Tuesday 9 December 2014

A Woman Who Shaped History – Eleanor of Aquitaine


Eleanor of Aquitaine was a very remarkable woman indeed.  Whe was the Queen of France for 15 years (marrying the King at 15 years old) and later Queen of England for 50 years.  Her sons Richard (Lionheart) and John were Kings of England.

While the Queen of France she went on crusade – not usual for high born women at that time.

She married the man who became King Henry II of England. The marriage was a tempestuous one and she was exiled to a country residence for many years.

She had 10 children in all – an achievement in itself – particularly in those days.  A nicely balanced 5 daughters and 5 sons.  She entered a convent late in her life and died at the Abbey of Fontrevault in France in 1204 at the age of 82.

1 comment:

  1. Eleanor was indeed one of the most fascinating and consequential women in history.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are most welcome. I have currently disabled anonymous comments due to unwanted spam. Cheers