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Eleanor of Aquitaine : A Biography
A comprehensive account of the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine. The wife of King Louis VII of France and then of King Henry II of England, and mother to Richard Coeur de Lion and King John, she became the key political figure of the 12th century. Eleanor's long life inspired a number of legends. At twenty-five she set out for the Holy Land as a Crusader and at seventy-eight she crossed the Pyreness to Spain to fetch the granddaughter whose marriage would be, she hoped, a pledge of peace between England and France. This is a compassionate biography of this charismatic queen and the world she ruled over.
476 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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2263 people want to read
About the author
Marion Meade
26 books92 followersMarion Meade is an American biographer and novelist, whose subjects stretch from 12th century French royalty to 20th century stand-up comedians. She is best known for her portraits of literary figures and iconic filmmakers.
Her new book, Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney, is a joint biography of a husband and wife whose lives provide a vivid picture of the artistic milieu of the Jazz Age and the Great Depression.
For more information on Lonelyhearts--and an exciting photo gallery--visit http://www.nathanaelwest.com
Her new book, Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney, is a joint biography of a husband and wife whose lives provide a vivid picture of the artistic milieu of the Jazz Age and the Great Depression.
For more information on Lonelyhearts--and an exciting photo gallery--visit http://www.nathanaelwest.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
February 13, 2019
This was hands down one of the best biographies I have ever read. I have long admired Eleanor, the woman who was a queen twice, first in France, and the second being the queen to the formidable Henry II of England. Together they sired eight children, two of them becoming future kings of England in their own right. Boy, what she went through and achieved for her children is truly astounding. She was a formidable woman who knew to pick her battles. She most certainly made some mistakes along the way, but for the time period, when women were mostly kept in the background, Eleanor was always in the forefront. She lived to be 82 years old, quite a feat for the time as well. Before I read this book, my only reference for Eleanor was the famous film, "The Lion in Winter." Even then, I fell in love with the woman she was, and have always wanted to learn more about her. This book gave me that and much more. Not only a biography, but a detailed historical account of her life, and those of her husband, Henry II, and her sons. It definitely made me want to read more about the various figures during her lifetime.
November 24, 2009
Eleanor grew up in the Dukedom of Aquitaine at a time when most of France was ruled by England. In northern Europe, and England, women had little social standing. Aquitaine, in the south, named "land of waters" by the Romans, was a rich land, filled with orchards and vineyards; life was good for those in power. Leisure was preeminent and women were more highly respected. They could inherit property and many became wealthy landowners. Such was Eleanor's case. She had inherited Aquitaine, which made her a rich prize for any king. She was only fifteen when her father, the Duke, died, and King Louis the Fat (he was so enormous he was virtually unable to sit up) arranged a marriage between his second son, Louis, and the attractive Eleanor, now heir to the most prized lands in Europe.
Louis was a retiring young man best suited, most thought, for the monastery. Eleanor wasted no time -- remember she was still an adolescent -- corrupting (in the mind of her mother-in-law) Louis to the more secular ways of the south. Their marriage was a catastrophe. He was ineffectual, indecisive, inadequate, generally most ofthe "in's" one can apply. Louis' Second Crusade was a disaster. The presence of Eleanor and her ladies with their enormous baggage train made travel difficult. The Pope's personal intervention, virtually dragging them to bed to force reconsumation of their marriage was the catalyst for the final dissolution, because the product of this pathetic reunion was a girl, and Louis' Capetians desperately needed a male to continue the line.
Then Henry and the Plantagenets entered on the scene. Interestingly, Plantagenet was not a family name. It came from a nickname of Henry's father, Geoffrey of Anjou, who used to wear the yellow blossom of the broom plant, the planta genesta, in his hair.
Eleanor was tired of Louis -- once she said it was like being married to a monk -- and when she met eighteen-year-old Henry, eleven years her junior and heir to Anjou and all of England, she fell head over heels in lust for him. Meade suspects that sexual attraction, richly spiced with political advantage, was a major justification for her divorce from Louis. Consanguinity was the publicly announced reason permitting annulment. She married Henry eight weeks later. It was a stinging slap at the Capetian, for he and Henry were bitter enemies.
Henry Plantagenet became the most radical monarch in English history. During the next thirty-five years he revolutionized government, streamlining it and making it so efficient the government could function king-less if necessary.
