The Winter Crown (63 page)

I have to explain why I have called the monkey Robert in Chapter 12. In the Middle Ages it was a given that all animals and birds had a name relating to their kind. All cats, for example, were either Gylbert or Tybald (hence Tibbles); all sparrows were Philip. All redbreasts were Robin and wrens were Jenny. And all monkeys were Robert.

Still on the subject of animals, I have given Henry a menagerie at Woodstock. Certainly his grandfather Henry I had one there, with camels and a porcupine as mentioned. King John kept at least one lion. So I considered it feasible, if not remarked upon in history, that some exotic animals were in residence during Henry II’s reign.

Visitors to the United Kingdom can visit the ruins of Old Sarum in Wiltshire where Henry II imprisoned Alienor following the rebellion of 1173. There is not a great deal to see now, but English Heritage’s information plaques give the visitor some idea. What it still does have is atmosphere by the ton. A papal document of 1217 said of the cathedral site adjacent to the palace:
The continual gusts of wind make such a noise that those celebrating the divine offices can hardly hear each other speak.
On a warm summer’s day, Old Sarum is glorious, with the green scent of the Downs blowing across the ancient slope. For the twelfth-century traveller it was situated less than a day’s ride from the great medieval city of Winchester and the port of Southampton, but in the bleak and desolate days of midwinter it must have seemed like the end of the world to a prisoner incarcerated there – a winter crown rising out of the remote landscape.

Alienor’s story continues in
The Autumn Throne
.

Below are just a few of the books and sources I found useful while researching
The Winter Crown
. I can particularly recommend John Guy’s biography of Thomas Becket. For any readers interested in viewing my full research library, it can be found here:
http://elizabethchadwickreference.blogspot.co.uk/

Aurell, Martin,
The Plantagenet Empire 1154–1224
,
translated from the French by David Crouch, Pearson Longman, 2007, ISBN 978 0 5827 8439 0

Chibnall, Marjorie,
The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English
,
Blackwell, 1999 edition, ISBN 978 0 6311 9028 7

Early Yorkshire Charters: Volume 8: The Honour of Warenne
,
edited by William Farrer and Charles Travis Clay, Cambridge University Press, 2013 edition, ISBN 978 1 1080 5831 5

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady
,
edited by Bonnie Wheeler and John C. Parsons, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, ISBN 978 0 2306 0236 6

Flori, Jean,
Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen and Rebel
, Edinburgh University Press, 2004, ISBN 978 0 7486 2295 5

Gillingham, John,
The Angevin Empire: Second Edition
, Arnold, 2001, ISBN 973 0 340 74115 5

Guy, John,
Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim: A 900-Year-Old Story Retold
,
Viking Penguin, 2012, ISBN 978 0 6709 1846 1

King, Alison, Akashic Records Consultant

Norgate, Kate,
England under the Angevin Kings: Volume 2
,
Kessinger, ISBN 978 0 5488 0142 0

Salzman, L. F.,
Henry II
,
Amazon.co.uk, on-demand print of 1917 Constable edition, ISBN 978 1 4086 1219 4

Strickland, Matthew, ‘On the Instruction of a Prince: The Upbringing of Henry, the Young King’
in
Henry II: New Interpretations
, edited by Christopher Harper-Bill and Nicholas Vincent,
Boydell Press, 2007, ISBN 978 1 8461 5553 6

Turner, Ralph V.,
Eleanor of Aquitaine
, Yale University Press, 2009, ISBN 978 0 3001 1911 4

Warren, W. L.,
Henry II
,
Eyre Methuen, 1973, ISBN 973 0 4133 8390 3

The World of Eleanor of Aquitaine: Literature and Society in Southern France between the Eleventh and Thirteenth Centuries,
edited by Marcus Bull and Catherine Léglu, Boydell Press, 2005, ISBN 978 1 8438 3114 7

I would like to say a big thank you as always to my publishing team at Little, Brown. My very wonderful editors Rebecca Saunders and Hannah Green, and also Richenda Todd, with whom I have worked for several years now at the editing stage. If the dates are mostly right in the novel it is down to her eagle eyes spotting where they have changed in successive drafts! I’d also like to thank Stephanie Melrose for her help and enthusiasm on the PR side of the teamwork.

I have been with my agent Carole Blake since the beginning of my publishing career and I want to thank her and everyone at Blake Friedmann for providing a stable platform, fighting my corner, keeping me solvent with publishing deals – and for all the fun and friendship!

Thank you to my readers for all the pleasure and friendship, too. I so enjoy talking to you all on my Facebook group. You’re lovely and you so enrich the writing life.

On the domestic front, I must give an accolade to my husband who continues to be a stalwart and, other than the fact that he seldom sits still, is nothing at all like Henry II! And to my dear friend Alison King, whose remarkable talent has helped me in countless ways to write this novel.

The Winter Crown
is the second book in the Eleanor of Aquitaine series. Have you read the first?

The Summer Queen
begins the fascinating story of the misunderstood young queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Eleanor of Aquitaine’s story is legendary. An icon who has fascinated readers for over eight hundred years, the real Eleanor remains elusive – until now. Based on the most up-to-date research, bestselling novelist Elizabeth Chadwick brings Eleanor’s magnificent story to life, as never before.

Young, vibrant, privileged, Eleanor’s future is golden as the heiress to wealthy Aquitaine. But when her beloved father dies suddenly in the summer of 1137, her childhood ends abruptly. Forced to marry the young prince Louis of France, Eleanor is still struggling to adjust to her new role when Louis’ father dies and they become King and Queen of France. Leaving everything behind, the vivacious Eleanor must face the complex and faction-riddled French court. She is only 13.

Overflowing with scandal, politics, sex, triumphs and tragedies,
The Summer Queen
is out now.

The trilogy will finish with
The Autumn Throne
, out in 2016.