That is the only representation of Alienor that I was able to find, aside from a simple one on her official seal. It's hard to tell here, I guess, but all sources note her great beauty, and some particularly say that she was very seductive even into middle age.
Anyway, I left off Alienor's story last time as she got married to her second husband, Henry II of England. Their partnership has gone down as one of the most important, but most volatile relationships in history, and I find their story fascinating.
Alienor was around 28 or 29 at the time of her second marriage - already getting old by medieval standards - a divorcee, and had two daughters in France. Henry had just turned 19, had been involved in the war for the English throne since 14, and inherited his French lands a year or two earlier. His mother was the only surviving heir to the English throne - but because she was a women war broke out over letting her be queen - and his father was the duke of Anjou, an independent province just north of Aquitaine and southeast of France, now part of modern France. Alienor had been known to Henry's father's court and had a rather notorious reputation: his father had warned him not to get involved with her.
Despite this, the first years of Alienor and Henry's marriage seemed to be okay - they argued a lot, because Alienor was not one to hold back her opinions, and Henry was known to be hot-headed, but they also had a very strong attraction and probably had a good understanding on an intellectual level.
Henry finally won his throne in 1154, two years after their marriage, and things were good for a few years. He had many mistresses at this time but Alienor mostly ignored them, as a queen was supposed to do. Since they had already had a son, her Aquitaine lands officially came under Henry's rule, adding to his wealth and prestige; Henry had control over England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine, creating a veritable empire and making them probably the most powerful couple in the Western world.
Over the first thirteen years of their marriage Alienor and Henry had eight known children, five sons and three daughters (one son died as a toddler). With that many sons it seemed like their line would have no trouble or dispute in succeeding to the rules of their various territories, and Henry did what many kings in his position at the time did: he intended to give different territories to different sons.
Henry "the Young King," their oldest, was to have the British Isles and Normandy; Richard, Alienor's clear favorite child, who would eventually be Richard I "the Lionhearted", was to have Aquitaine; and Geoffrey, the third son, was to have some various minor lands. John, who would become the notorious King John of Robin Hood and Magna Carta fame, was originally intended to not inherit any major territories. Henry II even had young Henry crowned as joint king during his lifetime, just to make a show of how clear he succession was to be.
Nice as the plans were, though, things did not go as intended. Firstly, Aquitaine, which had always been a fiercely proud and independent land, did not accept Henry's rule willingly. In fact, they only really recognized Alienor as their ruler, and her sons once they got older; they did not want to be ruled by this son of the duke of Anjou. Henry attempted to enforce his rule by military means, and also tried to expand his territory into the county of Toulouse, and failed. For the next decade and more Aquitaine would have on-and-off rebellions.
The other major event of this time was Henry's inadvertently causing the murder of Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury and most powerful clergy member in the country - it's a pretty interesting story but the details aren't important here. The assassination utterly shocked Europe, and was one of the most important events in medieval history. Henry lost a lot of prestige and was forced to do penance in front of the Pope like anyone else.
It also put their marriage, which had been deteriorating over the years, under major strain. By their youngest child's birth in 1166 Henry had begun his relationship with his most famous mistress, Rosamond Clifford, and his relationship with Alienor seems to have ended. Alienor moved to the capital city of Aquitaine with her oldest daughter (by French king Louis), which helped the rebellions there, and over about five years she set up the most famous court in Europe. It was focused on chivalric ideals of courtly love and consequently women were actually the most important people there, having semi-official control over the knights who came to see them.
In 1173 Henry "the Young King" was extremely angry with his father for not giving him more power over the kingdom, despite the fact that he was also crowned king. Henry the elder's enemies joined with Henry "the Young King" and urged him to start a rebellion. He went to Aquitaine, where his next two youngest brothers were living with Alienor, and the three brothers plus their mother organized a major uprising against Henry II. There is some evidence that after her sons went north to go to battle Alienor convinced some of the feudal lords in the south to join as well.
Henry II had Alienor arrested when she tried to travel to her sons in the north, and as punishment for her role in the rebellion he had her imprisoned in England for the next sixteen years. She was not allowed to see her sons very often although the king did allow her to come out for major social occasions, so people would not think he was too cruel. Henry "the Young King" attempted another rebellion in 1183, joined by his brother Geoffrey, but he died at the end of it. There was dispute over Normandy, part of his lands, and Henry II insisted they were supposed to go to Alienor rather than their son's French widow. He allowed Alienor to travel to Normandy and from this period on she had some more freedom, although she was still supervised at all times. (If you've ever seen the excellent play/movie "The Lion in Winter," it's from this period of time.)
The king and queen never really reconciled; Henry died in 1189 with Alienor still imprisoned. Their son Richard I "the Lionhearted" was heir, and really the legal heir to their entire kingdom because by this point their sons Henry "the Young King" and Geoffrey, who were to inherit parts of the kingdom, had died. Richard, who was always the closest to Alienor, immediately let his mother out of prison. She was around 65 and already quite elderly for the time. He then went on crusade and Alienor ruled as his regent, personally negotiating his ransom in Germany when he was captured.
Richard died in 1199, leaving no children and just his youngest brother, King John, as heir. John was Alienor's least favorite child and he did not allow her nearly as much influence and power as his brother had. However, she was sent, at about age 77, to negotiate the French king's marriage to one of her granddaughters in southern France, Blanche of Castile. She was captured by an enemy along the way but managed to do her duty. Her party was again attacked as she was bringing Blanche to France, and this time it was too much for her. Eleanor decided not to return to England and her son John, and instead retired to the the abbey at Fontevraud. Fontevraud was a renowned but small abbey that had been patronized by Henry II's family, the dukes of Anjou, for years. It is in the Anjou area of France, part of the Loire Valley.
When Alienor was about 80 years old King John got into a war with the king of France and Eleanor came out of her seclusion to help her son. She traveled to Normandy, in the north, to stop one of John's enemies (also her own grandson) from taking control of the land. The Norman leader put her castle there under siege until John came with reinforcements to free her.
It would be the last adventure for Alienor; she traveled back to Fontevraud, became a nun, and died there three years later. She was about 83 years old and outlived all but two of her ten children.
Alienor is buried at Fontevraud Abbey, along with her husband Henry II and their son Richard "the Lionhearted." I'll tell you more about that place next time - as seeing her abbey and resting place were in fact the main reason for my trip to Anjou last weekend.
Here is her effigy.
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