One of the most powerful women in medieval Europe, Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122–1204) was the queen of both France and England, and a key figure in the history of both nations. She fought in one of the Crusades, was the mother of two kings, and helped establish the Plantagenet dynasty, which went on to rule England for three centuries.
Eleanor was the sole heir of the Duke of Aquitaine, whose lands were in a region of southwestern coastal France. She inherited his duchy in 1137, when she was fifteen, making her one of the most desirable princesses in Europe. Three months later, she married Louis (1120–1180), the crown prince of France.
When her husband became King Louis VII soon after, Eleanor was crowned queen of France, though she still kept her holdings in Aquitaine and ruled them separately. The couple had two daughters. In 1147, they fought in the unsuccessful Second Crusade; Eleanor astonished her courtiers by marching alongside the army of Aquitaine.
By the time she returned from the crusade, Eleanor’s marriage with Louis had deteriorated, and the couple obtained an annulment in 1152. Six weeks after the annulment, Eleanor remarried, to the future Henry II of England (1133–1189).
This pairing was happier than Eleanor’s first marriage—although Henry would imprison his wife in 1174 for her alleged role in a failed revolt against him. They had eight children, including two sons who would become kings of England: Richard the Lionheart (1157–1199) and John (1167–1216).
When Richard became king in 1189, he released his mother from prison. After Richard’s death, Eleanor’s youngest son, John, became king. Eleanor, who had outlived all but two of her children, died five years later.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- In Shakespeare’s historical play about one of Eleanor’s sons, King John, she appears as the character Queen Elinor.
- Through her ten children, Eleanor was an ancestor of many prominent individuals, including actress Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993), animator Walt Disney (1901–1966), and former US president George W. Bush (1946–), who is the queen’s twenty-fourth great-grandson.
- Eleanor and Henry are the main characters of The Lion in Winter, a play written by James Goldman (1927–1998) in 1966 that was adapted for film in 1968. Actress Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) won an Academy Award for her role as Eleanor in the movie version.
