Eleanor+of+Aquitaine

**Eleanor of Aquitaine **


Eleanor was remembered as a great queen who went on many different adventures and was very involved in the arts. In 1137, when Eleanor was only 15 years old, she inherited Poitou and Aquitaine in France; which gave her more territory than the king of France himself. Soon afterwards, Eleanor married Lois VII who was the son of the king of France. A year later, the king died and Eleanor became the queen of France. Eleanor helped the literature of France flourish. She would invite poets to her court, which she turned into a center of culture and art. She also strongly encouraged poets who wrote romances. In 1147, Eleanor went on a crusade with Louis to the Holy Land; this created rumors saying Eleanor was being unfaithful. Tensions rose between Eleanor and Louis and in 1152, shortly after the birth of their second daughter, their marriage was annulled.

Only 2 months after the annulment, Eleanor married Henry II, count of Anjou. Within two years, Henry became king of England, making Eleanor once again queen. It is said that Eleanor's marriage with Henry created the next 300 years of war between France and England. Eleanor and Henry had many children; including two future kings and two future queens. Henry gave his sons minimal power, and they rebelled against him. Eleanor sided with her sons, resulting in her husband imprisoning her until he died in 1189. After Henry's death, Eleanor's son, Richard I (the Lionhearted), became the next king of England; Eleanor was drawn back into politics. When Richard was taken captive by the duke of Austria in 1192, Eleanor governed the kingdom until she could gather the enormous sum to free him.

When Richard died in 1199, Eleanor helped her son John claim his seat of the throne. John succeeded Richard as king; he was remembered as greedy, selfish, and cruel in chroniclers. John was at war with King Phillip of France and lost many cities; he even lost a castle in Normandy that his brother designed and greatly loved. By that time Eleanor was in her early eighties, living decades beyond the normal 12th-century lifespan. With the loss of Richard, Eleanor became depressed and went to the abbey of Fontevrault, where her husband Henry and her son Richard were buried. Eleanor spent her last days there among the nuns; she died in the spring of 1204, at the age of 82. Works Cited
 * “Eleanor of Aquitaine.” Historic World Leaders. N.p.: Gale, 1994. N. pag. Biography Resource Center. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
 * “Eleanor of Aquitaine.” The Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia for Students. Ed. William Chester Jordan. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1996. 50. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
 * “File:EleonoraAkvitanie_soud.jpg.” Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foudations, 1 Nov. 2009. Web. 1 Apr. 2010. .