Queen of Two Kingdoms and Mother of an Empire | Eleanor of Aquitaine - Part 1

is it possible to be queen of two countries one woman in the medieval period would be eleanor of aquitaine born in cultured aquitaine and destined to rule in two lands this video looks at her early life and her reign as queen of france and why that rain ended and how she became queen of england eleanor was born in 1122 in western france the first daughter born to guide the tenth duke of aquitaine the territory under her father's command was coveted by the crown and the accutane court was renowned for its liveliness and scandal so different to the courts of england and germany her mother was eno or chatelero the daughter of her grandfather's mistress and she was named for her from the latin aelia enora meaning the other inor she was given the best education possible by her parents learning arithmetic history music and literature as well as latin and french alongside her native point haven she was also skilled in hunting riding and dancing alongside household management that she would be expected to learn such as weaving and spinning so she was kept pretty busy it must have been a pretty good start for elena's early life but then tragedy struck when she was six years old her mother and brother died and they were followed by the death of her father in 11 37 while on pilgrimage in compostela now elena and her sister petronilla were orphans however eleanor was an orphan with a huge and much wanted inheritance the enormous and wealthy duchy of aquitaine she was now at 15 years old the duchess of aquitaine and one of the most eligible marriage prospects in europe as guillem the tenth was dying he quickly wrote out his will stating that both of his daughters should be placed under the protection of the then king louis vi distant though he was louis vi wasted no time in turning this to his advantage it was a well-known fact that the french kings had been trying to solidify as much of france as possible under their rule and aquitaine was a big prize part of his protection was to find a good husband for eleanor and that meant an opportunity to arrange for her to be wedded to his own eldest son also named louis originally he had been destined for a life in a monastery but had become the heir to the throne on his elder brother's death six years earlier his father was gravely ill at this point and no doubt wanted to hurry things along seventeen-year-old louis was sent along to bordeaux to meet his future bride with a retinue of 500 knights as well as several prominent persons of his father's court amongst them abbott sugar and tibbled the second count of champagne while louie and eleanor were close in age they were not close in character eleanor was well educated had sophisticated tastes and a deep interest in politics louis on the other hand was awkward and reticent in many respects thanks to his literally cloistered upbringing and inflexible in other regards [Music] on the 25th of july 11 37 the teenagers were married in the cathedral of sant andre in bordeaux mere months after her father's death immediately afterwards they were enthroned as duke and duchess of aquitaine but an agreement was in place that her inheritance would remain independent of the crown until they had a son and he became both king of france and duke of aquitaine in other words elena's lands were not really part of the french crown until she had a son and her husband died however it wasn't long before the duke and duchess became king and queen of france just days later on the 1st of august louis vi died of dysentery on christmas day they were anointed and officially invested as king and queen by all accounts elena was not popular in her court the stayed northerners didn't like her flamboyant conduct and she was thought to be a bad influence by her mother-in-law many clergy also criticized her for her improper behavior but none of it mattered as louis vii as he was now styled was completely besotted with his new wife no matter how much his court didn't like her or even how he was irritated and confused by many of her behaviors he lavished her with money and gifts granting her every whim but it can't have been easy for eleanor not only were her manners and behavior more like the southern frankish courts she had grown up in but also her language northern french would have sounded much different to her native language of poto or okitan and it's likely she might have felt a little isolated thankfully she at least had her sister petronilla at court with her and so would have had someone to talk to about happier memories but it was partly her sister who would help trigger the first of many conflicts elena would find herself in it was decided that her sister should be found someone suitable for marriage but the nobleman chosen was anything but suitable her new husband was raul the first of vermondoy the king's cousin the problem he was already married to eleanor of bloar whose brother was tibble the second count of blue and champagne eleanor of blue was set aside but unsurprisingly her brothers did not take this lying down while stephen of blois was busy in england with his fight for the crown against empress matilda tibbled was more than capable of taking up her cause and quickly got the church on his side the tensions between count and king built up culminating in the occupation of champagne in which louis was personally responsible for the assault and burning of the town of vitri over a thousand people who had sought refuge in his church died in the flames and these events led to pope innocent ii excommunicating both louis and roll and declaring the french king to be a boy in need of instruction when bernard of cleveo one of the most venerated spiritual leaders of france expressed his certainty of louis decisions as stupid and horrific the young king crumbled in its wake in june 1144 more than ready to pay penitence for his actions louis and eleanor made their way to the newly built church at saint denis to see the bones of the eponymous saint abbott bernard was also there in the name of peace it is suggested that elena was rebuked by him for sticking her nose into affairs of state and for her lack of penitence until she broke down and excused her behavior on being bitter at her lack of children it was true that in the several years so far of her marriage there had been no children but one possible