Eleanor of Aquitaine , The most powerful woman of 12th century Europe

When you are talking about badass women, you absolutely should not forget Eleanor of Aquitaine. The only woman who has ruled both France and England. 

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Daughter of Aquitaine

In her younger years, she lived with her father, the duke of Aquitaine, her mother, the duchess of Aquitaine, her sister, Petronilla, and her brother, William. Her mother and brother died when she was very young. The death of her brother meant a lot for her, because she was now first in line for the duchy. 

Queen of France

   The duchy of Aquitaine was very large and wealthy at the time, even larger than the lands of the crown. So of course everyone wanted to become the duke of Aquitaine. That was very obvious when her father died when she was fifteen. The first thing that the king of France (appointed as her guardian by her father before he died) did, was

marrying her off to his eldest son.

 King Louis VII

Eleanor was going to have a totally different life. She had to move to the north of France, a place with different manners than where she came from. She also lost her duchy with the marriage. Her lands became a part of the crown.

    It wasn’t all bad. Her new husband, Louis, really liked her. She was beautiful and Louis adored her. He gave her everything she wanted. For example, her chambers were modernised because she found them too stuffy. 

  When Louis and Eleanor became king and queen, only a month after their marriage, Eleanor changed a lot at court. The people became obligated to wash their hands before meals and use napkins. Just like the did in the south. 

   Louis was very religious because he was raised to become a monk. This wasn’t very helpful for the making off offspring. Eleanor and Louis didn’t sleep regularly together given the rules of the church that were followed strictly by Louis. They weren’t allowed to sleep together on sundays and church holidays, and there were alot of church holidays. This made making offspring hard and ended with two girls before their divorce 15 years after they married.

   Yes, divorce. Something VERY rare for nobility in the 12th century. This happened after a horrible pilgrimage. Louis had decided to go on pilgrimage because he felt guilty about the death of 1000 people. Those people were burned alive by Louis’ army in the war between him and the count of Blois. That war started because Eleanor’s sister, Petronilla, an affair had with a family member of the count of Blois and wanted to get married with her lover. Louis helped her with this and that made the count mad. It started a two year war with the death of 1000 people as baddest point. The people died in a cathedral where they were hiding from the city fire set by the army of Louis. 

   The cause of the pilgrimage wasn’t only Louis’ guilt, it was also to conquer back holy lands that were conquered by muslims. So the pilgrimage was also a crusade, the second crusade in history. On the pilgrimage, Louis’ and Eleanor's armies broke up because of the bad army leadership of Louis. Louis’ army was then attacked by Turks and Louis blamed Eleanor for it. As punishment she needed to go with him on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This wasn’t good for their relationship, with as result Eleanor going to the pope when traveling back to France. The pope, after first trying to atone the relationship, granted them their annulment. 

Queen of England

   Eleanor got fortunately her lands back (that was part of the agreement with Louis) and married again to the next king(!!!), Henry the second of England. Henry was first in line for the throne when they were married. A few years after their marriage the old king died, and they became king and queen. Eleanor was allowed to do and reign more than she was in France. She was regent when Henry was away and was allowed help governing. Henry and Eleanor had quite some children, despite Eleanor’s high age and the fact that they were almost never together (only with Christmas). Five sons and three daughters, with three sons becoming king of England. However, the marriage wasn’t one with a lot of love. Henry had a lot of mistresses and illegitimate children. 

 King Henry II

    That said, when Henry got in a fight with their sons, Eleanor chose the side of their sons. This made her become imprisoned for 16 years. A very long time, but she did live in luxury (expected for a queen) and was allowed outside the prison on holidays. 

    While she was in prison, Henry had a mistress called Rosamund Clifford. The legend is that Eleanor killed Rosamund, while she was in prison. Multiple ways have been said, like an assassin that stabbed a knife through her heart. But isn’t called a legend for nothing, Rosamund died most likely in a monastery. 

King mother

   Henry died in 1189 and Eleanor’s third son became king, because her first died very young and her second died after being only king in name when his father was still ruling. The first thing the new king Richard did was releasing his mother. Eleanor became a prominent advisor for Richard and got more power.  Eleanor's grave

   Richard was captured while traveling back from crusade and needed to be freed with ransom money by his mother. He participated in another war with France after this and died there while battling.

   Her third son, John, became king. She became again king mother and helped John with different things, like traveling to Navarre to pick up her granddaughter and travel with her France so she could marry the dauphin of France. 

   She retired to a monastery after this and died there some years later. 

Eleanor became very famous for this impressive life. The years after her death mostly negative, that is why most of the legends about her negative are. Later, in the 19th century, people started to picture her less as the villain and more as a impressive woman who did what she thought was right, even though women weren’t allowed to do what they wanted in the 12th century.. Something I think is very good, because this woman is one of of history's greatest examples of girlpower and someone we shouldn’t forget.

Sources:

Lindsay Holiday's video about Eleanor. Very interesting!

Wikipedia

Brittanica