Eleanor's Crusades: Being the true account of the noble and historic adventures of the great Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, Told by her friend, comrade, and companion, Marie De France

by Marie de France, Robert Zubrin (Translator)

Born in the early 1120s, the troubaritz Marie de France was the first European woman to write a book. Her Lais of Marie de France, a set of chivalric tales published circa 1170, was an immediate hit and has been in print in many languages ever since. Eleanor’s Crusades, the autobiographical account of her extraordinary youthful adventures as bard to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, was lost until its rediscovery in 2005. A remarkable document providing a unique view of the tumultuous rebirth of western civilization at the dawn of the high middle ages, Eleanor’s Crusades contains dramatic first-hand accounts of the trial of Peter Abelard, early chivalric tournaments, the Cathar heresy, the building of the first Gothic cathedral, the founding of the University of Paris, the sieges of Poitiers and Valencia, chariot races in Constantinople, the sea battle of Cape Malea, and the spectacular and terrifying expedition now known as the Second Crusade. This is its first English translation.

376 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 19, 2016

About the author

Marie de France ("Mary of France", around 1135-1200) was a poet evidently born in France and living in England during the late 12th century. Virtually nothing is known of her early life, though she wrote a form of continental French[citation needed:] that was copied by Anglo-Norman scribes. Therefore, most of the manuscripts of her work bear Anglo-Norman traits. She also translated some Latin literature and produced an influential version of Aesop's Fables.