Event Type: Branch

Takes Place: 12th December 2024

Time: 2.45pm **PLEASE NOTE EARLIER START TIME**

Venue: St Thomas’ Square, NEWPORT, IW PO30 1BG

Description: Empress Matilda and Eleanor of Aquitaine are two of the medieval world's best-known women. Yet their relationships with one another, through Henry II but also as rulers in their own right, has not been largely considered. This talk will look at both the personal and the political: how their personalities emerge from their sources and what impressions we can make of their relationship with one another as mother- and daughter-in-law, but also how they operated as co-rulers of Henry II. Both Matilda and Eleanor left an impressive mark on history and by comparing their lives and reigns, we can uncover a greater understanding of how female rule was hindered and how it functioned in the twelfth century.

Price: Talks free to national HA members and students, visitors £3

Email: jacobscme@gmail.com

Website: https://www.facebook.com/HistoricalAssociationIW

Organiser: Historical Association Isle of Wight Branch

Lecturer: Dr Gabrielle Storey, Historian and Author

Region: South-East England