num_pages: 784
description: A.D. 1135. As church bells tolled for the death of England's King Henry I, his barons faced the unwelcome prospect of being ruled by a woman: Henry's beautiful daughter Maude, Countess of Anjou. But before Maude could claim her throne, her cousin Stephen seized it. In their long and bitter struggle, all of England bled and burned.Sharon Kay Penman's magnificent fifth novel summons to life a spectacular medieval tragedy whose unfolding breaks the heart even as it prepares the way for splendors to come—the glorious age of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Plantagenets that would soon illumine the world.
language: English
title: When Christ and His Saints Slept
titlecomplete: When Christ and His Saints Slept (Plantagenets #1; Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, #1)
characters: Empress Matilda, Brien FitzCount, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Adeliza of Louvain, Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester, Henry II of England, Stephen of England, Louis VII of France, Geoffrey of Anjou
genres: Historical, Historical Fiction, Medieval, 12th Century, British Literature, War, Romance, Fiction, Plantagenet, France
ratings_count: 16327
places: England, France
series: Plantagenets, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine
publisher: Ballantine Books