miscarriage however it seems out of character for a young queen who had been raised to become a powerful duchess was worldly wise and sophisticated to her sank on her knees and admitted to creating the tense situation she was now in just because she wanted a baby equally it's unlikely the intelligent and shrewd abbott bernard would have believed it either it's more likely the pair saw in each other a strong personality with a formidable iron will and they saw the sense in making a pact the bargain was simple elena would do what she could to pull louis back from any more rash decisions and help him to make peace and in return bernard would prey on eleanor's behalf that she would soon give the king of france an heir the deal was a success on all fronts in a matter of weeks peace had returned and lands had been returned to tibbled and eleanor at last gave birth to her first child in april 1145 a girl named marie in honor of the virgin mary to whom bernard had prayed but louis was still eaten up with guilt for the horrors of victory and he wanted to atone by making a pilgrimage to the holy lands on christmas day 11 45 now reconciled with the church in france and rome he announced publicly his intention to wage a holy war amidst the news that edessa had fallen to muslim forces pope eugenius iii published a bull urging those who would defend christendom against the so-called infidels promising that all sins would be wiped clean for those who took part in the crusade and when louis took off from vessel the place where a throng of would-be soldiers waited to receive a fabric cross from abbott bernard sent in the pope's stead to bless the campaign never before had a crowned king set off on a crusade and the crowds were excited for it louis vii would be gone for years taken miles away from his royal lands and would face the dangers of a different landscape climate and a serious enemy and might not even return at all but the most surprising part of this was that he would do it all with his wife by his side dressed in a crusaders robe like her husband elena insisted on taking part as the feudal leader of her non-noble aquitanian vassals around 300 of them in total she had also been in contact with her uncle raymond prince of antioch who in the light of recent events wanted a little more protection from france against the saracens despite the dangers the french army would face their confidence was obvious by the addition of eleanor and the ladies in waiting who accompanied her despite the pope's insistence that the crusaders should travel as simply and plainly as possible it didn't stop queen eleanor travelling in style complete with jeweled saddles however this would still be a difficult journey traveling across europe through germany and sailing up towards the byzantine capital constantinople once there however manuel the first the byzantine emperor was eager for the army on his doorstep to leave although initially he had publicly spoken in their favor relations closer to home had convinced the ruler in the eastern christian states that it was better to have a lasting peace with the turks presumably in order to remove the french army quicker he told them that the german forces were doing well and had won a great victory against the turkish army they left with all confidence that they could continue on their journey and meet up with them but actually the opposite was true the german side had been defeated and in the hot acrid landscape they were unused to they were rapidly running out of food and water pounded by the effortless arrows of the seljuk archers they turned around and struggled their way back to the anatolian city of nicaea to add to their problems king louis had been asking for money from abbott bernard for weeks the expensive reality of having such a large army hitting home but there was no word yet of any funds as king conrad iii of germany had to return to constantinople to tend his wounds the french continued on with what remained of the german forces towards antioch they marched on in increasingly ever disorganized fashion only briefly stopping on christmas eve at ephesus to camp although they were attacked by more archers on their way towards the phrygian mountains they pressed on with speed despite the heavy rain and snow but the steep slopes proved their undoing while louis chose to march at the rear with the baggage and unarmed pilgrims eleanor and her ladies were at the front with the vanguard led by jeffrey durankon a nobleman from poito no matter what small comforts they had brought with them this was still a difficult and arduous journey and eleanor must have been strong enough for no one to worry about sending her back to safety as with king conrad the vanguard moved far quicker than expected making their way to the summit and deciding without waiting to carry on to make camp at the plains below they were meant to stop at the top and make camp so when the foot soldiers came up behind them they found no one there and the king and his guard had not even begun to make their way up the mountainside and while everyone still stuck in limbo hesitated on what to do next or didn't realize how quickly they should move the turks who had been carefully following took their opportunity they quickly attacked everyone who hadn't crossed over the other side of the summit and their attack was devastating the french forces were quickly scattered and arrows rained from the sky from every hidden place on the hillside when the king learned of the massacre ahead he and his guard could do little but lead what remained of the baggage down to the camp below almost immediately a scapegoat was sought to place the blame jeffoir durankon was publicly blamed and sent home in disgrace but it was obvious that the weak military leadership of louis had been exposed however eleanor was also not free of blame as her vassal jeffoir's actions were it was suggested to be blamed on the queen she was also blamed for the size of the baggage which had struggled and been slowed down by its size the army struggled onto the port at antioch and the struggles that had been faced had done nothing to bring louie and elena closer together she was kept from him for safety's sake and louis wanted to be a chaste pilgrim for his crusade but for the first time in months upon reaching antioch eleanor was once more a queen in a comfortable position the ruler of antioch