((Aliénor / Eléonore d'Aquitaine (French); Aleonòr d'Aquitània (Occitan)))
born around 1120 (1122) presumably in Poitiers
died on March 31 or April 1, 1204 in Fontevrault
French and English queen
820th anniversary of her death on March 31 or April 1, 2024
Biography
Eleanor is often described as dazzling and of dubious reputation in secondary literature of dubious quality. Régine Pernoud's extensive study of the sources reveals a different Eleanor: she was imaginative, strong-willed, politically astute, a caring mother and quite capable of enduring pain. Her life was a breathtaking whirlwind of events that urgently required and fostered all these qualities.
She grew up at the cultivated Poitevin court as the daughter of the first troubadour and Duke of Aquitaine William X and was an educated fifteen-year-old princess when she was married to the pious King Louis VII of France, who was inclined towards the monastic life. Seven joyless and childless years of marriage followed, after which two daughters were born - inappropriate for the dynasty.
In pursuit of glory, Louis embarked on an arduous and unsuccessful crusade, which lasted two and a half years and resulted in devastating hardships that Eleanor endured with him. She then successfully obtained an annulment of her marriage and married the English King Henry II Plantagenet two months later. The two initially got on extremely well and jointly ruled a huge empire that stretched from Scotland to the Pyrenees: England, Normandy and Aquitaine. They shared the administrative tasks and carried out social reforms. The two traveled tirelessly - often separately - through their kingdoms. During these years, Eleanor rarely lived in the same place for more than two months. Nevertheless, this marriage produced eight more children; Richard the Lionheart, Eleanor's favorite child, is the best known.
However, when Henry turned to the “beautiful Rosamunde” after fourteen years of marriage, Eleanor was deeply hurt, withdrew to Poitiers and from then on devoted herself to her children and the promotion of culture and education in her home of Aquitaine. When her sons laid claim to the throne and thus became dangerous to Henry II, he removed them from what he saw as their mother's malign influence by banishing Eleanor to Salisbury for a ten-year imprisonment in a fortress. Virtually nothing is known about her life during this time, but the separation from her children and from the carefree court life to the south in Poitevin must have been difficult for her - especially in the dark, foggy months of winter. But “it was not in Eleanor's nature to remain downcast for long. Nor was it in her nature to mourn the past.” (Pernoud)
This period of suffering for Eleanor did not end until Henry’s death. An astonishingly unbroken energy and drive were then revealed, and she once again devoted herself to her children and to government affairs. Her love of poetry brought about the heyday of courtly lyric poetry, evidenced by works such as Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot and Parzival. She helped Richard to become enthroned as King of England, feared for his life during his crusade, suffered during his imprisonment in Austria, fought for his release and held him in her arms five years later when he died after being wounded by an arrow during a battle.
She survived eight of her ten children. She spent the last years of her life as a nun in the convent of Fontevrault, where she had often found refuge and comfort during her troubled life.
(Text from 2003; translated with DeepL.com; edited by Ramona Fararo, 2024.)
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