Canterbury Papers (42 page)

Setting aside the magnificent soap opera of the Plantagenet family and its ongoing dance with the royal house of France, what lover of good stories could help but be arrested by the possibilities offered in the real scenario? And so, as I read medieval history for several years to amuse myself, often while traveling in France and England, I began to wonder. What if Alaïs was not the pawn she appeared to be, buffeted between her betrothed and his powerful father? What if instead she was cut of the cloth of some other women of her time: Eleanor of Aquitaine, who married two kings and mothered two more; Marie de Champagne, Eleanor's eldest daughter by Louis, who patronized Chrétien de Troyes and thus gave us the incomparable Arthurian cycle of stories; Christine de Pizan; Hildegarde of Bingen; Eleanor de Montfort; Blanche of Castile? These were powerful women of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries who changed the course of history with their wit, their resourcefulness, and their courage to be themselves. That question—“What if?”—is the beginning of every fictional exploration.

Much of the history in this book is accurate, although I have taken great liberties with the Knights Templar in creating Lord William. In most cases, I have tried to stay close to actual historical dates. I want to acknowledge, however, that Henry's mother, Matilda, is reported to have died in 1167, and thus could not have raised François herself. Also, Master Averroës is said to have died in 1195, and thus could not have attended the significant meeting with Duke Robert in northern Europe in 1200, the year of this novel's action. I am grateful for the many books that fed my understanding of these times. This novel would not have been formed without W. L. Warren's towering biography
Henry II
and Amy Kelly's classic work
Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings.
Also worthy of mention are Marion Meade's
Eleanor of Aquitaine
and
Richard Coeur de Lion
by Philip Henderson. Many works by Georges Duby were helpful, in particular
William Marshal: The Flower of Chivalry.

Several books by Jacques le Goff had an impact on my understanding of the Middle Ages:
Intellectuals in the Middle Ages
and
The Medieval Imagination
are two such. For further understanding of the mysterious Knights Templar,
The Temple and the Lodge
by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh is a great general history, and for a more serious treatment, the classic by Malcolm Barber,
The New Knighthood
, is a good resource.

For those interested in the Spanish-Arabic connection, a most complete accounting may be found in
The Great Medieval Civilizations
, volume III, published by Harper & Row, the international authors of which were assembled by a commission of UNESCO. It is from this work that we understand that eyeglasses came from Arab invention and were used as early as the twelfth century in western Europe.

Canterbury Cathedral aficionados will enjoy
The Quest for Becket's Bones
, especially the part about the fire and the removal of Becket's remains, as well as the penance Henry performed at the site.

Two other books deserve mention for their assessment of the place of women in the Middles Ages: Denis de Rougemont's
Love in the Western World
and R. Howard Bloch's
Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love.
Although de Rougemont's thesis of the origins of Western romantic love has been bitterly challenged (so much so that in the last edition he added an appendix consisting of twelve extra chapters to defend it!), his understanding of the influence of Arabic poetry and learning on the courts of southern France and subsequently on the whole of Western Europe remains a significant contribution.

I have visited and been moved by nearly every place described in this novel. The Conciergerie on the Île de la Cité in Paris is, in part, still the same building from which Alaïs departs on her fateful mission. The ducal palace with its great hall still stands in Poitiers. And while Canterbury is much changed, and Chinon and Old Sarum are now just ruins or outlines of buildings long gone, one can imagine what they were like in former times. Indeed, it was the monastery of Moissac in southern France that was the true model for the Canterbury scenes in this book. The Montjoie
château
near Chinon still stands and is now a very classy
Relais et Château
establishment. Still, there are echoes of other voices when one visits.

W
e know a great deal about the Middle Ages, but there remains disagreement among historians on some of the peripheral details. A case in point is the sobriquet “Court Mantell.” My sources indicate the usage for the Young King, the son of Henry and Eleanor, to distinguish him from his father as a young man, before his crowning. The elder Henry was called Henry Fitzempress, in honor of his mother's title from her first marriage. Other sources have been called to my attention, in which this appelation is given to the father, Henry II. I hope the reader will bear easily with these differences, and enjoy the story for what it is.

I
owe many, past and present, a debt of gratitude for ideas and encouragement in my happy search for these characters and this story: to John Berryman for suggesting years ago that I read Denis de Rougemont; to Emilie Buchwald, Jonis Agee, and John Desteian; to early (and sometimes often) readers Lynn Cowan, Pat Cummings, and Alice Buhl, thanks for their suggestions and encouragement; and to Jon Hassler for helping me understand the joys of rewriting. Special thanks to Dee Ready, friend, writer, and editor, for all her help.

My gratitude also goes to the sisters of the Monastery of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, for their hospitality over several weeks, which allowed me to finish and revise the book. Sisters Ruth Nierengarten and Margaret Van Kampen, wonderful artists both, contributed materially to the manuscript, and for that I am grateful.

Thanks also to my sons, Sean, Paul, Mike, and Colin, for interest and encouragement. Without the able assistance of my agent, Marly Rusoff, and the superb editorial direction of Carolyn Marino, the book would not have come to completion. Special thanks to my husband and best reader, Michael, for loving the story.

J
UDITH
H
EALEY
, whose hobby is medieval history, manages two family foundations. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is at work on another novel featuring the extraordinary Alais of France.

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The Facts

Cover design by Mary Schuck

Cover photograph by Mary Javorek

Grateful acknowledgment is made to reprint the poem by Omar Ibn
al-Faridh from
Love in the Western World
by Denis de Rougement.
Copyright © 1983 by Princeton University Press. Reprinted by
permission of Princeton University Press.

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events,
establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide
a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters,
and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's
imagination and are not to be construed as real.

A hardcover edition of this book was published in 2004 by
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

THE CANTERBURY PAPERS.
Copyright © 2004 by Judith Koll Healey.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

DESIGNED BY JENNIFER ANN DADDIO
MAP BY JANE S. KIM

The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:

Healey, Judith Koll.
The Canterbury papers / Judith Koll Healey.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-06-052535-5
1. Eleanor, of Aquitaine, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of England,
1122?–1204—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History—Richard I,
1189–1199—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3608.E236L67 2004
813'.6—dc21     2003053987

ISBN: 9780060773328

EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2012 ISBN: 9780062196804

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