General Notes

REFN: 1384AN
REFN: P1384
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine (Bordeaux, France, 1124 – March 31, 1204 in Fontevrau
lt, Anjou) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe dur
ing the Middle Ages. She was Queen consort of both France and England in h
er lifetime.
Early Life
The eldest of three children, her father was William X, Duke of Aquitain
e, and her mother was Ænor De Châtellerault, the daughter of Aimeric I, Vi
comte of Chatellerault. William and Ænor's marriage had been arranged by h
is father, William IX of Aquitaine the Troubador, and her mother, Dangereu
se, William IX's long-time mistress. Eleanor was named after her mother a
nd called Aliénor, which means other Aenor in the langue d'oc (Occitan lan
guage), but it became Eléanor in the northern Langue d'oïl and in English.
She was raised in one of Europe's most cultured courts, the birthpla
ce of courtly love. She was highly educated for a woman of the time, and k
new how to read, how to speak Latin, was well versed in music and literatu
re, and enjoyed riding, hawking, and hunting. She became heiress to Aquita
ine, the largest and richest of the provinces that would become modern Fra
nce, when her brother, William Aigret, died as a baby.
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Marriage to Louis VII of France
William X died on Good Friday, 1137 while on a pilgrimage to Spain. Aged 1
5, Eleanor was now Duchess of Aquitaine, and the most eligible heire
ss in Europe. As these were the days when kidnapping an heiress was se
en as a viable option for attaining title, William wrote a will on the ve
ry day he died, instructing that his daughter marry Louis VII of France. T
he marriage, on July 22, 1137, brought to France the area from the river L
oire to the Pyrenees: most of what is today the southwest of France. Howev
er, there was a catch: the land would remain independent of France, and El
eanor's eldest son would be both King of France and Duke of Aquitaine. Thu
s, her holdings would not be merged with France until the next generatio
n. She gave him a wedding present that is still in existence, a rock cryst
al vase on display at the Louvre.
Something of a free spirit, Eleanor was not much liked by the staid northe
rners (particularly, according to sources, her mother-in-law, Adélai
De De Maurienne), who thought her flighty and a bad influence. Her condu
ct was repeatedly criticized by Church elders (particularly Bernard of Cla
irvaux and Abbot Suger) as indecorous. The King, on the other hand, was ma
dly in love with his beautiful and worldly wife, and granted her every whi
m, even though her behavior baffled and vexed him to no end.
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Crusade
When Eleanor supported her sister Petronilla of Aquitaine's illegitimate m
arriage to Raoul of Vermandois, the incident started a war and caused conf
lict between Eleanor and Louis. She insisted on taking part in the Crusad
es as the feudal leader of the soldiers from her duchy. The story that s
he and her ladies dressed as Amazons is disputed by serious historians. Ho
wever, her testimonial launch of the Second CrusaDe from Vézelay, the rumo
red location of Mary Magdalene's burial, dramatically emphasized the ro
le of women in the campaign, with her, the Queen of France, as their leade
r.
The CrusaDe itself was something of a disaster. Louis was a weak and ineff
ectual military leader with no concept of maintaining troop discipli
ne or morale, or of making informed and logical tactical decisions. The Fr
ench army was betrayed by Manuel I Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor, who fear
ed that their aims would jeopardize the tenuous safety of his empire. A pa
rticularly poor decision to camp one night in a lush valley surround
ed by tall peaks in hostile territory led to an attack by the Turks, who s
laughtered as many as 7000 Crusaders. As this decision was made by Eleanor
's servant, it was generally believed that it was her directive. This d
id nothing for her popularity in Chris