Eleanor played a major role in the reexamination of the role of women in the twelfth century. Even the Church abandoned its traditional view of women as an instrument of the devil, but women continued to oscillate between superiority and inferiority. Eleanor and her daughter by Louis, who lived with her as she approached her later forties and became estranged from Henry, made a conscious and deliberate effort to define the female role in a legal code of social conduct called Tractus de Amore et de Amoris & medies. It was loosely modeled after Ovid but is almost the opposite to his Art of Loving. Their tract proclaimed woman to be the" dominant figure, the man merely a pupil who must be carefully instructed until he becomes a fit partner for his lady. " Woman is supreme, a goddess to be approached by her man only with reverence.
When Eleanor died at age 82, she had been a queen for sixty-six years. She produced several sons, including Richard Coeur-de-Lion, famous for his third crusade but notorious for his flaunted homosexuality (a problem because it meant he would produce no heir), and King John, whose meanness, recklessness and appalling judgment resulted in the Magna Carta. Perhaps because of his evil personality, he was the only English king ever named John. Eleanor was the glue that held the Plantagenets together, and after her death, her first husband's descendants made considerable inroads into Henry's Normandy and her beloved Aquitaine.
Louis was a retiring young man best suited, most thought, for the monastery. Eleanor wasted no time -- remember she was still an adolescent -- corrupting (in the mind of her mother-in-law) Louis to the more secular ways of the south. Their marriage was a catastrophe. He was ineffectual, indecisive, inadequate, generally most ofthe "in's" one can apply. Louis' Second Crusade was a disaster. The presence of Eleanor and her ladies with their enormous baggage train made travel difficult. The Pope's personal intervention, virtually dragging them to bed to force reconsumation of their marriage was the catalyst for the final dissolution, because the product of this pathetic reunion was a girl, and Louis' Capetians desperately needed a male to continue the line.
Then Henry and the Plantagenets entered on the scene. Interestingly, Plantagenet was not a family name. It came from a nickname of Henry's father, Geoffrey of Anjou, who used to wear the yellow blossom of the broom plant, the planta genesta, in his hair.
Eleanor was tired of Louis -- once she said it was like being married to a monk -- and when she met eighteen-year-old Henry, eleven years her junior and heir to Anjou and all of England, she fell head over heels in lust for him. Meade suspects that sexual attraction, richly spiced with political advantage, was a major justification for her divorce from Louis. Consanguinity was the publicly announced reason permitting annulment. She married Henry eight weeks later. It was a stinging slap at the Capetian, for he and Henry were bitter enemies.
Henry Plantagenet became the most radical monarch in English history. During the next thirty-five years he revolutionized government, streamlining it and making it so efficient the government could function king-less if necessary.
Eleanor played a major role in the reexamination of the role of women in the twelfth century. Even the Church abandoned its traditional view of women as an instrument of the devil, but women continued to oscillate between superiority and inferiority. Eleanor and her daughter by Louis, who lived with her as she approached her later forties and became estranged from Henry, made a conscious and deliberate effort to define the female role in a legal code of social conduct called Tractus de Amore et de Amoris & medies. It was loosely modeled after Ovid but is almost the opposite to his Art of Loving. Their tract proclaimed woman to be the" dominant figure, the man merely a pupil who must be carefully instructed until he becomes a fit partner for his lady. " Woman is supreme, a goddess to be approached by her man only with reverence.
When Eleanor died at age 82, she had been a queen for sixty-six years. She produced several sons, including Richard Coeur-de-Lion, famous for his third crusade but notorious for his flaunted homosexuality (a problem because it meant he would produce no heir), and King John, whose meanness, recklessness and appalling judgment resulted in the Magna Carta. Perhaps because of his evil personality, he was the only English king ever named John. Eleanor was the glue that held the Plantagenets together, and after her death, her first husband's descendants made considerable inroads into Henry's Normandy and her beloved Aquitaine.
October 4, 2010
This book was thorough, but readable, and I enjoyed the unapologetically feminist approach. Meade did not hesitate to point out the number of things Eleanor did that were unique for a woman living when she did. The entire book moved along, and it would be a good start for anyone looking to learn about Eleanor of Acquitaine. It just doesn't quite live up to Alison Weir's masterpiece on the same subject.
