The first is described at length as nothing more than a fabrication by a chaplain at the court of Marie de Champagne, leaving all the other centuries' worth of historical and biographical references of Eleanor presiding over this rich artistic lineage as nothing more than made up stories. My main gripe with this book is the off-hand dismissal of two facets of Eleanor's life and influence: the Courts of Love and the historical background of Robin Hood.
Sadly, at the end of the Crusade, many were left to starve or die of Plague because they did not have the wealth to buy transit on the ships back to Aquitaine/Blois/Anjou. And the Second Crusade? She had the audacity to come along and bring other Cruisaders' wives and their courts along with her. She managed to survive 10 years as a prisoner of her husband (having spent last year in lockdown I can appreciate her sanity a whole lot more), and was taken prisoner because she had the brains and guile to counsel her sons to fight for their own kingdoms. And she also points out that Richard I was the King of England with only 10 months spent in his kingdom. Weir also goes into great detail about the battles her sons waged, especially Richard I, "the Lionheart," on her/their territories in Blois, Aquitaine, and other kingdoms of modern-day France. Those details pull in the importance of Eleanor's land holdings and power in a way that make her remarkable life even more captivating. Told with a great deal of background on Eleanor's lineage, such as the House of Anjou and the Houses of Blois and Champagne (and with family trees to help make sense of it all) as well as great detail on both Louis VII and Henry II. The union of this royal couple will create a vast empire that stretches from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees, and marks the beginning of the celebrated Plantagenet dynasty.A very detailed, historically deep biography of this remarkable woman's life.
Returning to her duchy of Aquitaine after the annulment of her marriage to Louis, Eleanor immediately sends for Henry, the future King of England, to come and marry her.
For even as their eyes meet for the first time, the seductive Eleanor and the virile Henry know that theirs is a passion that could ignite the world. But when the young and dynamic Henry of Anjou arrives at the French court, Eleanor sees a way out of her discontent. For all its political advantages, the marriage has brought Eleanor only increasing unhappiness-and daughters instead of the hoped-for male heir. Publisher’s Synopsis: Nearing her thirtieth birthday, Eleanor has spent the past dozen frustrating years as consort to the pious King Louis VII of France. Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine
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