Eleanor, Queen of France Posters

Eleanor of Aquitaine is considered by many to have been the most powerful and enlightened woman of her age, if not the entire medieval epoch. She was born in 1122 on Bordeaux in the country of Aquitaine, having for a father the future duke of Aquitaine, William X, and her mother Aenor of Chatellerault. In Aquitaine women had liberties rarely found elsewhere in Europe and they mixed freely with men. Her personality, as she grew older, owed a lot to this atmosphere of civility.

The first man to exhort an enormous impression upon her was her grandfather, William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, known as the Troubadour (Guilhem loTrobador). "He was a man of extraordinary complexity, alternately idealistic and cynical, ruthless but impractical . . . Nevertheless contemporaries undoubtedly respected him as a mighty prince and a brave knight." Her father, William X, was just as complex and colorful as his father, however known also for aggressiveness. He quarreled often with the church and his vassals. As for her mother, little is known besides her name. She died when Eleanor was eight years old.

As a ruler, William X administered his lands and controlled his vassals from the back of his horse, constantly traveling and during many of those travels Eleanor accompanied him. Her formal education included Latin as well as Provencal, the language of Aquitaine. On Good Friday 1137, in the city of Compostella while on pilgrimage, Duke William X passed away. After his death she had no choice but to turn to Louis VI, king of France (at this time no more than the confines of Paris but already gaining feudal control outside the Ile de France). Soon after she was engaged to his only surviving son, Louis le Jeune.

On July 25, 1137 the couple was married in Bordeaux. At fifteen years old, Eleanor (according to contemporary sources) was a "beauty, tall, with a great figure that she kept well into old age." She probably had blond hair and blue eyes, which at this time were considered marks of extraordinary good looks. After their wedding, on August 8, both Eleanor and Louis were consecrated duke and duchess of Aquitaine. News reached them during the betrothal banquet that Louis' father, king Louis VI had died a week earlier.

On December 25, 1137 Eleanor was crowned queen of France. The young couple seemed genuinely in love. She worked hard to make her court the most splendid in the west. She moved to Paris, an unimpressive city at this time with its still standing Roman ruins. The city was in the early stages of a gothic revival that would establish her as one of the most celebrated capitals in western Christendom. To the devout city Eleanor introduced customs from Aquitaine such as its language, respect for women, and fashion. The couple traveled together holding court in the cities and towns of the duchy. They learned from each other, she gained respect for Aristotelian logic, and enjoyed her husband's dissertations he arranged in the palace gardens. He shared some of her pleasures such as hunting and tournaments, as well as her love for poetry. "Masterful and fiercely energetic, Eleanor soon established almost complete control over her husband."

After seven years of marriage Eleanor had yet to conceive, having had an earlier miscarriage. Around 1144 she finally gave birth to a girl named Marie who one day would become the countess of Champagne. On those first seven years there were wars of conquests for Louis VII as well as problems with the most powerful cleric in the kingdom, Bernard of Clairvaux, who became Eleanor's most dangerous enemy. By this time her relationship with Louis showed signs of strain, especially when rumors surfaced about her and a famous troubadour from Aquitaine that had spent time in the royal court. She enjoyed flirting and loved romantic poems and all these accusations were probably unfounded. She also had failed to give the king a male heir. Despite these strains they still seemed to have been in love. Unknown to them, events in the Middle East would take them on a journey that forever changed their lives.

On December 24, 1144 Edessa fell to the Saracens and pope Eugenius III preached support for a second crusade. After some convincing speeches and heavy taxes to pay for the enterprise, the kings of Germany and France were ready for the march to the Holy Land. Even the pope crossed the Alps into France to bless the crusading force. On June 11, 1147 Louis and Eleanor, together with an army, left Saint-Denis and trekked through Bavaria, Hungary and into the Balkans.

Eleanor and her companions, servants and troubadours, proved too much of a distraction for the troops, and raised eyebrows with some of the chroniclers and clerics. By October 4 they reached the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. The French crusaders were dazzled at the riches in food, fashions, precious metals, and art of the Byzantines. Eleanor immediately developed a taste for Byzantine clothing and probably bought back to France some of the eastern fashions. In late October the French army marched into the hinterlands of Byzantium. Bad weather and effective attacks by the Turks decimated the crusaders. The remnants of the army- guided by the experienced Knights Templars- reached Attalia by early January. From there Louis hired ships hoping to make it to the Holy Land. He took with him only his immediate guards and family, leaving the rest of the army to manage by themselves as best as they could passage to the Holy Land.

After three weeks at sea while enduring heavy storms, the royal entourage arrived in Antioch where they were welcomed by the prince and his court. The Antochian capital proved to be as dazzling to the French as Constantinople. Eleanor enjoyed her ten days in Antioch immensely, especially the prince, her long lost uncle Raymond of Poitiers. Louis was angered by his wife's affections for her uncle. Raymond and Louis also disagreed on how to go about the crusade, Raymond wanted to attack Aleppo and perhaps recapture Edessa. In the meantime Louis wanted to go on to Jerusalem. Eleanor favored her uncle's plan and angrily opposed her husband. She went as far as to propose a divorce. On the night of his departure, royal troops broke into the queen's quarters and carried her to the port. On advice from the regent in Paris, Louis decided to deal with Eleanor back in France. The rift between the couple would not be mended.

In Jerusalem, Louis joined an ill-fated attack on Damascus where the Crusaders suffered heavy losses. Soon after Easter 1149, the royal couple left the holy land sailing in separate ships. The Byzantines, who were at war with Sicily, captured Eleanor's ship. The Sicilian navy re-captured her ship and she went to Palermo to recuperate. The extraordinary luxury of the Sicilian court left a lasting impression on the queen.

After returning to Paris, Eleanor gave birth to a second child, also a girl (named Alice), in the summer of 1150. Her marriage to Louis was growing more stressed, despite interventions by the pope Eugenius and the abbot Suger, regent of France during the absence of the royal couple.

On August 1151, Geoffrey Plantaganet and his son, Henry, arrived in Paris where, after some negotiations, Henry paid homage for the duchy of Normandy. Eleanor was attracted to Henry and some kind of surreptitious arrangement with Henry must have been reached.