Dan Snow's History Hit - Eleanor of Aquitaine

Episode Date: September 22, 2022

From an age in which women’s lives were obscured and poorly recorded, one shines brightly from the darkness. Eleanor of Aquitaine - born 900 years ago - has been the subject of scandal and legend for almost a millennium. Nevertheless, she played a central role in the pivotal events that defined nations and set relationships across Europe for centuries to come. In this special explainer episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis recounts an incredible life, separating the myths from the facts to get to the real Eleanor of Aquitaine.The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was mixed and edited by Rob Weinberg. If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Hi, History Hit listeners. Now, for all you medievalists out there, I understand there are some. Me, I'm an early modernist. Personally, I like the whiff of gunpowder. I like the uneven, groping shuffle towards human rights, towards the Industrial Revolution, towards equality. But I understand. If you want your medieval stuff, we've got a podcast for you. Gone Medieval with Dr. Kat Jarman and Matt Lewis. It's the dream team. They go from the fall of Rome to the fall of Rome. One in the 5th century and the other in the 16th century. It's a big chunk of time. That's the medieval period, folks. They've got a broad canvas. They get out on location. They do explainers. They know medieval history off the

back of their hands. You've got to listen to Gone Medieval with Dr. Kat Jarman and Matt Lewis wherever you get your pods. Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval. I'm Matt Lewis. You're stuck with me again this time, I'm afraid, but I hope you'll indulge me because I'm going to talk about someone who looms large in medieval history, and who may well be amongst your favourite medieval people. history and who may well be amongst your favourite medieval people. In an age of obscured and poorly recorded women, one lady shines brightly from the darkness, a focus of scandal, myth and legend. She stands at the centre of pivotal events that defined nations and set relationships across Europe. Eleanor of Aquitaine is a name known to almost everyone. She lived an incredible life,

packing three or four medieval lifetimes into her 80 years. But how well do we really know her? Can we separate myth from fact? Who was the real Eleanor of Aquitaine? That's what I hope we can get close to in this episode of Gone Medieval. Eleanor of Aquitaine's year of birth is frequently given as 1122. A family genealogy gives her age as 13 in 1137 though, suggesting she was more likely to have been born in 1124. She was born in Poitiers, the seat of the Counts of Poitou and Dukes of Aquitaine, in the southwest of what is now France. It was a place of sun and warmth, where the lively influences of Italy still lingered, and the drabness of Paris had never penetrated.

Eleanor's father was William X, Duke of Aquitaine. Now, all the Dukes of Aquitaine in this line are called William. If your name wasn't William and you somehow became Duke of Aquitaine, you changed your name to William. So they're all numbered to try and keep a handle on who we're talking about. Eleanor's mother was Einor of Chateleuraux. It's believed her name is derived from her mother's. In Latin, Alia Einor means another Einor and is the root of the name Eleanor. Einor was the daughter of the Viscount of Chateleuraux and a woman whose past is controversial and who revels in one of the best names in history. Einor's mother had been the mistress

to William X's father, a man unsurprisingly called William IX, and their affair had been scandalous. William IX had even been visited by a hermit who told him that God was furious about it. The subject of his passion had the spectacular name of Dangereuse de Lille-Bouchard, Viscountess of Châtellerault. Aquitaine was a large and complex set of counties. It had been a kingdom under Charlemagne's empire, subordinate to the Carolingian emperors, but had later reverted to a duchy. Nominally controlled by the Count of Poitou from Poitiers, it was, in reality, a loose collection of independently-minded counts. Essentially, Aquitaine was hard to rule.

Eleanor was the oldest of three children. She had a sister, Eilith, who would take the more northern French name of Petronilla later in life, and a brother named Ygritte, who is often known as William Ygritte, for reasons that are probably obvious. During 1130, both Eleanor's mother and her brother died, leaving her 31-year-old father a widow and her the heir to his lands. Duke William made no efforts to remarry. In 1135, he incurred the wrath of Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most prominent churchmen and letter writers of the day. William took the side of an antipope in one of the various schisms in the Roman church, and Bernard turned up at Poitiers Cathedral to call the Duke out, shouting at him and condemning

his sins. William, reportedly a tall, broad, handsome man with the physique of a knight, stared at Bernard open-mouthed for a few moments, and then collapsed. He may have had a stroke from the stresses of recent years and a famous monk publicly slamming him. William fell back into line, but you have to wonder what impression of the church this left young Eleanor with. Two years later, in the spring of 1137, Duke William decided to go on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, just across the Pyrenees mountains. He left his two daughters in the care of Geoffrey de La Roche, Archbishop of Bordeaux, and set off. On the 9th of April, having almost reached his destination, he collapsed

and died. Word sped back across the mountains of the unexpected loss. At 13, Eleanor was now the most valuable heiress in Europe. Her father had made no efforts to arrange a marriage for her and her future was suddenly dangerously precarious. Young Eleanor's life was about to change forever. Geoffrey de La Rohe was now in an unenviable position. Looking after his friend's kids while he went on holiday had transformed into having control of the lives of two of Europe's most significant unmarried girls. With no plans for the future of his daughters or of Aquitaine left by the Duke, the Archbishop was forced to weigh up the options. Should he look within Aquitaine, marrying Eleanor to one of the Counts of the region? There were some attractions

to that notion, but also dangers in promoting one of the squabbling nobility above his peers and hoping there would be no resentment. A foreign lord perhaps? Maybe, but Aquitanian nobles were never fond of outsiders trying to impose themselves and the delicate levers of government that maintained balance there could easily be broken by a heavy hand unaccustomed to Aquitaine's politics. In the end, the Archbishop sidestepped these issues by pushing the decision up the line to his manager. He placed the Duke's daughters in the care of King Louis VI of France. Louis was known both as the fat and the fighter. I'd imagine there's one of those that he preferred.

