Breakfast at the Abbaye Royale Hotel is a wonderful way to start any day, for the restaurant is built around the lazar house cloisters. It is like gazing through a window to the past. So despite our rather bumpy introduction to Fontevrault, we were all very happy to be here. And we were eager to begin the day’s expedition. If Henry had left his heart in Le Mans, Eleanor gave hers to the city we would be visiting today, Poitiers.
Like Le Mans, Poitiers is an ancient city and may have been the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Aquitania in the second century. It was known then as Limonum and boasted two amphitheatres that were as large as the Coliseum in Rome. Sadly, not a trace remains of them, for their ruins were utterly razed in 1857 by very ill-advised city councilors. In the Middle Ages, Poitiers was the center of the dominions ruled by the powerful Dukes of Aquitaine. Eleanor was often here during the course of her long and eventful life and in 1199, she issued a charter bestowing autonomy and communal rights upon the city. We felt Henry’s presence very strongly in Le Mans, were sure that we would find Eleanor in Poitiers.
We were lucky, too, to have a very special guide in Mary McKinney. Mary is an American who has lived in Poitiers for the past ten years, teaching at a local university, and if she weren’t a friend, I’d be stricken with envy, for she has the life I’d love for myself. She gets to hear Mass in Eleanor’s cathedral, to visit castles and abbeys whenever she has a free weekend, and she plans to spend Christmas this year in Carcassonne. It doesn’t get any better than that!
When my friend Valerie and I visited Poitiers in 2009, Mary offered to give us a private tour of Eleanor’s city, and we had so much fun that I was determined our tour group would experience one of Mary’s tours, too. She met us in Poitiers and I am sure she surprised Janus by greeting him in Hungarian. Mary spent time in Hungary on her travels; she has probably racked up more frequent flyer miles than Marco Polo, assuming they had them in the 14th century, of course.
For me, the high point of Mary’s tour was the Palais de Justice, the great hall of the palace of the Dukes of Aquitaine. Eleanor’s notorious grandfather, William IX, added a donjon in 1104 and named it after his equally notorious mistress, the aptly named Dangereuse, wife of a neighboring lord, the Viscount of Chatellerault. When he moved Dangereuse into the palace, that was the last straw for his long-suffering wife and she took up residence at Fontevrault Abbey, where she must have had some interesting conversations with her husband’s first wife, a frequent guest. William then added insult to injury by wedding his son to Dangereuse’s daughter; the result of this unlikely union was our Eleanor. In Saints, I have a scene where Henry and Eleanor share their family histories on their wedding night, in between lovemaking. It is not easy to impress a man who can claim the Demon Countess of Anjou as one of his ancestors, but Eleanor manages it with her stories about her grandsire. Henry finds it hilarious that “your grandfather was having an affair with his son’s mother-in-law,” and points out gleefully that “between the two of us, we’ve got a family tree rooted in Hell!”
So the palace must have seen some truly fascinating scenes during those years that the Dukes of Aquitaine reigned over Poitiers. We owe the stunningly beautiful great hall to Eleanor. Today it is known as the Palais de Justice, but in Eleanor’s time, it was called La Salle des Pas Perdus, the “hall of lost footsteps,” for it was huge, one of the largest halls in Europe, 160 feet in length, 55 feet in width. The original beamed ceiling has been replaced, but the splendor remains. Eleanor often held court here and the hall must have resounded with the music of the finest troubadours in Christendom. It was also here that Joan of Arc was subjected to an intense three week interrogation by the Archbishop of Reims in 1429; the churchmen concluded that the king might lawfully receive this “simple shepherd-maiden” for “there was nothing found in her which was not Catholic and reasonable.”
