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