King Richard Lionheart
Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
Prince John
Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany
Arthur of Brittany
Earl William Marshal
Baldwin of Forde, Archbishop of Canterbury
Ranulf de Glanville
William the Lion, King of Scotland
William, Earl of Salisbury
Emma of Anjou
William de Braose
Marie de France
Isabel, Countess of Gloucester
Hugh de Puiset
William Longchamp

The King of England, Duke of Normandy, and Count of Anjou is known as the Lionheart for his undaunted courage and prowess in battle. He is a giant of a man, and like his father before him a creature of enormous energy. That is where the similarities with Henry II Curtmantle end, however. He is not glib or clever of tongue. In fact, the barons of Gascony and Aquitaine, who know him best, call him Richard Si-et-non, or Richard Yes-and-no, for those two words are all he often has to say at court or in conversation. He is a dread lord, a naked blade, and some of you can thank the heavens that he is on your side.

Richard Lionheart has come to throne under a bit of a cloud. Mere months ago he conspired with King Philip of France and his younger brother John to compel his father to acknowledge him as his heir. King Henry's death followed swiftly on his defeat, and Richard has made his way to Westminster to be crowned, having stopped only to pledge to Philip that they would go together on Crusade to recover Jerusalem as soon as England's affairs were put in order. The kingdom is on the brink of one of the most glorious moments in its history, equipped with the greatest army it has ever raised led by a true warrior-king. Richard's eye is fixed on that vision.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is many things to many people: a Duchess, a Queen twice over, a widow, a schemer, a rebel, a harridan, a Crusader, a patron of the arts, and the Justice of the Court of Love. She is all of those things and more. Once the Crusader Queen of France, the annulment of her first marriage allowed her to marry her lover Henry II Curtmantle, transferring an enormous portion of French territory to the control of the English crown in the process.

While Queen of England, she oversaw the continuation of the development of the Troubadour movement, served as her husband's representative during his peregrinations through their vast territories, and had six children, of which one is Queen of Castile, one the widowed former Queen of Sicily, two (Henry the Young King and Duke Geoffrey of Brittany) are dead, one is about to be King and the other is "King" of Ireland already.

She was also the architect of the rebellion of Henry the Young King in 1173, which she, her sons, and the kings of France and Scotland nearly levered her husband off the throne in favor of her son. Their defeat led to her imprisonment in the castle of Ranulf de Glanville for the last sixteen years. Richard's first act as king was to send the Earl Marshal to release her, signalling the high opinion he has of his mother. There is no question that she will wield awesome power in the new administration, for she has received homage from vassals on her son's behalf already, and as the Queen of England, too, rather than the Queen Mother. To cross Eleanor will certainly be a risk, to enjoy her favor, a boon beyond price.

Prince John is the baby of the family, the apple of his father's eye. Of course, he betrayed his father at the end. In fact, it is widely known that John is an arrogant, dangerous man who tends to see people as objects. Fortunately, his goals are usually venal enough that he seldom has reason to use anyone to serious harm. When he does set his sights higher, however, the damage can be severe. Just one look at the wreckage of Henry II's plans in Ireland can tell that much.

Why do people deal with him when he is so transparently difficult? He is the odds-on favorite to be the next King of England. The only other heir male is the 2-year-old son of the deceased Prince Geoffrey and Duchess Constance of Brittany. Even if little Arthur is named Richard's heir, anything can happen during the boy's lengthy minority. Arthur may be the right choice for the realm one day, but the smart money is on John.

The man later to be eulogized as the greatest knight ever to have lived was born a third son to a powerful baron during the end of the reign of Henry I Beauclerc. His reputation for chivalry is unmatched in the country, largely on the basis of three incidents in his career. In the first, in fact in his first battle as a youth of sixteen, the Marshal defeated some 40 knights in combat and then set them all free without ransom afterwards in an act of mercy unmatched in recent memory. In the second, he prevented Guy de Lusignan's men from capturing Eleanor of Aquitaine, which earned him the Queen's favor. And in the third, he defeated Richard the Lionheart in single combat during Henry the Young King's second attempt at rebellion. Rather than slay the prince, as would have been his right, he showed deference to a future liege and delivered the killing blow to Richard's horse.

It is this third action that has preserved the Marshal's fortunes, for he has remained the king's right hand while many of Henry Curtmantle's allies are beginning to find themselves in dire straits under Richard. When Richard arrived at Henry Curtmantle's tent to find his father already dead, his first act was to send William Marshal to free Eleanor of Aquitaine from prison, signaling the supreme trust he places in this legendary knight.

William Marshal's family is small but growing. He is married to Isabel de Clare, the daughter of the famous Strongbow, in right of whom he is the Earl of Pembroke. They have three small sons, with another on the way.

7-year-old Eleanor is the daughter of the recently deceased Prince Geoffrey, Henry Curtmantle's second son, and Duchess Constance of Brittany. She is a precocious child, more aware of her surroundings and the danger of the court than a child has any right to be.
Her little brother, 2-year-old Arthur, is a potential heir to the throne, assuming he survives his childhood.

The King of Scotland for the past 24 years, William is a powerfully built, red-headed warrior. He is known as the "Lion of Justice," for spreading courts and the rule of law over much of Scotland. For a time before he became King he was the Earl of Northumbria, but lost that territory in a war (one of several) with Henry Curtmantle.

William supported Henry the Young KIng in 1173, and was involved in the disastrous battle of Alnwick, in which he was captured by Ranulf de Glanville after charging the English lines crying "Now we shall see which of us are good knights!." His humiliation ended in imprisonment at Falaise in Normandy, where he was compelled to sign a treaty that subordinated Scotland to England in matters both spiritual and temporal and required him to pay a massive ransom.

Baldwin of Forde has been Archbishop of Canterbury for the past four years. In that time, he has proven himself to be a man at the service of royal power--not the customary position of the head of the Church in England. He has been involved in a long-running dispute with the monks of Christ Church Priory in Canterbury who dispute the legitimacy of his election. Apparently there was some concern that Henry Curtmantle had influenced it in some way. Certainly Baldwin's zeal in collecting the Saladin Tithe (an ecclesiastical operation), and in asserting royal authority in Wales would support this assertion.

Baldwin's two most recent actions as archbishop have been excommunicating Owain Cyfeiliog of Powys in Wales for refusing to take the cross and submit to the English, and to offer absolution to Richard Lionheart for his rebellion against his father. He has been traveling in Richard's party to Westminster, a sign of how quickly he has hitched his wagon to the new source of royal power.

The Chief Justiciar of England, Ranulf de Glanville has been responsible for codifying much of English law as well as serving as regent during Henry's many excursions to France and Ireland. Prior to his storied service to the royal court, when he was sheriff of Westmorland, he defeated William the Lion of Scotland at the Battle of Alnwick. His service to the fabric of English society has been enormous, but the element of his duties that has lingered most in the public mind has been his role as custodian of the imprisoned Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine since 1176. It is this that has many of his allies concerned over just how Eleanor and Richard will punish him for his long and faithful service to their husband and father.

William, Earl of Salisbury, is the son of the far more famous Patrick who was awarded the Earldom for services to Empress Matilda during the Anarchy. He is the cousin of William Marshal, and has the right to bear the golden scepter during the coronation. However, he is known to be a man of little ambition and easily swayed by circumstance or intrigue.

Emma of Anjou is another illegitimate child of Geoffrey Plantagenet, which makes her Richard's natural aunt. Once a close confidante of Eleanor of Aquitaine during the latter's personal rule of that Duchy, she was recalled to England by her half-brother when he dispersed Eleanor's court after the Revolt of the Young King. She was married to Dafydd ap Owain, Prince of Gwynedd, as part of a peace settlement following one of Henry's disastrous Welsh campaigns. Once the marriage was completed, Emma promptly went native. She has since become one of the strongest supports of Welsh autonomy in Anglo-Norman political life.

