Customer Reviews
By the Wrath of God, Queen of England - By: Ian David Curry, 04 Jan 2008 
Some of the most fascinating characters in history hail from the murkier depths of times lacking much documentary sources. Perhaps their interest comes from this patchwork of conflicting sources, or perhaps the temporal distance lends enchantment. It also presents a problem for the biographer, in that the lack of sources makes it difficult to write authoritatively on the subject. If the subject is a mystery then the book can't be much more than conjectures joined up with speculation.
Eleanor of Aquitaine occupies an odd place in such a time. As a ruler & heiress in her own right, & as queen of France & later England, her life is much more richly documented than most of her contemporaries. Her movements, lodgings, nutrition & clothing can be conjured from the surviving accounts. Richer detail comes from monastic accounts, surviving letters & a good deal of conjecture based on related sources.
Weir has chosen a fascinating subject. She was a woman ruler at a time when women's right to rule was far from established, & in many areas banned by Salic Law. She was forthright, independent & had unorthodox views that capture the essence of the troubadour culture that flourished in her Aquitanian provinces.
Eleanor was wife of Louis VII of France, & then Henry II of England. She was mother to Richard the Lion Heart, & of King John. She herself went on crusade, appearing as the Amazonian queen Penthesilea to rallly the troops. She lived as everything from Queen to prisoner, & did so over a remarkable 82 years.
As a writer of engaging `popular' history, Weir has been criticised for dumbing down the subject. In my opinion this is ridiculous. The idea that a book need be impenetrable & complex to be worthy of the appellation `academic' strikes me as simply the fulmination of the historical profession seeking to ensure the plebs don't scale the ivory towers. Whilst Weir's book may not push too many boundaries, it does present its subject well, contextualises admirably & is properly referenced with what source material survives.
The dearth of source material is shown by Weir quoting in full the surviving letters from Eleanor to the pope at the time of Henry II's capture & imprisonment at the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor. As these are the most extensive extant sources it is not difficult to see why they have been quoted in full. But quotations of this length in a work of popular narrative history do somewhat stalll the flow of the read. This is a minor point, & Weir compensates by ensuring most of the narrative is written in an engaging & pacey style. Some might sniff at such a tome, but if you have an interest in history you will be rewarded with a fascinating insight.
Conversations with Eleanor - By: Gerald T. Walford, 20 Nov 2007 
This is one of very few books which gets my unreserved recommendation- it is brilliant! Weir fills out the few known facts about Eleanor with side-details from alll aspects of twelfth life: political, cultural, social, religious, poetic, courtly, fiscal....and far from a dull list of events the facts bounce off each other to create an astonishingly dynamic & real image, with al the contradictions & idiosyncracies of a real person. Weirs book is more than a borrowing & accumulation of facts- the sum is more than the parts & given the parts are dramatic indeed the end result is an utter triumph of historical vision, clearly yet lyricallly told.
A waste of paper - By: Vivie, 15 Sep 2007 
How anyone can make Eleanor of Acquitaine dull & present her as conventional (by the standard of Eleanor's contemporaries) is beyond my understanding but Alison Weir succeeds. Worse her history is bad, her analysis weak & her prose turgid. I know she is popular but on the strength of this book it is reallly difficult to see why; I struggled to read it to the end.
Disappointing - By: Yvain Chevalier, 22 Dec 2006 
I realise that there is very little source information available to biographers, but I was disappointed with this biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine. The information about the social & political background is interesting but there is more information about Eleanor's husbands & sons than there is about her, & a lot of the information that we do get is just itineraries, telling us where Eleanor was on a specific date.
I also think that the style is too subjective, with Alison Weir making assumptions that suit her story, & I also thought that it was unprofessional to mention one other biographer by name just for the sake of trying to discredit a different theory about Eleanor of Aquitaine's life.
excellent biography - By: Roman Clodia, 18 Aug 2006 I didn't know very much about Eleanor apart from her being the mother of Richard I & John & so I reallly enjoyed this book. It's a good read if you're not familiar with this period as Weir takes the time to explain the cultural & political environment in which the story is taking place. I've studied medieval literature but not history & so this was an excellent 'filler' & interesting to see where myth & literature intersect with known or documented history.
Having said that, my gut feel is that the history is probably biased & clearly not objective. But I guess whether that's a problem or not depends on why you're reading the book: if it's for a 'historical' take then this probably isn't for you, or it should at least be supplemented with something more academic. If, like me, you're looking for an entertaining read that fills in some of the gaps in your knowledge, then I can fully recommend this.
