Eleanor aquitaine
Eleanor aquitaineEleanor Aquitaine
In 1122 William X and his wife A�nor of Ch�tellerault had a daughter be the name of Eleanor who also called herself Ali�nor. She grew up in the presence of her father and the troubadours of the court. A young lady who strengthened every situation and marriage she was in and promoted the artistic influence of troubadours through out the land.
She herself was greatly impressed by her grandfather William IX, who was one of the earliest troubadours known by name. He was an outstanding figure in her childhood, the first truly big man in her life, and a hero who must have made an enormous impression on her though he died when she was only five. He was a man of extraordinary complexity, alternately idealistic and cynical, ruthless but impractical. He was no statesman, though aggressive and pugnacious.
His most livid affair was when he stole and seduced Dangerosa of Ch�tellerault. He then kept her in a tower of his palace at Poitiers. She then became known as La Maubergeonne. William died excommunicated in 1127. Eleanor took very much after her grandfather's sarcastic wit and humor in the frivolity of her early years, although never making a clown of herself.
A holy hermit came to Williams IX protesting in God's name at the rape of Dangerosa, and after being received by the dukes usual mocking banter, the hermit placed a curse upon the family. Through both male and female lines they would never know happiness in their children.1
William the X had an unexpected gift of versifying, in a mixture of Lemosin and Poitou. Arab songs he heard from Moorish slave girls, which had been brought home by his father from Spain, may have inspired him. William was also a very competent poet, eleven of whose pieces are ashamedly licentious, although one "Pos de chantar mes pres talenz" pays a melancholy farewell to earthly joys:2
Since now I have mind to sing
I'll make a song of that which saddens me,
That no more in Poitou or Limousin,
Shall I loves servant be...3
William X was noticeably fond of his eldest daughter, and he was more known for his quarrels than his poems, yet he had a court full of troubadours. William had a great passion for food and could eat enough for eight mortals until his appetite was filled. Due to the fondness of his daughter he made her his constant companion. Eleanor matured early, partly because she was always with her father. Sometimes she had wished to be a boy, yet she was much too feminine to be a tomboy. She often displayed certain casualness in certain sexual matters.
Eleanor was by no means confined to needle work, quite the opposite, she was taught to read Latin, first the prayers and services of the church, then the Bible, the writings of the Fathers and Ovid. She enjoyed Latin comedies and could read and speak it, a rare accomplishment for a laity member.
When Eleanor was 15 her father, William X died on Good Friday 1137. He was buried under the high altar at Compostella. Though a woman could inherit a fief, receive homage from its vassals and lead them into war, it was also true, under a feudal law any ruthless suitor might seize her and force her to marry him. He could then enjoy her inheritance. Though it was never expressed she would or should marry Louis VI son, her father had recognized him as her guardian.
The man she was to marry, Louis VII, became heir to the throne after the horrible death of his brother, whom was thrown of his horse, after being frightened by a pig. Louis had been destined to join the monastery at the time of his brothers' death. Due to great admiration and respect he still undertook the sacred studies of the monks and at times he dressed as them also. His strangest characteristic was his humble speech, which gave him a na�ve charm and also made him seem less intelligent and ineffectual than he really was.4
Louis and Abbot Suger, his very best friend and one of his fathers' most trusted ministers, took over a month from Paris to get to the wedding, riding by night to escape the heat of the day. When they finally meet Desmond Seward's description of her and her dazzled bridegroom are:
...the monkish young king must have been dazzled by his lavishly young gifted bride, when at last he met her. Quite apart from her great possessions, Eleanor was very desirable in herself...at fifteen she was a beauty---tall, with a superb figure that she kept into old age, lustrous eyes and fine features...Even then she was probably already a protector of troubadours, especially of those fleeing from the irritation of their adored one's menfolk...She was indeed a girl of extraordinary promise.5
On Sunday the 25th of July they were married in the cathedral of Saint Andr� at Bordeaux. They spent their wedding night at the castle of Taillebourg. On August 8 they were consecrated Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine, modeled on the service for the crowning of a King of France. Later in the day Abbot Suger announced the death of King Louis VI had died a week earlier of gluttony. On Christmas Day 1137 Eleanor was crowned Queen of France at Bourges. Louis was very much infatuated with his wife, who returned the affection. Eleanor gave up the great enjoyment of the court, which she had made the gayest and most splendid courts in western Christendom.6
Louis continued his fathers' policies and did so with considerable success, eventually he established a complete and lasting control of the Ile de France. He also carried the extension of the royalty authority throughout the country by issuing charters to the towns. Fiercely energetic and masterful Eleanor soon established control over her husband. Eleanor managed to take her husbands place by sending him on missions which hardly received Sugers blessings, who continued to be Louis VII advisor after the death of his father Louis VI.
Their marriage, which had begun so well, was now threatened in many situations. Louis had suffered from severe nervous crisis during the Champagne was and in some ways he blamed his wife, for she had failed him to produce an heir to the throne and St. Bernart, a dangerous enemy to her, stated she was an unsuitable companion for the Christian king
A rumor was now spread around, while Louis was in battle, Eleanor had taken quite fond to Geoffrey and his son Henry visitors of the palace. A marriage was to be made between Princess Marie and Henry, instead a secret agreement was made between the queen and Henry. Louis and Eleanor's marriage was annulled stating they were fourth cousins thus related by blood, therefor it was an illegal marriage. Though Eleanor had to give up her two daughters she made no dispute in the situation. Eleanor's former lands and titles were restored to her.
