Hourly History - Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life From Beginning to End

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Eleanor of Aquitaine began life in the shadows, as was typical for a medieval woman. It is only at the time of her fathers death and her marriage to King Louis V of France that she begins to appear in the historical records. Even then, scholars infer much of her role and influence as queen of France from manuscripts of questionable veracity or from letters in which Eleanor is not directly mentioned.

From these beginnings, Eleanor rose to a position of great prestige and power. She was the wife of two of Europes kings and the mother of two more. Not only did she have great influence over the lives of these men, but she also had opportunities to rule herselfin her own duchy of Aquitaine and her neighboring province of Poitou, as well as in England, where she governed in place of her husband or son during their absences. Beyond this, Eleanor is a tantalizing figure for historians because she was something of a rebel. She was likely a major figure in achieving the annulment of her first marriage, and she took an active role in working against her second husband, King Henry II of England, in favor of her sonssetting herself not only against her husband but also against the mighty medieval authority of the church.

Given Eleanors wealth, reputation, and powerful position, along with the scattered nature of the sources that give us information about her life, it is perhaps not surprising that the many gaps in our knowledge about her life have been partially filled by legends, many of which have become popularly accepted as fact. Some of these legends arose during medieval times, not long after Eleanors life, while others are the result of the conjectures of historians closer to our modern day. In this book, you will find an attempt to sort through these legends and distinguish the facts that are available to us from conjectures that have little basis to present a balanced telling of the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of medieval Europes most memorable women.

Aquitainein the twelfth century, a duchy of great wealth and powersits in south-central France. Duke William IX, born in 1071, cut quite a memorable figure as duke. He lived in frequent conflict with the power of the medieval church and engaged in behavior considered scandalous by his medieval society. He somehow escaped the wreck of the First Crusade, founded a monastery, suggested the creation of a convent made up of prostitutes, was nearly excommunicated (or perhaps actually was), and at last brought his mistress to live openly in a tower of his palace at Poitierswhile his wife Phillippa retreated to a life in the monastery he had founded. Williams wild and sometimes contradictory life is most often remembered for his role as the first of the troubadoursmedieval French poets who envisioned an ideal of courtly love, where a womans love was envisioned to be an almost divine source of salvation and bliss, worthy of the patient work it took to court and win her affection.

Duke William IX was the grandfather of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Although, as a very young child at his death in 1126, Eleanor would hardly have known or remembered William IX, his life and his legacy undoubtedly had an influence on Aquitaine for many years to comeand, by extension, on his granddaughter. William IXs son, Duke William X, was Eleanors father. William X, though lacking the flamboyant personality of his father, also had his share of conflict with the church. Reconciliation with the church may be the root of William Xs decision, in 1137, to set off on a pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostela. In any case, this pilgrimage led to his death at Compostela.

It is at this point that Williams daughter Eleanor appears in the narratives of history. Historians estimate the year of her birth as being either 1122 or 1124, making her 13 or 15 years old in 1137. William X had no male heir since his only son had died years before. Upon Williams death, Eleanor, heir to the rich realm of Aquitaine, was left under the guardianship of the king of France, Louis VI. Louiss power as king of France was quite limited. Dukes of powerful holdings such as Aquitaine, Normandy, or Burgundy could operate largely independently of the king, despite his technical role as their overlord.

In fact, some of these dukes had not even shown up for Louiss coronation. The responsibility of arranging a marriage for the wealthy young Duchess Eleanor provided Louis VI with an advantageous opportunityhe would marry Eleanor to his son and heir, Louis VII. The conditions of Eleanors inheritance stipulated that she would retain control of her holdings in Aquitaine, but the union would create a powerful alliance for the king of France.

Young Prince Louis, 16 years old at the time, had not expected to be heir to the throne of France. That role was supposed to belong to his older brother, Philip. Louis had been on his way toward a pious life within the churchs cloisters when Philip died in a riding accident in 1129. Louis was almost immediately crowned as joint ruler with his father, but his early days of training for an ecclesiastical life would leave their mark on him.

By the time the young Louis was sent to Aquitaine by his father in the summer of 1137, everyone knew that King Louis VIs health was failing. He was known as The Fat and on top of his obesity was suffering from dysentery.

Prince Louis traveled through France with 500 knights. In Bordeauxs Cathedral of Saint Andre, on July 25, Louis of France married Eleanor of Aquitaine. As a wedding gift, Eleanor gave Louis a famous rock crystal vase that she had inherited from her grandfather William IX, who had received it as a gift from a Muslim allywhom some scholars believe was the last king of Saragossa, in Spain. This vase now rests in the Louvre, the only physical relic of Eleanors life that remains in modern times.

After their wedding, Louis and Eleanor journeyed toward Poitiers, capital of Aquitaine. There, they officially became duke and duchess of Aquitaine on August 8, 1137. Until that day, they were unaware that Louis VI had already died on August 1. Anticipating the potential upheaval that might accompany succession to the throne, Louis and Eleanor hurried toward Paris by way of Orleans. Eleanor, still only a girl of 13 or 15, began a new life in a new cityshe was now not only duchess of Aquitaine, but also queen of France.

Despite being the queen, Eleanor was an outsider in Paris. Historians have long characterized Eleanor as high-spirited, a product of the bold, more secular culture of southern Francea sharp contrast to the more conservative and austere customs of northern France and Paris. Louis began to spend extravagantlya move that seems out of character for the pious king but may have been an effort to please his new wife. Many scholars see these cultural differences at the center of the conflict that would soon erupt.