When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman

When the heir to the throne dies in The White Ship shipwreck, Henry I designates his only legitimate daughter Maude as future queen. However, he has a whole army of bastard children including the charismatic Robert and young Ranulf who is half-Welsh. Maude is married off to Geoffrey Plantagenet, the lord of Normandy. The marriage is loveless but does produce sons. When Henry dies, however, Maude is too late to claim the crown; her cousin Stephen has already been recognised as England’s new ruler. But Maude, with the help of her stepbrothers, does not submit. And so the Anarchy begins.

I once read Penman’s ‘The Sunne in Splendour’ about Richard III and the Wars of the Roses and then resolved to read the rest of her oeuvre. However, it took years until I dared to start this series, which centers on Henry II and Eleanor Of Aquitaine. The books are thick and full of historical detail. This one was written in the early 1990s.

But When Christ and his Saints Slept reads like a modern historical novel. Penman constantly switches perspectives, letting mainly protagonists have their say (Maude, Stephen, his wife Matilda, Robert, Henry, Eleanor and the fictional Ranulf), but also frequently unknown people who, for a short chapter, recount what they experience.

The book begins with the disaster of The White Ship and the perspective of the butcher’s boy who survives was an instant favourite. In addition, I was extremely charmed by Stephen’s queen Matilda (she, like Maude, is called Matilda, a name that appears several times in the book). I was actually not that familiar with her story and this book did trigger something to find out more about her.

Ranulf comes up perhaps the most often and I was saddened to discover that he is a fictional addition, although I suspected as much. He goes through an awful lot and Penman describes this in detail. I really empathised with him and later in the book his Welsh family.

The Anarchy is a complex period and although I knew the basics beforehand, I still learned a lot about the war. The main battles are covered, as are the protagonists besides the royals including for ex. the famous Earl of Chester and his wife Maude (yes, another Maude), the needless violence towards civilians and the role of foreign nations such as France and Normandy.

Eleanor is absent for three quarters of the book and yet she is always there because as queen of France, she is regularly gossiped about. The end of the book where we get to know Eleanor and Henry read even smoother because this is a piece of history I have read about before.

This is a big book, you spend some time with it. It is a bit dry at times. But is it’s worth every page as far as I’m concerned. This is one of those books to be totally immersed in. I will enjoy reading the next parts, but don’t ask me when :).

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Have you read anything by Penham? Or anything else good about the Anarchy?

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Captive queen by Alison Weir

Eleanor, duchess of Aquitaine, is stuck in a loveless marriage with the French king. When she meets young and charismatic Henry Plantagenet, she falls in love instantly. After her divorce from Louis, she doesn’t hesitate to marry Henry. When he becomes king of England, the two of them together hold a realm from England all the way to the Spanish border. But Henry is no loyal husband and doesn’t want to share his power. Not with Eleanor, but neither with their sons. And when the cubs shall awake, rebellion looms around the corner.

I heard some rumours that a tv series about Eleanor was in the making based on this book. I’m usually no fan of Weir’s older historical fiction books (‘Innocent traitor‘ about Jane Grey being the exception) and I had heard that Captive queen wasn’t good. But I still wanted to see what kind of Eleanor is represented here, before watching the tv series.

I can already admit that I understand why people don’t like this portrayal. The book opens in the French court where Eleanor is trying to get a divorce since her husband the king doesn’t visit her bed too often, the result being only two daughters and no heir. She meets Henry Plantagenet, son of her former lover Geoffrey, count of Anjou, and instantly wants to bed him. In the first 150 pages there is sex everywhere.

Eleanor is portrayed as a sensual but also human woman. She makes mistakes, a lot of them. She’s too trustful and naively in love with her second husband. This is a refreshing take on her, but also far away from the strong and independent woman we know. We get an Eleanor making decisions based on her lust feelings rather than her wit.

Henry is at first a young and ambitious boy who adores his queen, but soon he grows into a forceful and short tempered man. The novel focuses on their relationship, with all their heights but also heavy arguments. The problem is that when at times Henry and Eleanor are not together, Weir struggles to write a story.

The writing is bad. There’s a lot of bad dialogue, too many sex scenes, strange changes in perspectives and almost no character development apart from the two main characters. During both the conflict with Becket and her imprisonment after the rebellion, Eleanor is too far away from the action and Weir has to turn to the ‘as you know Bob’ tactic.

I can’t help but compare this book to Chadwick excellent’s trilogy about Eleanor and come to the conclusion that ‘Captive queen‘ can’t live up to that. The only thing I did like is that there is no heavy focus on all of her pregnancies and births. Weir is more creative in handling all the children, although we don’t miss their conception ;).

But still, I enjoyed some parts of the story. This book is not as bad as some people say. I can handle some sex and detail. But I just couldn’t sympathize with this Eleanor as much as with Chadwick’s. Weir is not the best fiction writer. However, I did like her book about Catherine of Aragon enough, to continue the Six Tudor queens series.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

What’s your favourite book about Eleanor of Aquitaine?

The Revolt by Clara Dupont-Monod

Richard Lionheart is rebelling against his father, the Plantagenet king of England, together with his brothers Henry and Geoffrey. The rebellion unites the heirs to the throne with France, the southern lords and Aquitaine, the country of Richard’s infamous mother: Queen Eleanor Of Aquitaine. After having divorced the king of France, Eleanor remarried the Plantagenet only to be cast aside after having bared him 8 children. Now she’s looking for revenge. One thing is sure: this battle will torn the family apart.

The revolt is a short novel that focuses on the rebellion of Eleanor Of Aquitaine and her sons against Henry II, king of England in 1173. The novel is split up in three parts—before, during and after the revolt—and mainly told by Richard Lionheart. Although there are some chapters Eleanor, Henry and Alys (Richard’s ex-fiancé) are at word.

I’m quite familiar with the story and I loved Elizabeth Chadwick’s trilogy about Eleanor very much. But still the author managed to surprise me at some parts. Especially the fact that she chooses to tell the story from Richard’s perspective, even the parts before his birth, was surprising. But somehow, it worked for me as long as the story was focusing on the revolt itself.

At the end, it gets a bit messy when Richard leaves for the Holy Land. It feels like the start of a different story because Eleanor wasn’t near Richard at that time. And it’s her figure that really makes this book compelling.

This Eleanor is mysterious, cold and intimidating. Just how I imagine her. I got some new insights on her relationship with Louis, King of France (Eleanor’s first husband) and the role he played in the rebellion. I found Louis’s relationship with Eleanor’s sons one of the most interesting aspects of the story.

This might not be the best fictional retelling of Eleanor’s life because of its shortness. But it’s a well-written account of the revolt and how it tore a whole family apart.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher to provide me with a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.