September 24, 2021
The author brilliantly visualizes the historical scenes. She imagines the emotions of the main characters, and Eleanor above all others, bringing the reader into the narrative. From the extensive bibliography and notes, this book seems to have been meticulously researched. But it reads more like fiction than history -- an unforgettable story told extremely well.
October 22, 2015
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Marion Meade
Read it in disintegrating mass market oversized paperback at 416 pages including tiny biblio and appendix.
In a century almost exclusively dominated by men Eleanor stands apart and above her contemporaries. Over the course of her life she married two kings and mothered three (two of which actually sat on the Plantagenet throne.) She traveled with her husband to the distant lands of the near east as an active Crusader and came from a court that espoused the virtues of troubadours and poetry. She was a glimmer of light in an otherwise very dark part of history. But despite all of this she created a lot of chaos, she pulled strings and worked actively against her first and second husband and in a way she facilitated the destruction of all she fostered. An interesting character for sure.
The problem of course is that ancient sources for Eleanor are thin. Most of what we know about her movements, what charters she signed, and her overall communications is very limited and comes from her kingly attachments. Meade is simply forced to use a very reduced set of source material from the age, most of which details her husband's movements or the chroniclers that make short reference when she's in procession. This all translates to a widely speculative biography where Meade takes the liberty to hypothesize and expand on the unknown. I'm not always sure Meade is successful in that. She lets herself speculate on how Eleanor felt about this or that and we have no way of knowing and Meade often justifies her actions which were tantamount to tyranny. She is successful though in outlining this Queens amazing life in amazing times.
Worth a read I suppose if the 12th century Europe is of interest to you. I also see that a lot of women seem to enjoy Eleanor or at least reading about her, no doubt because of her influence in a time dominated by males and their interactions.
Marion Meade
Read it in disintegrating mass market oversized paperback at 416 pages including tiny biblio and appendix.
In a century almost exclusively dominated by men Eleanor stands apart and above her contemporaries. Over the course of her life she married two kings and mothered three (two of which actually sat on the Plantagenet throne.) She traveled with her husband to the distant lands of the near east as an active Crusader and came from a court that espoused the virtues of troubadours and poetry. She was a glimmer of light in an otherwise very dark part of history. But despite all of this she created a lot of chaos, she pulled strings and worked actively against her first and second husband and in a way she facilitated the destruction of all she fostered. An interesting character for sure.
The problem of course is that ancient sources for Eleanor are thin. Most of what we know about her movements, what charters she signed, and her overall communications is very limited and comes from her kingly attachments. Meade is simply forced to use a very reduced set of source material from the age, most of which details her husband's movements or the chroniclers that make short reference when she's in procession. This all translates to a widely speculative biography where Meade takes the liberty to hypothesize and expand on the unknown. I'm not always sure Meade is successful in that. She lets herself speculate on how Eleanor felt about this or that and we have no way of knowing and Meade often justifies her actions which were tantamount to tyranny. She is successful though in outlining this Queens amazing life in amazing times.
Worth a read I suppose if the 12th century Europe is of interest to you. I also see that a lot of women seem to enjoy Eleanor or at least reading about her, no doubt because of her influence in a time dominated by males and their interactions.
March 10, 2019
If your motivation to read this book is to read about the real Eleanor of Aquitaine you’ve got the wrong book.
As I’ve come to understand this book is one of the first examples which called on the retelling of Eleanor’s story. But I guess this book is a bit dated now. Becoming a student of Eleanor’s life I realized reading this one was something I had to do though.
The text has a good flow and as far as storytelling goes Meade does a great job. Her many assumptions written as truths bother me a lot though (how can she know exactly what Eleanor and others of her time thought when we have no reliable source for it?). And she exaggerates sometimes to a degree which makes me cringe. The first problem though is that I don’t trust the actual information she gives, and neither should you. Much of this is dated and simply not true. Two examples: The Rosamund Clifford storyline is there (sigh) and she writes of the courts of love as they were a historical fact (which we know they were not). I guess this is yet another book on the legendary Eleanor, the romanized version, with small appearances here and there from the real woman.
In other words, if you’re looking for a good book on the actual Eleanor of Aquitaine go read books written by scholars in the subject published after 2010 (I recommend the part on her in Castor’s “She-Wolves”). With new information and fresh perspectives Eleanor’s story is being rewritten at the moment and therefore books have become outdated fast. This is one of them. This book is more of a testament to the made up “courts of love queen”. If that’s of interests to you I guess this is your thing. But if you think this book will give you the true story you’ve bet your money on the wrong horse.
