Born: 1122, France
Died: 1 April 1204
Country most active: France
Also known as: NA
This biography, written by Gabby Storey, is shared with permission from Team Queens, an educational history blog run by a collective of historical scholars. All rights reserved; this material may not be republished without the author’s consent.
Eleanor of Aquitaine, born c.1122-24, is perhaps one of the most famous queens of medieval western Europe. Crowned queen of both France and England, her long life and several heirs, and position as one of the wealthiest duchesses of western Europe, enabled her to exert great influence in the Anglo-French sphere.
Married to Louis VII of France in 1137, Eleanor’s first marriage was far from harmonious due to their differing personalities. Although Eleanor bore two daughters, Marie and Alix, Eleanor was reportedly dissatisfied with their marriage and requested an annulment whilst they were on the Second Crusade. Unsubstantiated allegations of Eleanor conducting an incestuous affair with her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, and her future father-in-law, Geoffrey of Anjou, purported to have taken place between 1149-51, are the cause of much of Eleanor’s infamy.
After her divorce from Louis in 1152, Eleanor swiftly married Henry, then duke of Normandy and later king of England. They successfully ruled the Angevin realms until Henry’s death in 1189. Their partnership was not entirely harmonious, although it produced several heirs. After 1189, Eleanor continued to exercise power beyond the role of queen mother, as she was politically active and occasional regent for both her sons Richard I and John. She retired to Fontevraud Abbey, Chinon, a place which benefited from her substantial patronage, in her later years, before her death in 1204.
Recommended Reading
Bonnie Wheeler and John Carmi Parsons, eds., Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)
Martin Aurell, Aliénor d’Aquitaine (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2020)
Michael Evans, Inventing Eleanor. The Medieval and Post-Medieval Image of Eleanor of Aquitaine (London: Bloomsbury, 2014).
Sara Cockerill, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France and England, Mother of Empires (Stroud: Amberley, 2019).
Podcast: You’re Dead To Me featuring Gabby Storey https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p087r8kb
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
The remarkable Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was irrefutably one of the most powerful and brilliant women of the middle ages. A stunning and charming woman in her youth, she was adored as wife by French King Louis VII. His jealousy over her behavior while on the Second Crusade together caused him to annul his marriage to her in 1152, after 15 years as Queen of France, and after bearing two daughters. Feudal custom in this case worked to her advantage and she retained possession of the duchy of Aquitaine which was approximately one third of France at the time. She wasted little time in remarrying and within two months had wed the future King of England, who was at the time, count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy. In 1154 he became Henry II of England, thus uniting England, Normandy and the area of Western France (Aquitaine) under his rule. Eleanor and Henry had five sons and three daughters together. Her tireless diplomacy and the notable achievements of her children have given her the moniker the “grandmother of Europe.” Indeed family feuds pitted her against her husband, and allied her with her sons who would serve as future kings of England.
Much is said about Eleanor’s sons. William died at the age of three. Henry, Richard the Lionheart, Geoffrey Duke of Brittany; and John are memorialized, along with their formidable mother in the classic 1968 film A Lion in Winter (staring Peter O’Toole, Anthony Hopkins and Katharine Hepburn). But when Eleanor was not imprisoned by her second husband, or working to provide a ransom to free one of her sons, she was working as a patron of the arts-in particular the lyrical poetry of the troubadours. It was with her daughter Marie de Champagne that she helped to formalize the lyricism of troubadour poetry that originated in Languedoc, and she spread it to the North. Marie de Champagne commissioned the romance Lancelot from Chrétien de Troyes. In this way the “langue d’oc” culture of the Midi would influence aristocratic circles in the langue d’oïl. The songs of the troubadours became the basis of courtly love, wherein women are portrayed as idealized ladies worthy of gentlemanly pursuit rather than as sexual objects to bring male gratification. There is some evidence that, in direct conflict with the teachings of the Church, the romantic relationships espoused were rather modern in alluding to mutual sensual gratification (see the poetry of trobairitz Béatrice de Die and Tibors de Sarenom). While much of the poetry brings to mind notions of chivalry and honor, feminist scholars have pointed out that this may tell us more about men than women as it represented a shift in the popular notion of masculinity. In some ways this placing of women on a pedestal parallels the growing adoration of the Virgin Mary among Catholics. While flattering, it in many ways still confines women in a role defined and presented by men. Regardless of the society in which she lived, any examination of Eleanor herself will attest that she was a woman who prevailed over any and all attempts at confinement and she achieved some of her greatest feats in old age, after the death of her second husband literally released her back into the world.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
After her marriage, she accompanied Louis VII, King of France, to Palestine, but her intimacy with Raymond de Poitiers and Saladin resulted in a divorce. She then married Henry 11, Duke of Normandy, bringing with her, as dowry, Poitou and Guyenne. Her son, Richard the Lion-Hearted, received Guyenne and did homage for it to the King of France. As a result of instigating her sons to rebel against their father, she was sent to prison, where she was obliged to remain for fourteen years. Liberated by her son Richard, she lived a life of self denial, going from city to city, setting free many prisoners. She showed great magnanimity in forgetting her desire for revenge and devoting all her energy toward the accomplishment of good deeds. Her old age atones magnificently for the sins of her youth, and she ranks among the most romantic characters of history.
The following is excerpted from “Female Warriors: Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era,” by Ellen C. Clayton (Mrs. Needham), published in 1879 and shared online by Project Gutenberg.
The somewhat ridiculous termination to her first essay in presence of the foe did not entirely quench the military ardour of Eleonora of Aquitaine. After she had been for some years the wife of king Henry II, she stirred up her sons, Richard and John, to rebellion against their father; and went so far as to appear in masculine attire, at the head of their forces in Aquitaine. And thus clad, she was made prisoner.
When Prince Arthur was prosecuting his claims on the English crown, Philip Augustus, the French king, sent him with a military retinue into Normandy, then in the hands of the English. The French barons laid siege to Mirebeau, a fortified town near Poitiers. It was defended for King John by Eleonora, who, though she had then attained the age of four-score, was as active as ever, and had only just returned from a journey into Spain—a matter of some difficulty in those days. When the French had captured the town, the veteran Amazon threw herself into a strong tower which served as a sort of citadel; and here she held out bravely till the arrival of John with reinforcements, on the night between July 31st and August 1, 1202; when the besiegers were compelled to surrender.