Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography (WOMEN IN HISTORY)

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This book has been sitting in the attic for nearly a decade. As a student I tried to read it for my studies and gave up. While very readable, you are left wondering how much of it is true as Marion Meade continually over-stretches her sources and tells you how characters "must" have been feeling. Ultimately, the work feels like it could be fiction.

married Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria; had issue, including Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor At present I am just completing the research for my new book, Henry VIII: King and Court, which is scheduled for publication in June 2001. In this book I mean to present a detailed and comprehensive study of Henry VIII set within the context of what was undoubtedly the most magnificent court in English history. The book will focus on the personal life of the King and the lives of his courtiers, and will encompass every aspect of Tudor court life, from state banquets to sanitary arrangements, and from Renaissance influences to amorous intrigues. There will also be a few surprises concerning Henry's private life! Evocative... A rich tapestry of a bygone age and a judicious assessment of her subject's place within it." ( Newsday) She accompanied Louis VII to the Holy Land during the Second Crusade, a scandalous act for a woman of her time. More scandalous were the rumors (discredited by medievalists) that she had affairs with both Saladin and her own uncle, Raymond of Poitiers, during the journey to the Holy Land. Wheeler, Bonnie; Parsons, John C., eds. (2008) [2002]. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady (reprinted.). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-60236-6.Martindale, Jane (2004). "Eleanor [Eleanor of Aquitaine], suo jure duchess of Aquitaine". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/8618. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (subscription or UK public library membership required) Eleanor survived Richard and lived well into the reign of her youngest son, King John. In 1199, under the terms of a truce between King Philip II and John, it was agreed that Philip's 12-year-old heir-apparent Louis would be married to one of John's nieces, daughters of his sister Eleanor of England, queen of Castile. John instructed his mother to travel to Castile to select one of the princesses. Now 77, Eleanor set out from Poitiers. Just outside Poitiers she was ambushed and held captive by Hugh IX of Lusignan, whose lands had been sold to Henry II by his forebears. Eleanor secured her freedom by agreeing to his demands. She continued south, crossed the Pyrenees, and travelled through the kingdoms of Navarre and Castile, arriving in Castile before the end of January 1200. In 1189, when King Henry II died, his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine was released after sixteen years of imprisonment. Her custodians, William of Newburgh, Book II, Chapter 27 https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/williamofnewburgh-two.asp#7

As soon as the annulment was granted, Eleanor became engaged to her third cousin Henry, Duke of Normandy. The couple married on Whitsun, 18 May 1152 in Poitiers. Eleanor was crowned queen of England at Westminster Abbey in 1154, when Henry acceded to the throne. Henry and Eleanor had five sons and three daughters, but eventually became estranged. Henry imprisoned her in 1173 for supporting the revolt of their eldest son, Henry the Young King, against him. She was not released until 6 July 1189, when her husband died and their third son, Richard I, ascended the throne. As queen dowager, Eleanor acted as regent while Richard went on the Third Crusade. [5] She lived well into the reign of her youngest son, John. Civilization VI: Gathering Storm – First Look: Eleanor of Aquitaine (Trailer). Firaxis Games. 5 February 2019. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021 . Retrieved 18 February 2019. When you finish the book you feel you have been put painlessly (but not necessarily without tears) in possession of the facts about this extraordinary, indefatigable woman." ( The Spectator) Louis and Eleanor’s first years as rulers were fraught with power struggles with their own vassals–the powerful Count Theobald of Champagne for one–and with the Pope in Rome. Louis, still young and intemperate, made a series of military and diplomatic blunders that set him at odds with the Pope and several of his more powerful lords.Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine was one of the leading personalities of the Middle Ages and also one of the most controversial. She was beautiful, intelligent and wilful, and in her lifetime there were rumours about her that were not without substance. She had been reared in a relaxed and licentious court where the arts of the troubadours flourished, and was even said to have presided over the fabled Courts of Love. Eleanor married in turn Louis VII of France and Henry II of England, and was the mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John. She lived to be 82, but it was only in old age that she triumphed over the adversities and tragedies of her earlier years and became virtual ruler of England. In 1173, Eleanor’s son “Young” Henry fled to France, apparently to plot against his father and seize the English throne. Eleanor, rumored to be actively supporting her son’s plans against her estranged husband, was arrested and imprisoned for treason. Once apprehended, she spent the next 16 years shuttled between various castles and strongholds in England, suspected of agitating against her husband’s interests and said by some to have played a role in the death of his favorite mistress, Rosamund.

She has also been introduced in The Royal Diaries series in the book Crown Jewel of Aquitaine by Kristiana Gregory.

How to Vote

Kelly, Amy (January 1937). "Eleanor of Aquitaine and Her Courts of Love". Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies. University of Chicago Press. 12 (1): 3–19. doi: 10.2307/2848658. JSTOR 2848658. S2CID 162194965.