As I’ve come to understand this book is one of the first examples which called on the retelling of Eleanor’s story. But I guess this book is a bit dated now. Becoming a student of Eleanor’s life I realized reading this one was something I had to do though.
The text has a good flow and as far as storytelling goes Meade does a great job. Her many assumptions written as truths bother me a lot though (how can she know exactly what Eleanor and others of her time thought when we have no reliable source for it?). And she exaggerates sometimes to a degree which makes me cringe. The first problem though is that I don’t trust the actual information she gives, and neither should you. Much of this is dated and simply not true. Two examples: The Rosamund Clifford storyline is there (sigh) and she writes of the courts of love as they were a historical fact (which we know they were not). I guess this is yet another book on the legendary Eleanor, the romanized version, with small appearances here and there from the real woman.
In other words, if you’re looking for a good book on the actual Eleanor of Aquitaine go read books written by scholars in the subject published after 2010 (I recommend the part on her in Castor’s “She-Wolves”). With new information and fresh perspectives Eleanor’s story is being rewritten at the moment and therefore books have become outdated fast. This is one of them. This book is more of a testament to the made up “courts of love queen”. If that’s of interests to you I guess this is your thing. But if you think this book will give you the true story you’ve bet your money on the wrong horse.
June 20, 2008
This was a hard read. I like reading historical/biographical fiction. But this one was hard. It definitely did not flow easily. But it was interesting, and kept me company between classes in college.
July 1, 2012
This book has been sitting in the attic for nearly a decade. As a student I tried to read it for my studies and gave up. While very readable, you are left wondering how much of it is true as Marion Meade continually over-stretches her sources and tells you how characters "must" have been feeling. Ultimately, the work feels like it could be fiction.
While the author, writing in 1977, can perhaps not be expected to have overthrown the then-prevalant views of some topics where research has uncovered uncertainities and raised new questions - over the existence of courts of love, for instance, or against Richard the Lionheart's homosexuality - some errors and curious turns of phrase do creep into the text. To pick one small example, it would be hard to guess that Richard faced some (admittedly relatively minor) military resistance in support of his brother John, after his return from captivity. Eleanor and he 'made a relaxed progress to Nottingham' - no mention of his assault on the castle and subsequent council at which he ordered the punishment of many of John's adherents.
Now that I am reading "Eleanor of Aquitaine" for pleasure, I am free to enjoy the book, but anyone using this for study would be advised to keep "Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady" a collection of essays edited by Bonnie Wheeler and John Carmi Parsons close at hand.
While the author, writing in 1977, can perhaps not be expected to have overthrown the then-prevalant views of some topics where research has uncovered uncertainities and raised new questions - over the existence of courts of love, for instance, or against Richard the Lionheart's homosexuality - some errors and curious turns of phrase do creep into the text. To pick one small example, it would be hard to guess that Richard faced some (admittedly relatively minor) military resistance in support of his brother John, after his return from captivity. Eleanor and he 'made a relaxed progress to Nottingham' - no mention of his assault on the castle and subsequent council at which he ordered the punishment of many of John's adherents.
Now that I am reading "Eleanor of Aquitaine" for pleasure, I am free to enjoy the book, but anyone using this for study would be advised to keep "Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady" a collection of essays edited by Bonnie Wheeler and John Carmi Parsons close at hand.
August 10, 2016
One of the most famous women in history, Eleanor of Aquitaine would have been right at home in today's celebrity driven world. Married at an early age to Louis VII, she tired of him, got wicked (supposedly) with her uncle during the Second Crusade, then left the French King and married Henry II, King of England. Kinda like Princess Diana/Grace Kelly/Madonna all rolled into one.
By leaving one King and marrying another, Eleanor brought hundreds of years of warfare to Europe because her hereditary holdings caused an imbalance of power. The book does an excellent job of bringing out the way she affected history and her ability to manipulate a male dominated world. I was amazed to see how she battled her husbands and her sons, yet she outlived all except for son John (the bad King).
If you're like me, and you've seen The Lion In Winter and want to learn more about the Lioness, this is a very good book for that objective.
Book Season = Summer (just sit back and become absorbed)
By leaving one King and marrying another, Eleanor brought hundreds of years of warfare to Europe because her hereditary holdings caused an imbalance of power. The book does an excellent job of bringing out the way she affected history and her ability to manipulate a male dominated world. I was amazed to see how she battled her husbands and her sons, yet she outlived all except for son John (the bad King).
If you're like me, and you've seen The Lion In Winter and want to learn more about the Lioness, this is a very good book for that objective.
Book Season = Summer (just sit back and become absorbed)
December 20, 2010
Bought this in a secondhand shop off of Rue de Severin in Paris and consumed it by the time I was back in London less than a week later. A really gorgeous, lively biography of a really gorgeous and lively woman, and it has one of the best lines about Eleanor of Aquitaine, about how she was the wife of two kings and the mother of Richard the Lionhearted, but whenever we think of her, we only ever think of her as Eleanor. Really, really wonderful.
April 15, 2011
Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Marion Meade, is a well-written, highly informative and entertaining read about one of Europe’s most remarkable and influential women. Meade places Eleanor on the large as well as intimate and personal stages, allowing readers to understand what made Eleanor into the cultured, sometimes tempestuous, always intelligent woman who loved and lost two kings and empires. Highly recommended.
August 6, 2023
This is okay. My mom really wanted me to read this book. I enjoyed the historical references. It was a little long and sometimes boring but still a nice read. For historical buffs the book is great. For novel lovers, steer clear.
July 12, 2019
Looking at my worn copy from 30 years ago, I am reminded of how much I enjoyed this book.
January 11, 2025
great historical fiction
February 12, 2014
Eleanor of Aquitaine was indeed a woman worth a biography, even with the scanty details about her life as we have, as a very interesting historical figure of Medieval times between France and England. We do have plenty of information about her life but not about her the woman. Marion Meade makes this up I'm afraid with a lot of personal wishful thinking: where there's not one single physical detail to grab on to, she makes her come to live by inferences from her relationships with other people and by her own way of life. Where no witness can be called on to tell us how she felt, or what were the inclinations of her heart, Ms. Meade fills in the gap with her own stuff, which is not bad stuff if we speak in terms of fiction, even historical fiction. For she moves on swiftly through the myriad of happenings taking place family-wise and historical-wise strictly speaking. We attend the Crusades, we travel throughout most of modern France over and over, we witness battles, family feuds, coronations, the killing of Beckett, and much, much more. All of it interesting enough, and presented as in relation to Leonor's life. So historical facts abound. And it does not become entangled at all (it could easily have been). But I'd rather have made up the gaps myself. I think an honest historian needs to draw the line clearly between what we know and what we assume. Mixing fiction and history doesn't help credibility. Of course the creative facet of the author only operates on the deeply personal level; historical facts are not messed with. But nevertheless, when I am reading history I'd like the author to stick to the facts, and whatever incursions into fictional territory I'd like to be -at least- warned. Its a good read, though; a bit too long, but makes for a good history read.
November 2, 2021
This really is a very good book. Marion Meade must be an incredible scholar to pull so much information about her life from such a long time ago. Through it one gets a sense of what life must have been like--at least for the powerful--in the 11th and 12th centuries in western Europe. It is interesting to see how much we know of a woman in that period, and what competence, energy, and ambition she had. A remarkable life, during a period of the world I don't think any of us would want to go live in if we had a choice.
This is one of the few books I have read twice; and it is the only book I have read twice with my wife. I purchased this on a business trip at random in 1991, and my wife and I read it together. We got rid of that copy and I bought it again a couple of years ago, and read it out loud to her a second time.
(We remembered we hadn't finished it the first time when we got to the point of not being all that interested again the second time. It does take some perseverance to read.)
This is one of the few books I have read twice; and it is the only book I have read twice with my wife. I purchased this on a business trip at random in 1991, and my wife and I read it together. We got rid of that copy and I bought it again a couple of years ago, and read it out loud to her a second time.
(We remembered we hadn't finished it the first time when we got to the point of not being all that interested again the second time. It does take some perseverance to read.)
July 30, 2008
While a long book and Marion Meade clearly has a strong bias in favor of Eleanor, the book is fascinating both from its amazing history of world/European geography as well as feminism's roots.
