Eleanor of Aquitaine (Aliénor d'Aquitaine or Éléonore d'Aquitaine; Occitan: Alienòr d'Aquitània; Helienordis, Alienorde or Alianor; c. 1124 – 1 April 1204) was Duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As the reigning duchess of Aquitaine, she ruled jointly with her husbands and two of her sons, Kings Richard I and John of England. As the heiress of the House of Poitiers, which controlled much of southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
Family origins and education
Eleanor was descended on her father's side from a long line of dukes of Aquitaine dating back to the 10th century, who in turn succeeded the Carolingian monarchs of the Kingdom of Aquitaine. Twelfth-century Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful vassal states within France at that time. The French kings ruled over a relatively small area around the Île-de-France to the north-west, and the rulers of the surrounding duchies (duchés) and counties (comtés) gave only nominal allegiance to the French crown.
While little is known of Eleanor's early life, many biographers have speculated on what it was like from accounts of aristocratic households of the era. Her year of birth is not known precisely; all that is known for certain is that the first mention of her is found in a document from July 1129. Tradition places her birth during one of her parents' visits to Bordeaux, likely at her father's nearby castle of Belin. Other authors suggest Poitiers, Ombrière Palace, Bordeaux, or Nieul-sur-l'Autise. While the date of her birth was once given as 1122 or 1124, the latter is now generally accepted. A late 13th-century genealogy of her family listing her as 13 years old at her father's death in the spring of 1137 provides the best evidence that Eleanor was born in 1124.
Remarriage and family (1152–1154)
Once again a single woman with possessions, Eleanor was at risk of abduction and forced marriage. This rapuit et abduxit was a common practice regarding heiresses, even in her own family. From Beaugency, she travelled south towards her court in Poitiers. On her route she narrowly evaded two kidnapping attempts. First, Count Theobald V of Blois attempted to capture Eleanor on the night of 21 March as she passed through Blois, but she escaped by taking a boat down the Loire to Tours. Theobald later married her daughter Alix, while his brother Count Henry I of Champagne married Alix's older sister, Marie. Geoffrey of Anjou lay in wait for Eleanor at Port-de-Piles, but she was warned at Tours of the plot and changed her route, arriving safely by boat at Poitiers.
As soon as she arrived in Poitiers, just before Easter, Eleanor sent envoys to Geoffrey of Anjou's older brother, Duke Henry of Normandy, asking him to come at once to marry her. Many authors conclude that this fulfilled a prior arrangement made at his earlier visit to the French court. While providing security for her Aquitaine lands, the choice of Henry also made political sense as Anjou lay on the northern border of Aquitaine, thus protecting it and enlarging her joint jurisdiction. She then set about revoking all acts and charters of Louis relating to Aquitaine and replacing them with her own. The message reached Henry at Lisieux on 6 April.
Early years in England (1154–1158)
On 25 October 1154, King Stephen died. Although Henry was immediately summoned to England, it was not until 7 December that he and Eleanor were able to cross the channel from Barfleur, landing near Southampton on the 8th. They travelled first to Winchester to greet Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury, who had been acting as regent. From Winchester, the royal party moved to London and were lodged at the royal palace at Bermondsey. On 19 December 1154, Theobald crowned Henry as King Henry II in Westminster Abbey, with Eleanor beside him. It is unclear whether Eleanor was actually crowned or anointed as well, since she had already been crowned queen of France in 1137. This was the beginning of the House of Plantagenet that would rule England till the end of the fifteenth century.
As queen of England, Eleanor was provided for generously by Henry, including multiple dowerlands and regular settlements of money that made her one of the richest people in the kingdom, earning her the title of "riche dame de riche rei". The chroniclers barely mention Eleanor during the reign of Henry II, other than to note when she was with the king, and biographies have been built on these itineraries and surviving official documents. She signed her official documents Alienor Dei Gracia Regine Anglorum, lit. 'Eleanor by the Grace of God Queen of England'. This was not uncommon, in that the activities of women were not thought to be of sufficient importance to report, they were merely regalis imperrii participes, lit. 'participants in the imperial kingship'.