that from his mother he'd inherited steely single-mindedness, |
从母亲那里继承而来的钢铁的意志 |
lots of physical courage and a phenomenally foul temper. |
无畏的勇气暴躁的性格 |
From his father he'd got instinctive charm |
他从父亲身上继承了与生俱来的魅力 |
and knife-sharp political and military intelligence. |
锋锐无匹的政治军事才能 |
But the quality that anyone who ever met Henry |
但所有见过亨利的人 |
most vividly remembered about him, |
对他印象最深的品质就是 |
the overflowing tank of energy |
无比旺盛的精力 |
that made him the most hyperactive king in British history, |
这使他成为英国史上最为活跃的国王 |
This was all his own. |
这就是他的特点了 |
This was the age of chivalry, when the myth of Arthur and Camelot |
那是骑士时代传说中的亚瑟王和卡米洛特 |
was at its most popular. |
可谓妇孺皆知 |
Right from the start, Henry was being |
野心勃勃的父母 |
groomed by his ambitious parents |
从小就教导亨利 |
to take England away from Stephen, to become a new King Arthur. |
要击败斯蒂芬夺回英格兰复刻亚瑟王传奇 |
And to do this, of course, he would need a Guinevere. |
为了实现夙愿他需要自己的桂妮薇儿 |
As it happened, the perfect candidate had just become available - |
正在此时最合适的人选出现了 |
Eleanor of Aquitaine. |
即阿基坦的埃莉诺 |
But the match was a gamble. He was 19, she was pushing 30. |
但这婚姻是场赌博他只有十九而她年近三十 |
He was relatively inexperienced, |
他只是初出茅庐 |
Eleanor had seen as much of the ways |
而埃莉诺见多识广 |
of the world as it could offer. |
早已历经沧桑 |
And yet something rather surprising happened |
虽然以政治谋利益的婚姻 |
between the teenage Arthur and the mercurial Guinevere, |
对于年轻的亚瑟王 |
something that wasn't supposed to happen |
与机智的桂妮薇儿 |
in a marriage of political convenience. |
不太可能有什么意外之喜 |
The parties actually fancied each other. |
然而他们彼此却真一见钟情 |
Henry found himself at the altar in 1152, beside an older woman |
1152年亨利王大婚身边的女人 |
described as a graceful, dark-eyed beauty, |
年纪稍长眸子乌黑形容姣好举止优雅 |
disconcertingly articulate, strong-minded and jocular. |
才思敏捷机智善辩幽默风趣极有主见 |
Hardly the veiled damsel in the tower. |
不似养在深闺的懵懂少女 |
One likes to think from her part that Eleanor saw |
从埃莉诺的角度来看 |
not just the usual spur-clanking bonehead, |
他并非只懂骑马打仗的凡夫俗子 |
but beyond a stocky frame and barrel chest, |
在健硕的身躯和结实的胸膛之外 |
someone who is intriguing peculiarity; |
有某种难以名状的奇异特质 |
The rare prince who looked right with a falcon on one hand |
这位年轻的王子望向右方一手托着猎鹰 |
and a book in the other. |
一手则拿着书 |
It was Eleanor's homeland, Aquitaine, |
而是埃莉诺的家乡阿基坦 |
that was the greatest prize. |
才是价值非凡的礼物 |
A vast stretch of land between Anjou and the Pyrenees. |
它位于安茹和庇里牛斯山之间地域辽阔 |
A place where wine-steeped Latin culture |
在这里普罗旺斯的声色犬马 |
had been polished anew by Provencal sensuality. |
又将酒色浸淫的拉丁文化发扬光大 |
Its capital, here in Poitiers, the |
首府普瓦捷 |
home of troubadours and courtly love. |
是吟游诗人和古典爱情的胜地 |
No wonder then, Eleanor grew up, as her contemporaries put it... |
埃莉诺在这里成长与她的同龄人一样 |
...welcoming, vivacious, |
热情大方活泼动人 |
完整版请点击 |
|
her head perhaps turned by all those lovelorn lyrics |
聆听骑士们表达倾慕的诗词她会怦然心动 |
of knights enslaved by beauties and |
而年轻的骑士也会为其美貌所俘获 |
bent on besieging their virtue. |
为其贞洁而折腰 |
So this is what Eleanor brought to match. |
所以他们一拍即合 |
Grandeur, territory, wealth - a lot of wealth - |
门庭领土财富大笔的财富 |
and the glamour of Aquitaine. |
以及阿基坦的魅力 |
No wonder Henry thought that with this marriage he'd got, |
