Aliénor d'Aquitaine
Queen · 1137-1152 · born in 1124, died on 1 April 1204
Heiress of the duchy of Aquitaine, the largest and richest in France, Eleanor married King Louis VII in 1137. During her reign she followed her husband on crusade (1147-1149), where her behaviour scandalized the chroniclers, before obtaining the annulment of her marriage in 1152.
A few weeks later she married Henry Plantagenet, soon to be King of England: Aquitaine passed under English control, giving birth to the Angevin Empire and to the long conflicts that marked Franco-English history. Queen of England, she bore eight children, including Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland.
Rebelling against Henry II (1173-1174), she was imprisoned for fifteen years, then became a major figure again after the king’s death. Regent during the Third Crusade, she negotiated Richard’s release and, at the end of her life, defended her son John’s throne against Philip Augustus’ conquest of Normandy. She died in 1204, over eighty years old.
In the tree of power
- Spouse: Louis VII le Jeune (1137-1180)