5-6+Jackson+B.

March 23, 2012

When Elanor was young her grandfather, William the Troubadour, went on a crusade to the Holy Land. It was there the he basically bribed God through prayer to answer all of his, and to leave Raymond's unanswered. He said if God were to do this he would make a donation to one of his churches. Because of this he thought he and his family would never die so they did not betrothed Elanor until an older age. William's reason was that he was the second sun, second in line to be king. However, his brother Philip's horse tripped over a sow and broke Philip's neck. " He, not I, was born to be the king of France" (Konigsburg 20). Louis was not all for this idea of being king. That is why Louis wasn't betrothed until and older age.





When I think of the characters Louis and Elanor, I see actions that could change the lives of people forever. One action is that the two got married even though they were cousins to the fourth degree. This marriage was not valid in the eyes of god. " You should have never married," (Konigsburg 42). Abbot Bernard said this, he realizes it too. This marriage could cause problems. Another action from Elanor is her incident during the crusades. She left where she was supposed to be to see if there were more beautiful things. Louis didn't know where she was. He took his army and went on a search. They finally got over the mountain and were so exhausted. Then they got slaughtered. Then next day Louis found Elanor in the same valley. Her actions caused his troops to be killed. They argue, which brings stress to other people. Louis and Elanor have many actions that can change the lives of people and themselves.

March 27, 2012

Divine justice. Divine justice is basically where God is responsible for your death. Abbot Bernard thinks that Geoffrey died of this because he was a sinner. He did many sins and so God had enough and killed him. But then the a question comes into play. "If Geoffrey were the sinner that Abbot Bernard believed him to be, why would he die after he had been restored to the church?" (Konigsburg 84). That made sense. If Geoffrey was the sinner that Abbot Bernard claimed him to be, why would he die after that? It could have been an accident. Maybe God was trying to give Geoffrey as much chances as he could, hoping that Geoffrey would please him, but never did. Maybe God thought that if Geoffrey would be let back into the church, the sins would stop. But that wasn't the case, so God did what was to be done, kill him. Geoffrey's choices to sin effected his life, obviously, and his family, and the other people around him. Now he is dead. There was a missing piece in their family. If he had made the right decisions nothing would have happened and he would be living his happy life right now.

Elanor and Matilda were against Henry being archbishop because they doubt Thomas. They think Thomas will choose to serve God before he serves Henry. Elanor and Matilda think that Thomas will not give as much effort to Henry as he does to God. "Thomas will choose to serve God rather than you," (Konigsburg 116). They are sure that Thomas will half heartily work for Henry. Henry did not believe this. Henry thought that Thomas would give his best effort in any job he handed him. Henry's idea was that he needed one law among his territory, his kingdom. He wants to combine the laws for the king's men and the Church's men, and he needs Thomas to do that. I think that Thomas will be appointed for archbishop. Elanor and Matilda probably will get annoyed, but I think in the end, Thomas will work hard for Henry and God.



April 2, 2012

Elanor and King Henry had very different teaching styles. Elanor's style was through example, or showing Richard what to do. "He sat by his mother when she held court and collected taxes, he learned everything about government at her side" (Konigsburg 139). Elanor felt the best was to make the best king out of Richard would be through doing. King Henry's way was different. "But the jobs he gave Henry were more those of an errand boy than those of a prince" (139). King Henry basically gave Young Henry a bunch of jobs, and really didn't teach him anything about being king. This made Young Henry angry, therefor he would give more respect to his mother rather than his father.



I think the Courts of Love have really effected the way men treat women today. Its basically showing whats right and whats wrong for how a man should treat a female. Back then men thought of themselves as superior to the women, and Elanor was about sick of their terrible attitude and their conceited way of treating the women. " The male must be polite, he must be neat, he must regard his lady-love as someone above earthly temptation" (Konigsburg 134). Elanor was basically speaking for all women, and I think the men took this to heart based on their actions today. Now men treat women like they are the superior. Yes, men still might think they are more prominent to some situations, but overall, women have earned much more respect. I think nowadays that men also truly love their lady. Not just using her. They care about her, and really want her to be as happy as themselves.