无怪乎亨利认为这样的婚姻 |
well, pretty much everything. |
可称得上完美 |
Everything that is, except the crown of England. |
除了一点英格兰的王冠 |
In 1153, Henry Plantagenet crossed the Channel. |
1153年亨利二世渡过了英吉利海峡 |
His father, Geoffrey, had already taken Normandy from Stephen, |
他父亲杰弗里已从斯蒂芬手中夺取诺曼底 |
so now it was up to Henry to take England. |
现在轮到亨利来夺回英格兰 |
Faced with an exhausted nation and |
国力耗尽贵族叛逃 |
defecting barons, Stephen caved in. |
面临内忧外患的处境斯蒂芬只有投降 |
A deal was struck. Stephen would be allowed to die on the throne |
在协议中斯蒂芬有权在死前保持王位 |
on condition he named Henry as his heir. |
条件是他任命亨利为继承人 |
Within a year, Stephen was dead |
不到一年斯蒂芬就死了 |
and Eleanor and Henry were crowned at Westminster Abbey, |
埃莉诺和亨利在威斯敏斯特教堂加冕 |
King and Queen of England. |
成为英格兰的国王与王后 |
When they emerged from the vivats and incense, |
在欢呼喝彩袅袅焚香中 |
they were the french-speaking sovereigns of an enormous realm |
来自法语区的他们接管了幅员辽阔的帝国 |
which stretched from the Pyrenees |
自庇里牛斯山起 |
through to the vineyards of Gascony, |
到加斯科尼的葡萄园 |
along the cod-fish run coastal waters of Brittany, |
沿着鳕鱼丰富的布列塔尼海域 |
over the Channel to England, along the length and breadth |
跨过海峡直达英格兰顺着整个威尔士边界 |
of the country to the Welsh borders and the windy moors |
越过广袤乡村止于坎布里亚和诺森布里亚 |
of Cumbria and Northumbria. |
多风的原野 |
And it was a perfect time to come into this colossal inheritance. |
继承如此庞大的财富任谁都会欢欣喜悦 |
For the mid-12th century really was |
而十二世纪中叶 |
the springtime of the middle ages. |
确实是中世纪的春天 |
Literacy and learning were spreading |
文化的风潮始于巴黎 |
from the cathedral schools in Paris and Canterbury. |
及坎特伯雷的教堂学校迅速席卷开来 |
Monasteries were being founded at a record pace, |
修道院如雨后春笋般建立起来 |
and although they were supposed to be purged of worldliness, |
尽管它们应该是远离世俗的清静之地 |
before long they were the engines of economic power, |
而在很久以前它们却是国家经济的带动者 |
Producers of wool, master of the mills and rivers. |
羊毛的生产者磨坊与河流的所有者 |
So if this was indeed springtime, Henry and Eleanor |
在那个春光明媚的时代亨利和埃莉诺 |
had just got themselves the fattest and the ripest fruit. |
刚刚摘得了最为成熟饱满的果实 |
It's unlikely they ever thought of it as a true empire |
他们并没有如同罗马统治者那样 |
in the Roman sense of a single realm. |
视其为绝对统一的帝国 |
Its many regions were treated separately, |
根据各地的习俗 |
according to their customs. |
很多地方也受到区别对待 |
While Westminster was increasingly |
当威斯敏斯特逐渐地 |
at the heart of administration, |
成为权力机构的中心 |
Rouen in Normandy, Chinon in Anjou |
诺曼底的鲁昂安茹的希侬 |
and Poitiers in Aquitaine were just as important. |
阿基坦的普瓦捷也还是同样重要 |
It was rather the greatest and grandest |
这些不过是基督教国家中 |
family estate in all christendom. |
最雄厚无匹的家族财产罢了 |
That surely was enough to be going on with. |
当然也就足以应付一时 |
It was one thing to stand around counting off one's possessions. |
坐在家里数钱是一回事 |
It was quite another to know what to do about being king. |
学习如何做国王则完全是另一回事 |
Especially king of a country so |
尤其是在英格兰这个充满希望 |
promising but peculiar as England, |
却又情况独特的地方做国王 |
With all its Anglo-Saxon names and institutions |
很多国家体系的名字都来自盎格鲁撒克逊语 |
like shire, courts, writs and sheriffs. |
比如郡法院令状和郡长 |
After all, what did Henry Plantagenet know of Huntingdonshire, |
毕竟亨利二世对亨廷顿郡了解多少 |