lover for the moment, but as a mistress, Eleanor retreated to her lands in Aquitaine and did not return save for holidays until she raised her rebellion. For a woman of Eleanor’s cool political head to openly break with her husband, to go so far as to leave the partnership they had created, in which she ruled as regent in England when he was in Normandy, and as regent of Anjou and Normandy when he was in England, is very telling.


And for Henry’s part, after Eleanor raised a rebellion, it would have been possible to poison her while she was in his power, or to strike off her head for treason, as Henry VIII later did to his wives. Henry II did nothing of the sort. He kept Eleanor alive.

Though it is always sad to see a great love story end in turmoil, when the people involved have the power and the passion that Henry and Eleanor did, it is understandable. But their lives were bound together by years of happiness and seven living children. Though in the end, Eleanor lost the love of her life to politics and war, she had him for many years, and kept him always returning to her, even though she was eleven years older than he was. Even in the face of loss, Henry and Eleanor’s love for each other was vital and real, reaching down the centuries to fire our imaginations even now, over 800 years later.

My thanks to Christy for taking time out of her busy schedule to join us.  To Be Queen was released today, April 5, 2011.



Now for the giveaway!  Christy is giving away two copies of  To Be Queen (and has generously made it an international giveaway).  To enter, simply fill out the form below by April 15, 2011.  Winners will have 48 hours after being notified to provide a mailing address or another winner will be selected.




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