He'd been King of France for almost 30 years and was in his mid-50s. He'd worked hard to strengthen the French crown, which, not unlike the Counts of Poitou in Aquitaine, held feudal lordship over all of France without really having a way to enforce their will and authority. In Eleanor, a prize too good to pass up fell into his lap. Louis had a son and heir, the 17-year-old Louis the Younger, who'd been crowned as junior king in the Capetian tradition and who just happened to be unmarried. On the 11th of July 1137, Louis the Younger arrived in Bordeaux. On the 25th of July, Louis and Eleanor were married at the cathedral and Eleanor was crowned as Louis' consort. For Louis VI, this represented the acquisition of the largest portion of the

territories he nominally controlled, bringing Aquitaine into the hands of the largest portion of the territories he nominally controlled, bringing Aquitaine into the hands of the French crown and continuing his work of strengthening the throne in Paris. On the 1st of August 1137, as the new royal couple travelled north towards Paris, Louis VI died. When the young newlyweds entered the capital, it was as king and queen of France. I wonder what Eleanor made of the serious, austere atmosphere of Paris after growing up in the vibrant, lively south of France.

It must have been a culture shock. Almost immediately, Abbot Suger, who'd been Louis VI's closest advisor, and the new king's mother, Adelaide of Morienne, found their influence over the 17-year-old Louis waning as he gazed starry-eyed at his new young bride. In the spring of 1138, the couple returned to Aquitaine, touring the Auvergne. During the trip, Poitiers caused Eleanor huge embarrassment by declaring itself a commune. These had been around for about 50 years by then. The movement started in Italy and found its way to nearby Aquitaine. A commune was designed to ensure the citizens protected each other from lawless nobles, but they also asserted freedom

and autonomy from the crown. Louis sent 200 knights to Poitiers immediately and the city withdrew its claim to commune status, but left Eleanor embarrassed. Over the years that followed, Eleanor appears not to have been particularly involved in government. Her name rarely features on charters and when it does, they mostly relate to Aquitaine. Louis VI had associated his wives with his rule, but this reluctance demonstrates something important about Louis VII. He had been his father's second son and had entered training for a role in the church before the death of his older brother Philip. Louis seems to have retained the influences of this early lifestyle. He was monkish, unworldly and may have absorbed an unhealthy dose of monastic

misogyny. That isn't to say he didn't love Eleanor, but that she was not meant to be involved in the business of running a kingdom. Contemporary teaching was increasingly leaning into the idea that women were too irrational, too passionate, too easily distracted by sex to be able to conduct serious and sensitive politics. That ideology hadn't penetrated into Aquitaine yet, where Eleanor had a string of powerful and competent female ancestors whose examples she could draw upon. But she was in Paris now. That Eleanor did have influence outside the office is clear from the events of 1141.

In that year, the royal couple returned to Aquitaine, and Louis laid claim to the county of Toulouse as Duke of Aquitaine. This was reviving a long-running dispute over control of Toulouse, and I think it was probably done at Eleanor's urging. The succession in Toulouse is complex but important, so let's try and get our heads around it. Eleanor's paternal grandmother was Philippa, Countess of Toulouse is complex but important, so let's try and get our heads around it. Eleanor's paternal grandmother was Philippa, Countess of Toulouse. As the only legitimate child of William IV, Count of Toulouse – great, more Williams is just what this story needed –

she inherited the county on her father's death. Philippa married Duke William IX of Aquitaine. In 1100, to her horror, he mortgaged her county to her cousin Bertrand to raise funds to go on crusade. When Bertrand died in 1113, Philippa moved to Toulouse to reassert her authority there. When Philippa returned to Poitiers in 1114, she found her husband shacked up with his mistress, Donjoureuse, and took herself off to Fontontevraux Abbey. As a side note, this is the kind of female role model Eleanor could look to

from her family history, a woman able to govern the land she brought to a marriage confidently and competently. After Philippa's death, the title Count of Toulouse was settled on her son, Eleanor's father, Duke William X. In 1141, Bertrand's son, Alfonso, was in actual possession of the lands and title of the Count of Toulouse, but Eleanor was not willing to give up her own claim to them. This was the tangled web that Louis stepped into. Although expanding his royal authority was in Louis' interests, to. Although expanding his royal authority was in Louis' interests, targeting Toulouse seems most likely to have been Eleanor's idea. Louis arrived outside the walls of Toulouse on the 21st of June 1141. After making no advances against the well-fortified city, he took Alfonso's offer to do homage to him as Duke of Aquitaine as his victory, lifted the siege and left Alfonso as

Count of Toulouse. It can hardly have been the result Eleanor was looking for and may have begun to colour her opinion of her cathedral-trained, unwarlike husband. He simply couldn't deliver what she wanted. Eleanor's influence over Louis was not diminished though and lay behind another episode that scarred the king deeply. Eleanor's sister, Eilith, now known as Petronilla, had gone with her sister when she'd married. Eilith had begun an affair with Ralph of Vermandois, a first cousin once removed of Louis. He was in his 40s when Eilith was 16 and he was also married. Ralph's wife, Eleanor of Blois, was the younger sister of Theobald,

