Eleanor of Aquitaine

This biography traces Eleanor of Aquitaine’s extraordinary career as duchess in her own right, queen first of France and then of England, mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John, and one of the most powerful women of the twelfth century. It follows her participation in the Second Crusade, the annulment of her marriage to Louis VII, her partnership and conflict with Henry II, and her long imprisonment after supporting her sons’ rebellion. Eleanor later returned to public life as an experienced dynastic strategist, helping to preserve the Angevin inheritance. Weir separates later legend from surviving evidence while showing how land, marriage, motherhood and political intelligence allowed Eleanor to influence European affairs for more than six decades.