Feb 2
Richard the Lionheart, King of England by Merry-Joseph Blondel
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Richard the Lionheart, King of England by Merry-Joseph Blondel
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A central element of the myth of [Eleanor of Aquitaine] is that of her exceptionalism. Historians and Eleanor biographers have tended to take literally Richard of Devizes’s conventional panegyric of her as ‘an incomparable woman’. She is assumed to be a woman out of her time. […] Amazement at Eleanor’s power and independence is born from a presentism that assumes generally that the Middle Ages were a backward age, and specifically that medieval women were all downtrodden and marginalized. Eleanor’s career can, from such a perspective, only be explained by assuming that she was an exception who rose by sheer force of personality above the restrictions placed upon twelfth-century women.
— Michael R. Evans, Inventing Eleanor: The Medieval and Post-Medieval Image of Eleanor of Aquitaine
The idea of Eleanor’s exceptionalism rests on an assumption that women of her age were powerless. On the contrary, in Western Europe before the twelfth century there were ‘no really effective barriers to the capacity of women to exercise power; they appear as military leaders, judges, castellans, controllers of property’. […] In an important article published in 1992, Jane Martindale sought to locate Eleanor in context, stripping away much of the conjecture that had grown up around her, and returning to primary sources, including her charters. Martindale also demonstrated how Eleanor was not out of the ordinary for a twelfth-century queen either in the extent of her power or in the criticisms levelled against her.
If we look at Eleanor’s predecessors as Anglo-Norman queens of England, we find many examples of women wielding political power. Matilda of Flanders (wife of William the Conqueror) acted as regent in Normandy during his frequent absences in England following the Conquest, and [the first wife of Henry I, Matilda of Scotland, played some role in governing England during her husband's absences], while during the civil war of Stephen’s reign Matilda of Boulogne led the fight for a time on behalf of her royal husband, who had been captured by the forces of the empress. And if we wish to seek a rebel woman, we need look no further than Juliana, illegitimate daughter of Henry I, who attempted to assassinate him with a crossbow, or Adèle of Champagne, the third wife of Louis VII, who ‘[a]t the moment when Henry II held Eleanor of Aquitaine in jail for her revolt … led a revolt with her brothers against her son, Philip II'.
Eleanor is, therefore, less the exception than the rule – albeit an extreme example of that rule. This can be illustrated by comparing her with a twelfth century woman who has attracted less literary and historical attention. Adela of Blois died in 1137, the year of Eleanor’s marriage to Louis VII. […] The chronicle and charter evidence reveals Adela to have ‘legitimately exercised the powers of comital lordship’ in the domains of Blois-Champagne, both in consort with her husband and alone during his absence on crusade and after his death. […] There was, however, nothing atypical about the nature of Adela’s power. In the words of her biographer Kimberley LoPrete, ‘while the extent of Adela’s powers and the political impact of her actions were exceptional for a woman of her day (and indeed for most men), the sources of her powers and the activities she engaged in were not fundamentally different from those of other women of lordly rank’. These words could equally apply to Eleanor; the extent of her power, as heiress to the richest lordship in France, wife of two kings and mother of two or three more, was remarkable, but the nature of her power was not exceptional. Other noble or royal women governed, arranged marriages and alliances, and were patrons of the church. Eleanor represents one end of a continuum, not an isolated outlier.
New Medieval Books: Lionessheart: The Life and Times of Joanna Plantagenet
epic mail day ft @angevinyaoiz’s doujin, “Quod Ames!” (& another comic) (& a handful of on topic books for ~aesthetics~)
Get to know the guys
(historical bg fun reasoning)
Henry Jr - famously married young even by the standards of the day (at 5 yrs old) but by all accounts seems to have been loving and faithful
Geoffrey - described by Bertran de Born as "Count Geoffrey, who doesn't know how to please the ladies," and appears in one of Gace Brulé's poems as being bewildered at people who act crazy for love. However, he had the most successful relationship in the end so there's that
Philippe - not much here just for someone very demanding and difficult to deal with the common denominator in his failrelationships is....himself....
Richard - We have much less info to go on regarding his interpersonal relationships--had that privacy on lockdown! Which leaves a lot of room for nosy speculators of course.
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“One authority recently wrote, ‘The notion of an “Angevin empire” is nothing more than a convenient invention of modern historians.’ Historians tend to reject the possibility of the Plantagenets’ collection of lands achieving permanence and political stability, seeing them merely ‘as the lucky acquisition of a quarrelsome family and not as an institution’. Although these lands are lumped together under the convenient term, Angevin or Plantagenet ‘empire’, few see much evidence for any Angevin concept of imperial doctrine or permanent union. In the Middle Ages the only true empire was the Roman Empire’s successors in East and West. Richard I and John’s seals bore the inscription Rex Anglorum, Dux Normannorum et Aquitanorum et comes Andegavorum; they had no name for the bloc of lands assembled by their father. […]
Henry II and his sons’ concept of their ‘empire’ and its permanence proves a difficult question; no concrete notion of unity for this ‘empire’ seems to have taken shape. Despite centralising tendencies in England and Normandy, the Angevin monarchs made no attempt to impose a uniform administration on their other continental territories. While Norman and English law and administration under Henry II followed closely parallel lines, he followed his father’s advice in his other domains, avoiding imposing uniform laws or institutions and ruling according to their different laws and customs. It is impossible to know exactly what notion John had of his inheritance other than a bloc of family possessions and feudal rights, source of his family’s wealth and political power. Many of his subjects, however, were coming to see the Plantagenets’ congeries of lands as ‘a curious anachronism’. […]
Scholars note too that the Angevin monarchs provided no unifying principle, no common culture that could bind their Anglo-Norman, Angevin and Aquitainian subjects together. Their ‘empire’ was a new creation, and Henry only began to construct administrative machinery in its constituent parts after the 1173–4 rebellion.”
— Ralph V. Turner, King John: England’s Evil King?
Henry Junior and Geoffrey devastate the countryside (1183)
The children of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine depicted in medieval sources.*
1. 13th century’s perspective of Henry II’s offspring.
2. Henry the Young King as seen in a 13th century manuscript. [b.1155-d.1183]
3. Matilda of England, duchess of Saxony, in a manuscript entitled “Gospels of Henry the Lion.” [b.1156-1189].
4. Richard, King of England, on a 13th century chronicle depicting his coronation. [b.1157-d.1199]
5. Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany. Detail on the manuscript as seen on [1]. [b.1158-d.1186]
6. Aliénor of England, Queen of Castille, seen here in a manuscript depicting her engagement to Alfonso de Castilla. [b.1161-1214]
7. Joan of England, Queen of Sicily, seen here alongside her brother Richard I greeting the king of France, Philippe II. [b.1165-1199].
8. John, King of England, seen here hunting. [b. 1166-1216].
Bonus:
Henry’s illegitimate son:
9. William, 3rd Earl of Salisbury. Here’s his tomb. [b.1176-d.1226].
*some of which I could not find the original date, but in majority can be assumed to have been produced laterwards, in 13th-14th centuries.