Hm, I think Judith Tarr and Theophanu would be a good match, and I see I can get the book as an ebook for less than 2 Euros, so I'll aquire it!
This sound super interesting and... I'm gonna have to wait until I'm through the German podcast and starting this one to hear the story, huh? :PP (*)
The German podcast also has soap opera among royals galore. I mean, you're only three Emperors away of Henry IV, husband to Bertha (who he may or may not have seen as a sister) and then Adelheid/Eudoxia/Praxidis, she who accused him of a horrible sex life at the papal court. And before that, there's the "Three Popes with one Stroke" episode featuring Henry III deposing those three (and we get some juicy accounts about their scandals first) and starting a series of goody two shoes Popes, which is good for the church but really bad for his son. While Bamberg local hero Henry II does not have scandals to offer, he has another fierce Empress for a wife, Kunigunde, and he's the one European royalty can thank (ahem) for pointing the Church towards relations in the fourth degree or what not being incest and thus an impediment for marriage. (Not for his own marriage! He was very uxorious. But the definition of incest was a hobby of his. What can I say, he was educated as a priest for some years before his fate changed to his being able to become a Duke after all.)
Speaking of fierce Empresses, as you know all about original Adelheid the Empress, she who ruled even as a grandmother, you can see that making her into a pining semi-hysterical damsel is as bewildering an authorial decision as making Voltaire boring, can't you?
Gerbert d'Aurillac
Whereas when I got to the relevant podcasts, I thought, ah, that's the guy Mildred nominated as who Voltaire wanted to be. (French intellectual idol of young King who also accepts him as political mentor.) :)
Re: A few replies from the last post
This sound super interesting and... I'm gonna have to wait until I'm through the German podcast and starting this one to hear the story, huh? :PP (*)
The German podcast also has soap opera among royals galore. I mean, you're only three Emperors away of Henry IV, husband to Bertha (who he may or may not have seen as a sister) and then Adelheid/Eudoxia/Praxidis, she who accused him of a horrible sex life at the papal court. And before that, there's the "Three Popes with one Stroke" episode featuring Henry III deposing those three (and we get some juicy accounts about their scandals first) and starting a series of goody two shoes Popes, which is good for the church but really bad for his son. While Bamberg local hero Henry II does not have scandals to offer, he has another fierce Empress for a wife, Kunigunde, and he's the one European royalty can thank (ahem) for pointing the Church towards relations in the fourth degree or what not being incest and thus an impediment for marriage. (Not for his own marriage! He was very uxorious. But the definition of incest was a hobby of his. What can I say, he was educated as a priest for some years before his fate changed to his being able to become a Duke after all.)
Speaking of fierce Empresses, as you know all about original Adelheid the Empress, she who ruled even as a grandmother, you can see that making her into a pining semi-hysterical damsel is as bewildering an authorial decision as making Voltaire boring, can't you?
Gerbert d'Aurillac
Whereas when I got to the relevant podcasts, I thought, ah, that's the guy Mildred nominated as who Voltaire wanted to be. (French intellectual idol of young King who also accepts him as political mentor.) :)