Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of England and of France, 1122-1202

Eleanor was one of the most influential and powerful figures of the 12th century. Married at age 15 to Louis VII of France, she later divorced him to marry Henry II, the future King of England. She bore Henry eight children, two of them future kings of England. At age 19, she knelt in the cathedral of V�zelay before Abb� Bernard of Clairvaux offering him thousands of her vassals for the Second Crusade. It was said that Queen Eleanor appeared at V�zelay dressed like an Amazon galloping on a white horse through the crowds, urging them to join the crusades. The Church was pleased to receive her thousand fighting vassals, however, they were less happy when they learned that Eleanor, along with 300 of her ladies, also planned to go to help "tend the wounded." This was at a time when women were traditionally thought of as property. Throughout her life she maintained control over her extensive lands in Southern France, and cleverly managed the lives of her children and grandchildren. Eleanor championed the human causes of love, rebalanced the value of women, elaborated the codes of chivalry, certified the establishment of jury law, was the inspiration of thousands of knights. She was the motive for many Troubadour songs, and inspired songs and stories of the times including the rewrite of King Arthur putting Guenivere (Eleanor) and her French knights in the story for the first time. She codified the many rituals of romance. In Eleanor's domains, women were both legally and in song no longer the object of conquest as the bargaining chips by fathers. Love, especially the love by man for woman became its own quest. Her court judgments ruled love as a primary cause in a relationship - a controversial belief that was ruled heresy and completely expunged upon her death by the Church and State.

Article by Alexander S