Product Description

The feminine spirit soars as Eleanor of Aquitaine dictates her memoirs. "Power of a Woman. Memoirs of a turbulent life: Eleanor of Aquitaine" reveals the mind of medieval Europe's most exceptional woman recalling her own astonishing odyssey.

Why did Eleanor wait until her eighty-first year to dictate her life story? Because "Life was for living. Bloodless recall is better suited to old age!" Betrayals and loyalties; triumphs and trials; stormy marriages to two warring kings, France's Louis VII and England's Henry II: "They left me worn, these men, but they didn't level me." Eleanor recalls wars, intrigues, her travels, troubadours and ruthless diplomacy while confessing her loves, hopes for her children and their fates: "God Almighty, let me die before You gather in another child, or the child of a child, of mine!"

To secure her children's wellbeing she even tries threatening God: "I would prefer to relinquish this old body quietly, but be warned! If I must be borne hence cursing Christ, as Henry was, I shall."

Eleanor looks back dispassionately, analyzing the Grace she enjoyed as the femme fatale of her day--"This old carcass once embodied the feminine ideal"--and she explains the role her Court of Ladies played in freeing women's minds from an "iron, bearded world." Chicago's Margaret Schmidt calls author Robert Fripp "a rare magician, a 'writer's writer'."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1019110 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 398 pages

Ronni's Rants. A blog by Veronica Prior, Round Rock, Texas
"A great read! Gripping. I have images of Eleanor in my mind and Kate Hepburn's voice in my ear."

Yahoo Groups, The Lion in Winter Group, posted by Medeas_Child
"Skillful prose. Fripp's style reminds me of 'I, Claudius', huge praise in this reviewer's eyes."

Margaret Schmidt, Public seminars instructor, Newberry Library, Chicago Margaret Schmidt, Public seminars instructor, Newberry Library, Chicago
"Read this book from love of language! I suspect Robert Fripp descends from one of Eleanor's troubadours.

Customer Reviews

"Power of a Woman" by Robert Fripp
Eleanor of Aquitaine was the daughter of a provincial Duke in France. Twice she married Kings and had many children, although she outlived most of them and several grandchildren, living into her ninth decade, suffering annulment and internal exile. Two of her sons became King of England and, through John "Sansterre", she is the ancestress of every subsequent monarch.
In this book, Robert Fripp does for Eleanor what Graves did for Claudius, as she dictates her "memoirs" to a younger secretary. Most of us know much less about Eleanor than we would like and this is our opportunity to make amends.