Eleanor of Aquitaine: A LifeIn this beautifully written biography, Alison Weir paints a vibrant portrait of a truly exceptional woman and provides new insights into her intimate world. Renowned in her time for being the most beautiful woman in Europe, the wife of two kings and mother of three, Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the great heroines of the Middle Ages. At a time when women were regarded as little more than chattel, Eleanor managed to defy convention as she exercised power in the political sphere and crucial influence over her husbands and sons. Eleanor of Aquitaine lived a long life of many contrasts, of splendor and desolation, power and peril, and in this stunning narrative, Weir captures the woman—and the queen—in all her glory. With astonishing historic detail, mesmerizing pageantry, and irresistible accounts of royal scandal and intrigue, she recreates not only a remarkable personality but a magnificent past era. |
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Page 134
... court as a hotbed of scandal and frivolity . John of Salisbury , who compared the court to ancient Babylon , particularly con- demned the effeminate garments of the fashion - conscious nobles and gallants , the polyphonic music that ...
... court as a hotbed of scandal and frivolity . John of Salisbury , who compared the court to ancient Babylon , particularly con- demned the effeminate garments of the fashion - conscious nobles and gallants , the polyphonic music that ...
Page 136
A Life Alison Weir. " In my court , I am satisfied with three , " he snapped . " Perish your bishop if he doesn't cut your dishes down to the same . ” 41 It was only on the three great religious festivals that the court ceased being a ...
A Life Alison Weir. " In my court , I am satisfied with three , " he snapped . " Perish your bishop if he doesn't cut your dishes down to the same . ” 41 It was only on the three great religious festivals that the court ceased being a ...
Page 175
... court and receive the benefits of her patronage . The Courts of Love , however , were almost certainly no more than a literary conceit invented between 1174 and 1196 by Andreas Capel- lanus , a chaplain at the court of Marie of ...
... court and receive the benefits of her patronage . The Courts of Love , however , were almost certainly no more than a literary conceit invented between 1174 and 1196 by Andreas Capel- lanus , a chaplain at the court of Marie of ...
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abbey Abbot Alys Angevin Archbishop army Arthur barons Becket Berengaria Bernard Bishop Blois Bordeaux Brittany brother Canterbury castle Cathedral Champagne Chinon Christmas chroniclers Church Count of Anjou court crown crusade daughter death domains Duchess duchy Duke of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine Emperor English father Fontevrault French Geoffrey Giraldus Cambrensis heir Henry and Eleanor Henry II Henry's homage honour Hugh husband Jerusalem Joanna John King and Queen King Louis King of England King of France King's kingdom knights London Longchamp Lord Henry Louis and Eleanor Louis's Lusignan March marriage married Matilda mother Norman Normandy overlord palace Paris peace Philip Pipe Rolls Poitevin Poitiers Poitou Pope princes Queen Eleanor Ralph of Diceto Raoul Raymond reign remained Richard Rolls Series Rosamund Rouen royal sent sons Suger Theobald took Toulouse trans troubadour twelfth century vassals vols Walter Map wife William of Newburgh William of Tyre Winchester Young King