A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg

He was fat he could neither put on his own shoes nor mount his horse, but his mind was as lean and as quick as his body was fat and slow.

History books call him Louis le Gros, which means Louis the Fat. Louis suffered more than most people from the heat, for he was overweight. We had left Paris to escape the summer’s heat. William of Aquitaine knew that King Louis could not pass up a bargain.Īnd, sick though he was, King Louis VI did not. William of Aquitaine wanted his daughter Eleanor wed to the king’s son, Prince Louis. William knew that his daughter would need a husband, and that is why he had sent messengers to his king. But in those days when all the lords of Aquitaine were fighting among themselves as well as fighting their duke, it took a lot of brawling to hold onto the lands. William’s death made Eleanor the richest orphan in Europe. William of Aquitaine had a daughter her name was Eleanor.

They knew the king would listen, for although the Duke of Aquitaine was a vassal to the king, he was far richer, just as an oilman may be far richer than a prime minister. Just before his death, Duke William had sent messengers to his king the messengers carried a request. KING LOUIS VI and I were staying in a hunting lodge outside Paris when word came that William, Duke of Aquitaine, had died. As a sort of 'literary biography,' this would be an excellent short novel to pair with a more formal biography for a project aligned to Common Core standards. The royal courts were known for foul play and much dalliance, but Konigsburg adeptly navigates the scandal while keeping the intrigue. Occasional black and white drawings accompanied by calligraphy add to the medieval feel. Per the end matter, all characters in the story were real people. Historical fact and believable fiction blend as Eleanor weds and divorces Louis of France, and then weds Henry of England, creating rebellions, setting standards of culture, and proving that women can rule kingdoms along the way. After a brief but slowly-paced beginning that sets up the Heaven framework for the story, each section of Eleanor's life gallops along as it's recalled by one of her friends in a Chaucer-esque tale. As vivacious Eleanor of Aquitaine, a real-life queen of 12th-century England and France, awaits the arrival of her husband Henry into Heaven, she and three acquaintances recall her remarkable life on earth.

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg