Who was eleanor of aquitaine?
January 5th, 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_...
She was beautiful and cultured and an early feminist and played by Katherine Hepburn in the 1968 film A Lion in Winter.
Check out her bio on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_... and encyclopedia Britannica. Also, check the public library since many books have been written on her life.
Hope this helps.
Eleanor of Aqitaine was an energetic, determined and resourceful lady who lived from about 1120 to 1204, and was one of the most wealthy and powerful women in Europe in the 12th century. Her life was full of passion and adventure, and even sober historical accounts of her life read like the most dashing of historical romantic fiction. She was some lady.
She was the daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine and inherited the title and the vast estates of the duchy on her father's death when she was 15. A few months later she married king Louis VII of France. She had two children by him, and found time to go on the Second Crusade with her husband (1147-1149).
By this time the marriage was in difficulties, and was eventually annulled in 1152. Many powerful French nobles wanted to marry Eleanor, to get control of her lands and wealth, but she chose to marry the young Duke Henry of Normandy, who was heir to the English throne. Henry became king of England, as Henry II, in 1154, and Eleanor became a queen for the second time. She had 8 children by Henry, two of whom, Richard and John, became king of England after their father.
Eleanor's marriage to Henry was variously loving, passionate, tumultuous and acrimonious. Both Henry and Eleanor were strong, energetic, larger than life characters. Eventually they became estranged. Eleanor supported one of her younger sons, Henry, in a revolt against his father. As a result, the king kept his wife locked up as a prisoner from 1173 until his death in 1189.
During the ten years of her son Richard's reign Eleanor acted as regent of England whilst king Richard I ("Lionheart") was away at the crusades. She lived on into the reign of her son, King John.
In any age her life and her achievments would be remarkable. In the 12th century, when women were chattels (their husband's property) her achievements were highly exceptional.
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