When Katherine Hepburn died recently, I browsed the library stacks for the
movie “A Lion In Winter.” I hadn’t seen it in years and the kids and husband
had never seen it so it seemed a good choice for our traditional Sunday
night movie and popcorn. Of course, all the way thru the movie they are
asking me questions about who’s who and why is she shut up in the castle etc
etc. While I have a sketchy, at best, grasp of the history of the period,
the whole thing piqued my curiosity to know more. Clearly if Hepburn’s role
was any indication, Eleanor was an interesting woman. And I just happened to
have this book on my shelf from last Christmas so I got it out and started
in.

Eleanor was indeed a very interesting woman, though Hepburn’s role is
romanticized and modernized to make her more palatable to the public. Henry
II was too. What struck me most is how little is really known about her.
Weir makes very clear what is known fact and what is supposition in her
biography and where sources give no information about Eleanor, she fills in
the gaps with what is known about Henry II. And Weir kindly includes a map
contemporary to the times making some of the geography much clearer. France
then was a small state surrounding Paris, powerful yes, but geographically
miniscule compared to what Henry II and Eleanor ruled over jointly. And we
must remember that no one was speaking English in England except the
peasants. French and more specifically, a dialect of Provencal, was the
language of court and the aristocracy.

The biography itself is easily read and understood. She gives the reader a
general understanding of what life was like for a young woman of good
birth, how girls were raised, what choices they had and didn’t have and what
levels of education they were given. She reminds us continually the role the
Church plays in the ruling of nations and of the importance of alliances by
marriage. And then she goes on to show how Eleanor breaks just about every
rule there is. She is taught to read, though not to write since writing is
the occupation of scribes. She marries Louis, King of France and takes up
the Cross with him on a Crusade, scandalizing everyone. While there, she has
a scandalous affair with her uncle and eventually annuls her marriage after
her return on the grounds of consanguinity. She turns around and marries the
King of England without consulting her former husband who is her guardian or
the Church.. She gives him sons who eventually become Richard The Lion
Hearted, and King John. Henry, unfortunately, is a bit of a bounder and they
have a falling out. She sides with her sons against Henry in what is
essentially a failed hostile takeover and he shuts her up in a castle for
years. And that’s the first two thirds of the book. Eventually, she enters
a convent as a guest and dies at the age of 82.

She was an amazing woman. We have no representation of what she looked like
aside form her effigy on her tomb and some dubious statuary and paintings.
The only surviving artifact from her life is a crystal vase she gave Henry
as a gift. Most of the castles she lived in are in ruins. And yet, she
still inspires biographies, movies and novels. I was utterly enchanted by
her.