When Christ and His Saints Slept

Rating:
Summary: Great Historical Fiction!
Review: When my mother first asked me to read SKP's The Sunne In Splendour a year ago, I was none too thrilled to be putting upon myself the task of reading a 1,000 page book. But since then, I'm determined to read everything this wonderful author has written! When Christ And His Saints Slept transforms the reader back in time to 12th Century England. The three main characters that SKP focuses on are Maude (Henry I's daughter), Ranulf (a fictional but well-thought out character), and the future Henry II. We also meet a young Eleanor of Aquitane, who really makes a grand entrance into the story towards the end. My only criticism is that sometimes the Welsh names and places are hard to read and remember. The medieval language coupled with a modern sense of humor makes this novel an exciting read. It's hard to put it down once you get into it!

Rating:
Summary: A harsh but realistic look at life in the 1100's - read it!
Review: As usual, Sharon Penman does it again. She is a splendid writer, bringing all of her characters to life. It is almost as it you were living during the period yourself. I would recommend this book be read before reading the trilogy, "Here Be Dragons", "Falls the Shadow" and "The Reckoning" because "When Christ and His Saints Slept" preceeds these three novels and makes the trilogy even more enjoyable. Sharon Penman is my favorite author. I wish she could write one book every 6 months - I'd buy them all! Once you read her works, you'll understand. She brings history to life and makes you want to read and know more!

Rating:
Summary: Now I know why Christ and his saints were sleeping!
Review: What a disappointment. I have read many of Ms Penmans books with great interest but this one was just plain old boring. Her other historical fiction books were extraordinary reads because the true life characters she wrote about were remarkable people. Stephen of Blois struggle with Maude for the crown may have been bloody but the people involved in this struggle just didn't grab your attention as the characters in Ms Penmans other books. I felt little compassion for either side. The fact that Ms Penman has Ranulf, a purely fictional character, as a main character shows how weak a story line this was to begin with.

The last quarter of this book begins the fascinating and remarkable lives of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Now there is the story. I look forward to reading Time and Chance to continue Henry II and Eleanors saga.

If you want to read some really good historical fiction by MS Penman read: Here Be Dragons, Falls the Shadow, The Reckoning, and Sunne in Splendour.

Rating:
Summary: A nineteen year coma
Review: The reign of England's King Henry II, and his stormy marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, is, for me, history's most fascinating story. I was afraid that Sharon Kay Penman's treatment of the beginning of that tale in her historical novel WHEN CHRIST AND HIS SAINTS SLEPT would be a frivolous chick-book. Not so.

It's 1135, and England's monarch, Henry I, dies. His designated heir is his daughter Matilda, the widow of the German Emperor, who's now married to Count Geoffrey of Anjou. However, many of England's nobles are unwilling to kneel to a woman, and so they persuade Matilda's cousin Stephen, the son of Henry I's sister Adela, to claim the throne. Thus follows a nineteen-year civil war as Matilda contests for the crown, first for herself and then for her first-born son by Geoffrey, Henry. King Stephen fights for himself, and for the right of his son, Eustace, to inherit.

If this book had been pure fiction, the author could have been faulted for dragging it out over 738 paper-backed pages as the fortunes of war see-saw back and forth, and England's powerful land barons change from one side to the other, and back again. But the major events of the conflict are all based on historical fact, and one wonders why JC and his saints would sleep so long while the countryside and its inhabitants were caught between opposing sides and brutalized. Were they on illegal substances, you think?

During the first five-hundred or so pages, before young Henry is of sufficient age to take serious part in the bloodletting , the author displays fancy footwork in providing a protagonist for the reader to like. After all, Stephen makes an odd villain. He's an honorable man, loving father and husband, and a courageous soldier - but a poor king. Matilda, on the other hand, is brave, steadfast, and a loving mother, but infuriatingly tactless and totally inept at winning and keeping the loyalty of her potential English subjects. So, Penman creates the easy-going character of Ranulf, a fictional illegitimate son of Henry I and a loyal supporter of his half-sister in the wearisome struggle. As Ranulf follows Matilda from slaughter to slaughter and crisis to crisis, he has the time to carry on an adulterous affair with an old flame, and then find his own true love in the mountain fastness of Wales. (Come to think of it, maybe this is too much a chick-book!) In any case, at the risk of unnecessarily extending the storyline, he makes for an engaging character.

The last two-hundred pages pick up as the young Henry meets Eleanor of Aquitaine, who's then married to King Louis of France. It's during this last part of an excellent book that we see the man and monarch that Henry is to become, and which makes me look forward to the next volume in the trilogy, TIME AND CHANCE, especially since, through my knowledge of English history, I know what's going to happen. Count Geoffrey otherwise gives us a clue when he advises his eldest son:

"The best marriages are those based upon detached goodwill or benign indifference. But unfortunately for you, the one emotion you will never feel for Eleanor of Aquitaine is indifference." How true.

For anyone interested in the genesis of the Plantagenet royal dynasty of England, this well-researched book is a pure delight.

Rating:
Summary: Evocative history, lacking character development.
Review: This is a better-than-average novel of the historical fiction genre, but not exactly outstanding. Penman, forgivably, resorts to the usual tendencies to make her characters more modern and therefore more likeable to the 21st-century reader, using more or less vernacular language (throwing in "for certes" and "mayhap" and "whoreson" -- incidentally, apparently the only epithet men used to insult each other, as no other is used -- but otherwise using modern English) and giving her characters modern sensibilities. Her prose is by no means exhilarating, but neither is it clumsy or difficult to read.

I'm aware that most potential readers won't be any too concerned for the books technical merits (and who can blame them?), so a few notes on the plot. I liked the beginning a lot more than the end, for several reasons. The way she drew in common people to illustrate the plot or provide background information was clever, but unfortunately she gave this up early on in the novel. Given the title I expected more of the plot from the common population's perspective (because granted it was a rather trying time for Stephen and Maude, but it was the common people who felt abandoned by God), but she just writes gruesome accounts of the sackings of towns and leaves it at that.

Initially her accounts of Stephen's and Maude's opposition were pretty balanced and didn't try to shade one of them as being the heartless usurper or the grasping harpy. Though she certainly does create her share of cardboard villains. But later in the book Stephen and Matilda are left out more and more; she doesn't much explore Stephen's justification for terrorizing the countryside (the only reason we're given is one of Maude's supporter's derisive suggestion that he is being ruled by his son Eustace), and basically everything going on in his kingship is left out in favor of Ranulf and the young Henry. You'll have to forgive me, but I liked Stephen and Matilda and missed them.

I also thought it was strange ("passing strange," as her characters would have it -- surely 12th-century royalty had more than one figure of speech for any given feeling or thought, but she reuses the same ones ad infinitum) that she should spend so much time developing Ranulf, an entirely fictional character. His plot usefulness is obvious, but why chapter after chapter should be devoted to his love life (and basically nothing else) while huge omissions of actual history aren't even mentioned, and as aforesaid, Stephen is left out almost entirely.

If you're looking for new insight into the motivations or lives of any of these characters, this is not the place to find it. If you're already familiar with the history of Stephen and Maude, this will be quite a dull read, as it's entirely plot-driven. However, if you haven't studied medieval English history since high school, doubtless it will be more entertaining. My rating is more like 3-1/2 stars, but Amazon requires that one be more decisive, so I rounded up to four for its sheer readability, her creation of a user-friendly, spit-polished 12th-century England. And who really cares if her historical evocation isn't entirely accurate -- this is history almost a thousand years old, after all, and this is a novel of escapist fiction that doesn't insult the intelligence or bore the imagination.

Rating:
Summary: EMOTIONALLY RESONANT, EPIC SCALE, TRIALS AND JUBILIATIONS
Review: Penman's broad epic scope focuses on the dynastic struggle for the crown of England. This takes place in the early 12th century when Henry I, who had over 20 illegitimate children, loses his one legitimate heir in the White Ship Ordeal (i.e. basically, a chunk of the fleet sank in the British storms). Upon Henry I's death it was settled that Henry's daughter, Maude, would rule. For his barons this was quite unpopular as women were not supposed to rule, which opened the doors for a cousin, Stephen of Blois, to usurp the crown.

What followed was an 18 year struggle in which both sides controlled the throne.

The interesting aspect of this tale was that both potential rulers had serious flaws which blocked them from truly ruling. Stephen was kind and gentle yet his kindness was sometimes taken as a weakness by his barons. Additionally, his stubbornness at the Battle of Lincoln (i.e. when his vassals urged him to retreat) almost cost him his life and put him into confinement. But then, Maude underestimated Stephen's wife, as well as the Londoners, who tossed her out and put her in a precarious position. She then escaped but soon found herself forced to leave her army behind which endangered her illegitimate brother, Robert, and resulted in his capture.

Thus, Robert was exchanged for Stephen and the war continued after a truce.

Eventual fighting led to Maude's army being confined at Oxford. Matters got so bad for her during this siege that she and three others wore white cloaks and snuck past Stepehen's army during a snowstorm. Stephen, who eventually captured the castle, was flustered (i.e. during the first battle from long ago he had allowed Maude to leave the castle in an act of gallantry. His barons blamed him for this much later and, even when he tried to capture her, she always managed to slip away).

Victories came and went for both sides, and vassals continued to switch sides. Maude lost her main supporter, Robert, who died in the later years of this struggle. Because of this, Maude's vassals could no longer be held together and she was forced to flee across the waters to Normandy (i.e. northern France).

Note that during this war Maude's husband, Geoffrey, Duke of Anjou, had managed to seize many of the British territories, giving Normandy to Maude.

But kingship for Stephen left a bitter aftertaste. His wife, Mathilda, died and Stephen continued to have problems with the Church and unruly vassals. Meanwhile, Maude's son, Henry, was securing Normandy and ended up marrying Eleanor of Aquitaine, which only made more powerful by leaps and bounds.

In the end, and, in less than two years, Henry landed in England, where he was supported by his own troops as well as British lords. Stephen put up resistance, but the tides of war were against him. Bad omens and war weary vassals eventually convinced him to pass his title to Henry upon his death.

And, in the end, Henry II took the throne of England with very little bloodshed.

Penman's writing strengths are in her vivid descriptions, her real and varied characters, her build up of conflict and conclusions and, of course, let us not forget that her love stories are pretty good, too.

Overall, this is sterling silver quality, so read it right away.

Rating:
Summary: --A spellbinding novel--
Review: Author Sharon Kay Penman tells the story of the years of war that took place in England after the death of Henry I who died without a male heir. King Henry wanted his daughter Maud, to succeed him on the throne. Maud had been married and widowed at a young age and still carried the title of Empress. Unfortunately, the powerful barons of the time did not like the idea of a woman ruling England and when Stephen, Maud's cousin seized the throne, many of the royals supported him. Thus, began the years and years of horrible civil war that tore the country in shreds. The title of the book is taken from a quote in The Peterborough Chronicle, "Never before had there been greater wretchedness in the country...And they said openly that Christ and his saints slept."

King Stephen held the throne, but Maud and her supporters never gave him any rest and the country was in a constant upheaval. It became even more confusing as some of the royal supporters switched sides and Stephen and Maud did not always know whom they could really trust. For twenty years, the conflict went on and the English people suffered when their towns and villages were plundered and burned by the warlords.

As the years passed, Maud's son, called Henry Fitz Empress or Henry of Anjou is introduced into the conflict of his mother's fight for the throne. After a while, it becomes evident that Empress Maud would never wear the crown of England. Instead, her son Henry would be the next English king after Stephen and begin the Plantagenet dynasty.

Across the English Channel, the dual story of Eleanor of Aquitaine is taking place. Eleanor, the powerful ruler of Aquitaine had married King Louis of France and she became the Queen of France as a teenager. Her life was unusual and very interesting. She eventually divorced Louis and went on to marry Henry of Anjou and become the Queen of England. The history in this book is truly fascinating.

I applaud the author for her wonderful characterizations and the amazing way she was able to tell this very complex story in such a readable and enjoyable fashion.

Rating:
Summary: Great Historical Fiction!
Review: Sharon Penman's book, When Christ and His Saints Slept is a detailed, descriptive piece of historical fiction. The characters are well developed, as are the many plot lines. As an avid reader of historical fiction, I appreciated the family tree and the reference map at the beginning of the book. The story is fascinating and deals with the full scope of human emotions and experiences. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Another great hisorical fiction writer!
Review: This is the first book I've read by Penman and I really enjoyed it. I did get a little dragged down in the middle when I wondered how many back and forth struggles Maude and Steven would go through before the book ended. But, I found myself racing through the last third of the book for the resolution. I also enjoyed reading this book because it takes place after the sinking of the White Ship when Pillars of the Earth (highly recommeded!)takes place- it was so interesting comparing how Maude and Steven were portrayed in both books. Saints Slept of course has more detail about Maude and Steven while Pillars concentrates on the lives of the commoner.
I do agree with one reviewer to say all the names were confusing to keep straight! But- that is such a little thing. I can't wait to read Here be Dragons.

Rating:
Summary: A great historical novel of politics , intrigue and war.
Review: When Christ and His Saints Slept is the story of Maude, the daughter and only legitimate heir of Henry I. Upon his death the barons who happen to not like the idea of a woman to rule them. Even though the Kings wishes is for Maude to be Queen they crown her cousin Stephen in her stead. And so starts the brutal and drawn out civil war, which caused great strife and turmoil to the people of the realm. A war to reclaim her crown. Being a woman in the medieval world and married, she acts like a liberated woman. Though her husband still seems to have his medieval rights.

This is a wounderful read. The author seems to have a great grasp of the times and characters. They seem to come alive.The plot is interesting from start to finish. She has great detail in in military matters, politics and life of the times. There is even romance.

Don't let the size of the book scare you...it is a fast read....