Hello readers! Today begins a week long of discussions on The Plantagenet Prelude, our August 2009 read. For more information on joining our discussion group, visit our website. And, of course, everyone who has read this book - or even if you haven't but wish to make a comment - may join in these discussions!
Lucy asks:
1. What was your opinion on Eleonore from begining to end? Did your views on her change along the way? (compare with any other books you might have read on her)
Arleigh asks:
2. How did you view Eleonore's Courts of Love compared with Louis's court and then Henry's? Why was it such a important part of her life that she constantly compared other places with her dear Aquitaine?
Hi Lucy,
ReplyDeleteYou have won an award at my summer blog, http://summertravelandreadingfun.blogspot.com.
Please leave a tiny note. Then, I will know you have picked it up.
By the way, I'm not Bill.:) That's my husband.
1. I wasn't thrilled about this depiction of Eleanor (using the English spelling). Her more unsavory attributes are given precedence in this novel, most likely because it focuses on the men in her life more than herself. The Courts of Love by Jean Plaidy was a much fairer assessment of Eleanor. Later in the novel, when her children are growing up, I did like her a little better. Now I'm reading Revolt of the Eaglets and there are still things about her that make her seem petty and revengeful... more so than in The Courts of Love. Perhaps we are just seeing her as other people in her life at the time did, and she's just not going to get a fair description unless you read the story through her eyes.
ReplyDelete2. I think the Courts of Love as described in The Plantagenet Prelude gives a better understanding of the way of life in Aquitaine than Plaidy's novel The Courts of Love. I didn't get from that novel the same view of Eleanor's native land. Again, Revolt of the Eaglets expands upon this much more when Eleanor's son Richard tries to oversee his Dukedom of Aquitaine and the people won't entirely accept him. You see many differences in the courts of France, England and Aquitaine and you understand why the people were averse to foreign ways and even looks. It also expands upon the political ways of Aquitaine and how they used poetry and verse to voice their opinions, which had tremendous affect on the common people.
As for Eleanor, she was accustomed to the gentler and more sophisticated court of Aquitaine and never really felt at home at other courts, even though she tried to change them. For this reason she continually compared other places to her home and longed to be there.
Arleigh, in my opinion I think that Eleanore had a great attachment to where she was born and raised. Plus, Aquitane was the place where she felt she was a true ruler and the people loved her there. In Aquitaine, she was never in anyone's shadow.
ReplyDeleteand to answer my own question, I'd have to say that throughout this Plaidy version of her, she seemed like quite the She-wolf to me...towards the end though is where I started feeling slightly more compassionate towards her.