I was either never taught in my history classes or failed to comprehend just how tangled up the boundry lines of all of modern European countries have been during the last millineum. The feuding between such "stable" nations as France and England as late as the 12th century and even the fighting between royal siblings for power and property gave me new perspective on world politics today. Additionally, the failed history of the Crusades and the "truth" about such modern mythical heros/villans such as of Richard the Lion-Hearted or King John is quite interesting.
Eleanor herself is obviously an astonishing women -- even for modern times her energy and persistance would be legendary. More young women need to be taught today her belief in self-determination.
I was either never taught in my history classes or failed to comprehend just how tangled up the boundry lines of all of modern European countries have been during the last millineum. The feuding between such "stable" nations as France and England as late as the 12th century and even the fighting between royal siblings for power and property gave me new perspective on world politics today. Additionally, the failed history of the Crusades and the "truth" about such modern mythical heros/villans such as of Richard the Lion-Hearted or King John is quite interesting.
Eleanor herself is obviously an astonishing women -- even for modern times her energy and persistance would be legendary. More young women need to be taught today her belief in self-determination.
August 9, 2014
An insightful biography of a highly interesting woman. I have never read anything about Eleanor of Aquitaine before and I found this book was very well researched and a delight to read. I recognised a few of the key players in her life (especially Thomas of Beckett, Peter Abelard and Richard III) and it was great to find out more about the times they existed and the main powers in Europe at the time.
December 27, 2009
Eleanor of Aquitaine didn't leave any diaries and none of her contemporaries even described her appearance except to say she was beautiful. The author took what information she did have and really made Eleanor come alive for the reader. Her writing isn't as "fun" as that of Alison Weir but it was still enjoyable.
August 14, 2011
It flows well and moves along, but I wouldn't say it was an unbiased biography.
December 6, 2011
A balanced history of Eleanor; I would liked more quotations from sources.
September 9, 2018
Had a very interesting life, I enjoyed the book but the chapters were too long. Difficult to find a convenient place to stop.
April 16, 2021
It's hard to find good biographies of smart, powerful women from this patriarchal era, but despite the gaps in the record of Eleanor's life, this is a fantastic read. Recommend.
June 16, 2025
Reads like a novel, highly enjoyable
February 6, 2016
a formidable woman born 800 years too early to be truly appreciated
November 21, 2025
I understand that when writing a biography of a historical figure who left so little in the way of first hand resources some amount of extrapolation is going to be necessary, but this took that a step too far. Meade has a tendency to fill in the blanks in a way that feels unmoored from the historical record, or to present disputed theories as established fact.
She does a lot of "Eleanor must have..." or "it's tempting to imagine that..." or "if Eleanor had..." which I find irritating but excusable (it's at least clear these things are mostly guesswork), and if it was just that I could've forgiven it, but it isn't.
To pull a random example, Meade asserts not only that Richard I was gay (a subject of scholarly debate) but that it was an open secret, citing that he performed public acts of penance for homosexuality. That there are contemporary rumors of a potential sexual relationship with Phillip II is true -- but that's far from it being an open secret. That he performed public acts of penance is true -- but there's very little to say whether it was for homosexuality or for other sexual indiscretions.
I do think there is a compelling argument to support a conclusion of bisexuality, but the existence of compelling evidence is different from acting like there is no argument to the contrary, or, worse, that the entirety of very religious 12th century Europe was unambiguously aware of it. And this is far from the only example, it's just the one that occurs the closest to the end of the book so it's freshest on my mind.
I should not feel the need to constantly fact check a historical biography, that is precisely the opposite of what a book like this is meant to accomplish.
From an actual writing perspective, I think Meade has a tendency to drone on. The pace was significantly slowed by her tendency to get bogged down in details -- a decision which is only more baffling due to the aforementioned lack of credible details. It's just not well done.
She does a lot of "Eleanor must have..." or "it's tempting to imagine that..." or "if Eleanor had..." which I find irritating but excusable (it's at least clear these things are mostly guesswork), and if it was just that I could've forgiven it, but it isn't.
To pull a random example, Meade asserts not only that Richard I was gay (a subject of scholarly debate) but that it was an open secret, citing that he performed public acts of penance for homosexuality. That there are contemporary rumors of a potential sexual relationship with Phillip II is true -- but that's far from it being an open secret. That he performed public acts of penance is true -- but there's very little to say whether it was for homosexuality or for other sexual indiscretions.