Count of Blois-Champagne and King Stephen of England. Neither of them were very pleased with the situation. Theobald was among Louis' most powerful vassals and they weren't on the best of terms before the king's cousin repudiated Theobald's sister in favour of the queen's 16-year-old sister. For two years, from 1142 to 1144, Louis and Theobald were at war. Louis prosecuted the war in person at first. He gained control of the countryside, but the towns and castles held firm for Theobald. As Louis assaulted the town of Vitry-en-Pertoire, his army began to set fire to buildings in the suburbs, a standard tactic to clear space for a siege and deny defenders cover and supplies. When Louis discovered that 1,300 people had taken refuge in the town's church and it had been burned to the ground with them inside, he was horrified

and withdrew immediately. I think this moment left a huge impact on Louis, scarring his conscience and perhaps directly leading to his desire to go on crusade to the Holy Land to atone. In 1144, Bernard of Clairvaux, the monk who had verbally assaulted Eleanor's father, believed she was the key to finding peace because of the influence he saw her wield over her husband. He reportedly took Eleanor to one side during negotiations and told her that if she helped secure peace, she would bear Louis a child. Agreement was reached on the 22nd of April 1144. In 1145, the couple's first child was born. Marie was not the son Louis needed to secure his dynasty, but the royal couple, beginning to have children, was a positive step for France.

In spite of that, there were growing signs that all was not well in the royal marriage. Eleanor must have been disappointed with Louis' military failures to date and he may well have felt that she was pushing him into fights that he couldn't win. In the same year, 1144, disaster began to overtake the Christian states in the Holy Land. In December, the city of Edessa was taken by Turkish forces. Bad news and pleas for help kept on reaching Europe throughout 1145. At his Christmas court, Louis publicly announced his intention to go on crusade and at his Easter court, he took the cross along with hundreds of enthusiastic others.

Eleanor announced her intention to go with her husband. The chance to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem was not one to be passed up. Chronicles thought Louis allowed this because he was still besotted with Eleanor, but I suspect it was to prevent her making a claim on the regency in his absence, a role that was left to Abbot Suger. In June 1147, the party set out from France. Louis' plans were unravelling even before he'd left, as the Holy Roman Emperor, Conrad III, gate-crashed Louis' party and took joint command of the force heading east. And Louis didn't want to share. For Eleanor, the Second Crusade would solidify her reputation. It was

moulded by monks in their cloisters, sheltered and bricking themselves in behind walls of misogyny they could no longer see over or around. The Queen of France was about to become the Queen of Scandal. On the 4th of October 1147, Eleanor and Louis reached Constantinople. Emperor Manuel was nervous of a Frankish crusading army crossing his territory but entertained the king and queen for three weeks at one of his favourite hunting lodges just outside the city walls. Seeing the mighty Constantinople must have been an experience and the atmosphere there might have reminded Eleanor a little of Aquitaine. On the 26th of October, they crossed the Bosporus and set foot on the soil of Asia for the first time. Before long, bloodied and battered German troops began straggling back west to the French army. Conrad had sped on ahead, only to be ambushed and defeated by a Turkish army. Conrad had sped on ahead only to be ambushed and defeated by a Turkish army.

Conrad himself was wounded and offered accommodation at Constantinople to convalesce. The entire crusading army was now united under Louis' control and they took the longer coastal route south to Ephesus to avoid another ambush. Early in 1148, things began to go horribly wrong for Louis' army, and it was all Eleanor's fault. At least, there were those keen to point the finger at her, but as we'll see, that was becoming common and was to serve a political end. On the 6th of January 1148, the army set out to cross Cadmos Mountain. The army was large and unwieldy, and Seljuk Turks were waiting for any opportunity to strike. It was going to be a tricky business.

The plan was for Geoffrey de Rensan to lead the vanguard up the mountain and wait at the summit for the rest of the army to avoid them becoming too strung out. When Geoffrey got there, he realised there simply wasn't room for the entire force on the summit and moved his vanguard on further to make room. As the army became stretched, it was attacked. Louis was caught in the ambush and 40 of his personal bodyguard were killed before the Turks withdrew, spiriting away as much of the French baggage train as they could carry. Why was this Eleanor's fault? Isn't it obvious? Geoffrey was a poitevin. That meant he owed allegiance to Eleanor.

It was decided that he'd messed the whole thing up, so everyone was certain the only solution was to blame the woman. But that wasn't the end of Eleanor's scandalous crusade. One of the most scandalous moments came when Louis and Eleanor visited her uncle, Raymond, Prince of Antioch. Raymond had been Prince of Antioch by marriage for about 10 years. He'd left Aquitaine when Eleanor was a little girl and now welcomed his brother's daughter as the 24-year-old Queen of France. Louis and Eleanor enjoyed Raymond's hospitality. For Eleanor, it must have been comforting to be around close family,

even if she barely knew her uncle. Raymond was keen for their help to attack Aleppo, which he pitched as a vital step towards recapturing Edessa, which was the stated aim of the crusade. Louis flatly refused. He wanted to go to Jerusalem and would listen to nothing else. Eleanor tried to convince Louis that her uncle was right, that his military advice was worth listening to. He knew these lands and they didn't. John of Salisbury, who was at the papal court during the crusade, reported that

