Women's History Resource Site

King's College History Department

Eleanor of Aquitaine

The story of Eleanor of Aquitaine begins in Bordeaux at around  A.D. 1122.  She was the daughter of William X, who was the Duke of Aquitaine and the Count of Poitou, and controlled a vast amount of land.  Her father, who she inherited all this land from, had one of the largest domains in all of France.  Large enough in fact that it was substantially more than the French kings had at the time.

During her childhood she was brought up in the Troubadour style, which is the idea of courtly love and knights who not only fought but also wrote poetry and had more sensitive sides.  In her early years she was surrounded with education and became an excellent student.  At an early age her mother and little brother had died and after the death of her father in 1137. she became the sole heir to her father’s fortune.  With her now in control, her influence became very evident throughout Western Europe.  Her court was known throughout the world for its sophistication and luxury and was heavily influenced by the Troubadour style. 

Being an orphan and only fifteen years of age a marriage was arranged for her.  She was to marry the King of France, Louis VII, which would bring a vast amount of authority and power to his reign.  Eleanor and her persuasiveness heavily influenced this power.  Along with her education and intelligence she was also a very effective administrator and adept in the ways of politics.  It did not hurt that she was also very beautiful even by today’s’ standards.  This did not go unnoticed by Louis’ closest councilor the Abbot Sugar who highly resented Eleanor’s’ place in the government and made his feelings known to Louis.   But nothing was to come of it as Louis prepared for the Second Crusade.

Eleanor made her own preparations as well by gathering together her own personal army from her lands of Aquitaine.  In this army were close to 300 women who Eleanor said were there to tend to the wounded.  This was frowned upon by many, especially since the women were known to have worn armor and carried lances.  Though these women never fought, the opinion was that there was no place for women in warfare.  The goal of the Crusade was to reach Jerusalem but Eleanor thought this to be a less attainable objective.  This thought was confirmed for her as she rode through Antioch and found herself once again reunited with her uncle Raymond who had been appointed prince of the city.   They both agreed that Edessa would be a much greater strategic goal, protecting the Western front in the Holy Land.   Louis on the other hand did not agree and proceeded in his drive for Jerusalem.  This would be a key moment in their marital troubles.  The Crusade was a failure and Louis had blamed her, sending her home in disgrace.  This would be the last straw.

In 1152, Eleanor announced that she wanted a divorce, which was granted by the church.  Eleanor had discovered that they were in fact fourth cousins and the church would not allow their marriage to continue.  Only six weeks after her divorce from Louis, she not only married Duke Henry Plantagenet of Normandy but also was also five months pregnant.  This marriage made Henry, Count of Anjou and Lord of Aquitaine, which meant that he controlled most of what is today modern France.  With Eleanor’s help Henry became the King of England eventually becoming Henry II.  Eleanor was never well-liked by the English people because she was a foreigner and again with her involvement in politics.

Among her noteworthy accomplishments was her ability to give birth.  She is known as the "grandmother" of Eastern Europe due to the fact that she had so many children and effectively married them off to powerful individuals.  Her first marriage to Louis only produced two children, both of them daughters.  In 1170 Eleanor reconciled with one of her daughters, Marie of France.  Marie followed in her mothers’ troubadour style and influenced the composition of the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere.  She also produced a "code of love", which was written down in thirty-one articles.   Her marriage to Henry on the other hand was produced five sons and three daughters.  To these children she supervised their education and oversaw their advantageous marriages.  Her one son Henry was crowned the "Youth King" and her favorite son Richard became the heir to Aquitaine.

Henry was never the most loyal of husbands and with his infidelity came a secret hostility from Eleanor.  Behind his back she was conspiring with her sons to rebel and overthrow her husband, their father.  Unfortunately their plan was discovered and Henry confined Eleanor to a modern day house arrest in Winchester.  For sixteen years that is where she stayed until the death of Henry II in 1189.

Six years early in 1183 the "Youth King" Henry had died leaving Richard as the eldest son and heir to the English throne.  He immediately released his mother from imprisonment and she became his trusted advisor.  She helped to guide Richard until his death in 1199 but at that point she had had enough.  Her son John became the next King and she wanted no part of the throne.  Eleanor retired to Aquitaine to live out the remainder of her life.  She spent most of her time at the monastery at Fontevrault, Anjou, which was a favorite place of hers’.  This is where she was to die in 1204, at the age of 82.  This was an extremely long time even by today’s standards but for the Middle Ages it was extraordinary.  She left behind a legacy for woman all over the world.  She was a symbol of power and elegance, wisdom and intelligence, and was one of the most influential people in all of Western Europe.

Annotated Bibliography

Glusman, Laurea.  Book Review of Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Regine Pernoud. http://gray.music.rhodes.edu/musichtmls/MHDocs/eleanor.html; Internet; accessed 3 October 2000.     
The reviewer in this article again gave valuable insight into the way past historians viewed women.  It showed how the slightest words can make someone of great influence seem like a power hungry dictator bent on world domination.  This was not the case in this review but Glusman thought that the author of the book took a harsh approach when writing about Eleanor of Aquitaine.   

Joan’s Royal Favorites and Links Page, http://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/favour.htm; Internet; accessed 3 October 2000.  
This web site is the result of someone’s hobby.  This site was used as one side to an argument.  Most of the information at the site were facts but there seems to be some bits of information that cannot be easily corroborated.  Some of the information tended to be interpretive rather than fact.  This person is not a historian with any credentials other than vast amounts of reading.  The usefulness of this page was that it helped to eliminate some of the false information.   

Kelly, Amy Ruth.  Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings.  Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1950.    
This book focused on her role as a queen and the rules of her husbands.   Later the rules of her sons and how she played a role in their reign.  Again there was little credit given to her as a political entity rather than her being influential and disruptive.

Owen, D.D.R.   Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen and Legend.  Cambridge, Mass.:Blackwell, 1993.
This book was very useful because it made finding all of her accomplishments very easy.  A lot of the things that she helped to carry on like the troubadour style and the way she introduced it to other parts of Europe.    

Seward, Desmond.  Eleanor of Aquitaine.  New York, Times Books, 1979.
Very little new information was gained from this book.  It was basically used to verify information gathered from other sources.  It gave a general biographical description and tended to focus on the actions of her husbands and sons and the role she played in their lives rather than an account of her life.   

Weir, Alison. Eleanor of Aquitaine: A life.  New York: Ballantine Books, 2000. 
 The most recent work on Eleanor it helped because it was so new.   The facts presented in this book came from a female point of view and also were written during a time when the truth about women in history is being rediscovered.  Still not everything can be read as truth and a reader must remain objective, this book gave a refreshing breath to the otherwise male dominated perspectives. 

Women in World History Curriculum, http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/EofAreturns.html; Internet; accessed 3 October 2000.      
This was a great site to gather information and was very helpful.   It focused more on the life of Eleanor and put more emphasis on her role in history rather than who she was married to at the time and what they did.

This page has had visitors since 9 February 2007.

URL: http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/eleanor.html Written by Paul Lindenmuth, November 2000 Copyright © MMV Prof. Pavlac's Women's History Resource Site Last revised: 14 January 2002