Eleanor of Aquitaine, the extraordinary queen of France and England

An exciting life

• Around 1124: Birth of Eleanor of Aquitaine in Poitiers
• 1137: Eleanor of Aquitaine became Countess of Poitou, Duchess of Aquitaine and Queen of France in just a few weeks following her marriage to Louis VII.
• In 1154: Eleanor of Aquitaine became Queen of England following her marriage to Henry II. Eleanor of Aquitaine had 10 children: Mary of France, Alix of France, William of England, Henry the Younger, Matilda of England, Richard I, Geoffrey of England, Eleanor of England, Joan of England and John Lackland.
• 31 March 1204: Eleanor of Aquitaine died of old age in Poitiers at the age of 82.

A reign marked by influence and ambition

On 25 July 1137, Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII the Younger. The young queen was ambitious and capable of influencing her husband, who was madly in love with her. Over the years, however, the couple’s relationship was put to the test, as the strong character of the Duchess of Aquitaine did not sit well with that of her husband.

In recent years, she has shed her legendary black clothes to become a model of emancipation, intelligence and culture. Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of two enemy kingdoms whose tombstone is at Fontevraud, remains one of the most influential women of the Middle Ages!

Martin Aurell, a specialist in this woman who ruled France and then England, provides the key elements for understanding this key figure in the history of Europe.

In 1137, William X, Duke of Aquitaine, died. As his son William had died in 1130, Aquitaine and Poitou passed to his eldest daughter, Eleanor. In accordance with the last wishes of the deceased, the young girl was placed under the protection of King Louis VI of France.

At the age of 13, Eleanor found herself heir to a vast territory: Aquitaine. Shortly afterwards, in 1137, her protector, King Louis VI of France, married her off to his son, Louis VII.

She was barely fifteen and he sixteen. Their marriage was intended to establish Capetian authority over Aquitaine and Poitou, where the suzerain held little influence. Eleanor quickly made the most of her hold over her husband: she favoured the union of her sister with the king’s seneschal and imposed the Toulouse campaign in order to recover her grandmother’s inheritance.

She took part in the Second Crusade with her husband, but only gave him two daughters. No sons, so no heirs. ‘This is probably what prompted Louis VII to repudiate her in 1152.

A ‘black legend’ surrounds Eleanor. In particular, she was accused of cheating on her first husband. ‘This is due to the fact that she abandoned the King of France for the King of England, and also to the fact that she was a woman who didn’t want to be pushed around and defended her prerogatives as Duchess of Aquitaine. This kind of judgement has always existed: even today, when an upright, intelligent, hard-working woman moves up the corporate ladder, some people accuse her of ‘sofa promotion’,’ smiles the historian.

The young queen brought poets and troubadours, among whom she had been raised, to the French court. Louis VII, her husband, was not so happy. Originally destined for a monastic life, the young prince found himself thrust onto the throne of France on the death of his elder brother. Faithfully advised by Abbot Suger, the king preferred the company of the Bible to that of the Court. Eleanor is said to have confided: ‘I thought I was marrying a king and not a monk’.

In 1145, the kingdom was jubilant: the queen was pregnant. But, to the great disappointment of the king and the abbot Suger, Eleanor gave birth to a daughter, Marie.

In 1147, following a preaching by Bernard of Clairvaux, Louis VII set off on a crusade, accompanied by his wife. While there, their relationship deteriorated, and some chroniclers accused the queen of adultery with her uncle, Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch.

In 1150, Eleanor gave birth to another daughter, Alix. The absence of an heir to the crown of France added to the disagreement between the royal couple. In 1152, with the intervention of the Church, their marriage was annulled on the grounds of consanguinity.

Once again, several nobles coveted the hand of France’s most beautiful couple. But the Duchess of Aquitaine was resourceful: 8 weeks after her marriage was annulled, she married Henry Plantagenet and was crowned by his side in 1154.

Henry Plantagenet, aged around twenty, was not the husband Eleanor had initially wanted. The Duchess of Aquitaine had initially considered marrying Henry’s father Geoffrey. However, the latter’s untimely death following a swim in the Loir prevented the union from materialising. Probably seduced by the title of the Plantagenets, who were then the Dukes of Anjou, she finally chose to marry their son, Henry.

Eleanor gradually lost her influence over her husband, who took the beautiful Rosemonde Clifford as his mistress. Henry II’s interference in the Duchy of Aquitaine also damaged their relationship. Family tensions soon followed.

Henry and Eleanor’s sons expected to inherit all or part of their father’s possessions. Henry the Younger, heir to the throne, was eager to take control of his father’s territories. Henry II’s decision to give the châteaux of Chinon, Loudun and Mirebeau to his youngest son, Jean, upset his other children.

Far from calming things down, Eleanor supported the quarrel. Some English barons and Louis VII, King of France, took sides in the rebellion, which began in 1173.

Able to represent her husband or accompany him on his expeditions, the queen was considered a model of virtue and piety, interceding between the king, God’s representative, and the people, on whom she had to exercise her charity.

Playing the role of ‘Lady of Peace’, negotiating truces, the sovereign had to strive to maintain peace in her kingdom, but also within the royal family. In this way, the queen had to calm tempers and never take sides.

‘In reality, Eleanor was a loving mother who had many children, several of whom went on to become kings. She loved the arts and culture, travelled all over Europe and went as far as the Holy Land. She was an exceptional woman’.

An exceptional woman, who, incidentally, died at the exceptional age of 80, at a time when life expectancy was no more than 45. It was at the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud that this ‘grandmother of Europe’, with an extraordinary destiny, chose to end her life. For five years, she lived in the village, surrounded by her servants, and attended services at the Abbey among the nuns.