Eleanor Of Aquitaine Research Paper

593 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Roles of women in the 16th century

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine is viewed as an influential figure of the Middle Ages for her role as queen of France, then England. She married Louis VII then Henry II successively and because of this, she was a very wealthy woman. This was also because her father, William X, left the Duchy of Aquitaine to her. This means I will prove that Eleanor of Aquitaine is not an important person in history. Eleanor only gained power because of other people, not because she necessarily deserved it. Thanks to her father, “She was placed under the guardianship of the king of France, and within hours was betrothed to his son and heir, Louis” (History.com). The King was getting very sick so he was most likely desperate to find a future queen, she just got lucky that it was her. “In 1152 the marriage was annulled and her vast estates reverted to Eleanor's control. Within a year, at age thirty, she married twenty year old Henry who two years later became king of England” (womeninworldhistory.com). She must have been desperate for power if she were to marry someone ten years younger than her when she could’ve married someone else. It may sound like a big deal that she was …show more content…

She had trouble in both marriages meaning that she was probably not the best wife. According to History.com, “She had been rumored to have had an affair with her new husband’s father, and was more closely related to her new husband than she had been to Louis, but the marriage went ahead and within two years Henry and Eleanor were crowned king and queen of England…”. Many people blame her husbands for their arguments but one does not know for sure, it could’ve been her who did not care about their relationship since she only wanted power. We should not remember someone like that; she does not deserve it. She did things that someone else could’ve done and only followed her husbands

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Eleanor Of Aquitaine And Hildegard Of Bingen

    1444 Words  | 3 Pages

    While Eleanor was married to King Louis VII, Louis and Eleanor joined the second crusade and met up with Eleanor’s handsome uncle Raymond (Au, p.1). Louis began to notice Eleanor growing closer to Raymond (Au, p.1), so he forced her to go along with him to capture the Holy Land in Jerusalem, fearing an eventual love affair (Au, p.1). After the failed trip to Jerusalem, the pair went back to France, where Eleanor fell out of love with her husband. Even though the pope forbade them from dissolving the marriage (Goodman, 2013, p.3), she still found a way to divorce Louis, announcing that her marriage couldn’t be legal in God’s eyes since they were cousins (Au, p.1). Their marriage was annulled, and all of Eleanor’s property was then returned to her following medieval custom (Au, p.1). Hildegard of Bingen was the complete opposite in terms of how she went about achieving her goals, holding a religious authority’s opinion in the highest respect. Since Hildegard was especially concerned about sharing her visions because she lived in a period when the Church was torn apart by heresy, she didn’t want to do anything to label herself as a heretic (Hildegard of Bingen, 2015, p.1). With the permission of the abbot of St. Disibod, Hildegard began to write her vision down (Ferrante, 2014, p.1). Before she published it, it was approved by a papal commission named by Pope Eugene III, at the instigation of her archbishop, Henry of Mainz (Ferrante, 2014, p.1), and with support of Bernard of Clairvaux, who she had written to for advice (Delahoyde, Hildegard of Bingen, p.1). Eleanor always had her eye on the future, and didn’t allow her bad marriage with Louis to hold her back from further political influence. Just 2 months after she

    Read More

  • How Did Eleanor Of Aquitaine Change Europe

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    Right after the divorce, Eleanor retained her power in Aquitaine and didn’t wait too long before marrying Henry Plantagenet. He was the Count of Anjou and also, the Duke of Normandy. He became the King of England and together they managed to solidify the relations between England, Normandy and Western France.

    Read More

  • Eleanor of Aquitaine

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    During her life, Eleanor married two kings, participates in the second Crusade, played an active role in both the French and British governments, and contributed to the rules of courtly love. Eleanor further saw that her daughters were married to men of high power, and helped two of her sons become King of England, thus assuring her place in history as the greatest queen that ever lived. Eleanor encouraged poeple of Aquitaine to get an education, at the time when people did not usaually care if they could read or not. The reason why Eleanor was and still important is because women of her era were not known to play such an important political roles and many queens who also ruled during the medieval time would not have influenced both the French and British courts. In fact, there was not a lot of information about the others queens of England and France.

    Read More

  • Eleanor of Aquitaine

    2809 Words  | 6 Pages

    Like many other women of her time Eleanor came from a long line of noble and royal blood. Her lineage can be traced back to the earliest kings of both England and France.(follow link to take a look at Eleanor’s very long family tree http://www.my-ged.com/db/page/scokin/12251) Her father William X was the son of France’s first troubadour, William IX and Eleanor’s early life was saturated with culture and learning. The court of her father and grandfather was thought to be the main culture center of the time. At age 15, with her father’s passing, Eleanor became the sole heiress and ruler of the largest duchy in France – Aquitane. Eleanor was then betrothed to Louis VII of France in order to unite their vast territories. In fifteen years however, Eleanor’s marriage and queenship were over. The pope on the pretext of close kinship ties annulled her unhappy marriage to Louis. At age 30 Eleanor had given up her throne and her daughters and returned to Aquitane to rule. Within a few years Eleanor was married to Henry Plantengent, the Duke of Normandy and ruler of the second most powerful duchy in France (second to her own Aquitane). In 1154 Henry was crowned King of England and Eleanor was now Queen of England, duchess of Aquitane and duchess of Normandy. Eleanor and Henry had eight children together, including Richard the Lionheart and John. In 1173, afte...

    Read More

  • Women´s Role in Society in Antigone, Aeneid, and The Art of Courtly Love

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... influential women in the history of Europe. She served as an example to women during a period where there was an increasing development in the female’s role in society. She also owned land which was given to her by her father when he died. That was very unusual as land were not normally given to women. When she married Louis, the king of France, she went with him on the second crusade organizing his policy.

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Charlemagne

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charlemagne Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, became the undisputed ruler of Western Europe, “By the sword and the cross.” (Compton’s 346) As Western Europe was deteriorating Charlemagne was crowned the privilege of being joint king of the Franks in 768 A.D. People of Western Europe, excluding the church followers, had all but forgotten the great gifts of education and arts that they had possessed at one time. Charlemagne solidly defeated barbarians and kings in identical fashion during his reign. Using the re-establishment of education and order, Charlemagne was able to save many political rights and restore culture in Western Europe.

    Read More

  • Marie de Champagne

    422 Words  | 1 Pages

    Marie de Champagne is the oldest daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen first of France and then of England. Known for her interest in poetry, music and the arts, Eleanor is "credited with the development of the rules of courtly love, and for their dissemination throughout the medieval society of France and England" (Patronage 1). Sharing a very strong mother-daughter relationship, "Marie is known to have shared many of her mother's views and ideas" (Patronage 1). Competing against each other in an "elaborate intellectual game," Eleanor and Marie "try to outdo each other in presenting situations which test the boundaries of courtly love" (Patronage 1).

    Read More

  • Charlemagne Research Paper

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charlemagne, known as Charlemagne the Great, was one of the greatest rulers of his time. Charlemagne was born in the early years of 742 and passed away on January 28, 814. He was laid to rest in his palace in Aachen. Charlemagne is well known today for his bravery, his strong belief in his religion, and the culture that he introduced to his people. (Charlemagne Biography).

    Read More

  • Essay On Madame De Pompadour

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    In fact, many aristocrats and other members of the royal family did not find her common blood and strange customs to be in any way unique or charming. She was gossiped endlessly about. It didn't help that she was extremely interested in democratic philosophy and enlightenment, two concepts that were used by revolutionaries later on in history.

    Read More

  • Abigail Adams Struggle For Women's Rights

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abigail Adams to some is known simply for being the wife of John Adams and the mother of John Quincy Adams, however, to many others she is known for being a powerfully persuasive advocate for equal rights among women and slaves. Abigail was a loving and devoted wife to John Adams. She supported and encouraged her husband in everything he did since she married him at nineteen years old. Although there was a ten year age gap between them, they seemed to have coordinating ideas, values, and worldviews. As John went to France and

    Read More

  • Biography of Queen Elizabeth

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    She also screamed, cried and did everything necessary to make her council agree with her. Some say she was married to her country. She was much sought after and had many suitors, none of which she seemed interested in. The fact that she never married also led to England's first era of peace in years.

    Read More

  • Eleanor Of Aquitaine Thesis

    2314 Words  | 5 Pages

    Eleanor of Aquitaine was born into an esteemed French family from which she inherited the region of Aquitaine and became one of the most influential female figures in history (Eleanor of Aquitaine Marries Henry II). Through two marriages and many children, Eleanor of Aquitaine managed to become the queen of France as well as the queen of England; her complicated life and titles would later lead to centuries of war (Eleanor, Historic World leaders). Even with the struggles that accompanied womanhood in her day, Eleanor moved from one leading position to the next. The baffling amount of power, wealth, and land in possession of Eleanor of Aquitaine during her lifetime rivals that of the greatest nations

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King, My Last Duchess, and Death of a Salesman

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    She smiled at everyone she talked to, like a kind woman should (My Last Duchess, lines 43-45). She also seems to be a very happy and joyous woman with no flaws (My Last Duchess, Lines 13-15). She was a beautiful soul who seemed to love everyone, which is why she was not as perfect as she seemed to be to the world. Her imperfection was that she was too nice, to the point of causing her husband to feel jealous of the others she talked to. She always accepted peoples gifts to her with the same graciousness that she had used when her husband asked her to marry him (My Last Duchess, lines 32-35).

    Read More

  • Women in the Medieval Society

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    To say that either women did or did not have ‘power’ during the medieval period, is to make an oversimplified assumption. Some women could simultaneously have both, evident with the example of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Different women, depending on sociocultural factors could possess varying degrees of power in certain situations, or even a lot of power in one area and none anywhere else. There would have been women who were happily complicit to misogyny and doting after their husbands as stereotypes assert, which is arguably a form of power within itself. The idea of a single medieval woman existing at all must be abolished in order to understand how they as individuals engaged with power and the worlds around them.

    Read More

  • Literature During The Elizabethan Era Essay

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    Oltea Shahini Mr.Cohan Honors English 10 19 March 2014 Break Down of Literature During the Elizabethan Era Many periods of time throughout history have developed their own forms of literature. From 1558 to 1603, Queen Elizabeth I reigned during the golden age of English history. The Elizabethan Era had a large growth in literature because Queen Elizabeth supported and encouraged the fine arts more than any monarch in England’s history did. The literature of the time was characterized by a new energy, originality, and confidence based on Renaissance humanism.

    Read More

More about Eleanor Of Aquitaine Research Paper

Open Document