The Life and Times of

The Life and Times of

ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE ELEANOR OF

Acclaimed as the most beautiful woman of her time, ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE Eleanor of Aquitaine (c.1122–1204) uniquely shaped AQUITAINE 12th-century Europe. As the wife of two kings and the mother of three others, her beauty, grace, style, and intellect captivated a continent. At a time when men regarded women as little more than personal property to be owned and exploited, Eleanor threw off the shackles of male dominance and scribed an indelible mark on the history of France and England. As France’s queen, Eleanor accompanied Louis VII on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land and championed a burgeoning feminist movement. After divorcing Louis, she married Henry II of England. Her marriage to Henry upset the balance of power in Europe and led to 300 years of warfare before its restoration. Perhaps best remembered as a symbol of courtly love, Eleanor of Aquitaine also continues to personify the proud image of emancipated womanhood. Mitchell Lane

ISBN 9781584157434 90000 Earle Rice Jr. 9 781584 157434

Eleanor Cover.indd 1 10/5/09 9:32:46 AM Copyright © 2010 by Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Printing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rice, Earle. The life and times of Eleanor of Aquitaine / by Earle Rice, Jr. p. cm. — (Biography from ancient civilizations) (The life and times of) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58415-743-4 (library bound) 1. Eleanor, of Aquitaine, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of England, 1122?– 1204—Juvenile literature. 2. Great Britain—History—Henry II, 1154–1189— Biography—Juvenile literature. 3. France—History—Louis VII, 1137–1180— Biography—Juvenile literature. 4. Queens—Great Britain—Biography—Juvenile literature. 5. Queens—France—Biography—Juvenile literature. I. Title. DA209.E6R53 2010 942.03’1092—dc22 [B] 2009027363

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Earle Rice Jr. is a former senior design engineer and technical writer in the aerospace, electronic-defense, and nuclear industries. He has devoted full time to his writing since 1993 and is the author of more than fi fty published books. Earle is listed in Who’s Who in America and is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the League of World War I Aviation Historians, the Air Force Association, and the Disabled American Veterans.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This story is based on the author’s extensive research, which he believes to be accurate. Documentation of such research is contained on page 46.

The internet sites referenced herein were active as of the publication date. Due to the fl eeting nature of some web sites, we cannot guarantee they will all be active when you are reading this book.

To refl ect current usage, we have chosen to use the secular era designations BCE (“before the common era”) and CE (“of the common era”) instead of the traditional designations BC (“before Christ”) and AD (anno Domini, “in the year of the Lord”).

PLB

Eleanor book.indd 4 10/5/09 9:18:41 AM CoNTENTS

Chapter 1 A Mild Disappointment ......  FYInfo*: Medieval Social System ...... 13 Chapter 2 Duchess of Aquitaine ...... 15 FYInfo: Eleanor’s Paris ...... 1 Chapter 3 Queen of France ...... 21 FYInfo: The Second Crusade (114–114) ...... 2 Chapter 4 Queen of England ...... 2 FYInfo: Eleanor’s Courts of Love ...... 35 Chapter 5 Candle in the Wind ...... 3 FYInfo: Eagle of the Broken Covenant ...... 42 Chapter Notes ...... 43 Chronology ...... 44 Timeline in History ...... 45 Further Reading ...... 46 For Young Adults ...... 46 Works Consulted ...... 46 On the Internet ...... 46 Glossary ...... 4 Index ...... 4 *For Your Information

Eleanor book.indd 5 10/5/09 9:18:53 AM CHAPTER ONE

A mild disappointment

Nothing about Eleanor of Aquitaine was ordinary. Her life’s story reads like a fairy tale or a romance novel. From the age of fifteen, she stood at the center of courtly culture and intrigue. Her beauty attracted kings; her intellect disarmed them. In a man’s world, she knew few peers on the cutting edge of twelfth-century politics. She began life in a storybook setting known as Aquitaine (pronounced AK-wih-tayn). Eleventh-century cleric and chronicler Heriger of Lobbes described it this way: “Opulent Aquitaine, sweet as nectar thanks to its vineyards dotted about with forests, overflowing with fruit of every kind, and endowed with a superabundance of pasture land.”1 Aquitaine was a lush duchy that sprawled across about a quarter of the land that makes up present-day France. Its name means “land of waters,” after the rivers running through it. Before Eleanor came along, probably in 1122, ten generations of dukes named William had ruled her future domain in an unbroken line. The first Duke William was born in 752. He claimed Charlemagne as a boyhood friend and later championed the conquests of the great Frankish king. With lance, sword, and shield, William I garnered both riches and honors before retiring to a Benedictine monastery near Montpellier at age forty-eight. Others in the line of Williams prospered similarly if less piously. Among all ten dukes, however, none gained greater fame—or notoriety—than Eleanor’s grandfather, William IX.



Eleanor book.indd 7 10/5/09 9:19:14 AM Chapter ONE A mild disappointment

Aquitaine, a historical region in southwestern France, was conquered by the Romans in 56 BCE. It later became a Frankish kingdom, a French and English duchy, and an English principality in the Middle Ages.



Eleanor book.indd 8 10/5/09 9:19:18 AM Chapter ONE A mild disappointment

William IX had an eye for the ladies. Their station in life mattered little to him, whether countess, maid, or maid-in-waiting. Beauty, desirability, and availability held the key to his affections. Poet and historian Jean Markale aptly described him as “one of the most famous skirt chasers of his time.”2 He had a flair for music and the muse, and his poetry—much of it bawdy retellings of his amorous exploits—flowed lyrically into song. At age fifteen, upon the death of his father in 1086, he inherited the duchy and began his reign as William IX of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou. Scholars acknowledge him as the first troubadour—a lyric poet or wandering musician. He is still popularly known as William the Troubadour. Despite his young age, William IX quickly established himself as a lord worthy of his standing. His new responsibility did little to dampen the flames of passion that burned within him, however, and he just as quickly sought out and found a partner to perpetuate his line. Her name was Ermengarde. Pretty and well educated, she was the daughter of his northern neighbor, Count Fulk of Anjou, or “Fulk the Contrary.” (A nickname often lends revealing insight into the character of its owner.) Not long after their wedding, William discovered that Ermengarde exhibited troubling mood swings, cheerful one moment and abruptly sullen the next. Her mood changes and ill temper—a personality trait likely inherited from her father—did not bode well for a lasting union. When Ermengarde failed to conceive, William sent her back to Anjou and had their marriage dissolved in 1091. A year later, she married the count of Brittany. She eventually retired to the abbey of Fontevrault (fohn-tuh- VROH) near the border of Anjou. Three years elapsed before William IX learned that King Sancho Ramírez of Aragon had recently expired in battle at the point of an arrow. His widow, Philippa, was the daughter of his neighbor to the southeast, Count William IV of Toulouse. William IV had arranged his daughter’s marriage to Ramírez before departing Toulouse for the Holy Land. Even though he did not intend to return to Toulouse, William IV left his brother Raymond, count of Saint-Gilles, to rule in his stead. When William IV died in 1094, the then widowed Philippa felt dispossessed of her rightful inheritance in Toulouse. She began to look for a strong husband who would help her regain her birthright. She did not have to