That's right folks, and his constant, indeed almost continuous, conversation with her aroused the king's suspicion. That's right folks, Eleanor talked to her uncle. Can you imagine how hard that was for Louis? And when she agreed with her uncle rather than Louis, well, it became intolerable. Louis decided to leave Antioch. Eleanor decided to stay. Louis did the only sensible, rational thing he could. He packed up in the middle of the night and forced Eleanor to go with him. When Louis put on his big boy pants, he invariably got them the wrong way round. John of Salisbury reports the obvious cause of the king's concern. I'm sure you don't need me to spell it out. If Eleanor talked to her uncle

and agreed with him, clearly they were having sex. There was no other explanation. It was during this exchange that John of Salisbury also mentions Eleanor questioning the legality of her marriage to Louis because they were too closely related, in the fourth and fifth degrees, which isn't all that close. And wait, wasn't she just happy to sleep with her uncle? Well, I'm confused. Anyway, John says Louis consented to end their marriage when they got back to France if his council and the French nobility permitted it. Way to take control, Louis. I'm not sure if this was a heavy dose of hindsight, but it must have felt like it could have been true. John was slightly careful in what he says about what happened in Antioch.

There was no such restraint from the Archbishop of Tyre, who wrote of Raymond. He resolved also to deprive him of his wife, either by force or by secret intrigue. The Queen readily assented to this design, for she was a foolish woman. Her conduct before and after this time showed her to be, as we have said, far from circumspect. Contrary to her royal dignity, she disregarded her marriage vows and was unfaithful to her husband. These stories were later twisted even more into tales that Eleanor tried to run away to marry Saladin, who was a 10-year-old boy

at the time. Lazy monks couldn't even be bothered to check their timeline to make up convincing lies. Anyway, almost as a sideshow, Louis and Eleanor reached Jerusalem in May 1148. The military side of the crusade was a dismal failure. By July, Louis' own brother, Robert, Count of Dre, and Thierry, the Count of Flanders, had left for home, embarrassed and disillusioned by Frankish incompetence. Louis decided to stay on, but not with any military goal in mind. He visited religious sites, distributed alms to the poor, and generally loitered until Easter 1149 so that he could witness the holiest of festivals in the holiest of cities. Whatever else was going on, this was

a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Eleanor too. The royal couple left Jerusalem in April 1149. They took separate ships at Acre. Their boats were attacked by Byzantine ships. Louis made it to Sicily but Eleanor's ship was captured. She was saved by the intervention of Roger, King of Sicily, not by her husband. When the couple were reunited at Potenza, entertained by King Roger, news arrived of the death of Eleanor's uncle Raymond. He'd lost the Battle of Enaab and been beheaded, trying to do what he'd asked for Louis' help with. I wouldn't have wanted to be in the royal bedchamber that night.

As they travelled north towards home, the couple visited Pope Eugenius III at Tusculum, now Frascati. The Pope decided to play marriage guidance counsellor to the frosty couple. He listened to their complaints, then forbade them to separate. John of Salisbury wrote that Did he though? Or was it convenient to paint the king enthralled to a wicked woman during some of his worst failures? Either way, the Pope provided them with a bed to sleep in together, fully blessed and guaranteed to sleep in together, fully blessed and

guaranteed to result in a baby. Interestingly, almost exactly nine months later, Eleanor would give birth to her second daughter Alice. Still not the son France craved, but a bit spooky, right? Still, papal blessing and prohibition on separation or not, things were not all rosy in the Garden of France. I'm Matt Lewis. And I'm Dr Alan Orjanaga. And in Gone Medieval, we get into the greatest mysteries. The gobsmacking details and latest groundbreaking research from the greatest millennium in human history. We're talking Vikings.

Normans. Kings and popes. Who were rarely the best of friends. Murder. Rebellions. And crusades. Find out who we really were by subscribing to Gone Medieval from History Hit.

Wherever you get your podcasts. In March 1152, the senior clergy of France gathered at Beaugency on the banks of the River Loire in the county of Blois. It was spring and the river was bubbling away, but the air was distinctly chilly as Louis and Eleanor arrived. The king had ordered the gathering to pronounce on the validity of his marriage, ignoring the pope's verbal and written confirmation of the marriage and order that they should not separate on grounds of consanguinity. The gathering found their marriage was null and void.

For the first time in her adult life, Eleanor was a single woman. Louis tried to claim Aquitaine in right of his daughters, but couldn't stretch the law that far. Eleanor would remain Duchess of Aquitaine in right of his daughters, but couldn't stretch the law that far. Eleanor would remain Duchess of Aquitaine. The rub of this victory was a hard one. Her two daughters would remain with their father as Princesses of France. Eleanor had little choice but to accept, and there's no recorded instance of her ever seeing Marie or Alice again. If Eleanor was in any doubt about how precarious her situation was, she would be reminded twice in quick succession. She was suddenly, again,

the most valuable prize on the marriage market in France and perhaps Europe. On her way to Aquitaine from Paris, an attempt was made to abduct Eleanor in order to marry her, with or without her consent. The attempt was made by Theobald V, Count of Blois, as Eleanor crossed his county. Theobald was the nephew of King Stephen of England and would actually end up married to Eleanor's second daughter Alice. His brother Henry, Count of Champagne, would marry her oldest daughter Marie. Eleanor narrowly slipped through Theobald's fingers and crossed the border into Turin. The second attempt to abduct and marry Eleanor narrowly slipped through Theobald's fingers and crossed the border into Turin. The second attempt to abduct and marry Eleanor came before she made it across that county.

At Tours, near the border with Poitou, she heard of the scheme and altered her route. The ambitious young chancer who tried this time was Geoffrey of Anjou. Eleanor narrowly evaded him and made it to Poitiers, still single. It's worth noting at this point that prior to the annulment of her marriage, Henry and his father had visited Paris to give homage to Louis for the Duchy of Normandy. There were, of course, rumours that during the visit, Eleanor cheated on Louis with Henry's dad, or with Henry, or maybe both. Although it's tempting to wonder what Eleanor made of this active young man whose star was in the ascendant, and what he made of the beautiful older woman who wore the crown of France,

we only have conjecture, and since we're not medieval monks, let's keep our minds out of the gutter please. Pause while listeners sink to the gutter and come back up again. Oh, sorry. up again. Oh, sorry. Henry was 18 when Eleanor became single, and she was 28. He was Count of Anjou, Maine and Touraine, and became Duke of Normandy after his father had conquered it from the English crown, and now Henry was launching a bid for Stephen's throne itself. He was everything Louis wasn't, and he was a rising star. I think Eleanor was pragmatic enough to realise that whatever she felt, remaining single was dangerous and risked all sorts of problems.

So she did what she did best. She got on the front foot. If Eleanor was looking for a new husband, being young, good looking and having land was one thing. She had enough land of her own though. What I think was most important was that it should be someone who could protect Aquitaine from the predations of Louis on behalf of their daughters and of other nobles who were circling it. She needed someone who could rival the French king. She bought plenty of land, authority and prestige to the deal herself and I think as she cast her eye around at the options, Henry must have twinkled like a diamond among the stones. Eleanor wrote to Henry offering herself in marriage. Henry had mustered an army at Lisieux

to invade England but dropped everything and sped south. On the 18th of May, less than two months after her marriage to Louis had been dissolved, Eleanor married Henry. Although both got what they wanted most, the match created problems that would define Western European politics for centuries. Louis was outraged, partly because, as his vassal, Eleanor should have consulted him on any plans to remarry, and she didn't. The real reason for his fury was that young Henry now controlled more of France than Louis did. He would soon add England, giving him control of a fat strip of land from Hadrian's Wall to the Pyrenees Mountains. This was a threat to Louis and the Capetian crown that his father had worked so hard to strengthen.

It was a problem that would stalk all the parties for the rest of their lives and would haunt their dynasties beyond that. and would haunt their dynasties beyond that. Henry's invasion of England resulted in an agreement by which Stephen would remain king and Henry would succeed him. A year later, Stephen died on 25 October 1154. On 19 December, Henry and Eleanor were crowned king and queen of England at a joint ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Eleanor became the first, and remains the only woman, to be Queen of both France and England.

By the time of the coronation, the couple had a son. He'd been born while Henry was winning England. Eleanor had therefore been free to name the child. Guess what name she picked? Go on, what do you reckon? Yes, it was William. It's a choice that betrays Eleanor had therefore been free to name the child. Guess what name she picked? Go on, what do you reckon? Yes, it was William. It's a choice that betrays Eleanor's priorities. The boy was all set to be Duke of Aquitaine. It happened to be Henry's great-grandfather's name too, so it worked all round.

As she was crowned, Eleanor was seven months pregnant again with her next child, who would be named Henry for his father. Imagine how happy Louis was that as he got rid of Eleanor because she couldn't produce a son, within three years of marrying Henry, she'd given him two. Over the years that followed, Henry tore around his sprawling territories fighting fires. He frequently left Eleanor as his regent in England, showing the faith he had in her abilities. In 1159, Eleanor's influence was on display in precisely the same way it had been shortly after she married Louis. She encouraged Henry to chase down her rights in Toulouse.

Aside from mopping up another title, it would extend their lands to include a Mediterranean coastline and control of the valuable trade routes of the old Roman roads across the massive Central and Pyrenees. Henry delegated the organisation of the campaign to his talented Chancellor, a man named Thomas Beckett. Not Thomas a Beckett, that's a weird later invention. Henry secured an alliance with the Count of Barcelona, who was also an enemy of Toulouse. He met with Louis the first time they'd come face to face since Henry had married Eleanor. Henry asked Louis to encourage Count Raymond of Toulouse to back down. After all, Louis had tried the same thing when he was married to Eleanor. Louis refused. He had no intention of helping Eleanor's new husband become even more powerful

within lands he wanted to control. Besides that, Raymond was married to Louis' sister, so he would also be dispossessing his own nephews. Henry attacked, laying siege to the city of Toulouse. After weeks of making no progress, in September 1159, Louis turned up and strolled into Toulouse. He'd firmly taken the side that was not Henry and Eleanor. Faced with the prospect of attacking his liege lord and the precedent that would set for him in his own lands, Henry backed down, despite Beckett's insistence that they should attack. It was a rare setback for Henry and another disappointment for Eleanor. Husband 2.0 still couldn't get to lose for her. In 1165, while pregnant again, Eleanor was tasked with representing Henry in his native

Anjou while he went back to England. A familiar scandal soon stalked the Queen. She was assisted by Raoul de Fay, the husband of one of her aunts. He came to be viewed as having excessive influence over Eleanor. And we all know the only way that can happen, don't we? Yes, they were clearly having an affair. In 1168, Eleanor was placed in control of Aquitaine by Henry. This is a key moment because history often views it through the lens of a dwindling relationship, Henry having affairs with young mistresses and looking to get Eleanor out the way. I see it very differently. It's worth taking a moment here to go through the children that Eleanor and Henry had since their marriage in 1152. There were eight of them in the first 14 years. We mentioned William, born in 1153, named for the Dukes of Aquitaine. He would sadly pass away in

April 1156, aged just two. The next child was Henry, who we also mentioned earlier. He had been born in 1155. Soon, in 1170, he would be crowned Junior King, a Capetian tradition that helped secure the succession on a king's death. He became known as Henry the Young King to distinguish him from his father. He is the only English heir ever to be crowned as Junior King, for reasons that might become clear in a moment. Henry married Margaret of France, a daughter of Louis VII by his second wife, in a match that might have brought the kingdoms closer together. But it didn't. In June 1156 came a daughter, Matilda, probably named for Henry's mother, the Empress. She became Duchess of Saxony and Bavaria, travelling to the Empire as her namesake grandmother had done.

September 1157 saw the birth of a third son, named Richard. He's frequently viewed as Eleanor's favourite child. He was conceived in Aquitaine and was identified as the heir to her duchy at a young age, so I think it's less about being a favourite than being a focus for her concerns about the future of Aquitaine. Richard was brought up to share his mother's hopes and worries and to understand the place that she loved. A year later, in September 1158, a fourth son arrived and was named Geoffrey. He would become Duke of Brittany in right of his wife, Constance of Brittany. After a break of four years, another daughter arrived, named for her mother.

Eleanor would become Queen of Castile, a mother to a son and several daughters who would be prominent on the Iberian Peninsula. In 1165, Joan was born. She would become Queen of Sicily and then Countess of Toulouse, marrying the son of the man her parents tried to dislodge. One of her sons would become Count of Toulouse, sort of completing the task there in a sideways fashion. The couple's last child was born in December 1166 and was named John. I don't know how much more I need to say about him, but we will get back to him later. Eight children, seven who survived infancy,

all making hugely significant matches across Europe. Henry and Eleanor's reach was growing and they seemed unstoppable. In 1168, when Eleanor was given control of Aquitaine, she was 44 years old. She was probably unlikely to have any more children and had performed the role of a medieval queen to perfection. Four sons and three daughters, regent across Henry's land whenever needed, she'd supported his rule unfalteringly. Henry knew what meant the most to her beyond her children. I think giving her authority to rule in Aquitaine and the freedom to go there was a reward, a thank you for everything she'd done. It wasn't a punishment, it was a sort of

retirement gift. Trouble soon came though. Guy de Lusignan was a troublemaker from a long line of troublemakers. His descendants would be troublemakers too. Guy seemed to think that Eleanor's arrival represented a slackening of Henry's control. As Eleanor and Patrick, Earl of Salisbury, who Henry had left to support Eleanor, were returning from a pilgrimage, Guy attacked their party. Earl Patrick was killed, Eleanor escaped because a young knight fought a brave rearguard to allow her to get away. That young knight of destiny was William Marshall. He was eventually overpowered and captured and Eleanor paid William's ransom and took him into her service.

As Henry was experiencing problems with Becket, now Archbishop of Canterbury, a story for another time, Eleanor was focused on overseeing the investiture of her son Richard as Duke of Aquitaine. In 1170, Henry arranged for their oldest son to be crowned joint king. As well as seeking to secure his dynasty, it was part of a feud with Becket. Henry allowed the Archbishop of York to perform the coronation in a move calculated to infuriate Becket. When the Pope tried to send instructions that the ceremony should not go ahead, it was Eleanor who intercepted the letters at Caen and prevented them from reaching England. Teamwork was still strong between the couple. The wheels seemed to really come off in 1173.

Beckett had been murdered in December 1170, and Henry had managed to extricate himself from the scandal surrounding the matter. In 1172, Henry the Young King and his wife, Margaret, were re-crowned at Winchester Cathedral. In November that year, the young couple visited the King of France who began to drip poison into young Henry's ear. Why did he have no power and authority? Was he a king or not? Louis knew well enough the limitations of a junior king

and that it was about the succession but he saw a chink in the Angevin armour and exploited it to the full. In January 1173, the two Henrys met Count Humbert of Morienne to arrange an alliance that would see the six-year-old John married to Humbert's daughter. When the Count asked about the boy's prospects, Old Henry said John would get the traditional appanage of a younger son of Anjou, the castles of Chinon, Loudun and Mirabeau. Young Henry erupted, refusing to agree to grant these properties away. At this point, Richard was acting as Duke of Aquitaine.

Geoffrey was only 15 but in line to become Duke of Brittany in full as soon as he came of age. Now John was to be given castles. Yet young Henry felt he was denied any access to power, authority or a reasonable income. I mean that's in relative terms, he definitely wasn't kept poor, despite being 18, the oldest son and a crowned king. What followed has long been seen as a result of Henry II's inability to let go of power. That's probably a discussion for another day, but given his other sons were being given power, my belief is that Henry saw some fault in his oldest son that he felt demonstrated he was unprepared for rule at this stage. Others who paint young Henry as reckless

and feckless perhaps saw the same. His other sons would rebel, but it wasn't because they had nothing, they had plenty. What they also had was a nervous but shrewd French crown dripping poison in their ear, stirring up trouble. Young Henry fell out with his dad and did the worst thing he possibly could. He ran to his father-in-law, Louis, in Paris. Louis called the council and caused all of his nobility to swear support to young Henry in driving his father out of his kingdom unless he met young Henry's demands. In return, perhaps demonstrating that lack of political experience his father saw, young Henry gave an oath never to be reconciled with his

father without the permission of Louis and the French barons. It was a crazy situation to put himself in. Anyway, the details of the revolt are a bit beyond the scope of this, but it does involve Eleanor. Quite how is something I think we should re-evaluate. As young Henry, Richard and Geoffrey all instigated a revolt against their father and went to Louis in Paris, Eleanor quit Poitou and travelled to the lands of her uncle Ralph Lafay. When she arrived there, she discovered he'd fled to Paris too. Eleanor now reportedly tried to reach Paris but was taken along the route by her husband's men. She would spend the next 16 years, the rest of Henry's life, under house arrest. When everyone

else was forgiven, Eleanor was not. At least that's how it seems, and that has led to centuries of believing that she was behind her son's revolt, and that Henry mercilessly persecuted her for it. I suspect this is another example of the kind of misogynistic myth that has lingered around Eleanor. She stayed at Old Sarum, her favourite castle in England, where she'd often based herself as regent. Her husband provided a lot of money for her household and upkeep. She was allowed to join family events at Christmas and so on, and to see her sons, which is odd if she was behind their uprising.

