The Two Eleanors of Henry III

The Two Eleanors of Henry III PDF Author: Darren Baker
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526747529
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
This account of two strong medieval women and their relationship “thoroughly engrosses you in a story hundreds of years past”(Seattle Book Review). Born in 1223, Eleanor of Provence has come to England at the age of twelve to marry the king, Henry III. He’s sixteen years older, but was a boy when he ascended the throne. He’s a kind, sensitive sort whose only personal attachments to women so far have been to his three sisters. The youngest of those sisters is called Eleanor too. She was only nine when, for political reasons, her first marriage took place, but she’s already a chaste twenty-year-old widow when the new queen arrives in 1236. Soon, this Eleanor will marry the rising star of her brother’s court, a French parvenu named Simon de Montfort, thus wedding the fates of these four people together in an England about to undergo some of the most profound changes in its history. The Two Eleanors of Henry III is a tale that spans decades, with loyalty to family and principles at stake, in a land where foreigners are subject to intense scrutiny and jealousy. The relationship between these two sisters-in-law, close but ultimately doomed, reflects not just the turbulence and tragedy of their times, but also the brilliance and splendor.

The Two Eleanors of Henry III

The Two Eleanors of Henry III PDF Author: Darren Baker
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526747529
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Get Book Here

Book Description
This account of two strong medieval women and their relationship “thoroughly engrosses you in a story hundreds of years past”(Seattle Book Review). Born in 1223, Eleanor of Provence has come to England at the age of twelve to marry the king, Henry III. He’s sixteen years older, but was a boy when he ascended the throne. He’s a kind, sensitive sort whose only personal attachments to women so far have been to his three sisters. The youngest of those sisters is called Eleanor too. She was only nine when, for political reasons, her first marriage took place, but she’s already a chaste twenty-year-old widow when the new queen arrives in 1236. Soon, this Eleanor will marry the rising star of her brother’s court, a French parvenu named Simon de Montfort, thus wedding the fates of these four people together in an England about to undergo some of the most profound changes in its history. The Two Eleanors of Henry III is a tale that spans decades, with loyalty to family and principles at stake, in a land where foreigners are subject to intense scrutiny and jealousy. The relationship between these two sisters-in-law, close but ultimately doomed, reflects not just the turbulence and tragedy of their times, but also the brilliance and splendor.

Plantagenet Princes

Plantagenet Princes PDF Author: Douglas Boyd
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
ISBN: 1526743078
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
When Count Henry of Anjou and his formidable wife Eleanor of Aquitaine became king and queen of England, they amassed an empire stretching 1,000 miles from the Pyrenees to the Scottish border, including half of France. Henry’s grandmother Empress Mathilda of Germany had taught him that ruling is like falconry: show the hawk the reward, but take it away at the last moment, to keep the bird eager to please. To sons and vassals alike, Henry promised everything but gave nothing, keeping the three adult princes hating him and the other siblings all their lives. Plantagenet Princes traces the lives and infamous webs of mistrust and intrigue among them. What sons they were! Henry (b. 1155), ‘the Young king’ was entitled to succeed his father, yet was a rich playboy who died crippled by debt before his thirtieth birthday, after living the life of a robber baron. Richard (b. 1157), ‘the Lionheart’ was lord of his mother’s duchy of Aquitaine and became, thanks to her, England’s most popular king despite bankrupting the Empire twice in his disastrous 10-year reign. Geoffrey (b. 1158), count of Brittany, was the cleverest, but was trampled to death by horses aged 32 in a pointless mêlée at Paris, leaving his wife Constance to act as regent for their son Arthur in a long power struggle between Philip Augustus, king of France, and the Plantagenets. The runt of the litter, John (b. 1166) was nicknamed Lackland, since no inheritance was initially promised him. He proved the longest-lived by far, dying at the age of fifty after signing Magna Carta, losing the key duchy of Normandy and most of the other continental possessions – also murdering his nephew Arthur, imprisoning Arthur’s sister for life and waging war against his barons, continued by Henry III. The Plantagenet line continued with Richard of Cornwall, Edward I conquering Wales, gay Edward II, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince and Richard II, who died in prison while his usurper sat on the throne.

The Song of Simon de Montfort

The Song of Simon de Montfort PDF Author: Sophie Thérèse Ambler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190946253
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
A biography of one of the Middle Ages' most controversial, reckless, and heroic figures Born in France in the early thirteenth century to a crusading father of the same name, Simon de Montfort traveled to England in his adulthood, where he claimed the earldom of Leicester and ingratiated himself into King Henry III's inner circles. Initially a trusted advisor, Simon's good relationship with the king did not last. Frustrated by the increasing injustice meted out to his subjects, Simon would go on to rebel against him, marching on the king's hall at Westminster and leading England's first revolution, and imposing a parliamentary system on Henry's rule. Montfort's life touched on nearly every notable event of the thirteenth century, from the holy wars being fought both abroad and closer to home, to the rebellion against the Plantagenets, to his campaigns against Jews in Leicester. The account of his death in battle-swinging his sword to the last-is one of the most graphic ever written of a medieval battlefield. Ambler provides a living portrait of the Middle Ages, brimming with illuminating insights into religion, society, the nobility, warfare, and daily life. In the words of bestselling historian Dan Jones, Ambler is "a dazzlingly talented historian" and her book on Simon de Montfort "marks the arrival of a formidably gifted historian."