was her uncle raymond of poitiers known for his good lucks and generosity but there was an edge to his generosity he wanted louise help to take the muslim city of aleppo squeezed between the expanding muslim and byzantine empires and raymond saw his niece eleanor as the perfect aid to help him the whole purpose behind louie's crusade had been to free the city of odessa but the news reached him that there was nothing left to save of the city now raised to the ground raymond's suggestion of taking aleppo seemed to be the perfect switch for the crusade's target but to his irritation louis instead decided the best course of action was to turn back and go south to jerusalem to regroup with king conrad now recovered from his wounds it drew a divide between the two men and the relations between antioch and the french visitors soured unfortunately relations also went south between elena and louis she had been a public supporter of her uncle's plan and had attempted to talk her husband into following through with going to aleppo but there were whispers that eleanor was too close to her uncle a sordid suggestion heightened by the fact that they were able to speak to one another in their native poitavan dialect that the franks around them struggled to understand as easily as their own version of french it was rumored they spent too much time in each other's company in overly affectionate ways eleanor enjoying too much of her charming uncle's conversation however most modern historians agree that these claims have little basis in fact the uncle and niece had been close since her childhood and it's likely the northern french saw the exuberant behavior of the poet haven quarters over the top against their own behavior pius louis also continued to share a bed with his wife at this point something that would not have happened if he believed the rumors had any truth whatever the truth eleanor and louie's relationship was crumbling and when he stated his intention again to return to jerusalem she astoundingly refused to go with him there could be no mistaking now how unhappy she was with their marriage and whether brave or reckless she compounded this by saying she did not feel it was lawful for them to remain husband and wife as they were too related to each other in fairness being cousins a few times removed was normal for most royalty in europe even at this point but when it was necessary this consanguinity could be used to remove a partner as raul or verman had done but words did little to move louis and however reluctant she may have been when he left for jerusalem more quietly than he had entered antioch elena was by his side no matter how much the crusade was an abysmal failure louis was determined to at least be the good pilgrim and he and eleanor made a tour of jerusalem's most sacred sites shortly after easter 1149 they set off from jerusalem's mediterranean border at acre however it had been made clear that eleanor was no longer comfortable in her husband's company and she and louis set sail in separate ships however taking refuge in the sicilian convoys of their ally the sicilian king roger ii they were attacked by his enemies fleet the byzantine ships of manuel the first although they both survived this attack storms later separated them from each other and eleanor lost track of louie's vessel it took two months for both of them to find their way to land once more louis landing in calabria in south italy and eleanor finding herself in palermo sicily it was there she learned that her uncle raymond who she had left behind so reluctantly had been killed after going into battle against adin the new ruler of aleppo and being beheaded eleanor must have been weary with grief and her arduous journey from jerusalem when she finally made her way to louis side once more both of them meeting in tuscalon to accept the hospitality of the pope eugenius iii elena must have hoped that her mention of consanguinity would convince the pope to grant an annulment but no such thing happened if nothing else had gone right it seems eugenius wanted to at least try and save the marriage of the french royals he proclaimed the validity of their marriage saying that it could not be dissolved under any pretext and just to make sure his meaning was cemented he arranged for the couple to sleep in the same bed together the result of this was a second child born in the summer of 1150 but again this was a daughter alex of france this was the final blow to any hope for the union being left with the reality of no male heir and opposition from his nobles towards eleanor louis had to face facts as eleanor would now withhold herself from him there would be no chance of a male heir and he was finally willing to allow their marriage to be dissolved even though it would also mean he was giving up nearly half of france with the loss of aquitaine it was clearly worth it to allow himself a chance to secure his dynasty in 1152 with the blessing of pope eugenius four archbishops met and officially annulled the marriage adding that their two daughters were legitimate but were now in the sole custody of their father women at that time had no rights when it came to their children and as they might end up being louis only heirs no risks could be taken but elena did at least have her lands returned to her as she went home to poitiers making her once again duchess of aquitaine unfortunately this also opened her up as an eligible heiress for marriage again on her way she had to evade kidnapping not once but twice in the middle ages it was possible for a marriage to be perfectly legal even if the bride had been kidnapped rather than asked for her hand the two men who attempted this were tibold the fifth of bois the son of the previous tibold and jeffrey counter von zhu son of the formidable empress matilda as soon as eleanor arrived in poitiers she wasted no time and sent a message immediately to her cousin henry duke of normandy and later to become henry ii of england who was in need of a wife the message requested that he made his way to her and that he should marry her [Music] you

Channel: History's Forgotten People

Views: 36,169

Keywords: eleanor of aquitaine, eleanor of aquitane, medieval royalty, medieval history documentary, medieval queens, henry II, Louis VII, second crusade

Id: qeziVpkY-1c

Length: 23min 36sec (1416 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 05 2022