Eleanor of Poitou, Queen consort first of King Louis VII of Franceand then of King Henry II of England. Daughter and heiress of GuillaumeX, Duke of Aquitaine, she married Louis in 1137 shortly before hisaccession to the throne. She accompanied him on the Second Crusade from1147 to 1149. Eleanor bore Louis two daughters, but in 1152 theirmarriage was annulled. Soon afterward Eleanor married Henry, Duke ofNormandy and Count of Anjou, uniting her vast possessions with those ofher husband. Louis VII feared this powerful combination, and when Henryascended the English throne in 1154, the stage was set for a longstruggle between the English and French kings. Eleanor bore Henry threedaughters and five sons, and two of the latter, Richard I and John,became kings of England. Because of Henry's infidelities, especially hisrelationship with Rosamond, Eleanor's relations with her husband grewstrained, and in 1170 she established a court of her own at Poitou. Shesupported her sons in their unsuccessful revolt against Henry in 1173 andwas held in confinement by Henry until 1185. Her efforts helped Richardsecure the throne in 1189. While Richard was on the Third Crusade andlater held captive in Europe from 1190 to 1194, Eleanor was active inforestalling the plots against him by his brother John and in collectingthe ransom for his release. She brought about a reconciliation betweenthe two brothers, and on Richard's death in 1199 she supported John'sclaims to the throne over those of Arthur I of Bretagne. Eleanor's courtat Poitou was the scene of much artistic activity and was noted for itscultivation of courtly manners and the concept of courtly love. She wasthe patroness of such literary figures as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-More,and Chrestien de Troyes. In literature Eleanor has appeared as thejealous murderess of the fair Rosamond, but she was apparently innocentof this crime. She was an able and strong-minded woman.
Renowned in her time for being the most beautiful woman in Europe, thewife of two Kings and mother of three, Eleanor of Aquitaine was one ofthe great heroines of the Middle Ages. At a time when women were regardedas little more than chattel, Eleanor managed to defy convention as sheexercised power in the political sphere and crucial influence over herhusbands and sons. Eleanor of Aquitaine was born into a Europe dominatedby feudalism. In the twelfth century there was no concept of nationhoodor patriotism, and subjects owed loyalty to their ruler, rather than thestate. Europe was split into principalities called feudatories, eachunder the rule of a king, duke, or count, and personal allegiance, orfealty, was what counted. This was expressed in the ceremony of homage,in which a kneeling vassal would place his hands between those of hisoverlord and swear to render him service and obedience. In this martialworld dominated by men, women had little place. The Churchs teachingsmight underpin feudal morality, yet when it came to the practicalities oflife, a ruthless pragmatism often came into play. Kings and noblemenmarried for political advantage, and women rarely had any say in how theyor their wealth were to be disposed in marriage. Upon marriage, a girlsproperty and rights became invested in her husband, to whom she owedabsolute obedience. It is fair to say, however, that there were womenwho transcended the mores of society and got away with it: the evidencesuggests that Eleanor of Aquitaine was one such. There were then, as now,women of strong character who ruled feudal states and kingdoms, asEleanor did; who made decisions, ran farms and businesses, foughtlawsuits, and even, by sheer force of personality, dominated theirhusbands. Poitou was the most northerly of Eleanors feudatories: itsnorthern border marched with those of Brittany, Anjou, and Touraine, andits chief city was Poitiers. Perched on a cliff, with impressiveramparts, this was the favourite seat of its suzerains. To the east wasthe county of Berry, and to the south the wide sweep of the duchy ofAquitaine, named "land of waters" after the great rivers that dissectedit: the Garonne, the Charente, the Creuse, the Vienne, the Dordogne, andthe Vézère. The duchy also incorporated the counties of Saintonge,Angoulême, Périgord, the Limousin, La Marche, and the remote region ofthe Auvergne. In the south, stretching to the Pyrenees, was thewine-producing duchy of Gascony, or Guienne, with its bustling port ofBordeaux, and the Agenais. All these lands comprised Eleanorsinheritance. The Aquitanian lordships and their castles were controlledby often hostile and frequently feuding vassals, who paid mere lipservice to their ducal overlords and were notorious for their propensityto rebel and create disorder. These turbulent nobles enjoyed a luxuriousstandard of living compared with their unwashed counterparts in northernFrance, and each competed with his neighbour to establish in his castle asmall but magnificent court. Renowned for their elegance, their shavenfaces and long hair, the Aquitanian aristocracy were regarded bynortherners as soft and idle, whereas in fact they could be fierce andviolent when provoked. Self-interest was the dominant theme in theirrelations with their liege lords: successive dukes had consistentlyfailed to subdue these turbulent lords or establish cohesion within theirown domains.
The authority of the dukes of Aquitaine held good, therefore, only in theimmediate vicinities of Poitiers, their capital, and Bordeaux. Al-thoughthey claimed descent from Charlemagne and retained his effigy on thecoinage of Poitou, they did not have the wealth or resources to extendtheir power into the feudal wilderness beyond this region, and sincetheir military strength depended upon knight service from their unrulyvassals, they could not rely upon this. Consequently, Aquitaine laggedbehind northern France in making political and economic progress.
Nevertheless, the duchy was wealthy, thanks to its lucrative export tradein wine and salt, and it was a land in which the religious lifeflourished. Its rulers erected and endowed numerous fine churches andabbeys, notably the famous abbey at Cluny-"a pleasaunce of the angels"-and the Aquitanian Romanesque cathedrals in Poitiers and Angoulême,built in a style typified by elegant archways with radiating decorationand lively but grotesque sculptures of monsters and mythical creatures.
[Copy of Current.FTW]
[copy.FTW]
The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud
The Royal Abbey houses several hundred nuns and monks under the authority
of the only abbesses of royal blood or coming from an important family.
This first-rate architectural whole (XIIth to XIXth century styles)
preserves, amongst others, astonishing Roman kitchens surmounted by 21
chimneys. The abbey church with its unique nave contains the tombs of
Alienor of Aquitaine, Henry II, Richard the Lionheart and Isabelle of
Angoulême. The abbey has a hotel at its disposition.
Tel : (33) 2 41 51 71 41
EMail : abbayefontevraud.prieure@wanadoo.fr
