Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine (ca. 1122-1204) was queen of France from 1137 to 1152 and queen of England from 1154 to 1204. Her second marriage, which brought southwestern France to the English king, affected the relations of France and England for almost 300 years.

Eleanor was the elder daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine, and Aenor (Eleanor) of Châtellerault. William died on April 9, 1137. The marriage of his heiress was of great importance because Aquitaine was one of the largest fiefs of France. Probably in accord with her father's wish, Eleanor married Louis, son of King Louis VI (July 25, 1137); they were installed as rulers of Aquitaine at Poitiers (August 8) and crowned king and queen of France at Bourges on Christmas, Louis VI having died. The young king seems to have been fond of his beautiful wife, but Eleanor is said to have complained that she had married a monk and not a king.

In June 1147 Louis and Eleanor set out on a crusade, arriving at Antioch in March 1148. Here they quarreled, and the validity of their marriage was questioned. However, she and Louis reached home together. On March 21, 1152, their marriage was annulled on grounds of consanguinity. The King's wish for a male heir—Eleanor having borne two daughters—was probably the decisive reason.

Less than 2 months later Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou, and soon to be king of England. They were crowned at Westminster on Dec. 19, 1154. Henry II was 11 years younger than his wife. Their marriage was a political match; he wanted her lands, and she needed a protector. Eleanor and Henry had eight children: William (1153-1156); Henry the "young king" (1155-1183); Matilda (1156-1189), who married Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony; Richard (1157-1199); Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany (1158-1186); Eleanor (1162-1214), who married Alfonso, King of Castile; Joanna (1165-1199), who married William ll, King of Sicily, and later Raymond, Count of Toulouse; and John (1167-1216).

Richard was regarded from an early age as heir to his mother's duchy. In 1168 she brought him to live there, maintaining a court centered at Poitiers. Though Richard was given the ducal title, Eleanor had both power and responsibility. Now she also had full opportunity to give patronage to poets and authors. This relatively happy period ended abruptly in 1173. Eleanor, goaded perhaps by Henry's unfaithfulness, allied with the king of France against him. Her young sons joined her; indeed, as the young Henry was already 18, he may have instigated the plot. King Henry crushed the rebels and forgave his sons but kept his wife in semi-imprisonment until he died.

With the accession to the English throne of her favorite son, Richard (called the "Lion-Hearted"), on Sept. 3, 1189, Eleanor resumed her royal position and regained control of her property. She arranged his coronation, and in the winter of 1190/1191 she traveled to Navarre to fetch his future wife, Berengaria, and escorted her to Sicily to join Richard before he left for Palestine. During his absence she worked with the Council of Regency in England, and she had the unpleasant task of helping to thwart the treachery of John, her youngest son. She received Richard's letters about his captivity and organized the collection of his ransom.

On Richard's sudden death (April 6, 1199), Eleanor supported John's claim to succeed to the English throne against that of her grandson Arthur of Brittany. She herself did homage to King Philip of France for Aquitaine, and she formally took control of the duchy.

In July 1202, when John and Philip were at war, Eleanor was besieged in the castle of Mirabeau by John's enemies, nominally led by her grandson Arthur. John defeated the besiegers and captured his nephew. His mother was able to spend her last months in freedom. She died on April 1, 1204, and was buried at the abbey of Fontevrault, where her effigy remains.

Further Reading

The best biography of Eleanor is Amy Ruth Kelly, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings (1950). There are also Régine Pernoud's shorter and more romantic Eleanor of Aquitaine, translated by Peter Wiles (1967), and Curtis Howe Walker, Eleanor of Aquitaine (1950). These works must be used with caution because the sources do not reveal Eleanor's motives and opinions. □

