#norman is in france

[angelwings-crossbowstrings]

It’s 12:15am. Airport by 3am. Plane by 5am. NY by 4pm.

I’ll be on the east coast for the first time in a while. I’m going to be soooo jet lagged.

I hope I can think straight enough to write!

[illustratus]

Charlemagne anxiously observes the approach of ships carrying Norman raiders by Alphonse de Neuville

[wonder-worker]

A central element of the myth of [Eleanor of Aquitaine] is that of her exceptionalism. Historians and Eleanor biographers have tended to take literally Richard of Devizes’s conventional panegyric of her as ‘an incomparable woman’ [and] a woman out of her time. […] Amazement at Eleanor’s power and independence is born from a presentism that assumes generally that the Middle Ages were a backward age, and specifically that medieval women were all downtrodden and marginalized. Eleanor’s career can, from such a perspective, only be explained by assuming that she was an exception who rose by sheer force of personality above the restrictions placed upon twelfth-century women.

— Michael R. Evans, Inventing Eleanor: The Medieval and Post-Medieval Image of Eleanor of Aquitaine

"...The idea of Eleanor’s exceptionalism rests on an assumption that women of her age were powerless. On the contrary, in Western Europe before the twelfth century there were ‘no really effective barriers to the capacity of women to exercise power; they appear as military leaders, judges, castellans, controllers of property’. […] In an important article published in 1992, Jane Martindale sought to locate Eleanor in context, stripping away much of the conjecture that had grown up around her, and returning to primary sources, including her charters. Martindale also demonstrated how Eleanor was not out of the ordinary for a twelfth-century queen either in the extent of her power or in the criticisms levelled against her.

If we look at Eleanor’s predecessors as Anglo-Norman queens of England, we find many examples of women wielding political power. Matilda of Flanders (wife of William the Conqueror) acted as regent in Normandy during his frequent absences in England following the Conquest, and [the first wife of Henry I, Matilda of Scotland, played some role in governing England during her husband's absences], while during the civil war of Stephen’s reign Matilda of Boulogne led the fight for a time on behalf of her royal husband, who had been captured by the forces of the empress. And if we wish to seek a rebel woman, we need look no further than Juliana, illegitimate daughter of Henry I, who attempted to assassinate him with a crossbow, or Adèle of Champagne, the third wife of Louis VII, who ‘[a]t the moment when Henry II held Eleanor of Aquitaine in jail for her revolt … led a revolt with her brothers against her son, Philip II'.

Eleanor is, therefore, less the exception than the rule – albeit an extreme example of that rule. This can be illustrated by comparing her with a twelfth century woman who has attracted less literary and historical attention. Adela of Blois died in 1137, the year of Eleanor’s marriage to Louis VII. […] The chronicle and charter evidence reveals Adela to have ‘legitimately exercised the powers of comital lordship’ in the domains of Blois-Champagne, both in consort with her husband and alone during his absence on crusade and after his death. […] There was, however, nothing atypical about the nature of Adela’s power. In the words of her biographer Kimberley LoPrete, ‘while the extent of Adela’s powers and the political impact of her actions were exceptional for a woman of her day (and indeed for most men), the sources of her powers and the activities she engaged in were not fundamentally different from those of other women of lordly rank’. These words could equally apply to Eleanor; the extent of her power, as heiress to the richest lordship in France, wife of two kings and mother of two or three more, was remarkable, but the nature of her power was not exceptional. Other noble or royal women governed, arranged marriages and alliances, and were patrons of the church. Eleanor represents one end of a continuum, not an isolated outlier."

[windsorfairfax]

lana del rey for vouge france

august, 2024

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Évariste Vital Luminais (French, 1821-1896) The Invasion, n.d. Museum of Fine Arts Boston

[georgeivsexpiredbrandy]

This is most certainly NOT how the Norman Invasion looked like!!! 😞

🤓👆

The Normans were actually mostly Viking descendants, with William himself being a descendant of one such Viking. The French had little to no involvement, and the Duchy of Normandy had been given to the Vikings decades prior.

