The Lion in WinterThe Public Good in Private
Lives
Question…What does the Lion in Winter suggest about
the following in the medieval aristocratic culture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries?
Marriage AnnulmentGovernment SexAlliances DiplomacyReligion WarFamilies WomenPower AgeLand Feudalism
How do some of these themes
intersect in the Lion in Winter?
Do these ideas correspond to the reality of the Middle Ages as you
know it?
The hair, once reddish, now turning to grey, of middle height, round-headed, his eyes brilliant as lightning when rouses, his face lion-like, surmounted by a fine mane, his deep chest, strong arms and bow legs.
Peter of Blois
(1135-1211)
Genealogy of Henry II
Thomas Becket (can 1120-1170)
Legal Reforms
Henry’s Empire
Henry and Eleanor
Eleanor of Aquitaine (ca 1122-1204)
First Marriage
Medieval Consanguinity Table to Seven Degrees
Henry and Eleanor’s Children
Richard I (1189-1199)
Worst King Ever?
John of England (199-1216)
John Lackland…
Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany
Philip II of France (r 1180-1223)
France at the end of Philip’s Rule