Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was fifteen years old, and not yet married, when her father, the Duke of Aquitaine, died suddenly. Eleanor inherited her father's duchy, which included most of southern France.
Coin minted under Eleanor's rule of Aquitaine
Needing support, she immediately married Louis, the son of the French king. Louis was sixteen. Shortly after they got married, the French king died, and Louis became king. Eleanor moved to Paris with Louis, and had two daughters, but no sons. They went on Crusade to Jerusalem together, and Eleanor got to visit Italy, Sicily, and Constantinople as well.
After fifteen years, Eleanor met Henry, a Norman ten years younger than her, and divorced Louis, now the King of France, to marry Henry. She left her four daughters with Louis. Soon, with Eleanor's support, Henry became King of England. Eleanor and Henry had four sons (so she had eight children total).
Fontevrault Abbey, where Eleanor lived
the last years of her life
But when the second son, Richard, grew up, Eleanor
and Richard teamed up to revolt against Henry. When the revolt failed,
and Henry won, he shut Eleanor up in a castle and watched her carefully.
She spent most of the rest of her life there, though after Henry died
Eleanor returned to Aquitaine, and eventually became the abbess of a
convent there, where she died.
Eleanor's tomb
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