This is for THOSE anti-frukers that use the arguement of "oh france conquered and raised england so they can't be shipped" like I'm pretty fucking sure Francypants is NOT William I??? The French never really got close to conquering England, despite what they might tell you — Remember, French people are not to be trusted — and, if anything, it was actually England that nearly conquered them!

Overall, I spend too much time researching English history (;´д｀)

[ladymacbeth-writes-sometimes]

The reason I’m still alive:

[grayjoy15]

Day 27: Marie de France, poet and (maybe) abbess. Aside from her name and place of origin, her identity is unknown, though she was potentially a relative of King Henry II of England and/or an abbess. She adapted Breton narrative poems into French verse and translated Aesop’s Fables from Old English.

[featherstonevintage]

Left: Christiane Formisyn Right: Michèle Rosier pour Pierre d'Alby

Elle, December 1966

Photographed by Norman Parkinson

[batzwingszlolz]

BURGER

[liar-or-lawyer]

[illustratus]

The Battle of Hastings by Pierre Joubert

1982 Au temps des Vikings - Les Normands de Guillaume le Bâtard (1982 Viking Age - William the Bastard's Normans)

[wonder-worker]

"[Matilda of Boulogne's office as Queen of England], initiated and broadly defined by the coronation ordo, gave her royal power and authority to share in governance. Her obligations and activities were shaped by custom established by previous queens and the ad hoc needs of king and realm. [...] [Matilda's] thorough integration into the governance of the realm was not repeated in [Eleanor of Aquitaine’s] years as queen of England. Eleanor's coronation followed a new model that emphasized the queen as progenitor of royal heirs and subordinate to the king rather than as sharer of royal power. Though Eleanor acted as regent in England between 1156 and 1158 and in Poitou on several occasions from 1165 on, her writs suggest delegated rather than shared royal authority. In England, her power was limited by the lack of lands assigned to her use and by the elaboration of financial and judicial administration. Whereas [Matilda of Boulogne's] inheritance allowed her to play an integral role in politics by securing the Londoners' loyalty and a steady supply of mercenaries, Eleanor's inheritance provided her with more extensive power in Poitou and Aquitaine than in England. Until 1163, Eleanor withdrew funds from the Exchequer by her own writ, but unlike her Anglo-Norman predecessors, she was not a member of its council nor did she issue judgments from the royal court. Eleanor's counsel and diplomatic activities, in contrast to Matilda's, are rarely mentioned. She did, however, encourage the 1159 Toulouse campaign and supported Henry in the Becket affair and the coronation of young Henry. Eleanor was not a prominent curialis; she rarely witnessed Henry's charters or interceded to secure the king's mercy. She did follow in Matilda's footsteps in her promotion of her sons, cultivation of dynastic goals through the Fontevraudian tombs, and patronage that reflected her family's traditions. For Matilda, to be queen encompassed a variety of functions-curialis, diplomat, judge, intercessor, and "regent." Through a combination of factors, Eleanor's role as queen was much more restricted."

-Heather J. Tanner, "Queenship: Office, Custom or Ad Hoc", Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady (Edited by Bonnie Wheeler and John Carmi Parsons)

[thevondoom62]

Mania across Marvel

[philibetexcerpts]

On 10 April 1957, the Queen and Prince Philip attended a white tie event hosted by President René Coty and Mrs. Germaine Coty at Louvre’s Salle des Cariatides.

The Queen wore a blue-green gown with floral embroidery on its bodice, designed by Norman Hartnell for this occasion.

As for the jewelry, she wore the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, the Greville chandelier earrings and diamond festoon necklace, which she often wore together, and the True Lover’s Knot brooch.

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Évariste Vital Luminais (French, 1821-1896) The abduction, ca.1887-89 Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires