When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman

 ★★★★¾

GENRE: Historical Fiction
SUBJECT: Early British history, civil war
Setting: England, Normandy, France
CHARACTERS: Ranulf FitzRoy, Empress Maude, King Stephen, Geoffrey of Anjou,Robert FitzRoy
DATE READ: December 27 - January 18
NO. OF PAGES: 784
Off the Shelf (pre-2013)? Source?:   Yes,borrowed from Tutu

PLOT:.......................................................4.5
CHARACTERIZATION:...............................5
TOPICS:...................................................5
STYLE:.....................................................4.5
ORIGINALITY:...........................................4.5
ADDICTIVENESS:.....................................5
OWNERSHIP:............................................5
THRESHOLD QUALITY:..............................5
Average...................................................................4.81

The early history of England is chuck full of struggle and civil war and this book could easily be a detailed document of those struggles, but for the personal accounts created by the author which bring to life the individuals involved and their driving motivations.

The story begins with the sinking of the White Ship, believed the greatest ship of its time (think Titanic in medieval times) and with it the only legitimate son of Henry I.  Not that Henry didn't have other sons (20 bastards - give or take a few) but now only his daughter Maude, widowed German Empress, was left as his heir.  Deciding without her permission to first name her as his successor and second to marry her to a younger man, Geoffrey of Anjou, Maude's life was thrown into upheaval that never ended.

Maude's second marriage was miserable but did eventually yield 3 sons - Henry, Geoffrey, and William.  But after her father's death, when Maude was ready to take the crown of England it was claimed by her cousin Stephen, since the English barons preferred a man over a woman, and thus the Civil war that swept through that nation for  nearly 20 years erupted.

Maude's supporters were led by her half-brothers and other lords, while Stephen frequently needed to purchase mercenaries as well as  some of his own nation's noblemen.  Often there were defections back and forth.

Maude's oldest son, Henry was finally crowned king along with his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine (reputed to be the most beautiful woman in Christendom as well as a great heiress. (She had been married to Louis of France but was set aside because she only had girls.)  Eleanor was the only woman who was ever Queen of France and England.

This book was extremely well researched and written so that it read more as an adventure than as a history.  The hundreds of pages took the reader through the horrors of war in the  12th century as well as identifying the political atmosphere regarding the nobility, the church, and women's rights.

My feelings:

I have always had an interest in the history of England and in particular the kings and queens of that realm ever since my father gave me [The Conquering Family] by Thomas Costain which chronicled the beginning of the Plantagenets.  Until this book, however, I had never delved into the battle that took place to bring Henry II into power.

I loved the way that Ms. Penman told this story and that detail to which she went.  The tales of the sieges of the towns of Lincoln and Winchester were vividly portrayed.  And for myself, I never honestly took the thought of how devastating fire could be at that time.  The storytelling and writing were tremendous.

The only drawback was that this book was over 700 pages and the print was very small so it really did seem like it went on forever even if it was extremely interesting.