William de Braose is a baron of the Welsh Marches, and has been a partisan of Richard the Lionheart for some time. About 15 years ago, he masterminded the Abergavenny Massacre, in which several important Welsh chieftains were slaughtered in breach of hospitality. This action dramatically decreased pressure on South Wales, but has had an appreciably negative effect on de Braose's reputation. He doesn't seem to mind; his service to the crown means that his star is on the rise.

This Breton poet and troubadour has popularized Breton lais as a literary form, and has been keen to adapt Celtic stories and legends into French poetry, preserving the tales of one culture and promoting the vernacular language of another. Her contributions to letters are magnificent, and the woman is as well, hobnobbing far above her social class and cultivating a deep respect among the nobility of England and France for her wit and style.

The comely youngest daughter of William fitzRobert, Earl of Gloucester currently occupies the seat of that county by virtue of being married to Prince John, who really needed someplace to land after botching Ireland so badly. Their marriage, arranged by their fathers contingent on Church approval because of the nearness of their blood (William fitzRobert having been a 1st cousin of Henry II), has been found to be incestuous by the bishops of England. Currently, the pope is being consulted, but it seems entirely likely that he will agree with his subordinates. Until he overrules them or the wedded couple part ways, no priest can perform the sacraments in the County of Gloucester.

This has been a source of some concern for seemingly everyone but Prince John and Isabella, who carry on in their doting fashion. They have, as yet, no issue, and Isabella has two older sisters with some (some would say "better") claim to the County. The eldest, Mabel, is married to Amaury de Montfort, Count of Evreux in Normandy. The middle daughter is Amice de Clare, wife of the Earl of Hertford. It doesn't take a genius to see that Prince John's days of sunning himself in Gloucester might soon be over. It is merely a question of what--and who--will give these two the push.

William of Brunswick, the future Lord of Luneburg, should things work out, is currently in a bad spot. His father, Henry the Lion, greatest of the German Dukes, has been roundly defeated for a second time by Frederick Barbarossa. Inheritance law would seem to suggest that his father's lands will still come to him after his father's death, but Barbarossa is a dangerous, implacable enemy, and William is a long way away from the plains of northern Germany. He may well need English steel to defend his claims.

And then there is a secondary question, not to be spoken of. The Succession crisis that could erupt should Richard die on crusade has only a few outcomes. John and Arthur are both compromised, one by proven ineptitude, the other by his youth. The male line might well be done for, but the next legitimate heir after these two...well, it is none other than William of Brusnwick, future Lord of Luneburg, and, just perhaps, King of England, too.

Otto of Bavaria is the younger brother of William of Brunswick, and while he might just be the hero that Germany needs in a few years, for the moment he is well and truly in his brother's shadow. As fine a lad as any in the kingdom, Otto's heart sings out for adventure, feats of arms, and good fun!

Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham, has led a very interesting life. He has a publicly acknowledged mistress and two children, has amassed more wealth than most men ever see in their lifetime, supported Henry the Young King in his struggles with his father, and is suspected of supplying material aid to William I of Scotland in his invasions of the north of England.

He is also a fantastic manager of wealth and a learned theologian, things which keep him popular with monarchs that might otherwise wish to keep him at arm's length. Rumor has it he brought cartloads of gold to the coronation. Maybe he knows something most don't.

William Longchamp has been Richard Lionheart's right-hand-man as Chancellor of the Duchy of Aquitaine since the Plantagenet was 16 years old. A learned clerk and skilled diplomat, he is perhaps most famous for crossing verbal swords with William Marshal at the court of Philip II of France during Richard's rebellions. There is little doubt that this man has the ear of power, and he is unlikely to remain Chancellor of Aquitaine for much longer. No, far greater things await William Longchamp.