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A review by ailurophile_bibliophile89
The Autumn Throne by Elizabeth Chadwick
5.0
5 Stars!
Okay, I love historical fiction. Obviously. I love a book even more when is consistent with the facts and yet humanizes the people it's about.
Eleanor, or Alienor, is one of the more famous English queens, but history has not always been kind to her. She's often portrayed as a shrewd beauty who uses her wits and looks to get what she wants. If she's portrayed otherwise, it's rarely as a victim but rather as a cold hearted queen who incites her sons to fight on her behalf.
Chadwick does not portray her as either. And I love that. This Alienor is a woman who is ahead of her time. She's educated, more so than many men of her era, so she's intelligent; she's intuitive, a key skill in international politics and in the marriage bed; and she's not shy about her faults even though some consider her somewhat vain and spoiled. As a woman in Medieval England, kings and queens were answerable to the Church, which essentially ruled Europe. Therefore, Alienor was constrained by the laws of chastity, meekness, and that women must abide by their husbands no matter who is in the wrong.
At the beginning of the series, in The Summer Queen Alienor was given in an arranged marriage to the (eventual) King of France, a common situation back then. Louis was a weak husband and an even weaker king who believed that faith and God's love were more important than good international relations. A deeply loyal follower of the Church, Louis was ill-equipped to be king and a husband and his actions show he ruled less with logic and more with his heart. In The Winter Crown Alienor watches as her second husband, Henry II of England, fights to keep everything under his control while alienating his own sons. His paranoia even causes Alienor to sympathize with her sons, a notion he sees as betrayal.
The Autumn Throne begins with Alienor's captivity, a result of her and Henry's sons acting on their own accord, and ends with her death. As the book progresses and those she loves and cares for die, she constantly questions why she is still alive when all others have gone before her. Having outlived all but two of her children, both husbands, and even her closest supporters and friends, I can't blame her for growing just a little bitter, especially after Richard's death. Still, she shows resilience in every situation. She fights and supports her sons because she sees Henry's treatment of them as a legitimate reason for rebellion. (Honestly, even I see it as a legitimate reason.) Henry is very much like his grandfather in that he plans for the future but he doesn't surrender any of his power to his heirs. And like his grandfather, he avoids negotiation and council from his advisers but then sees it as as a betrayal when someone acts out or against his orders. Alienor sees that as a major flaw when her sons are repeatedly hurt by his unwillingness to share duties.
Beautifully written with detailed accounts of events, Chadwick does a wonderful job at portraying Alienor not as a victim or a villianess, but as a woman restrained by the times she lives in. And yet somehow, Alienor's long-lived life is not a failure but a triumph because she is able to rise above the betrayals of her husbands and her son John and show the world that she is just as intelligent, shrewd, and politically astute as any other ruler in her time.
I suppose in the end that is all that matters.
Okay, I love historical fiction. Obviously. I love a book even more when is consistent with the facts and yet humanizes the people it's about.
Eleanor, or Alienor, is one of the more famous English queens, but history has not always been kind to her. She's often portrayed as a shrewd beauty who uses her wits and looks to get what she wants. If she's portrayed otherwise, it's rarely as a victim but rather as a cold hearted queen who incites her sons to fight on her behalf.
Chadwick does not portray her as either. And I love that. This Alienor is a woman who is ahead of her time. She's educated, more so than many men of her era, so she's intelligent; she's intuitive, a key skill in international politics and in the marriage bed; and she's not shy about her faults even though some consider her somewhat vain and spoiled. As a woman in Medieval England, kings and queens were answerable to the Church, which essentially ruled Europe. Therefore, Alienor was constrained by the laws of chastity, meekness, and that women must abide by their husbands no matter who is in the wrong.
At the beginning of the series, in The Summer Queen Alienor was given in an arranged marriage to the (eventual) King of France, a common situation back then. Louis was a weak husband and an even weaker king who believed that faith and God's love were more important than good international relations. A deeply loyal follower of the Church, Louis was ill-equipped to be king and a husband and his actions show he ruled less with logic and more with his heart. In The Winter Crown Alienor watches as her second husband, Henry II of England, fights to keep everything under his control while alienating his own sons. His paranoia even causes Alienor to sympathize with her sons, a notion he sees as betrayal.
The Autumn Throne begins with Alienor's captivity, a result of her and Henry's sons acting on their own accord, and ends with her death. As the book progresses and those she loves and cares for die, she constantly questions why she is still alive when all others have gone before her. Having outlived all but two of her children, both husbands, and even her closest supporters and friends, I can't blame her for growing just a little bitter, especially after Richard's death. Still, she shows resilience in every situation. She fights and supports her sons because she sees Henry's treatment of them as a legitimate reason for rebellion. (Honestly, even I see it as a legitimate reason.) Henry is very much like his grandfather in that he plans for the future but he doesn't surrender any of his power to his heirs. And like his grandfather, he avoids negotiation and council from his advisers but then sees it as as a betrayal when someone acts out or against his orders. Alienor sees that as a major flaw when her sons are repeatedly hurt by his unwillingness to share duties.
Beautifully written with detailed accounts of events, Chadwick does a wonderful job at portraying Alienor not as a victim or a villianess, but as a woman restrained by the times she lives in. And yet somehow, Alienor's long-lived life is not a failure but a triumph because she is able to rise above the betrayals of her husbands and her son John and show the world that she is just as intelligent, shrewd, and politically astute as any other ruler in her time.
I suppose in the end that is all that matters.