Notes for Eleanor Princess Of Aquitaine: Eleanor of Aquitaine was born in the Middle Ages some time around 1122. Unlike most women in those day and some of the men, Eleanor was very well educated. When she was a child, her mother and her little brother died, as well as her father in 1137. Eleanor became the richest heiress in France, since her family had left her all their money.
Since she was very wealthy, Eleanor was set up to be married to the King, Louis VII. Although they did not get along, they had a child named Marie in 1145 and Louis VII allowed Eleanor to govern Aquitaine, for he knew how she knew the Aquitainians better than any other ruler.
When the Second Crusade began, Eleanor accompanied her husband to Palestine. However, they soon disagreed on what to do next. Eleanor thought they should drive back the Turks in the north, but Louis disagreed. Anyhow, the Crusade turned out to be a failure and Eleanor and Louis both visited the Pope and pleaded for a divorce. However, the Pope turned them down.
After returning to France, Eleanor's marriage worsened, although another daughter was born in 1150. They finally convinced the Pope to divorce them in 1152. A few weeks later, Eleanor met and married Duke Henry Plantagenet of Normandy. With Eleanor's help and support, Henry became King of England and owned much of France. Eleanor bore him three daughters and five sons.
In 1169, Eleanor became the Duchess of Aquitaine and restored Aquitaine's order. In 1170, she reconciled her relationship with her first-born daughter Marie.
When Henry and Eleanor's sons revolted against Henry in 1173, Eleanor backed them fully, and all of them were imprisoned by Henry until the year of his death, 1189. Her son, Richard I (also known as Richard the Lionhearted) became king and followed much of Eleanor's advice while ruling. Eleanor retired in Aquitaine and stayed in the abbey of Fontevraud. She died there in 1204, at 82 years old, very old for her time.
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful and fascinating personalities of feudal Europe. At age 15 she married Louis VII, King of France, bringing into the union her vast possessions from the River Loire to the Pyrenees. Only a few years later, at age 19, she knelt in the cathedral of Vézelay before the celebrated Abbé Bernard of Clairvaux offering him thousands of her vassals for the Second Crusade. It was said that Queen Eleanor appeared at Vézelay dressed like an Amazon galloping through the crowds on a white horse, urging them to join the crusades.
While the church may have been pleased to receive her thousand fighting vassals, they were less happy when they learned that Eleanor, attended by 300 of her ladies, also planned to go to help "tend the wounded."
The presence of Eleanor, her ladies and wagons of female servants, was criticized by commentators throughout her adventure. Dressed in armor and carrying lances, the women never fought. And when they reached the city of Antioch, Eleanor found herself deep in a renewed friendship with Raymond, her uncle, who had been appointed prince of the city. Raymond, only a few years older than Eleanor, was far more interesting and handsome than Eleanor's husband, Louis. When Raymond decided that the best strategic objective of the Crusade would be to recapture Edessa, thus protecting the Western presence in the Holy Land, Eleanor sided with his view. Louis, however, was fixated on reaching Jerusalem, a less sound goal. Louis demanded that Eleanor follow him to Jerusalem. Eleanor, furious, announced to one and all that their marriage was not valid in the eyes of God, for they were related through some family connections to an extent prohibited by the Church. Wounded by her claim, Louis nonetheless forced Eleanor to honor her marriage vows and ride with him. The expedition did fail, and a defeated Eleanor and Louis returned to France in separate ships.
On her way home, while resting in Sicily, Eleanor was brought the news that her fair haired uncle had been killed in battle, and his head delivered to the Caliph of Baghdad. Although her marriage to Louis continued for a time, and she bore him two daughters, the relationship was over. In 1152 the marriage was annulled and her vast estates reverted to Eleanor's control. Within a year, at age thirty, she married twenty year old Henry who two years later became king of England.
In the papal bull for the next Crusade, it expressly forbade women of all sorts to join the expedition. All the Christian monarchs, including King Louis, agreed to this. But by this time Eleanor had problems of her own in her marriage to King Henry II of England.
More About Eleanor Princess Of Aquitaine: Date born 2: 1122, Chateau de Berlin, France.62 Died 2: April 01, 1204, Poitiers or Fontervrault, France.62 Record Change: January 10, 200262
More About Eleanor Princess Of Aquitaine and Henry II Plantagenet, King of England: Marriage 1: May 18, 1152, Bordeaux, Aquataine, France.63 Marriage 2: May 18, 115264
Children of Eleanor Princess Of Aquitaine and Henry II Plantagenet, King of England are:
+John (Lackland) Plantagenet, King, b. December 24, 1167, Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England - reigned 1199-121665, d. 1216, Newark Castle, England - receiver of the Magna Charta65.
Eleanor Princess Of Aquitaine (b. 1121, d. 1204)
Notes for Eleanor Princess Of Aquitaine: