[12][37] William of Newburgh emphasised the charms of her person, and even in her old age Richard of Devizes described her as beautiful, while Matthew Paris, writing in the 13thcentury, recalled her "admirable beauty". Ive asked author and historian Matthew Lewis to be a guest today. Henry and Eleanor are the main characters in James Goldman's 1966 play The Lion in Winter, which was made into a film in 1968 starring Peter O'Toole as Henry and Katharine Hepburn in the role of Eleanor, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Motion Picture Drama. This was duly lifted for long enough to allow Theobald's lands to be restored; it was then lowered once more when Raoul refused to repudiate Petronilla, prompting Louis to return to Champagne and ravage it once more. [9] Andreas wrote for the court of the king of France, where Eleanor was not held in esteem. He fled to Paris. In the cost Henry incurred on her care, and her placement at one of her favourite castles at Old Sarum, there is little trace of the vindictive, wronged husband. "[32] One source claimed that the queen sent her younger sons to France "to join with him against their father the king. Eleanor of Aquitaine (c.1122 1 April 1204; French: Alinor d'Aquitaine, pronounced[aljen dakitn]) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII,[1] Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from 1137 until her death in 1204. She has a twin sister named Emma Henry. After wandering aimlessly through Aquitaine, Henry the Younger caught dysentery. Nevertheless, rumours persisted, perhaps assisted by Henry's camp, that Eleanor had poisoned Rosamund. About four miles from Shrewsbury and close by Haughmond Abbey is "Queen Eleanor's Bower", the remains of a possible triangular timber castle which is believed to have been one of her prisons. A book rests on her chest, though in typically enigmatic style, we are left to guess what she may be reading. [10] Eleanor was extroverted, lively, intelligent, and strong-willed. As a wedding present she gave Louis a rock crystal vase {fr}, currently on display at the Louvre. Her semi-imprisonment in England ended only with the death of Henry II in 1189. This suspicion of responsibility did nothing for her popularity in Christendom. He shunned all majesty, preferring to send his Chancellor Thomas Becket to Paris to make a splendid, showy entrance to the city because, well, it just wasnt Henrys style. A Guide to Currently Running and Upcoming National Tours, Photos: Inside THE MUSIC MAN's Final Curtain Call with Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster & Company. She was beautiful and just, imposing and modest, humble and elegant; and, as the nuns of Fontevrault wrote in their necrology, a queen who surpassed almost all the queens of the world.. Any prolonged dispute between Henry and his sons played into the French kings hands and was a dynastic risk to all that Henry and Eleanor had built. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 4 daughters. The Pope, recalling similar attempts by William X to exile supporters of Innocent from Poitou and replace them with priests loyal to himself, blamed Eleanor, saying that Louis was only a child and should be taught manners. As he is forced to reconstruct the shattered settlement of his domains, it is to her that he turns for help. Eleanor secured her freedom by agreeing to his demands. In The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Howard Pyle, retelling the ballad Robin Hood and Queen Katherine, made the queen Queen Eleanor to fit historically with the rest of the work. Louis became involved in a war with Count Theobald by permitting Raoul I, Count of Vermandois and seneschal of France, to repudiate his wife Eleanor of Blois, Theobald's sister, and to marry Petronilla of Aquitaine, Eleanor's sister. Eleanor was queen consort to Louis VII (113752) of France and Henry II of England (11521204). As such, I asked him to stop by and talk about his newest book, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: Founding an Empire. Eleanors conduct during this expedition, especially at the court of her uncle Raymond of Poitiers at Antioch, aroused Louiss jealousy and marked the beginning of their estrangement. [4] The marriage was annulled on 21 March 1152 on the grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree. 1. Henry was nineteen years old, bull-necked, stocky and . [9] Immediately after the wedding, the couple were enthroned as duke and duchess of Aquitaine. Eleanor is related to Yolanda Siobhan Henry and A C Henry as well as 3 additional people. Purchase Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: Founding of an Empire at bookshop.org or bookdepository.com. The annulment gave Eleanor back Aquitaine and Poitou, which she took with her eight weeks later to Henry, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy, to whom, incidentally, she was just as closely related as she had been to Louis. She preferred him to her grandson Arthur, Duke of Brittany because the latter had been raised under French wings, out of her control. Age Range Adult, Mature Adult Role Size . If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. While in the eastern Mediterranean, Eleanor learned about maritime conventions developing there, which were the beginnings of what would become admiralty law. This resulted in the army becoming separated, with some having already crossed the summit and others still approaching it. Although they escaped this attempt unharmed, stormy weather drove Eleanor's ship far to the south to the Barbary Coast and caused her to lose track of her husband. As the mother to Richard the Lionheart, she helped him sure up his succession, find him a wife, manage his lands while he was on campaign, and spring into action at the age of 68 to raise and personally deliver his ransom when he was taken prisoner on the way home from the Holy Land. Eleanor was in her mid-forties, and the couple had seven children, including four sons (no doubt to Louis VIIs irritation!). Eleanors latest biographer, Alison Weir, suspects that Eleanor and Henry had been plotting since they met in Paris the previous summer and that Eleanor had deliberately encouraged the annulment of her marriage to Louis. Henry allows Eleanor to travel to Normandy to visit the grave of their son Henry the Young King. Select this result to view Eleanor G Henry's phone number, address, and more. Henry II sent Thomas of Earley, Archdeacon of Wells, to break the news to Eleanor at Sarum. Louis was outraged that his former wife, and vassal, had remarried without his permission. Her fatherWilliam X,. When most of the land army arrived, the king and queen had a dispute. Eleanor was the daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitiers, who possessed one of the largest domains in Francelarger, in fact, than those held by the French king. Theobald had also offended Louis by siding with the Pope in the dispute over Bourges. In 1199, under the terms of a truce between King PhilipII and King John, it was agreed that Philip's 12-year-old heir-apparent Louis would be married to one of John's nieces, daughters of his sister Eleanor of England, queen of Castile. In a matter of weeks, peace had returned to France: Theobald's provinces were returned and Pierre de la Chatre was installed as archbishop of Bourges. Eleanor's purported relationship with her uncle Raymond,[21] the ruler of Antioch, was a major source of discord. Eleanor would remain in England for most of the rest of Henrys life in what is usually characterised as comfortable house arrest. Searching to find out more about Eleanor Henry? Flower and Hawk is a monodrama for soprano and orchestra, written by American composer, Carlisle Floyd that premiered in 1972, in which the soprano (Eleanor of Aquitaine) relives past memories of her time as queen, and at the end of the monodrama, hears the bells that toll for Henry II's death, and in turn, her freedom. Between 1190 and 1194, Richard was absent from England, engaged in the Third Crusade from 1190 to 1192, and then held in captivity by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Louis's long march to Jerusalem and back north, which Eleanor was forced to join, debilitated his army and disheartened her knights; the divided Crusade armies could not overcome the Muslim forces, and the royal couple had to return home. The second had been made by Henrys younger brother Geoffrey. In The Art of Courtly Love, Andreas Capellanus, Andrew the chaplain, refers to the court of Poitiers. Stephens oldest son died, his other son expressed no desire to become king, and Stephen adopted Henry as his son and appointed him heir to England. Photos: CHICAGO's Jinkx Monsoon Meets the Press! In 1141, the Archbishopric of Bourges became vacant, and the king put forward as a candidate one of his chancellors, Cadurc, while vetoing the one suitable candidate, Pierre de la Chatre, who was promptly elected by the canons of Bourges and consecrated by the Pope. Since Eleanor, 11 years her husbands senior, had long resented his infidelities, the revolt may have been instigated by her; in any case, she gave her sons considerable military support. The marriage was annulled in March 1152 on grounds of consanguinity. Looking for Eleanor Henry? Even before the Crusade, Eleanor and Louis were becoming estranged, and their differences were only exacerbated while they were abroad. Their second son, Richard, lies at their feet, another restless Plantagenet brought to stillness by the greatest leveller of them all. Most recently, she was portrayed by Eileen Atkins in Robin Hood (2010). On 21 March, the four archbishops, with the approval of Pope Eugene, granted an annulment on grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree; Eleanor was Louis' third cousin once removed, and shared common ancestry with Robert II of France. When Eleanor died in 1204 at the age of 80, she elected to be buried where she had spent her final years, at Fontevraud Abbey. Marriage to Henry II and administration of England, Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal et duc de Richelieu, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eleanor-of-Aquitaine, World History Encyclopedia - Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Ohio State University - eHistory - Eleanor of Aquitaine, Heritage History - Biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eleanor of Aquitaine - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard I, and Henry II. Eleanor played a key role in raising the ransom demanded from England by HenryVI and in the negotiations with the Holy Roman Emperor that eventually secured Richard's release. I position this move not as a mark of a cooling in their relationship, which had never required constant physical proximity, but as a reward. Her contribution to England extended beyond her own lifetime; after the loss of Normandy (1204), it was her own ancestral lands and not the old Norman territories that remained loyal to England. In July 1189, with the death of her estranged husband Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine was finally released from fifteen years of captivity. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (NJ) (11) Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City (NJ) (7) As soon as she arrived in Poitiers, Eleanor sent envoys to Henry, Duke of Normandy and future king of England, asking him to come at once to marry her. She played a prominent part in government and a patrons role in the development of both troubadour poetry and the Arthurian legends. She married John Allison about 1708, in Maryland, British Colonial America. He had met her in 1166 and had begun their liaison in 1173, supposedly contemplating divorce from Eleanor. Henry and Eleanor were an extraordinary couple, who lived extraordinary lives in Eleanors case about three of them. Henry was nineteen years old, bull-necked, stocky and freckled, a man of electric energy and ferocious impatience, compelling charm and an ungovernable temper. During her childbearing years, she participated actively in the administration of the realm and even more actively in the management of her own domains. Henry imprisoned her in 1173 for supporting the revolt of their eldest son, Henry the Young King, against him. Although the figures are intended as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II of England, and William Marshall, the story is an entire invention. [a] Eleanor's conduct was repeatedly criticised by church elders, particularly Bernard of Clairvaux and Abbot Suger, as indecorous. [30] Amy Kelly, in her article, "Eleanor of Aquitaine and Her Courts of Love," gives a very plausible description of the origins of the rules of Eleanor's court: "In the Poitevin code, man is the property, the very thing of woman; whereas a precisely contrary state of things existed in the adjacent realms of the two kings from whom the reigning duchess of Aquitaine was estranged. In eastern Europe, the French army was at times hindered by Manuel I Comnenus, the Byzantine Emperor, who feared that the Crusade would jeopardise the tenuous safety of his empire. The consequences for the subsequent history of English ambitions in France were profound. The Lion in Winter will be directed by Tom Hollis. The duke also insisted to his companions that his death be kept a secret until Louis was informed; the men were to journey from Saint James of Compostela across the Pyrenees as quickly as possible to call at Bordeaux to notify the archbishop, then to make all speed to Paris to inform the king. Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: Founding an Empire, Matts History Blog Hopefully interesting snippets and thoughts (wordpress.com). The play premiered on Broadway in 1966 and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning movie. Matt Lewis is an author and historian of the middle ages. Reputedly Eleanor then requested to stay with Raymond and brought up the matter of consanguinitythe fact that she and her husband, King Louis, were perhaps too closely related. [11] Later, during the first four years of HenryII's reign, her siblings joined Eleanor's royal household. In the 2003 television film version, Eleanor was played by Glenn Close alongside Patrick Stewart as Henry. CPCC Theatre will hold auditions for The Lion in Winter by James Goldman on Monday, September 13th and Tuesday September 14th from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in the Rehearsal Hall OC 300 of the Overcash/Halton building on the CPCC Central Campus. Their two daughters were, however, declared legitimate. Beautiful, capricious, and adored by Louis, Eleanor exerted considerable influence over him, often goading him into undertaking perilous ventures. While presenting a solemn and dignified face to the grieving Aquitainian messengers, Louis exulted when they departed. Eleanor had only two daughters by Louis VII, but to her new husband she bore five sons and three daughters. [9] Some believe that Eleanor's court in Poitiers was the "Court of Love" where Eleanor and her daughter Marie meshed and encouraged the ideas of troubadours, chivalry, and courtly love into a single court. Henry II was elsewhere, attending to his own affairs after escorting Eleanor there. After King Henry's death Eleanor lived on for many years, even ruling England as Queen Dowager while her son Richard the Lionheart was on crusade. He was the future of the place that meant the most to her. Yet despite his impending death, Louis's mind remained clear. The effigy on her tomb shows a tall and large-boned woman with brown skin, though this may not be an accurate representation. Perhaps time and sorrow softened any sense of betrayal, but perhaps there had never been one. As queen of France, Eleanor participated in the unsuccessful Second Crusade. She was portrayed by Lynda Bellingham in the BBC series Robin Hood. King Philip II of France claimed that certain properties in Normandy belonged to his half-sister Margaret, widow of the young Henry, but Henry insisted that they had once belonged to Eleanor and would revert to her upon her son's death. The annulment gave Eleanor back Aquitaine and Poitou, which she took with her eight weeks later to Henry, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy, to whom, incidentally, she was just as closely related as she had been to Louis. By all accounts, Eleanor's father ensured that she had the best possible education. Eleanor had only one other legitimate sibling, a younger sister named Aelith (also called Petronilla). Eleanor was allowed to return to the place she loved above all others as its duchess, to train Richard in the tricky art of ruling Aquitaine. She left for the Second Crusade from Vzelay, the rumoured location of Mary Magdalene's grave, in June 1147. She was able to retire comfortably as Queen of England, with Aquitaine in the capable hands of Richard, and in doing so, take the sting out of the conflict between her husband and their sons. The king did not announce the arrest publicly; for the next year, the queen's whereabouts were unknown. He claims that Eleanor, her daughter Marie, Ermengarde, Viscountess of Narbonne, and Isabelle of Flanders would sit and listen to the quarrels of lovers and act as a jury to the questions of the court that revolved around acts of romantic love. To strengthen their argument, they state that there is no other evidence that Marie ever stayed with her mother in Poitiers. Henry lost the woman reputed to be his great love, Rosamund Clifford, in 1176. They had five sons and three daughters. Eleanor of Aquitaine is every bit the match for Henry, and so I decided to write a joint biography of them. 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