Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was the daughter of Duke William X, the Duke of Aquitaine (d.1137) and duchess Aenor de Chatelleralut (d. 1130). She was the oldest of their three children. Eleanor was born and raised in Courtly Love. Eleanor at the time was probably one of the most fascinating women back then. She was born to be a leader. When she would get older, she would be one of the most influential women to the most powerful men at the time. She was going to be Duchess of Aquitaine and Queen of France. Eleanor was very outgoing and intelligent, so much that her father was impressed. Eleanors father had made sure that she, along with her siblings, had received the best education possible. In her studies she was taught to read and to write in Latin. She was said to have been very beautiful. During her childhood, when she was eight, her younger brother and mom died. Since her brother had died, she had now became the next heir to what belonged to her father, once he died. Since her mother died, she spent a lot of time with her father traveling. She would spend time traveling with her father through Aquitaine. When she was small, she was getting the idea of how the kingdom had to be run. Since the Land that her Father had owned was the envy of all the other provinces in France, because it was so large and rich.
In 1137 they went on a trip and Duke William X had gotten food poisoning. He died of food poisoning later in the evening the he got food poisoning. This left Eleanor the heir to all his possessions and Land. The death of her father made her very sad. The good part was that she was now the wealthiest heiress of Aquitaine. The fact that she was a girl made others think that she could not handle the job. Eleanor, at the age of 15, was now the duchess of Aquitaine. Before Duke William X had died, he verbally said his will. He left King Louis VI as the guardian of Eleanor, and until she found a proper husband, he could control the land. When Duke William died, he asked for his death to stay a secret until King Louis was informed. King Louis was in charge of Eleanor and also of finding her a good husband. Because of this, he arranged her marriage. He arranged for her to get married with his Son, Prince Louis.
King Louis and Eleanor got married as soon as possible. When they got married, they made an agreement that the land would not be shared until they had and heir. Eleanor ruled as Queen for fifteen years. To her unstatisfaction she saw that the she, the queen, had very little to say in the way France was ruled. But to her advantage she greatly influenced the king. When she was not able to win in her arguments, she would use politics to defend herself with. Eleanor was extroverted, and to many people she was considered to be a bad influence (Eleanor of Aquitaine, Meade, Marion). She was repetitiously being criticized by church leaders. As free spirited, and the things she did confused Prince Louis, her husband, he was very in love with her. Everything that she asked for she was given. In 1141 -1145, there were many conflicts that Louis became involved with. In the midst of this there were wars and attempts at peace, somehow they never worked out. On Christmas 1145 Louis had declared that he was planning for a crusade. Eleanor, decided that she wanted to go along with her husband. The advisors to the kings did not like this. She gave them a good enough reason to go. Eleanor told them that she could be an example to the other men, maybe this way more men would join. The advisors thought and said that it seemed like a logical reason. So Eleanor got what she wanted and was allowed to go along. Eleanor was not the only lady to go along on the crusade, but also some of the royal ladies. It was rumored that Mary Magdalenes burial site was located where the crusade was at. This really influenced their role in the crusade. The crusade did not accomplish much. Eleanors husband, Louis, was not a very good leader. He did not know how to discipline or maintain good decisions. They stayed in Constantinople, during the crusade, Eleanor was very much admired by the woman. Eleanor was often held to comparison with the mythical queen of the Amazons. Later they stayed out of the city walls. Once they entered into Asia Minor it began to worsen. So he tried to cross the Phrygian mountains, so that they could go and find a place of safety with Eleanors uncle. On the way back from the crusade, Eleanor and Louis were becoming more and more separated. Eleanor since the beginning found that Louis was not very interesting, not to her liking at least. She forced herself to spend time with him, this still was not good enough. They began to argue very often. Here they argued because they disagreed on the plan to protect Jerusalem. The advice that she would give him was often, ignored. While they were becoming alienated, Eleanor and her uncle were becoming closer. They were always close,