THE SUNDAY SNAP

A legendary Plantagenet castle, and a note about the week ahead on History, Etc

A little later than usual today, as the weekend ran away with me. But since today is March 6th, I thought I would share this photograph of Château Gaillard, perched on a cliff above the River Seine in Normandy, France. The castle was built by Richard the Lionheart in the late 1190s, and was supposed to be impossible to capture. However, as we see so often in history, ‘impossible to capture’ is not an architectural style, but a human mindset. When Richard died, he was succeeded as king of England and duke of Normandy by his youngest brother, John. And on March 6th 1204 John lost Château Gaillard, when its defenders surrendered, ending a six-month siege led by the king of France, Philip Augustus. The rest of Normandy fell soon after.

There’ll be plenty more Plantagenet action for subscribers to History, Etc this week. I’ll share my thoughts on Henry V, which I really am going to watch this week. There’ll be a discussion thread on Wednesday and - by popular demand - a special ‘kick-ass’ Women’s History Month episode of the First Draft podcast.

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As Colin Farrell once said to me, I’ll see ya round the way.

(I haven’t seen him since.)

Dan