Eleanor of Aquitaine

Life and legacy

Eleanor inherited the vast Duchy of Aquitaine at age fifteen upon the death of her father, Duke William X, in 1137, making her the wealthiest heiress in Europe. Within weeks she married Louis VII of France, becoming queen of France. She accompanied Louis on the disastrous Second Crusade in 1147-49, traveling as far as Antioch and Jerusalem. The marriage was troubled by personal incompatibility and Eleanor's failure to produce a male heir, and it was annulled in 1152 on grounds of consanguinity.

Just eight weeks after the annulment, Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, who became King Henry II of England in 1154. Together they ruled an empire stretching from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees. Eleanor bore Henry eight children, including the future kings Richard I and John. She governed Aquitaine in her own right, holding courts at Poitiers that became legendary centers of troubadour poetry and the ideals of courtly love.

Relations between Eleanor and Henry deteriorated through the 1160s, and in 1173, Eleanor supported her sons in a great revolt against their father. The rebellion failed, and Henry kept Eleanor imprisoned for sixteen years, from 1173 until his death in 1189. She endured her captivity at various English castles, but she was never broken.

When Richard I became king in 1189, he immediately freed his mother, and Eleanor became the effective regent of England during his absence on the Third Crusade. She kept the kingdom together while Richard was away and then while he was held captive in Germany, personally traveling across the Alps to deliver his ransom. When Richard died in 1199, Eleanor threw her support behind her youngest son John, traveling at age seventy-seven across the Pyrenees to fetch her granddaughter Blanche of Castile as a bride for the future Louis VIII of France.

Eleanor died at the abbey of Fontevraud in 1204, aged about eighty-two. She had been queen of two countries, mother of two kings, and a political force for six decades. Her tomb at Fontevraud, where she lies beside Henry II and Richard I, shows her reading a book, a fitting image for a woman who was as intellectually engaged as she was politically formidable.

Key accomplishments

• Served as queen consort of both France (1137-1152) and England (1154-1189)
• Governed Aquitaine independently and served as regent of England during the Third Crusade
• Patronized troubadour poetry and courtly culture at her court in Poitiers
• Mother of kings Richard I and John of England
• Remained politically active into her eighties, negotiating treaties and securing alliances

Timeline

The dated lines from the record above, in order, with Eleanor of Aquitaine's age worked out from the birth year (1122).

1. 1122Born 1122 CE, Poitiers or Bordeaux, Duchy of Aquitaine (modern France)
2. 1137Served as queen consort of both France (1137-1152) and England (1154-1189) (around age 15)
3. 1204Died 1204 CE, Poitiers, France

Quotes

I am Eleanor, by the wrath of God, Queen of England.

Attributed, from a letter to Pope Celestine III (c. 1193)

Related figures

Where Eleanor of Aquitaine sits in the atlas

• Era: Medieval Europe (~500-1400 CE), one of 15 figures filed there
• Born 1122, the 37th of 125 figures in the full list by birth year.
• Cities: Paris, London
• Collection: Women Who Shaped the West

Contemporaries

4 other figures in the atlas were alive at some point during Eleanor of Aquitaine's lifetime (1122-1204).

• Frederick Barbarossa (1122-1190): both alive for 68 years, 1122 to 1190
• Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): both alive for 57 years, 1122 to 1179
• Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199): both alive for 42 years, 1157 to 1199
• Francis of Assisi (1181-1226): both alive for 23 years, 1181 to 1204

Others connected with the same cities

Figures not already listed on this page, nearest in time first.

More from Medieval Europe

Figures from the same era born closest in time to Eleanor of Aquitaine.

• Marco Polo (1254-1324), The Great Traveler
• Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), The Supreme Poet
• Leif Erikson (970-1020), The Viking Who Found America
• Justinian I (482-565), The Last Roman Emperor