Why is Eleanor of Aquitaine seen as an inspirational figure in history?
Eleanor was a very strong-willed woman of her time. She was said to be very beautiful with a wonderful personality. She was the wife of King Louis VII of France and accompanied him on the Second Crusade. It seems she found Louis less than exciting in sexual matters, saying that when she married him she thought she was marrying a man, but found she’d married a monk. Anyway, they were divorced. The legality was that Louis divorced Eleanor, but she was the instigator of the process. She then married Henry Plantagenet who became King Henry II of England. Among their children were Richard (who became King Richard I of England, also known as the Lionheart) and John (who became … er … King John). So in her life she was the wife of two kings and the mother of two kings. Impressive, eh? While Henry II held a great deal of land in France, Eleanor held Aquitaine in her own right. Pretty good for a woman. Eleanor was also a great supporter of chivalry and the spirit of courtly love. Even thoug
