Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four KingsThe story of that amazingly influential and still somewhat mysterious woman, Eleanor of Aquitaine, has the dramatic interest of a novel. She was at the very center of the rich culture and clashing politics of the twelfth century. Richest marriage prize of the Middle Ages, she was Queen of France as the wife of Louis VII, and went with him on the exciting and disastrous Second Crusade. Inspiration of troubadours and trouvères, she played a large part in rendering fashionable the Courts of Love and in establishing the whole courtly tradition of medieval times. Divorced from Louis, she married Henry Plantagenet, who became Henry II of England. Her resources and resourcefulness helped Henry win his throne, she was involved in the conflict over Thomas Becket, and, after Henry’s death, she handled the affairs of the Angevin empire with a sagacity that brought her the trust and confidence of popes and kings and emperors. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 83
... king and all his people , to be thus tried in the king's court . However , he would not have it said that , for his own sake , he had thwarted the king's justice . He passed into the audience chamber to face the Angevin whom his ...
... king's chief justiciar , returned with a new decree . But this was not uttered.25 Becket rose to his full stature to meet this high and venerable authority of the king's council . Between them he planted the cross of Canterbury and ...
... kings at the same time strained to the utmost his chivalric virtuosity . He is seen laboring in his dual and inconsistent role . As master of the young king's household , he looks to the entertainment of the knights who gather before ...