Clash of crowns : William the Conqueror, Richard Lionheart, and Eleanor of Aquitaine ; a story of bloodshed, betrayal, and revenge

255 Pages·2012·3.93 MB·English

by  Mary McAuliffe PhD

Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2012 by Mary
McAuliffe
Part pages image: Floral decoration from the portal of the Coronation of the
Virgin, the northern portal of the western façade of Notre-Dame de Paris, Paris,
France. © J. McAuliffe.
When not otherwise noted, all translations are by the author.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of
Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McAuliffe, Mary Sperling, 1943–
Clash of crowns : William the Conqueror, Richard Lionheart, and Eleanor of
Aquitaine : a story of bloodshed, betrayal, and revenge / Mary McAuliffe.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4422-1471-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-1473-6
(electronic) 1. Richard I, King of England, 1157–1199. 2. Philip II, King of
France, 1165–1223. 3. Great Britain—History—Richard I, 1189–1199. 4. France
—History—Philip II Augustus, 1180–1223. 5. Plantagenet, House of. I. Title.
DA207.M425 2012
942.03'20922—dc23
2011050778
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
For Mavyn

Preface

A
number of years ago, prompted by our friend Earl Foell, my husband and I
first visited Les Andelys and Château-Gaillard. Foell, former editor of The
Christian Science Monitor, loved nothing better than to explore the byways of
France. Following his example, Jack and I took to the back roads, thoroughly
enjoying our discoveries along the way. We fell in love with numerous places,
but it was Château-Gaillard to which we regularly returned, charting its many
years of restoration with innumerable slides, photos, and (more recently) digital
pictures, as the scaffolding moved from one part of the vast complex to another.
From Gaillard it was natural to follow in Richard Lionheart’s footsteps,
whether along his great post-imprisonment dash from Barfleur to the rescue of
Verneuil, in Normandy, or the scene of his death at Châlus, in the Limousin.
Along the way, we explored castles built by his forebears along the Loire valley,
castles over which he held sway in the Dordogne, and his burial place at the
Abbey of Fontevraud. We included Eleanor of Aquitaine’s Poitiers in our
explorations, as well as medieval remnants in and around Rouen, in whose
cathedral Rollo the Viking, William Longsword, and Henry the Younger are laid
to rest, as well as the great heart of Lionheart himself. It was easy to be
enchanted by Henry I’s favorite hunting grounds, the still-peaceful Forêt de
Lyons. But it was along the river Epte, that bloody dividing line between the
Norman and the French Vexin, that we found the most fascinating evidence of
the long-term struggle between the French and the English crowns—the struggle
that culminated in the great clash at Château-Gaillard. Not surprisingly,
sometime along the way all of this began to shape itself into a book.
My subsequent research brought me into contact with several local
historians, who generously shared their time and knowledge with me. In Les
Andelys, I am especially grateful to historian Yvan Parrault and to Christian
Letourneur, then assistant mayor for tourism and culture. In Saint-Clair-sur-Epte,
I was fortunate to encounter Françoise Henry, then assistant to the mayor, who
unlocked the ancient church of Saint-Clair for us, literally and figuratively.
Without her generosity, we would not have seen the church’s eleventh-century
interior walls or known that the church foundations date from the ninth century
—thus were already in existence at the time of Rollo and the 911 treaty.
I love libraries as much as I love the open road, and I am especially grateful
to the Library of Congress and to the splendid research facilities of the New
York Public Library. In both of these institutions I discovered a surprising
wealth of now published manuscripts and chronicles from the period as well as
many fine scholarly studies, to which I have given specific acknowledgment in
both notes and bibliography.
My deepest thanks to my editor, Susan McEachern, and to my production
editor, Jehanne Schweitzer. I am indeed fortunate to have benefited from their
endless patience, support, and guidance for this and my previous book, Dawn of
the Belle Epoque. Many thanks as well to editorial assistant Grace Baumgartner
and to my copyeditor, Catherine Bielitz. I am also indebted to Joanne Amparan-
Close and to the late Sally Wecksler, who read this manuscript in its early stages
and provided important criticism and encouragement.
My husband, Jack McAuliffe, has once again been my partner in what indeed
was a team effort. I am deeply grateful for his steadfast enthusiasm and multiple
roles in helping to bring this book to fruition. I could not have written it—or
visited all those wonderful places in France—without him.
Lastly, a tribute to my daughter, Mavyn McAuliffe Holman, who in between
her demanding roles as engineer, wife, and mom somehow manages to read,
critique, and offer support for my various endeavors. Mavyn loves a good story,
and so it is especially fitting that I dedicate this book to her.
For further insights into Clash of Crowns and Mary McAuliffe’s other books,
see her Facebook photo blog via www.ClashofCrowns.com.