Queen Eleanor Independent Spirit of the Medieval World A biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine By: Annabelle
Primary Source
My primary source is a map in the book Queen Eleanor Independent Spirit of the Medieval World by Polly Schoyer Brooks. It is on page viii of this book and show France and England in the 12th century. I chose this source because it shows what majority of land in England and France Eleanor and her husband King Henry of England owned at the height of their power.
Secondary Source
This is an article on medieval clothing by Madeleine Pelner and Linda Gale Jones. It describes all clothing in the three major religions of that time (Moslem, Jewish and Christian); including wedding dress. It also describes how you could see of what ranking people were by looking at their clothing. It describes mostly the clothing from the 12th century. I chose this source because clothing is a subject of interest to me and sometimes in the book Eleanor describes what she is wearing and/or what the other people around her are wearing and I was interested and wanted to know more.
Review
This book describes the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, an interesting and feminist queen in the middle ages. She raised awareness for women and that men and women should have equal rights. The story begins telling a little bit about her (family) history and then dives right into her first and complicated marriage which eventually ends in a divorce with King Louis of France. Eleanor thinks he is quite boring and that he devotes most of his attention to god instead of to her. She divorces and marries Duke Henry of Normandy who later becomes King Henry the 2nd of England. He has an affair with Rosamond the Fair. This makes Eleanor very mad because after bearing him 8 excellent children she feels much unloved. It describes how she sets up her ideal court (Poitiers courts of love) filled with romance and happiness. Then Henry comes to ruin it all and shuts her up in a castle for 15 long years. She comes out and is witness of her favourite son dying due to revenge of a peasant. Near the end of her life when she has outlived nearly all of her 10 children except for John (the youngest son of Henry) and her ex-husbandâ€&#x;s son Philip, Philip ambushes her and tries to steal her rule away. John surprisingly comes to rescue her. She then dies due to old age in the abbey of Fontevrault. King John does unfortunately not fulfil her dying wishes of ruling the country successfully and after 67 years of rule and a ton of hard work her once beautiful country is, again, back to square one. People would enjoy this memoir because it is worth to read just to get to the last paragraph in the book. It is a summary of her life and it is awesome!* Even though I was really bored at the beginning of the book at the end I could see what a great queen Eleanor was and how interesting and descript full the author is of her life and general life in the Middle Ages. An example of this is on page 27.**
Captured in 1194 “An exciting day today,� announced I, the jail keeper of the German emperor on a day in late December, 1194. "All right, let's extract you from this cell and up to speak in front of the royal assembly." I tugged King Richard out of his cell and told him "your mother will also be there." I saw him experience a flashback and a distant look flashed in his eyes and I dragged him up the stairs. *** As I trudged up the dirty, irregular and dust covered stairs I, thought about the unfortunate events that had happened to I, Richard the Lionhearted, in the past year. I finished fighting the extremely bloody third crusade and it ended a draw. The Moslem leader Sultan Saladin decided he would leave Jerusalem free for both Moslems and Christians then I received an urgent message from my mother calling me back to England. I retrieved my fellow comrades; we loaded the ships and started the long journey back. The rough yet beautiful bluewatered, sunshine-warm coast of northern Italy was coming into sight when that appalling storm blew up. We survived the shipwreck and had to continue on foot. Passing through cold and rugged Germany filled with unimaginable dangers, such as snowstorms and horrid plunderers and of course their leader. Their superior emperor captured me and held me in this atrocious cell with no light, only dirty rats filled with even dirtier diseases for company and only stale bread and dirty water to eat and drink, food not even worthy of pigs. It must have been after the marvellous holiday of Christmas, my favourite, when mother came to know the news of my capture and she was furious. From what I heard from the timid and intimidated messenger was that my brothers John and Philip were actually hoping that this adventure would be the end of me! This is because our father did not divide the land evenly and I would get the most if I were to survive my latest adventure. They severely underestimate me sometimes! The messenger not only took a horrid message to me but also from the emperor and me back to my darling mother. After a couple of days in the upstairs world of the German court the messenger came back
