Eleanor+of+Aquitaine+the+Double+Queen

=THE INFLUENCE OF ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE =

**1.0 Who Was She?** **2.0 Inheritance and France**


 * 3.0 The Second Crusade**

**3.1 Embarking** **3.2 Cadmos Mountain**


 * 4.0 Queen of England**


 * 5.0 Courts of Love**


 * 5.1 Back to France**

**5.2 The Influence of the Courts of Love**

**1.0 Who Was She?** Eleanor of Aquitaine lived from 1122/1124 to the April 1 1204. She became the Duchess of Aquitaine, one of the largest counties in Europe at the age of 15 and Queen of France within the year. In 1152 she became Queen of England, making her the first female monarch to ever sit on both the thrones of England and France. **2.0 Inheritance and France** At the death of her father at the age of fifteen, the headstrong and rebellious Eleanor became the most eligible heiress in the western world (1). Entrusted in King Louis VI (‘fat Louis’) care, she was promptly married to his sixteen year old heir, the future Louis VII (2).

 **3.0 The Second Crusade**

** 3.1 Embarking **
it was said that //‘Queen Eleanor appeared at Vézelay dressed like an Amazon galloping through the crowds on a white horse, urging them to join the crusades’// (3). This has, however, largely been dispelled as a myth by many historians, some such as Sam Behling however, argue that //“t// // he tale is in character, and later allusions to Amazons en route, found in Greek histories, give some substance to it” // <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">(4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">//. // If this is true, the fact that there was such reluctance to embark on the crusade in its inception suggest that this show of grandeur may have been a substantial reason for the crusade occurring.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">**3.2 Cadmos Mountain**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Aquitainian noble and vassal of Eleanor, Geoffrey and Louis’s uncle, the Count de Maurienne were chosen as leaders in Louis VII absence. Rather than waste the day, they disobeyed his orders. This resulted in the soldiers losing their footing and horses, carts and people began to tumble down the mountainside. The enemy then revealed themselves and began to slaughter the tumbling men. In the two primary sources, by monk [|Ode de Deil]and [|William of Tyre] Eleanor’s direct interference is not recorded but as Geoffrey’s overlord she bears significant blame (5).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 19px;">**4.0 Queen of England**


<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">In 1152, merely eight weeks after the annulment of her first marriage, Eleanor married Henry of Anjou, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">the future Henry II of England (pictured) (6). Determined to wield her influence as Duchess in her own right she was disappointed to see Henry’s attitude to women, a restriction that rendered her almost as powerless as she had been as Queen of France (7). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">**5.0 Courts of Love** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">**5.1 Back to France** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">In 1167, Eleanor relocated to the continent to preside over her lands in modern day France. It was here her cultural and literary influence flourished and her renowned courts of love were established (8). It is important to understand however, that Eleanor had spent her childhood //‘amid the courtly games of love and knew them intimately’// and did not necessarily develop the idea of such romanticism but encourage it (9).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">**5.2 The Effect of the Courts of Love** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">It is largely undisputed that she had a major effect and despite //‘debate over the extent of her role as a patron of literature and art, the roots of courtly love were undoubtedly in her court… the troubadours who gathered at her court to sing her praises eventually spread their passionate lyrics throughout much of France, England, Spain and Sicily’// (10)//.// Such influence had a huge impact on the renaissance in Europe. It must be acknowledged that Eleanor’s daughter, Marie, Countess of Champagne, may have contributed more than her mother (11).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Referencing:
 * 1) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Eleanor of Aquitaine” British Heritage 26, no. 2 (2005) 28-34
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Alison Weir, Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England (Britain: Pimlico, 2000)
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Tim Newark “Eleanor of Aquitaine” [|http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine2.html 1996]
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Sam Behling “Eleanor of Aquitaine” [|http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nwa/aquit.html 2003]
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Curtis H. Walker “Eleanor of Aquitaine and Cadmos Mountain” //The American Historical Review// 55, No. 4 [] 858-861 1950
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Richard Cavendish “Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Henry of Anjou: May 18th, 1152” //Eleanor Aquitaine”// 52 No. 5 []
 * 7) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Alison Weir, Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England (Britain: Pimlico, 2000) 11
 * 8) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Donald Kagan, The Western Heritage: Brief Edition, 2nd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998)
 * 9) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Margaret King, We s te rn Civilization: A Soc ial and Cultural History, 2/e (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003), 242
 * 10) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Richard Greaves, Robert Zaller, Jennifer T. Roberts, Civilizations of the West. 2nd ed. (New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1997) ,218
 * 11) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Sidney Painter //Medieval Society// (United States of America: John Hopkins University Press) 1951, 26
 * 12) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Courtesy of [] (accessed 11/09/2011)
 * 13) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Courtesy of [] (accessed 11/09/2011)