I do think there is a compelling argument to support a conclusion of bisexuality, but the existence of compelling evidence is different from acting like there is no argument to the contrary, or, worse, that the entirety of very religious 12th century Europe was unambiguously aware of it. And this is far from the only example, it's just the one that occurs the closest to the end of the book so it's freshest on my mind.
I should not feel the need to constantly fact check a historical biography, that is precisely the opposite of what a book like this is meant to accomplish.
From an actual writing perspective, I think Meade has a tendency to drone on. The pace was significantly slowed by her tendency to get bogged down in details -- a decision which is only more baffling due to the aforementioned lack of credible details. It's just not well done.
October 2, 2022
This summer, my husband and I visited Trapper's Lake in the Flattop Wilderness Area of Colorado. We stayed in a primitive cabin and this book was on its shelves. I was Interested to learn more about Eleanor after reading Lauren Goff's Matrix and Dan Jones' Plantangenets.
So Eleanor was a balsy lady. She was both queen of France and England. As the French queen, she rode side saddle across Europe and Turkey to Jeruslem. Looking to escape her French king husband, she over a decade older, made a pass at King Henry the second. As an independent woman, she held court in Aquitaine, with a set of very self realizing women including her daughter, Marie. This court discussed subjects like romantic love and chivalry.
She was mother to 10 children including King Henry III, King Richard, Geoffrey, King John and William. She was a fierce advocate for all of them.
It was lovely to find such a female force in such a chaotic world.
So Eleanor was a balsy lady. She was both queen of France and England. As the French queen, she rode side saddle across Europe and Turkey to Jeruslem. Looking to escape her French king husband, she over a decade older, made a pass at King Henry the second. As an independent woman, she held court in Aquitaine, with a set of very self realizing women including her daughter, Marie. This court discussed subjects like romantic love and chivalry.
She was mother to 10 children including King Henry III, King Richard, Geoffrey, King John and William. She was a fierce advocate for all of them.
It was lovely to find such a female force in such a chaotic world.
August 26, 2024
I can't speak to how accurate this book is, but I enjoyed reading it. I feel like a got a full picture of not only Eleanor but many major players: Henry II, Louis VII, Richard, etc. The vocabulary was pretty high level, every chapter was dense with information, and a lot of people shared similar or the same names, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to a high schooler, it's definitely intended for college-aged people.
On the negative, I felt like the book ended pretty abruptly. The "wrapping up" focused mainly on the empire and not on her surviving children. In fact, her female children were weirdly mostly absent from the narrative. I get that a lot of them married young or she didn't see them for long periods of time, but it was weird to see most of their deaths glossed over, especially when her sons are so important. I just wish the book had paid a little more attention to her daughters, especially when it's a book so necessarily concerned with gender.
On the negative, I felt like the book ended pretty abruptly. The "wrapping up" focused mainly on the empire and not on her surviving children. In fact, her female children were weirdly mostly absent from the narrative. I get that a lot of them married young or she didn't see them for long periods of time, but it was weird to see most of their deaths glossed over, especially when her sons are so important. I just wish the book had paid a little more attention to her daughters, especially when it's a book so necessarily concerned with gender.
June 11, 2018
Eleanor of Aquitaine is a fascinating woman and unfortunately, overall, there is not a lot of information available about her. Margaret Meade certainly put all that was available in her book, and she added quite a bit of conjecture, which I have no issue with, but the book then vacillated between being a slog of a text book and travelogue, to sections of fanciful guesses at feelings. It needed a stronger editor to make it entertaining as well as informative. It was incredibly researched and thorough and that's to be admired. I would love to know the reality of Eleanor's situation, her thoughts and her secret to longevity!
July 26, 2020
Eleanor is a fascinating historical character, as wife of two kings, mother of two more, and Duchess of Aquitaine and major player in her own right. The subject of this book is interesting enough therefore, but a few bits on the writing side mean it's only three stars. While I like a narrative history compared to a purely dry comparison of sources, Meade goes too far at times. Her confident statements about Eleanor's inner thoughts in particular, seems to assign predictions to her which I suspect benefit from the author's historical hindsight. Perhaps these are sourced but it's impossible to tell as there is no discussion at all of available sources.
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