April Queen (64 page)

Read April Queen Online

Authors: Douglas Boyd

12
 The magnificent audience hall built by Eleanor and Henry for the court in Poitiers. The doorway on the left at the head of steps leads to Eleanor’s apartments.

13
 The richly carved porch of Poitiers Cathedral, built under Henry’s and Eleanor’s patronage.

14
 Eleanor’s décor: these twelfth-century floor tiles from Aquitaine resemble those the queen commissioned for the palace of Clarendon.

15
 Altar cross in Limoges enamel from La Sauve Majeure, given to the abbey by Eleanor or Richard.

16
 The contemporary fresco in St Radegonde chapel, Chinon depicting the end of rebellion in 1174. Henry leads away Eleanor, his prisoner; Joanna pleads for peace between her parents.

17
 Henry triumphant.

18
 Eleanor hands the gyrfalcon, emblem of Aquitaine, to Richard.

19
 Eleanor’s sons desert her: Richard takes the falcon, and Geoffrey copies his father’s gesture, meaning, ‘I obey you’.

20
 Chinon Castle. The Tour du Moulin, probably Eleanor’s first prison, is on the far left.

21
 The ruins of Châlus Castle, with its circular keep on right, from where the fatal crossbow bolt was fired.

22
 Aerial view of Old Sarum, where Eleanor was locked up for the best part of fifteen years. The castle ruins are in centre; the foundations of the first cathedral are visible within the outer fortifications.

23
 Killed by greed: the Lionheart’s effigy at Fontevraud.

24
 England’s first virgin queen? Berengaria’s effigy at L’Epau, the abbey she founded near Le Mans.

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