I think one, or both, of two things was going on here. Eleanor's retirement to Aquitaine hadn't gone smoothly. Perhaps this was her alternative retirement as Queen of England. I also wonder whether she took the largest share of the blame for their son's actions because that allowed Henry to forgive them all as quickly as he did. She took one for the team, sacrificed herself for the good of her children and her dynasty. That sounds more like Eleanor to me than the scheming woman who tried to break apart all she'd worked for throughout her life. Henry the Young King died in 1183, aged 28, while rebelling against his dad. It's a tragic story and old Henry was utterly heartbroken. Geoffrey was killed in a jousting accident in 1186 in Paris because he, aged 27, had

fallen for the scheming of the Capetian crown, now worn by Louis' long-awaited son, Philip II. Old Henry died on the 6th July 1189, aged 56. After a debilitating illness, he was pursued mercilessly across southern France by his oldest surviving son, Richard. One of the most capable men to wear a crown died defeated and broken. Gerald of Wales recorded his last words as, Alas, alas the shame for a king to be thus overcome. I'm Matt Lewis.

And I'm Dr Ele Alan Orjanaga. And in Gone Medieval, we get into the greatest mysteries. The gobsmacking details and latest groundbreaking research. From the greatest millennium in human history. We're talking Vikings. Normans. Kings and popes. Who were rarely the best of friends.

Murder. Rebellions. And crusades. Find out who we really were. By subscribing to Gone Medieval from History Hit, wherever you get your podcasts. It was William Marshall, the knight who had saved Eleanor's life, who sped to England to tell her of her husband's death. He found her free, though I'd suggest that's because she was never really a prisoner. There was little sign of resentment of Henry in the grants Eleanor made to the nuns at Amesbury,

to Carthusian monks and to Winchester Cathedral to pray for the soul of her husband. Eleanor, now 65, sprang into action to support her son Richard, now King of England, but maybe more importantly, still Duke of Aquitaine too. Eleanor toured towns in the south of England to represent her son's authority until he arrived. He came in August and was crowned on the 3rd of September at Westminster Abbey as King Richard I. By December, Richard was back on the continent and on his way to the Holy Land on Crusade. There's yet another story for yet another day in that. While Richard was on his way east, Eleanor was dealing with the concern that he was unmarried and had no heir. At

the age of 68, she sorted this out. Some sources say she sent for and others say she travelled personally to collect Berengaria of Navarre, the daughter of Sancho VI, King of Navarre. An alliance with Navarre provided protection on Aquitaine's borders. Eleanor escorted Berengaria through Italy and caught up with Richard in Sicily and then saw them married. In Richard's absence, Eleanor was well aware of the manoeuvrings of her youngest son John. To some extent, she wasn't too worried by them. Richard had suggested that his heir ought to be his nephew, Arthur, Duke of Brittany. Arthur was the son of Geoffrey, born after his death. From Eleanor's perspective,

Arthur was under the influence of her mother and of King Philip, and that made him problematic. The situation became more complex when King Philip returned early from the crusade. John tried to travel to Paris, but Eleanor sped across the channel and intervened to keep him in England. Richard of Devizes wrote, Richard also noted that during this visit, Eleanor went to Ely and behaved in a very traditionally queenly manner. He noted, Eleanor went to Ely and behaved in a very traditionally queenly manner. He noted,

That matron, worthy of being mentioned so many times, Queen Eleanor, was visiting some cottages that were part of her dower in the diocese of Ely. There came before her from all the villages and hamlets wherever she went, men with women and children, not all of the lowest orders, a people weeping and pitiful with bare feet, unwashed clothes and unkempt hair. They spoke by tears for their grief was so great that they could not speak. Human bodies lay unburied here and there in the fields because the bishop had deprived them of burial. When she learned the cause of such suffering,

the queen took pity on the misery of the living because of their dead, for she was very merciful. Immediately dropping her own affairs and looking after the concerns of others, she went to London. This is quite a different Eleanor from the scandalous woman chroniclers used to write about. Bad news came in late 1192 when Eleanor heard that Richard had fallen ill in the Holy Land. He agreed a three-year truce with Saladin and set off home but was shipwrecked. He washed up in the lands of Leopold, Duke of Austria and was shocked to find himself taken prisoner and sold to Leopold's cousin Henry VI, the Holy Roman Emperor. A crusader and his lands were meant to be under

the protection of the church while on crusade and the emperor was clearly infringing this. Eleanor sent messengers into the empire to find out where Richard was and how he might be freed. There is also a letter purporting to be from Eleanor to Pope Celestine III. It was written by Peter of Blois but there is debate about whether it was ever sent, and even whether the words are Eleanor's. Even if it wasn't, I reckon it sums up how she must have felt. The letter complains bitterly that Rome has failed to protect her son while he does his holy duty. It urges the Pope to action, insisting, "...this one thing remains that you, O Father, draw against these evildoers the sword of Peter, which for this purpose is set above people and kingdoms. The cross of Christ excels the eagles