The city ramparts are ancient, too. The first set dates back to Roman times and the second set was ordered and funded by Eleanor. And the city’s main street, the Grand Rue, once echoed with the footsteps of Roman legionnaires, then the pageantry of its medieval dukes—and one unforgettable duchess. The churches of Poitiers are memorable, too. The cathedral of St Pierre was begun in 1162 by Henry and Eleanor, the older cathedral razed to make way for the new one; it was in the older cathedral that Henry and Eleanor were wed on May 18, 1152. The magnificent stained glass Crucifixion Window is said to have been donated by Henry and Eleanor, and they are portrayed in the bottom panel of the window. So our visit to the cathedral was special to all of us.
The church of Notre Dame la Grand is truly superb. It was first mentioned in 924 AD and was rebuilt in the second half of the 12th century. The west front of the church is one of the finest Romanesque facades in France, looking as it did when Eleanor attended Mass there. When I was here in 2009, Mary was telling me about an eagle etched into a window in appreciation for Eleanor’s generosity to the church. She’d never been able to find it, she said, despite numerous attempts to locate it. The words were no sooner out of her mouth than we both happened to glance upward and, lo and behold, there was Eleanor’s eagle. When we first arrived at Notre Dame la Grand, a Mass was in progress; imagine what it would be like to attend services in a church more than eight centuries old. Most of us missed seeing another beautiful church, for we were pressed for time, the abbey church of St Hilaire, a stop on the pilgrim route to San Juan de Compostella. Built in the 11th century over a Roman cemetery, St Hilaire was the site for the funeral and burial in March, 1168 of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury, uncle of the celebrated William Marshal, slain when Eleanor was ambushed by the de Lusignans. And in June of 1172, Eleanor’s son Richard was consecrated as Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine here.
We left Eleanor’s city with reluctance and headed back to the abbey that became her home in the years after Richard’s death. On the way, we stopped for a wine-tasting at a local winery; Chinon is famous for its red wines. We got back to the hotel in time to visit the abbey bookstore, where we discovered that they were selling some of my novels. I was pleased, of course, for they didn’t offer that many English language books, but at least this time I did not give out an excited and undignified squeal the way I did when I was there in 2006 and found one of my novels on their shelves.
J.D. had made dinner reservations for us at the restaurants in Fontevrault, sparing us the need for another emergency run to the McDonalds in Saumur. Some of us dined at the Plantagenet, more of us at La Licorne, the Unicorn. It is remarkable that such a small village would have a restaurant as exceptional as this one. But then, this is France. Afterward, we walked back to the hotel as a misting rain began to fall and got ready for our night tour of the abbey. Stay tuned for that.
I think the day in Poitiers was my favourite. I overheard Sue saying to Nicole, ‘just stop and think for a moment about where we are’. That really resonated with me. We were in Eleanor’s hall at the time and that really hit me. I was standing in Eleanor’s hall in amazing company! In the church of Notre Dame Le Grand I held up a note to Tee which said ‘Eleanor has been here!’. My favourite though was the church of St Hilaire where Earl Patrick was buried and where Richard was invested as Duke of Aquitaine. For dinner Lesley and I had a picnic at Fontevrault in sight of the church. All in all a magical day!
I get shivers just looking at the photos, I can barely imagine being there (someday!). It certainly does seem magical.
Sharon, what possible reason could the city councilors have given for razing those amphitheatres?
Thank you Sharon – very informative, delightful and interesting post. And the hall has the correct birth year for Eleanor too – terrific!
Here is today’s Facebook Note, A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury.
A very important battle was fought there on July 21, 1403; thanks to Nan Hawthorne’s Today in Medieval History for jogging my memory about it. Had the outcome been different, it would have changed English history. The first Lancastrian king, Henry IV defeated the powerful Northern rebel lord, Henry “Hotspur” Percy, an ally of Owain Glyn Dwr. In a move foreshadowing Richard III’s charge to find Henry Tudor at Bosworth 82 years later, Hotspur tried to reach the king and nearly did before being cut down himself. The king’s son, later Henry V , was very severely wounded in the face by an arrow and amazingly, survived. History might have been very different if Hotspur had won or if “Prince Hal” had died of his wound as men usually did when hit in the face by arrows. Edith Pargeter has a brilliant book about the conflict between Lancaster and Percy, A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury, which I highly recommend. And Brian Wainwright has a novel about Henry IV’s reign that I also recommend, Within the Fetterlock.
