Alison Weir - Queens of the Crusades: Eleanor of Aquitaine and her Successors

Alison Weir is one of Britains top-selling historians. She is the author of numerous works of history and historical fiction, specialising in the medieval and Tudor periods. Her bestselling history books include The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Elizabeth of York and The Lost Tudor Princess. Her novels include Innocent Traitor, Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen and Anne Boleyn: A Kings Obsession. She is an Honorary Life Patron of Historic Royal Palaces and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She lives and works in Surrey.

Also by Alison Weir

Non-fiction

Britains Royal Families

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Richard III and the Princes in the Tower

Lancaster and York: The Wars of the Roses

Children of England: The Heirs of King Henry VIII

Elizabeth the Queen

Eleanor of Aquitaine, By the Wrath of God, Queen of England

Henry VIII: King and Court

Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley

Isabella, She-Wolf of France, Queen of England

Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster

Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn

Mary Boleyn: The Great and Infamous Whore

Elizabeth of York: The First Tudor Queen

The Lost Tudor Princess: The Life of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox

Queens of the Conquest: Englands Medieval Queens, 10661167

As co-author

The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings, 10662011

A Tudor Christmas

Fiction

Innocent Traitor

The Lady Elizabeth

The Captive Queen

A Dangerous Inheritance

The Marriage Game

Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen

Anne Boleyn: A Kings Obsssion

Anna of Kleve: Queen of Secrets

Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen

Quick Reads

Traitors of the Tower

This book is dedicated to my incomparable god-daughter, Eleanor Borman, who is named for the incomparable Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The window in Poitiers Cathedral donated by Eleanor of Aquitaine in commemoration of her wedding to Henry II in 1152. (Alamy)

The Hall of Lost Footsteps in Eleanor of Aquitaines palace at Poitiers. (WikiCommons)

The tomb effigy of Henry II in Fontevraud Abbey. (Getty)

The tomb effigy of Henry, the Young King, in Rouen Cathedral. (Alamy)

Archbishop Thomas Becket, window in Canterbury Cathedral. (WikiCommons)

Fair Rosamund by John William Waterhouse, 1916, National Museum of Wales. (Alamy)

Chinon Castle, one of the great strongholds of the Plantagenets. (Shutterstock)

The mound on which once stood the city, cathedral and castle of Old Sarum. (Getty)

The tomb effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine in Fontevraud Abbey. (Shutterstock)

The tomb effigy of Richard I in Fontevraud Abbey. (Alamy)

The kitchen Eleanor of Aquitaine built at Fontevraud. ( BrokenSphere/WikiCommons)

A mural in the church of Sainte-Radegonde at Chinon, which may depict the Plantagenets, with Eleanor of Aquitaine, crowned, in the centre. (WikiCommons)

The tomb of the beautiful Navarroise, Berengaria of Navarre, in the abbey of lEpau, Le Mans. (WikiCommons)

The Pedlar by Charles Allston Collins, 1850, Manchester Art Gallery. (WikiCommons)

The tomb effigy of William the Marshal, the best knight who ever lived, in the Temple Church, London. (Alamy)

The tomb effigy of King John in Worcester Cathedral. He was a very bad man. (Alamy)

The tomb effigy of Isabella of Angoulme in Fontevraud Abbey. (Getty)

The seal of Hugh de Lusignan X, Isabella of Angoulmes second husband. (WikiCommons)

The tomb effigy of Henry III in Westminster Abbey. (Alamy)

The abbey of lEpau, founded by Queen Berengaria in 1229. (WikiCommons)

The marriage of Henry III and Alienor of Provence. Historia Anglorum, Chronica Majora of Matthew Paris, Royal MS 14 C VII f. 124v, British Library. (Getty)

A thirteenth-century Corbel head of Alienor of Provence, in Westminster Abbey. (Used by kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster)

A thirteenth-century head of Alienor of Provence in Bridlington Priory. (Authors own)

Peter of Savoy, above the entrance to the Savoy Hotel, which stands on the site of his palace. (Alamy)

Statues of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of Almayne, and his wife Sanchia, in Meissen Cathedral. (Alamy)

Edward I and his wife, Eleanor of Castile. Chronica Roffense [Flores Historiarum made at Roch], British Library. (Alamy)

The abbey of Las Huelgas at Burgos, Castile. (Alamy)

Eleanor of Castile, window in St Mary Magdalenes Church, Himbleton, Worcestershire. (Alamy)

Edward I, painting above the sedilia in Westminster Abbey. (Alamy)

Leeds Castle, a dower palace of the queens of England. (Alamy)

An illustration in the Alphonso Psalter, Additional MS 24686, British Library. (Authors own)

The tomb effigy of Eleanor of Castile in Westminster Abbey. (Getty)

Eleanors statue on the Eleanor Cross at Hardingstone. (Alamy)

The Eleanor Cross at Geddington. (Alamy)

The Eleanor Cross at Hardingstone. (Alamy)

The Eleanor Cross at Waltham. (Alamy)

This book tells the stories of the lives of Englands queen consorts during the early Plantagenet period, 11541291. It covers five queens. Eleanor of Aquitaine needs no introduction, for she was one of the towering female figures of the Middle Ages, and the subject of a biography I published in 1999. Much scholarship has been undertaken since then, and I have revised certain aspects of her story, focusing chiefly on her career as queen of England. Her daughters-in-law, Berengaria of Navarre and Isabella of Angoulme, deserve to be better known, especially for their careers after the deaths of their husbands, Richard I and King John. The thirteenth-century queens Alienor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile dominated the English establishment for nearly seven decades. Both were controversial, and I hope I have presented a fair view of them.