of Caesar, the sword of Peter, the sword of Constantine, and the apostolic seat is placed above imperial power. Is your power of God or of men? The letter goes on, alas, alas for us when the chief shepherd has become a mercenary, when he flies from the face of the wolf, when he leaves the little sheep committed to him, or rather the elect ram, the leader of the Lord's flock in the jaws of the bloody beast of prey. Oof. The Pope was no help, so Eleanor set about resolving the problem herself. In early 1193, John crossed to Normandy and began looking for ways to replace Richard. He rushed to Paris and gave homage to King Philip for all the Angevin continental holdings, which he had no right to do, and promised the French king, Lannes,

to secure an offer of marriage to Philip's sister, Alice, who'd previously been betrothed to Richard, and help taking the English crown. John returned to England, but failed to get much traction. Philip, though, took Gisors and entered Normandy. Just after Easter 1193, the men sent to find Richard returned. The ransom for Richard's release was a colossal 100,000 marks, more than twice the annual revenue of England. 50 fully equipped ships were to be included too and 20 knights to give service for one year. John's efforts were now a distraction that the kingdom literally couldn't afford. A truce was agreed that let him keep a few castles. In June 1193, Eleanor convened a council at St Albans to raise the funds needed. By the 2nd of February 1194, the 70-year-old was in Mainz to meet the emperor, pay the ransom

and free her son. Eleanor then settled into comfortable retirement at Fontevraux Abbey, where she oversaw the creation of her husband's tomb. The world wasn't quite done with her yet though. Richard died in 1199 after an arrow wound turned gangrenous. The 75-year-old Eleanor was called upon once more and didn't hesitate to move. Richard asked to be buried at Fontevraud, at the feet of his father, where he still rests today. A succession crisis broke out. Should John or Arthur of Brittany succeed? The question was complex and impossible to answer, except that Eleanor supported John, perhaps because she felt she had more control over him, the lesser of the two evils. John was 32 and Arthur was 12 and entrenched at Philip's court. John was initially successful. Eleanor made another

trip across the Pyrenees to collect one of her granddaughters, Blanche of Castile, the daughter of Eleanor, Queen of Castile. Blanche was 11 and was to be married to Philip's son and heir. Blanche was 11 and was to be married to Philip's son and heir. Perhaps Eleanor reflected on her own situation as a young bride, with no female figure to support her, and felt compelled to go herself. Eleanor returned to Fontavreau, but was not left in peace for long. In 1202, Philip decided to move against John. He knighted the 15-year-old Arthur and gave him all John's continental lands. He knighted the 15-year-old Arthur and gave him all John's continental lands. Eleanor began to move to Poitiers to defend it from Arthur and Philip until John arrived. When she stopped at Mirabeau Castle, Arthur rushed with an army to lay siege to his grandmother.

John heard of his mother's situation and, uncharacteristically decisive and effective, he hurtled to Mirabeau. He crushed those besieging his mother and captured Arthur. The fate of his nephew is not entirely clear, but it's been generally accepted that John had Arthur murdered the following year, some sources suggesting he did the deed himself, in a drunken rage. Eleanor returned to Fontevraud. She died on the 1st of April 1204, probably aged 80. She was laid to rest beside her husband, an effigy of her lying, reading a book, alert and awake for all eternity, still sits at the centre of the abbey, Henry at her side and Richard at their feet. The fourth tomb is John's second wife, Isabella of Angoulême, placed there by their son, King Henry III. Almost immediately, the barons of Aquitaine jostled to offer homage to King Philip of France.

They'd been fractious for as long as Aquitaine had existed, but had been loyal to Eleanor and to her sons as her heirs. The truth was clear though. Eleanor had always been Duchess of Aquitaine, the only ruler they accepted for the best part of a century. No one could follow her. the only ruler they accepted for the best part of a century. No one could follow her. Eleanor didn't live to see the Angevin lands collapse as John lost his grip on everything, almost including England. Richard of Devizes described her as a woman at whose abilities her age might marvel. Well, Richard, it wasn't only her age that's marveled at the life and legacy of Eleanor of Aquitaine. She fought against the dying of a son that had been female authority, flinging back the thick curtains of the cloisters

that darkened men's views of the world beyond. Was Eleanor some kind of prototype, maverick, feminist icon? I don't think so, but I don't think she'd mind if you do. I think she might have happily taken as a personal motto, fight the patriarchy. The record of Eleanor's death at Fontevrault is perhaps a fitting place to leave her story. It's quite a contrast to the stories of scandal and betrayal that stalked her shadow in life, most of which I think are untrue, the wild imaginings of misogynistic monks looking to excuse the failings of men. She graced the nobility of her birth with the honesty of her life, enriched it by her moral excellence, adorned it with the flowers of her virtues and, by renown for unmatched goodness, surpassed almost all the queens of this world.

I hope you enjoyed this episode on Eleanor of Aquitaine and found it interesting. You can join Dr Kat Jarman on Tuesday for another brand new episode. Don't forget to also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and to tell your friends and family that you've gone medieval. If you get a moment, please do drop us a review or rate us anywhere that you listen to your podcasts. It really does help new listeners to find us. If you're enjoying this podcast and looking for a bit more medieval goodness in your life, then subscribe to our Medieval Mondays newsletter. You can find the link in the show notes below

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