The Lion of England Author:Margaret Butler Here is the novel that splendidly evokes life in England in the mid-12th century, an England only just emerging from the grip of the old pagan Gods. It tells of the love of the first Plantagenet, Henry II, for his Saxon Mistress -- half witch, half wanton -- the love that alienated Henry’s proud queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and sowed the s... more »eeds of his tragic conflict with his brilliant chancellor and archbishop Thomas Beckett.
As the novel opens, the anarchy of King Stephen’s reign is over; the gifted young monarch has restored a measure of order. But throughout Henry’s realm, deep in the forests in the sacred oak groves, the ancient pagan rituals, though outlawed are still celebrated -- the horned god still demands sacrificial due.
Dominating this sweeping novel is King Henry himself. A man of colossal energy, and overriding ambition, capable of terrifying rages, Henry is surprised into tenderness by his passion for his lovely pagan mistress, Hikenai. Hikenai is a “faery woman,” dedicated early by her mother to the Old Gods, the powerful and savage deities dear to the Saxons long before the Normans and their civilizing clerics arrive. It is their affair and its impact on Henry’s tangled relationships with Eleanor and Thomas that lie at the heart of The Lion of England, brilliantly reinvigorating this famous triangle. Becket is given a new dimension -- an outward piety masking not just love of display and the iron will that would ultimately bring him into confrontation with his king, but also a driving bloodlust that stood surrogate for a natural desire for women. And Eleanor, more than the promiscuous, conniving bitch of record, is instead a demanding but committed wife who suffers agonies at Henry’s defection, yet manages to wait out the King’s grand passion and live to sing another day with a husband altered and matured by grief.« less
ISBN-13: 9780698105553 ISBN-10: 0698105559 Edition:[1st American ed.] Rating: