Lucy asks:
3. How did you feel about Louis? Was Eleanore right in treating him the way she did to build him up to be a strong king?
Arleigh asks:
4. Do you think Louis and Eleonore were right in going on crusade in the fashion that they did (i.e. brining ladies with expensive clothes and all the comforts they could carry)?
1. Yes and no. She should have supported him and tried to guide him, but not bullied him into things that he really didn't want to do, like seizing land she thought were hers, even though her father and grandfather had failed to claim them. Louis and Eleanor were just completely unsuited (opposites tot he extreme) but the funny thing is, she and Henry were TOO MUCH alike. That was their downfall.
ReplyDelete2. From the beginning I thought it was 'unholy' of them to go as if it were a fun vacation. When I first read of Eleanor in The Courts of Love going on crusade I was amazed that women were allowed, and that they would bring tons and tons of stuff with them. It seemed so unnecessary. I was also astonished that Eleanor would leave her daughter for years to do this, but as we see, she's not too attached to her daughters. As a mother, that just amazes me, but then times (and stations in life) are different from now.
Oops, I meant 3. & 4.
ReplyDeleteI was just gonna say about how much they really were alike! Yet, so unsuited to eachother. He comes off as such a whimp and she is way too overbearing.
ReplyDeleteFor the next question- I did find it strange that they should follow along in such elaborate fuss...but then again these ladies needed to be ladies wherever they went (I don't believe anyone of them- Eleanore included- would have gone along if not in this very accomodating way;)