Eleanor of Aquitaine , 1122?–1204, queen consort first of Louis VII of France and then of Henry II of England. Daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine, she married Louis in 1137 shortly before his accession to the throne. She accompanied him on the Second Crusade (1147–49). Eleanor bore Louis two daughters, but in 1152 their marriage was annulled. Soon afterward Eleanor married Henry, duke of Normandy and count of Anjou, uniting her vast possessions with those of her husband. Louis VII feared this powerful combination, and when Henry ascended the English throne in 1154, the stage was set for a long struggle between the English and French kings. Eleanor bore Henry three daughters and five sons, and two of the latter, Richard I and John , became kings of England. Because of Henry's infidelities, especially his relationship with Rosamond , Eleanor's relations with her husband grew strained, and in 1170 she established a court of her own at Poitiers. She supported her sons in their unsuccessful revolt against Henry in 1173 and was held in confinement by Henry until 1185. Her efforts helped Richard secure the throne in 1189. While Richard was on the Third Crusade and later held captive in Europe (1190–94), Eleanor was active in forestalling the plots against him by his brother John and in collecting the ransom for his release. She brought about a reconciliation between the two brothers, and on Richard's death in 1199 she supported John's claims to the throne over those of Arthur I of Brittany. Eleanor's court at Poitiers was the scene of much artistic activity and was noted for its cultivation of courtly manners and the concept of courtly love. She was the patroness of such literary figures as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-More, and Chrétien de Troyes. In literature Eleanor has appeared as the jealous murderess of the "fair Rosamond," but she was apparently innocent of this crime. She was an able and strong-minded woman.

Bibliography: See biographies by M. Meade (1980), D. Seward (1986), Z. Kaplan (1987), and A. Weir (2000).

Eleanor of Aquitaine (c.1122–1204), queen of Henry II. Heiress to the vast duchy of Aquitaine, Eleanor first married Louis VII of France in 1137, but they were divorced in 1152, partly because they were temperamentally incompatible, but largely because Eleanor had produced only daughters. Aquitaine accordingly reverted to Eleanor. In 1152 she married Henry of Anjou, soon to be king of England, and over the next fifteen years bore him eight children. Their marital relations deteriorated, however, and this played a part in Eleanor's most significant decision in Henry's reign—to rebel against him in 1173 in support of her sons. Her plans misfired, she was captured by Henry, and until his death in 1189 was kept in close confinement, carefully watched, in England. On Richard I's accession, she was released and renewed her political life with relish, playing an important role during Richard's absence on crusade and then, on his death, crucially securing the loyalty of Aquitaine for John during the succession crisis of 1199–1200. She was very beautiful, very civilized, and a keen patron of the arts.

S. D. Lloyd

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122–1204), the granddaughter of the first troubadour whose work survives, Guilhem IX of Aquitaine, and inheritor of the kingdom of Aquitaine, married for her inheritance by Louis VII of France in 1137. After their divorce in 1152 she was immediately remarried to Henry Plantagenet of Anjou, the future Henry II of England, to whom she bore eight children including the future Richard I and the future King John. After the death of Henry II in 1189 she was regent of England until 1199. She was an immensely influential patron of the arts, particularly in her patronage of the development of courtly poetry in Poitiers, a function carried on by her daughter Marie de Champagne.

Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122–1204), queen of Henry II. Heiress to the vast duchy of Aquitaine, Eleanor first married Louis VII of France in 1137, but they were divorced in 1152, largely because Eleanor had produced only daughters. Aquitaine accordingly reverted to Eleanor. In 1152 she married Henry of Anjou, soon to be king of England. Their marital relations deteriorated, however, and this played a part in Eleanor's decision to rebel against him in 1173 in support of her sons. She was captured by Henry, and kept in close confinement. On Richard I's accession, she renewed her political life, playing an important role during Richard's absence on crusade.

Eleanor of Aquitaine (c.1122–1204) Daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, queen of France (1137–52) and of England (1154–89). She was married to Louis VII of France from 1137; in 1152, with the annulment of their marriage, she married the future Henry II of England. Her ten children included the monarchs RICHARD I (THE LIONHEART) and JOHN, whose accession she strove to secure. She acted as regent (1190–94) while Richard was away on the Crusades.

Aquitaine, Eleanor of See ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE.