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Historical person
1124–1204
Eleanor of Aquitaine inherited one of the largest territories in France and became successively queen of France and queen of England. Her first marriage to Louis VII ended after the Second Crusade, and she then married Henry II, bringing Aquitaine into the Angevin empire. She supported her sons’ revolt against Henry, endured years of confinement and later governed for Richard I, organised his ransom and helped secure the succession of John. She died in 1204.
Eleanor is central to Sharon Kay Penman’s Plantagenet novels, including When Christ and His Saints Slept, Time and Chance and Devil’s Brood. She also appears in many earlier novels such as Norah Lofts’s Queen in Waiting. Fiction is attracted to her long life, political mobility and famous marriages, although portrayals can romanticise courtly love or exaggerate claims about her conduct on crusade.
In non-fiction, Eleanor of Aquitaine is discussed in Dan Jones’s The Plantagenets. In Dan Jones’s The Plantagenets, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard I, King John, William Marshal and the later Edwards appear within a narrative that includes Magna Carta, conquest in Wales, conflict with Scotland and France, parliament, plague and rebellion.
Historical context
Series
The five Angevin novels trace the Plantagenet dynasty from the succession crisis after Henry I through Henry II and Eleanor’s turbulent marriage, their sons’ rebellions, Richard I’s crusade, captivity and final campaigns. The sequence combines royal family drama with the Anarchy, Angevin state-building, church–crown conflict and the Third…
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The Lionheart series recounts the rise, crusade and embattled kingship of Richard I through the eyes of Ferdia, an Irish captive who becomes Richard's loyal follower. Beginning during the troubled final years of Henry II, the trilogy follows Richard's accession, the Third Crusade, his rivalry with Saladin and…
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The Anarchy Series follows families, knights and warlords through the civil war between Stephen and Empress Matilda and into the Angevin settlement under Henry II. The sequence expands from northern England and Normandy to crusading, Wales, Ireland and the politics around Thomas Becket and Henry’s sons. It is…
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Elizabeth Chadwick’s Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy follows one of medieval Europe’s most formidable rulers from her inheritance of Aquitaine and first marriage to Louis VII of France through her turbulent partnership with Henry II of England. The novels place Eleanor’s marriages, motherhood and political ambitions within crusade, dynastic…
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Elizabeth Chadwick’s William Marshal cycle follows the Marshal family and the households bound to it from the civil war of the Anarchy to the crisis of King John’s reign. A Place Beyond Courage centres on William’s father, John Marshal, while The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion trace…
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These medieval mysteries follow the fictional royal agent Justin de Quincy in 1193, while Eleanor of Aquitaine governs for the captive Richard I and John manoeuvres for the throne. Each investigation links murder, theft or conspiracy to the political instability of the Angevin realm.
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The Plantagenet Saga spans the dynasty from Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richard III. Across fourteen novels, family rebellion, disputed succession, royal marriage and war connect the Angevin Empire, the conquest of Wales, conflict with Scotland, the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses.
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The Medieval Saga follows interlinked fictional families through two centuries of English dynastic conflict, beginning with the invasions of 1066 and ending with Simon de Montfort’s challenge to Henry III. The sequence places ordinary soldiers, household officers and landed families beside the rulers whose wars repeatedly reshape their…
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The Fifth Knight trilogy follows the fictional mercenary Sir Benedict Palmer and the nun Theodosia through crises of Henry II’s reign. The opening novel inserts Palmer into the murder of Thomas Becket as an imagined fifth knight who turns against Reginald FitzUrse and the other attackers after Theodosia…
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The Queens of England novels dramatise the lives of royal women from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Queen Victoria. Each volume concentrates on a queen, consort or claimant whose marriages, loyalties and private ambitions were inseparable from dynastic politics, religious conflict and the exercise of monarchy.
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Published under the Alan Savage name, the Eleanor of Aquitaine Saga presents Eleanor’s life as a two-volume dynastic narrative. The first book follows her inheritance of Aquitaine, marriage to Louis VII, queenship in France and participation in the Second Crusade. The second begins after annulment and follows her…
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Standalone books
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
