Malcolm and Maud had some fairly normal sex, adultery aside. You're right about the fact that the normal sex doesn't have much of a conflict, but if it can contribute to the story, you should definitely write it.

I would definitely not object to Sigefrith and Eadie. I've already expressed that I think Eadie should get pregnant again And I do still have some hopes for Alred and Hetty in the somewhat distant future, providing that they manage to rekindle their relationship.

I voted for No more, no less, because I think your chapters about sex are well-balanced within the story. Anyway, it would be interesting to see a Sigefrith - Eadie scene since she's so prude and that we never saw Sigefrith "in action" .

~Your French Friend~

Eadie is not so bad in bed. Her mother is certainly not the type to instruct her to lie still and pray for it to be over soon, so she wasn't forearmed with dread.

And Eadie herself is so worshipful of her older "great man" of a husband that she wouldn't expect he could ever ask her to do anything that was wrong. On the contrary I would imagine she was a willing student and has been a "dutiful wife" in everything he asks.

She has just enough natural shyness to charm Sigefrith -- Sigefrith probably wouldn't like a tigress like Matilda -- but once behind closed doors she isn't a prude. She's more like the type who would do whatever he wants, blushing prettily all the while. The perfect woman, in his mind.

But she definitely doesn't like talking about it outside of the bedroom, so Brit has had to find her own way. From what we saw, Brit's before-wedding talk seems to have consisted of little more than a warning that it would "look impossible" and that it would hurt. I am sure that was not the talk Lady Eadgith gave Eadie, but Eadie just couldn't bring herself to say those things.

I am curious to see how things are going to go with Gwynn and Margaret. Gwynn had "the talk" with Hetty when she "became a woman" but it seems to have been the abridged version. From "Leofric sees the daughter":

Surely “lying with” a man had little to do with the dreadful thumping, grunting, and squealing of menservants and maids that occasionally arose from the closets of her father’s castle.  Hetty had never explained to her what part of being with a man involved such exertions.

Gwynn thought it must have been different with gentlemen.  Surely King David had been a gentleman, and this was what Hetty had meant with her “lying close together in the bed”.  Hetty had assured her she would like it if she let herself.  Gwynn thought she would, though she scarcely knew where to begin in her imaginings.  That did not stop her from trying to imagine, however.

Oh, Gwynn! Are we ever going to have fun with you!

Margaret meanwhile in her level-headed way seems to know all the details, even unto masculine masturbation. There is equal potential for fun there, if you ask me.

Was that chapter controversial? I thought a good consensus was that Eadgith needed to grow up and get over herself and that both of them were in serious need of therapy. That's certainly the conclusion I came to.
Anyway, I think sex scenes are always fun As long as they have a good point to them and illustrate character development. (Not that I'd expect anything else, but still.) I'm sure they're really difficult to write, though. Especially if they're "normal" sex scenes.
I would have loved more of Alred + Matilda sex scenes. We did have a couple of them, as I recall, but they were depressing ones in the worst of their marital issues. Oh, and we had Leof + Matilda sex scenes (at least one, anyway) which was arguably even more depressing. It was so awful how she self-destructive she got at the end of her life.
------------------------------------------------------------
I'm romantic, literary, cynical, and a diehard Alred Sebright groupie.

The part about Eadie needing to move on from her grief and to realize that she wasn't the only person in the world who had lost a child (starting with Sigefrith, who had lost two) -- that wasn't controversial.

The controversial part (in my mind at least!) was this one:

“Why am I the one man who doesn’t get to see you smile?  When I should be the first to get a smile from you even if it’s the only one you have left in the world?  Why?”

“But, Sigefrith!  I can only be myself with you!  For everyone else I must pretend to be happy, but with you I needn’t pretend!”

“Why not?”

“Because—because you’re my husband!  I shouldn’t have to pretend with you, too!”

“Why not?”

“Because!  Because!  You’re my husband!”

Assuming we allow Eadie her grief (which, to the extent that it doesn't grow to unhealthy excess, I think we should) the question is how much slack Sigefrith ought to cut her, vs. how much "kindness" he deserves himself:

“I’m your husband!” he agreed.  He did not turn to her, but watched in fascination his angry self in the mirror.  “And you’re my wife!  And so I think you owe me a little kindness now and then!”

“Kindness!” she cried.  “How can you say I am not kind to you!  You know what I have endured!  You can’t expect me to laugh and smile as if nothing had ever happened!”

“You do for everyone else.  Everyone else but me!”

“But you know me and love me!” she pleaded.  “You know how I have suffered!  I can’t be strong all the time, all the time!”

“And so the dregs are given me, after everyone else has drunk the wine!  I call that unkind!”

Sigefrith's premise is basically this:

"I should be the first to get a smile from you even if it’s the only one you have left in the world."

And Eadgith's is this:

"For everyone else I must pretend to be happy, but with you I needn’t pretend!"

Who's right and who's wrong here? For myself I can say that the answer I would give at 32 is not the same I would have given at 22. (And may not be the same I will give at 42.)

Their vain, unproductive back-and-forth -- "Why not? Because you're my husband! Why not? Because you're my husband." -- is so symptomatic of them -- that couple and their utter failure to communicate whenever things break down.

It's really heartless for me to do this to those two characters, but I find their dynamic fascinating and I admit I am looking forward to going there again.

I'm with Karen.