General Notes

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122?-1204), queen consort of France (1137-1152) and queen consort of England (1154-1204), born in France. She inherited the duchy of Aquitaine from her father in 1137, the same year in which she was married to Louis VII of France. She accompanied her husband on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land, where it was rumored that she committed adultery. The scandal, and the fact that she had not given the king a male heir, resulted in an annulment of their marriage in 1152 under the pretext of blood kinship between her and the king. Later that year, Eleanor married and gave her possessions to Henry Plantagenet, count of Anjou, who in 1154 became Henry II, king of England. In 1170, the queen induced her husband to invest their son Richard the Lion-Hearted with her personal dominions of Gascony, Aquitaine, and Poitou. When Richard and his brothers rebelled against their father in 1173, Eleanor, already alienated from the king because of his unfaithfulness, supported her sons. Consequently, she was placed in confinement until 1185. After her release, she secured the succession of her son Richard, who had become heir apparent at the death in 1183 of his eldest brother. From the death of King Henry II in 1189 until Richard's return from the Third Crusade in 1194, Eleanor ruled as regent. During this time, she foiled the attempt of her son John in 1193 to conspire with France against the new king. After the return of Richard, she arranged a reconciliation between the two brothers. Eleanor continued to be prominent in public affairs until she retired to the abbey in Fontevrault, France, where she died on April 1, 1204.

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