Lion in winter
...hings in The Lion in Winter was the role of women. At first impression they did not seem significant. Eleanor was cheated on, not an uncommon practice, and then locked in a tower to only be aloud out on holidays. Alice was bought and then became Henry's new lover, and beyond that no other women were mention. Despite all this, when looked at more closely women were important to the feudal society. A king could acquire land by conquering, or marrying the daughter who had that land in her dowry. Also in the movie Eleanor wielded more power than one would have thought, for one she and Richard had led civil wars against Henry before. Secondly because of her control of the Aquataine she exercised more power than other women of the times. Because of all this women were necessary to the feudal system, but were still not regarded as meaningful. The role of the church was influential in the movie, but not as prominent as expected. It was the church that gave the king his authority and could take it away. Henry threatened to annul his marriage with Eleanor to gain leverage to obtain the Aquatain. There was even joking about being excommunicated, again. Without the church to have marriages and settle things of that nature it probably been more chaotic than it already was. It was the church that kept reading and writing going through the Dark Ages, and also played and important role in the late 12th century. More interesting than other topics was the living conditions. Whenever reading a fairy tale, or watching a movie about castles they are always glorified as wonderful places, large and b...