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Title: Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings by Amy Ruth Kelly ISBN: 0-674-24254-8 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1974 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.15 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (18 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great biography but rough read....
Comment: This biography will probably ranked in my book, one of the best on Eleanor of Aquitaine next to the one written by Alison Weir. While Weir's book is far more readable, Kelly's book sides with a more scholarly approach. This book wasn't meant for the casual reader but for serious mediveal history readers. With that in mind, I thought the book was well written, superbly researched and provides a great deal of insights as well as cause and effects of Eleanor's presence in history.
If you are serious about understanding Eleanor of Aquitaine, I would strongly recommended this book and the one by Weir as the two books that will covered her life with justice and with completeness.
Rating: 5
Summary: The definitive biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine
Comment: This is a scholarly work that does not attempt to cater to the pop-culture-obsessed masses. If you are looking for a book that is simple and easy-to-read, this one is not for you. Kelly takes an in-depth look at the life of one of the most fascinating people of all time, and she writes for people who already know something about the period. This book was written well before the recent trend towards revisionist and dumbed-down history, and the serious reader is better off for it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Incredible research- stilted prose
Comment: Anyone who has seen the spectacular "Lion in Winter" can only surmise what the real Eleanor must have been like if she resembled in any way Katherine Hepburn. This weekend vignette captures the essence of this remarkable woman - perhaps the most remarkable of the Middle Ages. Ms. Kelly has obviously undertaken a labor of love with prodigious research, meticulous documentation and references to primary sources. In many ways the scholarship evidenced here is the outstanding feature.
The story is one that is almost familiar - we are in the time of the Crusades, the Normans have conquered England and the Plantagenets are in control. It is simultaneously the story of the rebirth of Britain as an independent political entity. The Aquitaine was a much desired territory with economic, military, religious and historical import. But princess Eleanor did not marry to fuse or protect her kingdom. She apparently possessed a quick, far-reaching mind and knew that a woman in her position could go far.
She was a renaissance woman: Devout (financing Crusades and traveling to the Holy Land), scheming and daring (divorced Louis for the up and coming Henry), politically astute and above all a power broker of the first degree. She grew too powerful for Henry who kept her under a form of house arrest. She then had intrigues with her son, Richard I (the Lion hearted) but finally became undisputed ruler of England in all but name. Lastly she became involved in the affairs of her son John.
The story is more interesting that the writing which is pedantic at times, occasionally stilted and formal, sometimes almost obtuse in its language and references. This is NOT a tale for the unknowing layman since it presumes a knowledge of the early Middle Ages. Despite all this it is an incredible biography - perhaps the best around - of Eleanor.
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Title: Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Alison Weir ISBN: 0345434870 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 03 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Queen Eleanor: Independent Spirit of the Medieval World : A Biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Polly Schoyer Brooks, Polly Brooks ISBN: 0395981395 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: 01 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Eleanor of Aquitaine by Marion Meade ISBN: 0140153381 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Henry Second (English Monarchs (Paperback)) by W.L. Warren ISBN: 0520034945 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1973 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title:The Lion in Winter ASIN: B000056HEA Publisher: MGM/UA Video Pub. Date: 19 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $16.38 |
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