Eleanor of Aquitaine

I am not sure whether you can call Eleanor of Aquitane a heroine or just a woman who was used to her personal wealth and power getting her what she wanted, but you cannot deny that she made a mark for the fairer sex back in the 12th Century. In a time of family pit against family in the political intrigues to gain the throne of England, it would have been a dangerous time for anyone – man or woman – to make a stand against a King. And to travel around the country and Europe would have been a brave and dangerous thing to embark upon.


Born in 1122, Eleanor of Aquitaine was the eldest of three children. She was named Alienor (from the Latin alia Aenor meaning the other Aenor) after her mother Aenor of Chatellerault. When her 4-year-old brother and mother died when she was 8 years old she became heir presumptive to the lands of her father – William X of Aquitaine - and inherited the Duchy of Aquitaine and Poiters in 1137 at the age of 15 from her father upon his death. Thus she became the most eligible bride in Europe. From what is known, Eleanor, who has been recorded as being very beautiful, was taught to read and speak Latin and was well schooled in music and literature, together with riding, hawking and hunting. She was supposedly extroverted, lively, intelligent and strong willed – all attributes that will have served her well for the life that lay ahead of her.

In July that year Eleanor married the heir to the throne of France – Louis VII– who became the king upon his father’s death a month later. This union bore two daughters, Marie and Alix. During the time of this marriage Eleanor accompanied her husband and his army, along with an entourage of 300 of her ladies, on the Second Crusade. However, in March 1152 the marriage was annulled on the grounds of consanguinity. A couple of months later in May, she married Henry Fitz-Empress, the Duke of Normandy and heir to the throne of England. When King Stephen died in 1154 her husband became Henry II. They had three daughters and five sons (William, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, John, Mathilda, Eleanor, and Joan). Two of their sons became Kings of England after their father. They were Richard I – the Lionheart - and John Lackland.

Eleanor of Aquitane was a powerful and wealthy woman in her own right and she was not afraid to support her three sons in their revolt against Henry in1173. Henry must have been surprised at this action on her part – it would have been unusual for a woman, but in her eyes it was perfectly justified. She had, over the last two decades, bore children, put up with her husband’s infidelities and disagreed vehemently with some of Henry’s decisions. But to top all of this, she would have had to share her independence and power and perhaps in deposing Henry she would have been able to rule Aquitaine with her favourite third son, Richard.

However Henry put down this rebellion and for her part – at the age of 50 - she was confined in various fortified buildings for between 10 and 15 years.

She became more involved in the ruling of Aquitaine from 1185 and upon Henry II’s death in 1189, Richard inherited the throne. Eleanor was also active as a ruler in Poitou and Glascony between 1189 and her death in 1204. She travelled often and on more than occasion risked her life in her efforts to maintain the loyalty of the English subjects and manage her army and estates. She also travelled to cement marriage alliances – she travelled to Spain to choose and collect her 13-year-old grand-daughter Blanche of Castille to become the bride of Louis VIII of France – the grandson of her first husband. And even when she was almost 70 she travelled over the Pyrenees to escort her prospective daughter-in-law, Beregaria of Navarre, via the Alps down to the Italian peninsula to Sicily. Beregaria then went on to Cyprus to marry Richard in Limossol on 21st Mary 1191.

Richard was reputed to be her favourite son and when his brother, John, joined forces with the King of France in rising against his brother she backed Richard and helped in bolstering his rule when he was on crusade. She played a heavy role in raising the ransom to release Richard from imprisonment on his return from the Holy Land, and thus she became known as an able politician.

Then, in 1199 – on the death of Richard - she supported John’s claim to the throne against her grandson Arthur of Brittany and helped hold out against Arthur’s forces until John could arrive to defeat him and his supporters – this at the age of 80. In 1191 Arthur – son of Richard’s brother Geoffrey – had been designated as heir to the throne of England by Richard I over his other brother John, but upon his deathbead in 1199 Richard had proclaimed his younger brother John as his heir due to Arthur only being 12 at the time and him fearing that he was too young to look after the throne.

During her life, Eleanor had periodically gone to the abbey at Fontevrault to find peace and it was here that she died on 1st April 1204 and was subsequently buried there, next to both Henry II and her son Richard I.