Back to our time, good luck to all facing the killer heat wave that is smothering the East Coast of the US right now, having wreaked terrible damage in the Midwest and the South. This has been a hellish summer so far.
Sharon-
I love the picture of you! Very sweet. Everytime I read one of your posts, I close the door to my office and read through it once, close my eyes and picture it all. And then quickly read through it again just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Thank you!
Today, Joan of England, Queen of Scots, John I and Isabelle of Angouleme’s daughter was born.
Here is today’s Facebook Note about the mother shepherd and her pups in need of volunteers to get them to the promised land.
Echo is still trying to arrange transport for Mama Nikita and her two pups, Nova and Luna. Only two legs of the pilgrimage remain to be filled; see below. The leg to Manhattan is just for Nikita, as there she and the pups’ destinies diverge, with them going to different foster homes. If anyone can help or knows dog-loving friends and family in these areas, you can contact Jeanmarie at (603)930-0792 or me at sharonkaypenman@gmail.com Thanks! Dogs and those who love them make ours a better world.
Leg 3 Florence SC To Lumberton NC
Approx 58 Miles 1 hour
Leave Time 11:25 AM
Arrive Time 12:25 PM
*****NEEDED*****
Leg 11 Sayreville NJ to Manhattan NY (Nakita goes to NY to her foster home)
Approx 36 miles 55 Min
Leave Time 2:10 PM
Arrive Time 3:05PM
*****NEEDED*****
Good news. Echo found enough volunteers and Mama Nikita and her pups will be on their way to a new life tomorrow.
After lunch in Poitiers, twelve of us, one-third of the group, followed Mary McKinley on the rapid walk to St.-Hilaire, while everyone else returned to the bus. As Paula says above, visiting that fine old Romanesque church was well worth the effort.
I was sorry I missed it, Malcolm, for it is very historic–William Marshal’s uncle is buried there and it was here that Richard was confirmed as Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou. But I knew a “rapid walk” was beyond my capabilities that week!
I’m sorry I missed St. Hilaire’s, also, but my lesgs weren’t up to a rapid walk. I ran into Sharon and John at the tourists’ office where I bought a lovely bookmon Poitiers, then walked back to the bis with them. I remember when we passes Notre Dame La Grand I commented that Imcould never get used to living in places where history and monuments such as this existed. I would have to stop and admire it everyday and would always be late to where I was going! We had a great conversation wondering if people who in these places take them for granted. We decided they did.
Today (or yesterday, by some accounts) the disastrous four day siege of Damascus by Baldwin III of Jerusalem, Conrad III of Germany and Louis VII of France began, signifying the beginning of the end of the Second Crusade.
Here is today’s Facebook Note, titled Horror, Happy Endings, and the Debacle in Damascus.
After a week of such brutal news—the bloody, savage, and shocking massacre in Norway, the refusal of al-Kaida linked Somali rebels to allow aid workers in to ease a famine that may kill as many as 800,000 children, and the suffering in the American Midwest, South, and Northeast because of the continued killer heat wave, I thought we were in dire need of a happy ending story.
So here is Shirley’s. She is an Asian elephant who was brought to the US and put to use in a circus. After 30 years, she could no longer perform after being injured by another elephant and a zoo in LA offered to take her. But it was a small zoo and could not afford any other elephants, so Shirley would not see another one of her kind for the next twenty years. It must have seemed like solitary confinement, for elephants are among the most social of creatures. But then Shirley’s luck changed and the zoo arranged to send her to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee, where an elephant from Shirley’s past lived. Jenny had been brought from Asia as a baby and sold to the circus where she and Shirley bonded, with Shirley acting as her surrogate mother. Now more than twenty years later, they were to be reunited, and it was captured on a remarkable video; see link below. They not only remembered each other after all this time, they were overjoyed; I dare anyone with a heart to watch this video and not be touched.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzEUayHqrRc&feature=related Shirley, part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXKxgLvIS6Y&feature=related Shirley, part 2
Since the news was so grim, I think we can use more than one happy ending, so here is another. This involves a dog that was thrown into a dumpster and the little girl who adopted him. She has a rare medical condition and suffers from seizures, which the dog somehow senses before they happen. Her mother says he has transformed her life, but I think what means the most to her is the dog’s unconditional love. Here is a link to their story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Mw_vKJ9wg&NR=1
And here is a video showing a drowning baby elephant being rescued by female elephants. YouTube is a dangerous place to browse, almost as tempting as a book store.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd-LtWtNvDw&feature=related
Naturally I cannot do a Note without mentioning at least one medieval story. I want to thank my friend Koby for reminding me that on this date in 1148, Louis VII of France and his allies began their disastrous four day siege of Damascus. The whole point of the Second Crusade was to rescue the city of Edessa which had fallen to the Saracens. But when they got to Antioch, Louis decided that it was more important for him to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Eleanor and her uncle were equally appalled, and Eleanor argued so forcefully for an assault upon Edessa that she even declared she and her vassals would remain in Antioch if Louis persisted in his ill-advised plan to continue on to Jerusalem. Louis paid her no heed, but he did heed the poison that some of his advisers began to whisper in his ear, suggesting that Eleanor’s fondness for her uncle was incestuous. The result? Eleanor was taken from Antioch against her will; Louis was talked into a foolhardy attack upon Damascus that doomed the crusade; Eleanor’s uncle was killed in battle the following year, his head sent as a trophy to the Caliph of Baghdad; and not even the Pope could mend the rift in the royal marriage. Upon their return to France, Eleanor gave birth to another daughter, and Louis was persuaded that their union must be ended if he hoped to have a son. Eleanor was much more fortunate than Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, though. Henry Fitz Empress was waiting in the wings to offer her a crown and a second act that would utterly eclipse her years as Louis’s bored, unhappy young queen.
Hello everyone, sorry for my silence of late – things have been busy busy busy with me, gearing up for another year of post-graduate in the autumn (and a disastrous clash between my two favourite courses! Tough decision ahead about which one to take and which one to drop!) – I just wanted to drop by mainly to thank Sharon for recreating the Eleanor Tour so vividly and deftly. I’ve been utterly transported whilst reading them – just like when I read Sharon’s books – I can’t express how much I wish I’d been there, reading these blogs, and I have to say sign me up straight away if there’s ever another one!
I’ve been a tad frustrated in my writing efforts of late, and I have to say it is driving me up the wall. For the past few months I’ve been attempting to flex my writing skills by writing short stories, but the results have been less than to my satisfaction. I didn’t know what I wanted to write these stories about, only that I have a wide-ranging interest across history, so I used a random generator to pick a period and place for me – seemed like a good way to halt my indecisiveness about when/where and explore a few periods that had never come to mind before. Now I’m thinking that was a stupid idea: I can’t find anything to interest me in these things, and because my timeframe to write these things is short I don’t have enough research time and everything ends up a confused mishmash lacking the real authentic knowledge of a period which produces the kind of excellence in detail and understanding of a period which all of Sharon’s novels have. Also I’ve spent the past 12 years or so, ever since as a child I decided I really wanted to be a writer, writing whimsical pieces that never see the light of day, and I think I’m frustrated because I need it to go somewhere, to have an end purpose, and not be essentially a pointless exercise. I must admit I’m feeling very down on myself at the moment. Nothing I write feels right, and when I look back at pieces I wrote previously that always until now I thought were reasonably good, now to my eyes they look clunky and awkward and laboured. I’m dismayed and rather concerned that the simple fact is I am not a good writer and never will be. I’m currently re-reading Sharon’s books in anticipation of Lionheart’s upcoming release, and I’m flabbergasted by the level of authentic detail, and how the characters feel so real. In my opinion that has always been one of the very best aspects of Sharon’s writing – I feel like she understands completely and fully every single aspect of Medieval life and every single speck of dust’s place in that world, furthermore that each and every single character is as sophisticated and complex as if they were real people. Every single incident in history that I would look at and could not understand or explain a person’s motivations, Sharon seems to get right to the heart of it and not only explain them but make their actions seem perfectly logical in response to their character and situation. I used to feel that way about some of the pieces I’d written in the past that seemed good – but at the moment even they look heavy-handed to me, and as for anything I’m producing it currently I feel its not even close to capturing that same kind of knowledge and skill. I feel stuck in a great big rut, and I wonder if I will ever do the same and be able to create such rich settings and complex characters – and truly understand the period and the people that inhabited, because right now I feel like I’m worlds away from that and I’m secretly worried that the problem is not something fixable but it’s just me and I’m a woefully incompetent writer. That kind of understanding comes so very rarely to me… I want to ask Sharon, how do you do it? How do you reach that level of understanding of the people and the world in which they moved? To the point where seemingly baffling decisions are actually perfectly logical, and each and every scene comes to life, flows and engages… instead of being confusing, boring and laborious?
Thanks Sharon. I thought Mary was an exceptional guide with great knowledge and delightful personality.
Today, Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, who was a solid Lancastrian and commanded the van at Towton (where he died) was born.
Beth-
Perhaps you should just take a break and let your mind and emotions calm down a bit. I know when I get really frustrated with something, the world around me seems to be going against everything and anything I try to do. Another option is to have someone else read your pieces and give you their opinion (but I would suggest you get into a better frame of mind for that). We are our own worst critics afterall! You can do it!
Beth, I think Brenna is right. It might help to take a step backward for a while. Writing is so subjective that it is all too easy to judge our work too harshly; I have days when I’m sure I couldn’t write a shopping list, much less another novel. Also, I don’t think it is a good idea to pick a time and place at ransom. At least, it wouldn’t work for me. I would suggest that you write only about a time period and place that you find very interesting, a time and place that resonates emotionally with you. I think it is important to derive pleasure from what we write and you’d be more likely to enjoy what you’re doing if you are happily ensconced in the MA or the Rennaissance or Ancient Rome or wherever your fancy takes you. But for now, it might be best just to take a break from the writing as it is hard to evaluate our won work when we are stressed or depressed. Hope this makes sense?
Nothing medieval about this photo, but it is sure to bring smiles. http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/lions-tree/#.Ti2spf_Sx0s.facebook
Today, the Battle of Edgecote Moor (Danes Moor) took place, where Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, defeated a Yorkist force under the Earl of Pembroke, leading to the capture of Edward IV.
Abby is a 4 1/2 month old white shepherd. Echo is trying to get her from PA to her new home in Ohio. She is a very sweet little girl who is scared of strangers, usually a sign she has had some bad experiences. There are two legs needed to fill on her pilgrimage this coming Saturday. If anyone can help or knows someone who can, they can contact Jeanmarie at 603-930-6792 or can e-mail me at sharonkaypenman@gmail.com
Leg 2 Lock Haven, PA – Clearfield, PA
Approx 76 Miles 1 Hour 20 Min
Leave Time 11:45 AM
Arrive Time 1:05 PM
**** Needed ****
Leg 5 West Middlesex, PA – Streetsboro, OH
Approx 57 Miles 1 hour
Leave Time 3:45 PM
Arrive Time 4:45 PM
****Needed****
On this date in 1193, John fled England for the safety of the French court, having gotten that famous warning from Philippe–“Look to yourself. The Devil is loosed.” It turned out to be premature; although Richard had finally come to terms iwth his captor, the Holy Roman Emperor, on June 25th, he would not be released until the following February.
Good news about the puppy with the Dumbo ears, Abby. It is a go for Saturday, and I am happy to report that one of my Facebook friends made it happen. Thanks, Nancy!
Today, the Battle of Bouvines took place, where Philip II Augustus of France defeated Otto IV of Germany, Ferrand of Flanders, Renaud of Boulogne and William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury. Ferrand, Renaud and William were all captured on the battlefield.
Here is today’s Facebook Note.
On this date in 1170, Henry and Thomas Becket met at Freteval, ostensibly to make peace, but we knnow how well that worked out, don’t we?
And on July 27, 1214, John suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Bouvines, albeit at a distance. His allies–his nephew Otto IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, his brother William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, and Count Renaud de Dammartin, Count of Boulogne, went down to defeat at the hands of the French. Philippe was almost slain, but he got the victory in the end, and captured both the Earl of Salisbury and the Count of Boulogne. Otto escaped the field; he was the son of John’s sister Matilda, who’d wed the Duke of Saxony, and had been closely allied with Richard, too, who’d named him as Count of Poitou. John was able to ransom his half-brother Salisbury, who was Henry’s illegitimate son. But the fate of Renaud de Dammartin was far grimmer. Philippe refused to ransom him and he died in a dungeon, chained to a log. He is a minor character in both Devil’s Brood and Here Be Dragons, a swaggering sort who always reminded me of Mary Queen of Scots’ Bothwell; he’d obtained his title by abducting Ida, the heiress to Boulogne and forcing her to marry him. So he was no Boy Scout, but that was still a wretched way to end his days. Rather like another man with some serious sins to atone for–Guy de Montfort, who would die in a Sicilian dungeon after Edward I pulled strings to make sure he would never be ransomed; one account says that Guy committed suicide. One look a a medieval dungeon, often little more than a dank, dark hole in the ground, is enough to understand why a man might choose that way out. One of the most horrendous accouts of imprisonment I’ve ever read is in the new George Martin novel, A Dance with Dragons, where a character known as “Reek” is utterly broken in body and spirit. I actually had fun throwing Justin and Durand into a Breton dungeon at Fougeres in Prince of Darkness, for they loathed one another and couldn’t stop sniping and squabbling even in those scary circumstances. just another pit stop on their Road Trip to Hell and Back.
Today, William Clito, the son of Robert Curthose of Normandy and nephew to Henry I of England died.
Apologies for my tardy reply – we’re in the middle of moving house here, so things are tremendously busy. I didn’t want Brenna and Sharon to think I hadn’t read their replies – I did so shortly after they were posted, I just haven’t been at liberty to response until now – I didn’t want to come across as ungrateful.
I was getting a lot of conflicting advice from a dozen different sources and I felt like I was in a room full of everyone just talking over each other, or the rope in a tug of war game – and I feel like no one, except for my father, Sharon, and Brenna, actually listened to what I’d said about my problem before offering up their two pence. I was only doing the random selector as part of a writing exercise, not a serious piece, but you’re right, it just wasn’t working for me because firstly I need to be working on something that’s going somewhere and secondly a subject that I’ve chosen and that I’m interested in. I also needed a break, badly.
I always feel bad that I can never help out with the dog runs, Sharon, but living in the UK I’m of no help there beyond spreading the word, I’m afraid.