Eleanor book.indd 9 10/5/09 9:19:19 AM Chapter ONE

look far to find a handsome duke who knew how to treat a lady. Enter William IX. William IX promised to help Philippa regain her landed legacy— and possibly the sun and the moon—and the couple married in 1094. Two years later, in the fall of 1096, Raymond IV of Toulouse (the count of Saint-Gilles) rode off to the Holy Land with an army of some 100,000 crossbearers to fight in the First Crusade (1096–1099). William and Philippa bided their time until the spring of 1098, then marched on Toulouse and seized the city without loosing an arrow or striking a blow. The dukes of Aquitaine had long laid disputed claim to Toulouse, and Philippa’s claim was obvious. Both William and Philippa felt that their action was totally justified. The Church did not. The pope, Urban II, threatened to excommunicate William IX. Meanwhile, Philippa settled in at Toulouse and gave birth to a son, William X, heir to Aquitaine and Eleanor’s future father. In 1101, hoping to redeem himself with the Church, William IX embarked on a crusading trek to the Holy Land with a force of about 60,000 soldiers and pilgrims. To finance his expedition, he mortgaged Toulouse to Bertrand of Toulouse, the son of Philippa’s uncle, Raymond IV. Philippa, more than a little displeased, returned to Poitiers to rule in her husband’s absence. William IX’s expedition lasted a year and a half and ended in disaster. Turks ambushed his army in Asia Minor and annihilated all but six of his men. William narrowly escaped the slaughter and eventually found his way home. His restlessness appeared sated for the moment. Upon his return to Aquitaine, William IX honed his poetic skills and established himself as the first troubadour. He wrote and sang of love and beautiful women. Eleven of his works still survive. Over the next thirteen years, his court became the center of the European culture and what came to be known as courtly love. During this time, Philippa bore the duke five daughters and a second son. After years of bearing children, she turned devoutly religious, and her troubadour husband turned elsewhere for romance. In 1115, William IX met the wife of Viscount (VIH-kownt) Aimery I of Châtellerault (shah-tel-ROH) on one of his travels around his domain. The viscountess answered to the unlikely name of Dangereuse (or

10

Eleanor book.indd 10 10/5/09 9:19:20 AM A Mild disappointment

Dangerosa in the William IX, duke Occitan language of of Aquitaine and the region). Love grandfather of struck William the Eleanor, earned moment he saw her. a well-deserved Although married and reputation as a womanizer at a young the mother of two age. He pursued boys and a girl named romantic interests for Aenor, Dangereuse much of his life and seemed mutually became the first great attracted to the troubadour of the handsome duke. On Languedoc region of his next trip to France. Châtellerault, William whisked the mildly protesting Dangereuse from her bedchamber and carried her back to Poitiers at a gallop. At home, he installed her in a castle keep called the Maubergeonne Tower, a recent addition to his ducal palace. Philippa soon learned of this bold arrangement. She summoned a papal legate to intervene. When a bald church official showed up at the duke’s door to confront his impropriety, William jovially replied, “Curls will grow on your pate before I shall part with the viscountess.”3 Hurt and helpless, Philippa chose the way of the duke’s first wife and joined Ermengarde in the Abbey of Fontevrault. Philippa died in 1118. Ermengarde, after trying unsuccessfully to regain her role as duchess of Aquitaine, continued to annoy William IX for several more years. The Church excommunicated William for his illicit affair with Dangereuse, but absolved his sin in 1120. The vivacious viscountess had come to stay. Several years later, realizing that she could never become the official duchess of Aquitaine, she struck upon another way to leave her mark on Aquitaine: She proposed a marriage between the duke’s young son William and her daughter Aenor by Aimery I. And it came to pass in 1121. Young William entered into the union reluctantly. Aenor soon realized that her main role in the marriage was to provide her larger-than- life father-in-law with grandchildren. This she did without delay, giving

11

Eleanor book.indd 11 10/5/09 9:19:22 AM Chapter ONE

Founded in 1099, the Abbey of Fontevrault (also spelled Fontevraud) became a popular retreat for aristocratic women. It serves as the final resting place of Henry II, Richard I the Lionheart, and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Emperor Napoleon later turned the abbey into a prison.

birth to a daughter in 1122, probably in the château of Belin near Bordeaux (but possibly in Poitiers). She was named Aliénore after her mother (from the Latin alia-Aenor, meaning “the other Aenor”). Over time, her name became anglicized as “Eleanor.” Her parents had hoped for a male heir to continue the long line of Williams and are thought to have been mildly disappointed with the birth of a female. They could not foresee, of course, that Eleanor would live to outshine all the dukes of Aquitaine and shape the course of history in her time.

12

Eleanor book.indd 12 10/5/09 9:19:27 AM

You’ve Just Finished your Free Sample

Enjoyed the preview?

Buy: http://www.ebooks2go.com

Eleanor book.indd 13 10/5/09 9:19:33 AM