Eleanor Of Aquitaine Essay

Eleanor of Aquitaine (also known as Eleanor of Guyenne) was one strongest and most influential woman of her time, who contributed a plethora of movements to society (“Eleanor of Aquitaine | Queen Consort of France and England”). She introduced countless ideas to the culture of the Middle Ages, for which it is so strongly associated with; from her social instructions of her story The Act of Courtly Love to her being a major role in the fighting of a Crusade. Eleanor was a woman of strong stature and was feared throughout her time in English culture, as she also had a strong influence in the many political matters of England while being married to two Kings, and being as opinionated as she was, most likely had a strong say in the governing of

Eleanor of Aquitaine was an important individual in all of history because she not only questioned current ideals, but she influenced the direction of what society would evolve into, pushing these boundaries, as a woman. Eleanor was born into the lap of luxury at a very young age, born in Southern France, and around the time of 1122. Her father was William, Duke of Aquitaine, so she was extremely well educated as her father had an interest in a variety of cultures. Under her father, Eleanor was also extremely active as she become a skilled horsewoman, that is until her father’s death at 15, when she was ushered as the Duchess of Aquitaine and became a prime woman for marriage (“Eleanor of Aquitaine”). When her father died in 1337, Eleanor was put under the guidance of the King of France, and in the July of that year, she married Louis, the son of the King of France, making her the next queen of France (“Eleanor of Aquitaine | Queen Consort of France and England”). Even with marriage, Louis and Eleanor had very little time to get to know each other before Louis’ father had gotten ill and died. Eleanor was brought to Paris to be her brand new home, and later that year on Christmas Day, Eleanor and Louis were crowned the royal

She was rumored to have fooled around with her new husband’s father, however, the marriage went swimmingly, and the two were crowned the new King and Queen of England, two years after becoming married (“Eleanor of Aquitaine”). The marriage was overall still much better than Eleanor’s last, but that does not mean they did not argue, because they did. It isn’t specifically known to what extent Eleanor had in applying herself during Henry’s ruling, but we can assume she would have involved herself to a great extent, for eventually she split with Henry and removed herself down to her own lands in Poitiers during roughly 1167. Eleanor’s time she spent in Poitiers was just the time she needed to create a legend of guidelines known as The Act of Courtly Love, which served as an explanation of how knights should behave around the company of noblewomen (it is important to note noblewomen, as women of lower social classes, according to Eleanor, did not deserve the same amount of respect and courtesy). She served an incredibly important role in almost transforming her town of Poitiers into a model of manners and chivalry, as well as a center of poetry. In her book, she mentioned much of how men of true demeanor were supposed to be able to do a multitude of different abilities including, but not limited to,