eleanor of aquitaine

     

Eleanor of Aquitaine (or Aliénor), Duchess of Aquitaine an Gascony (old north Basque country) and Countess of Poitou (1122–1 April 1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe during the High Middle Ages.

Trivia about eleanor of aquitaine

  • Just months after becoming the Duchess of Aquitaine, she became the Queen of France
  • This 12th c. queen was the granddaughter of one of the first troubadours, William, Duke of Aquitaine
  • This wife of Louis VII of France said if he went off to Jerusalem she'd get a divorce, so he dragged her along by force
  • 1968:Katharine Hepburn
  • Katharine Hepburn won an Oscar for playing this mom of Richard the Lion-Hearted
  • For supporting a revolt against him, Henry II had this wife imprisoned from 1173 till his death in 1189
  • As she produced no sons & fooled around, Louis VII dissolved the marriage; she then wed Henry of Anjou
  • In "King John", King John's first words to her are "Silence, good mother; hear the embassy"
  • She died at Fontevrault in 1204, having survived 2 husbands: Louis VII & Henry II
  • It's no surprise that she's a character in "King John"; she's his mother
  • In "King John", King John's first words to her are "Silence, good mother; hear the embassy"
  • The headline seen here reproached this medieval woman, then married to Louis VII of France
  • 1152 & all's not well for Louis VII of France, whose marriage to this live wire has been annulled
  • In 1137 Louis VII married this woman whose huge dowry was the subject of contention for centuries
  • Katharine Hepburn was her in "The Lion in Winter"
  • As a result of Henry II's marriage to her, his empire streched from Scotland to the Pyrenees
  • After this wife of Louis VII took part in the Second Crusade, the Church forbade women to join future crusades