It’s been a while since I added to this blog. I’ve been hard at work on preparing to
publish The Reputed Wife, my sequel to Rebel Puritan, but other aspects of life
have intruded as well. My 81-year old mother
went missing for 18 hours on a drive from southern Pennsylvania to upstate NY,
and what should have been a 250-mile trip turned into nearly 700. She is fine now, but after that scare, my family is assessing her abilities
and needs. One thing I can tell you – no
more long-distance solo drives for her! |
| Suffragettes |
My mother is delightful and engaging, but anyone who has
ever known her can attest that she is a strong-willed woman. People have said that about me as well. Is that why I was drawn to write about Herodias
Long?
That 17th-century woman
grabbed me with her thoroughly modern exploits the moment I read about them,
and I am still in her thrall. What is it
about Herodias which attracts me so? I
questioned a pair of friends who are writing about their own strong-willed
women, and their answers are similar to mine.
 |
| Christy English |
Christy English has written two books about Eleanor of
Aquitaine; To Be Queen and The Queen’s Pawn.
Why Eleanor? I’ll let Christy
tell you herself:
Why Eleanor of Aquitaine?
By Christy English
Author of TO BE QUEEN
 |
| Eleanor of Aquitaine |
Why does Eleanor of Aquitaine enthrall me? This is a
question with so many answers, that I’ll only talk about a few of them here.
Eleanor amazed me with her power. In spite of the fact that she was born a
woman during the high Middle Ages, she ruled the Aquitaine and Poitou
in her own right, inheriting her property directly from her father. She managed
to keep hold of her lands even after her marriage to her first husband, King
Louis VII of France,
was annulled.
Eleanor of Aquitaine was a powerful woman, but she was also
a cultured one. She kept the art of courtly love flourishing both in England and in France, and
carried it all the way to the gates of Byzantium
when she rode in the Second Crusade. Eleanor was a woman who knew what she
wanted. As soon as she freed herself from her first marriage, only two months
later, she married Henry, the eighteen-year-old Duke of Normandy who within two
years time was crowned King of England.
There are so many reasons to love Eleanor. My favorite
reason is that she never gave up. No matter what obstacle rose in her path, she
did not relinquish her goals. She simply waited and bided her time until she
could bring her dreams to fruition. Not every task she set herself was
accomplished, but most of them were. That determination, more than her lands
and her titles, made Eleanor of Aquitaine a woman to be reckoned with.
 |
| Eleanor's effigy at Fontrevaud Abbey |
Images:
personal photos and collection from Christy English
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