With the exceptions of Louis, Henry was the most eligible bachelor of France. Being eleven years younger than Eleanor was no problem, she had still maintained her figure and he was a strapping and well built young man, whom ate little and drank less. He had inherited Maine, Anjou and Touraine from his father and he had a good chance of obtaining England as well. Henry, as Louis had been, was passionately in love with Eleanor's beauty and intellect.
The news of their marriage horrified Louis, he had expected that anyone who were to marry the former queen of France would come and ask for permission and the same for his vassal. If they were to marry and Henry was to get control of England he would become the most powerful man in the western Christendom. A rumor was spread that Henry's father Geoffrey of Plantagenet was one of Eleanor's lovers, thus forbidding the marriage between her and Henry. While Henry was away in England Eleanor gave birth to their son on August 17, 1153, whom she named William after her father and grandfather.
Eleanor amused herself as she had done with Louis, which led to trouble in their marriage. She took on a troubadour by the name of Bernart de Ventadour. Despite his lordly name he was not a noble man. His mother was a kitchen servant for the Ventadour's and it is of gai saber in this family and the lords of Ventadours encouraged Bernart's poetic talent. He had been a little to warm with Eble II of Ventadour resulting of her being imprisoned and cast off, thus Bernart had to flee for his life.7 Bernart had soon developed a great passion for her which he made known in one of his great love and most admired love songs. When Henry returned from England he sent Bernart away from his wife's court to England, which Bernart did not enjoy at all and wished he were a swallow so he could fly across the sea back to Eleanor. When he did manage to get back Eleanor in her turn moved with Henry to England.8
Eleanor passed all her claims over to Henry and gave him advice and helped him govern Normandy. On October 25, 1154 King Stephen of England died and the news reached Henry and Eleanor in early November, who rushed impatiently to England, but were lost in a terrible storm, causing them to separate from the fleet due to a dense fog. 24 hours later their boat was blown ashore off Southampton. They were crowned King and Queen of England by the archbishop of Canterbury on December 19, 1154.
On Christmas Eve 1167 at Oxford Eleanor gave birth to her last child, the future king John. This is said to be the end of Eleanor and Henrys sexual life, after the birth of John, they never slept together.9Henry had started his affair with Rosamund Clifford before 1167, and she was more than a sleeping partner, she was also a rival to the queen. Eleanor did not seek revenge she had better things to do. One of Henry's greatest faults was that he didn't think that women had like him a greed for power. For obvious reasons he wanted Eleanor out of England and let her go to Poitou, now she was in the same position as she was after she divorced Louis. She now had a court full of poets and troubadours and lived a very happy life now that she had regained some freedom. She had now settled down and lived with her daughter Marie in Maurbergeon.
Her daughter Marie was very fond of the Arthurian cult and encouraged Chr�tien de Troyes to write Lancelot. It is during this period that courtly love is developed. The troubadours are writing about there Ladies, and how they write poetry to them and all they wish for in return is a kiss.
In January of 1169 Henry and Louis meet to negotiate, hoping for a peace settlement. It is agreed that Henry II was to marry Louis' daughter Margaret costing Louis a great sum of money. The coronation took place on the 24 of May 1170. Eleanor had been denied her power and her land, and was planning to revolt against Henry. Henry, thinking nothing of it because it was to be quite a joke if women were to have power. Though Henry's mother empress Matilda had tried to do this, but failed, should not have left Henry so certain that Eleanor would do this. So Henry thought not of it, thus did nothing about it.
Eleanor had convinced Louis to help her, he was to help her into turning her son "the young king" against his father, which worked quite successfully until the young king fled to Paris from his father and stayed with Louis. Richard and Geoffrey were now in Paris under the influence of their mother. Louis turned Henry II verbal promises into formal grants. Henry became worried and in result he offered the young king half of England and Richard half of Aquitaine. Through all of the uprisings of his family Henry survived.
Henry offered Eleanor a divorce on the agreement that she would give up the world and become a nun at Fontevrault, which she was very fond of, but she refused, and would not let the King get rid of her so easily. In a result Henry locked her up for 15 years in strongly fortified buildings where the hope of escape was very little. Henry now lived openly with Rosamund, but she shortly after this she fell ill and died as a nun on her deathbed in 1176. Eleanor was let out in 1189 after Henry's death. He died of blood poisoning and his last words on his deathbed were "Shame on a conquered king".10
Between the time of 1194 and 1199 Eleanor had retired to her favorite house of religion, Fontevrault. In 1199 She left the convent, because her son Richard had sent for her, he was dying. After being shot in the shoulder, below his neck, and after a painful operation a iron piece was still in and Gangrene set in. Eleanor took Richards death as a great shock and never fully recovered. With Richard's death his brother John would now become King, who unlike Richard was short, fat and ugly. He lived a life of luxury and became known as a glutton and a drunkard.
Eleanor died April 1of 1204. During her lifetime Eleanor had accomplished what many only have dreamed of. She was a smart, cunning and beautiful woman who lived a very long and pleasant life, going through its periods of roughness and uncertainty, and she never stopped planning and securing her future. She did what was good for her and then what was good for her children. Through her life she worked mainly on the peace between France and England and died at a time during peace. She died at the monastery at Fontevrault in Anjou.
1 Desmond Seward, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Barnes & Noble, 1978) pg. 16
2 Desmond Seward, pg. 16
3 Desmond Seward, pg. 16
4 Desmond Seward, pg. 21
5 Desmond Seward, pg.22
6 Desmond Seward, pg. 27
7 Desmond Seward, pg. 73
8 Desmond Seward, pg. 74
9 Desmond Seward, pg. 107
10 Desmond Seward, pg. 147