I just finished re-reading When Christ and His Saints Slept today, and I’m rather teary-eyed now. I’ve tried so many times to find the words to say on this blog how much Sharon’s books – and that book in particular – mean to me, but I never seem to get the wording quite right. My parents were AVID Penmanians before I was even born, but I was too young to read her early books. When my father picked up When Christ and His Saints Slept I was at a real tough time in my reading – I remember it so distinctly, with such clarity, I was about 10 years old, I had been moved up a reading group at school and in my spare time I had turned to teen novels in my desperation, but I was so switched off to reading, I was getting really sick of it, all because I couldn’t find a single children’s or teen book that captured my imagination and engaged me. Reading as a hobby was beginning to lose my interest, and its no wonder I started getting really reluctant to pick up the oh-so-dull books I was being made to read at school. When dad came home from the library with a copy of When Christ and His Saints Slept, he praised Sharon’s books, told me how great they were, and I found myself picking up the book. Once I picked it up I was transfixed. I’d had never ever read writing this good before, and since it has been an extremely rare occasion indeed – and most of those were also Sharon’s books. I couldn’t stop reading WCAHSS for anything. Every single spare moment I had over the next week I was reading it – over dinner, you name it, I even finished the book off on a school night by reading right through till 6am in the morning and went to school having had no sleep, but with so much joy and energy because I loved the book so. I can’t express in words how much I adored WCAHSS. I can’t express just how much WCAHSS means to me. I think if I had to choose one book, in the entire world, that meant the most to me, it would be this book. When I finished re-reading it today, I was so moved that I had tears in my eyes. I’m unbelievably disappointed today, as I found out that I didn’t get an early copy of Lionheart – and this may sound silly to some people, but I’m genuinely upset – but I’m really happy to have finished re-reading WCAHSS, and I just hope I can give it the review it so richly deserves. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time – I knew how good it was, but I never reviewed it when I read it that first time as a child, and I mean to do justice by it.
I hadn’t read this until now, Beth. It is sometimes hard to keep track of past blogs. Thank you so much for telling me this. It means a lot to me. Writing is so solitary that reader feedback like this is worth more than we can say. And the review you did on Goodreads for Saints was amazing, so eloquent and inspired.
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Our visit of Poitiers was memorable in more ways than one. I’ve only recently learned about Dangereuse but am very intrigued by her and of course, Eleanor’s larger than life grandfather. It was therefore fascinating to see where Dangereuse resided and imagine what life must have been like for her.
The size of the Great Hall of the Palace of the Dukes of Aquitaine is indeed impressive. Aside from a few sculptures, the Hall is empty which allows the visitor to look around and imagine what it would have been like to attend Henry and Eleanor’s wedding reception as I believe Sharon depicts it in “Time and Chance”.
The Church of Notre Dame la Grande was one of the highlights for me. The entire church is decorated. By that I mean that wherever you look, the walls, ceilings and columns are all painted. It is trully a sight to behold.
I feel privileged to have been able to visit the church of St-Hilaire and all its great history. Given the upcoming publication of Lionheart, it was great to stand in the church where Richard was consecrated as Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine. It was also on our way to St-Hilaire that we saw a street sign for the “rue Alienor-D’Aquitaine”. Very exciting and a definite photo must for us, her devoted fans.
Mary, our guide was without a doubt the best surprise of that memorable day. Her enthusiasm, knowledge and joie de vivre allowed us to discover Eleanor’s city in the way that the Lady herself would have been proud of.
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I have read everything that I can lay my hands on about Eleanor and her family, including ur books. I adore ur subject matter and am swept away by your style. Please write more! I am especially interested in Eleanor when, as a queen of France, met and fell in love with Henry, and the time between that day and their marriage 6 months or so later…Don’t stop writing Ms. Penman, please…
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Because of reading Sharon Kay Penman books, we traveled thru Britain and France in search of Plantagenets. December we go to Poitier.
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filles pupilles de la Ddass et déficientes mentales légères qui avaient disparu dans la région
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Il répond également des défauts de conformitérésultant de l’emballage, des instructions de montage ou de l’installationlorsque celle-ci a été mise à sa charge par le contrat ou a été réalisée soussa responsabilité.
ażeby było sielskie i nie bazowało żadnych niedyspozycji sprawionych niezdrowym pożywieniem. Jeśliby rodzicielka będzie
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i’ve been writing around the life of Eleanor via the musicians and others in contact with her. have been to the palace 4 times but not up to the tower. tried to last year, but was stopped. i note there are tours up there. has anyone been? would appreciate any reply to my e-mail, amoerk@tampabay.com. i just found this site by accident & may not be able to find it again!
By the way, have read all of Sharon’s books. they inspired me into my own research and writing.
alice moerk
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