Random Facts That Prove Eleanor of Aquitaine Was Not to Be Messed With (16 items)

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  (#13) Her Favorite Child May Have Been Richard The Lionheart

  Modern scholars believe that Richard, Eleanor's second-eldest surviving son, was her favorite out of all of her children. She appointed him as the future duke of her beloved Aquitaine, although this may have been because her eldest son, Henry, was already bequeathed the rule of England. 

  Like his mother, Richard was passionate about music and poetry and often patronized troubadours. In fact, one story claims that a poet found where Richard was being held captive because he heard the king singing a beautiful tune.

  Others caution against the opinion that Eleanor played favorites. Most evidence of their close bond comes from the time after Richard became king; she may have also been very close to her eldest son, who died before his father. 
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  (#6) She Was A Duchess In Her Own Right

  As a teenager, Eleanor was one of the most sought-after heiresses in Europe because she ruled a fertile, valuable region of what would later become France.

  Eleanor didn't hold Aquitaine by virtue of marriage, as was often the case; instead, she inherited the land in her own right. As a result, she alone was the territory's legitimate duchess, and any man who sought control would have to marry her. For this reason, securing the marriage between Louis VII and Eleanor was a prosperous coup for the late King Louis VI.
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  (#8) She Advocated For The Tradition Of Courtly Love

  In true family tradition, Eleanor promoted the literary genre of courtly love, which advocated a particular code of conduct for women and the knights who lived to serve and love them. Whether or not Eleanor ever established a formal "academy" in Aquitaine to teach chivalry to men and women is unknown, but she may have instructed her ladies-in-waiting and male attendants to follow its precepts.

  Marie of Champagne, one of Eleanor's daughters from her first marriage, fostered the tradition even more than her mother at her court in Champagne.
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  (#5) She Was Ambushed Once And Nearly Kidnapped Twice 

  Prior to her marriages, Eleanor constantly faced the threat of abduction: as a rich heiress without a husband, greedy lords may have sought to kidnap her, marry her against her will, and claim her lands and wealth as their own. This threat was one reason why, shortly before his passing, her father arranged her marriage to the eventual Louis VII, and another reason why Eleanor was most likely concerned for her own safety once she divorced Louis.

  Despite her newfound freedom upon this separation, Eleanor knew she couldn't enjoy the luxuries of single life for long; she had to find a new husband for her own protection. After a council annulled her first marriage, she went home to Poitiers, barely evading two different captors: Theobald, Count of Blois (who would later marry one of her daughters), and her future brother-in-law, Henry Plantagenet's younger brother, Geoffrey. Fortunately, Eleanor took an alternate route home and arrived safely – she arranged a marriage to a new protector soon after.

  In 1200, Eleanor was successfully ambushed and held captive by one of her son John's enemies, Hugh of Lusignan. Her imprisonment wasn't for the gain of her land, however: Hugh attacked Eleanor in order to extort John's support in Hugh's claim to a random piece of land.
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  (#15) Her Grandmother Was Originally Her Grandfather's Mistress

  Eleanor's paternal grandfather, Duke William IX of Aquitaine, was one of the original troubadours, medieval bards, and courtly poets who composed songs of adoration to their lady loves. William's work is the first known surviving literature in the language of Aquitaine, Provençal.

  Although he was married to Philippa of Toulouse, William took the wife of one of his vassals, Dangereuse, as his mistress. He even brought his lady love to live in his castle at Poitiers – a decision that was obviously met with disapproval from his wife. William was excommunicated from the Church twice, but, reluctant to give up his mistress, he threatened the bishops.

  Despite her lover's tantrums, Dangereuse tied her own family to his by marrying off her daughter, Aenor, to the duke's son and heir, also named William. The resulting child was Eleanor of Aquitaine.
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  (#16) Her Life Ended In A Nunnery

  Eleanor eventually retired to Fontevraud Abbey in France, a spot popular with high-ranking women as a place to retire at the end of their lives. The abbey also had close personal ties to the Plantagenets, the family of Eleanor's second husband, Henry, including Eleanor's own mother-in-law, Empress Matilda. Even Eleanor's own daughter, Joan, passed just after taking the veil as a nun at Fontevraud.

  Eleanor, Henry, Richard, and other Plantagenets were buried at the sanctuary.

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