these very stairs that I am walking up now and told me the positive yet horrific news that I would be released, but for the most gigantic ransom history had ever known: One hundred and fifty thousand silver marks and two hundred hostages. In my personal note I told my mom that she would be in charge of gathering the ransom. *** I did not know what to do! For the first time in my life, I Eleanor of Aquitaine did not know what to do! This ransom was just too colossal! "My poor country is already bled dry by these bloody crusades!" I told my trusted advisors in a voice a tiny bit louder than I would have liked. The entire castle probably heard it... I made every one of my vassals contribute to their loyal kingâ€&#x;s ransom and even that was not enough. I raised the taxes and my loyal churches and monasteries gave up their gold and silver treasuries, some even altar crosses! One that did not have any gold or silver gave up a yearâ€&#x;s supply of sheepâ€&#x;s wool. Finally at the end of 1194 I and my fellow travellers were ready to start the journey to the far borders of the German Empire. My royal spies at and beyond the borders of my massive German empire, told me that the royal queen of England was almost at our borders when the messengers of Philip and John, the brothers of my royal prisoner sent their messengers. Philip and John would pay the same amount of ransom money to keep Richard in my horrid basement for another year. I certainly liked this Idea a lot better than giving him up to his wretched mother! Then she arrived. *** The queen has arrived...? The rumour spread through the castle and I, the jail guard, heard it as I was eating my midday meal. She wants a gathering of assembly were her son must be able to speak for himself...? Will the king agree to it? I jogged back down those wretched stairs to the dungeons to do my duty and tell the prisoner the unfortunately positive news. That is how I came to dragging him back up the stairs to prepare him for his visit with the king his mother and the assembly.
*** I, who was supposedly lionhearted, trudged up those stairs leaving all my nerve and courage in the abominable cell and only my courtly manners and the prospect of being reunited my much loved mother to guide me. As we arrived in the grand hall, it truly was a grand! It had hundreds of thousands of coloured windows that let cheerful light through their beautiful pictures. Unfortunately the entire room smelled of some nasty smelling perfume that ruined the beautiful picture. I stood in my chains before the entire German court with only my manners for help. *** There he came! I could hear the jingling of heavy prisoner chains I not so very long ago had had around me all day and all night. I knew it was barbaric. I think he gained the crowds sympathy and that this was one of the main reasons my dearest was to be released. “To be released" the king demanded with his horrid manners and scratchy voice, "you must pay homage for all of your lands to me!" That hit Richard right in all of the pride he had left in his misused body. I was very worried that the family temper would hit him hard and he would never witness sunlight again! I saw the queen pull her son aside to „chat‟, as she put it, with him; her face was very persuading and even pleading. That amused me! Who would have thought admirable queen Eleanor of Aquitaine would ever have to plead for anything. She pleaded and pleaded and after a bit of time her son returned to his place in the centre of my beautiful hall and agreed to my extremely harsh terms. I met his eyes unwillingly and confirmed "you may now legally travel out of Germany back to your horrid England!”
Asterisks
*”Though the French would not forgive Eleanor for her marriage to English King Henry and the loss of Aquitaine, they could not forget her. Her life provided materials for balladeers and songsters; they depicted her as siren, sorceress, or fairy queen who could change herself into a demon. The raked up all the unsavoury gossip of her behaviour including, two centuries after Eleanor‟s death, the ridiculous story of the Queen offering Fair Rosamond the choice between poison or the dagger. Such was the stuff of ballads. But Eleanor had no need for fantasy or myth to keep her image alive. Her real life was extraordinary enough.” (165+166)
** ”For the occasion Eleanor wore a gown of pure silk with tightfitting sleeves, designed to show off her delicate wrists-as important as a slim ankle is today. Around her waist she wore a jewelled belt. Over her gown fell a long red velvet robe with fur; its full sleeves with their wide openings tapered to points that almost touched the ground. Over her hair was a scarf, called a wimple, held in place by her gold crown.” (26+27)
Citations
Brooks, Polly Schoyer. Queen Eleanor, Independent Spirit of the Medieval World: A Biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Print.
Pelner, Madeleine, and Linda Gale Jones. "Clothing, Costume, and Textiles in the Middle Ages." Facts On File. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. <http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE49>.