Eleanor of Castile

Eleanor of Castile PDF Author: Sara Cockerill
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445636050
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 728

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Book Description
The untold story of the remarkable woman behind England's greatest medieval king, Edward I

Henry III

Henry III PDF Author: David Carpenter
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300238355
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 803

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Book Description
The first in a ground-breaking two-volume history of Henry III's rule "Professor Carpenter is one of Britain's foremost medievalists...No one knows more about Henry, and a lifetime of scholarship is here poured out, elegantly and often humorously. This is a fine, judicious, illuminating work that should be the standard study of the reign for generations to come."--Dan Jones, The Sunday Times Nine years of age when he came to the throne in 1216, Henry III had to rule within the limits set by the establishment of Magna Carta and the emergence of parliament. Pacific, conciliatory, and deeply religious, Henry brought many years of peace to England and rebuilt Westminster Abbey in honor of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor. He poured money into embellishing his palaces and creating a magnificent court. Yet this investment in "soft power" did not prevent a great revolution in 1258, led by Simon de Montfort, ending Henry's personal rule. Eminent historian David Carpenter brings to life Henry's character and reign as never before. Using source material of unparalleled richness--material that makes it possible to get closer to Henry than any other medieval monarch--Carpenter stresses the king's achievements as well as his failures while offering an entirely new perspective on the intimate connections between medieval politics and religion.

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver PDF Author: E.L. Konigsburg
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439132151
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
Eleanor of Acquitaine has been waiting in Heaven for a long time to be reunited with her second husband, Henry II of England. Finally, the day has come when Henry will be judged for admission--and while Eleanor waits, three people close to her during various times of her life join her, helping to distract her and providing a rich portrait of a remarkable woman in history.

With All for All

With All for All PDF Author: Darren Baker
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
ISBN: 9781445645742
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Simon de Montfort's combination of charisma, determination, and fearlessness made him one of the greatest men of his age. This new biography marks 750 years since Montfort established the earliest forerunner of our modern parliament.

Silk and the Sword

Silk and the Sword PDF Author: Sharon Bennett Connolly
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445678764
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
A study of the women, on all sides, who had major parts to play in the momentous year of 1066.

Stephen and Matilda's Civil War

Stephen and Matilda's Civil War PDF Author: Matthew Lewis
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526718359
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
The story of the twelfth-century rivalry for the throne between the daughter and the nephew of Henry I—a battle that tore England apart for over a decade. The Anarchy was the first civil war in post-Conquest England, enduring throughout the reign of King Stephen between 1135 and 1154. It ultimately brought about the end of the Norman dynasty and the birth of the mighty Plantagenet kings. When Henry I died having lost his only legitimate son in a shipwreck, his barons had sworn to recognize his daughter Matilda, widow of the Holy Roman Emperor, as his heir, and remarried her to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. But when she was slow to move to England upon her father’s death, Henry’s favorite nephew, Stephen of Blois, rushed to have himself crowned, much as Henry himself had done on the death of his brother William Rufus. Supported by his brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester, Stephen made a promising start, but Matilda would not give up her birthright and tried to hold the English barons to their oaths. The result was more than a decade of civil war that saw England split apart. Empress Matilda is often remembered as aloof and high-handed, Stephen as ineffective and indecisive. By following both sides of the dispute and seeking to understand their actions and motivations, Matthew Lewis aims to reach a more rounded understanding of this crucial period of English history—and ask to what extent there really was anarchy.

Eleanor de Montfort

Eleanor de Montfort PDF Author: Louise J. Wilkinson
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441182195
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
As sister of Henry III and aunt of the future Edward I, Eleanor de Montfort was at the heart of the bloody conflict between the Crown and the English barons. At Lewes in 1264 Simon de Montfort captured the king and secured control of royal government. A woman of fiery nature, Eleanor worked tirelessly to support her husband's cause. She assumed responsibility for the care of the royal prisoners and she regularly dispatched luxurious gifts to Henry III and the Lord Edward. But the family's political fortunes were shattered at the battle of Evesham in August 1265 where Simon de Montfort was killed. The newly-widowed Eleanor rose to her role as matriarch of her family, sending her surviving sons - and the family treasure - overseas to France, negotiating the surrender of Dover Castle and securing her own safe departure from the realm. The last ten years of her life were spent in the Dominican convent at Montargis. Drawing on chronicles, letters and public records this book reconstructs the narrative of Eleanor's remarkable life.