Duchess Of Aquitaine

Author : Margaret Ball
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 142990139X
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Duchess of Aquitaine written by Margaret Ball and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Love is for peasants," Eleanor said. "We make alliances. And I intend to make a very good one." Beautiful and brilliant, Eleanor is the daughter of the duke of Aquitaine, whose glittering court is the twelfth-century birthplace of courtly love. For all of the duke's boasts that Eleanor has the brains of a man and the soul of a warrior, everyone knows that a girl of fifteen cannot possibly hold the richest dukedom in France. Everyone, that is, except for her dying father, who insists on leaving Eleanor his most valuable provinces—and making her prey to the first baron who rides in to kidnap her. In order to safeguard her lands and her life, Eleanor devises a scheme to marry the heir to the throne of France. But she must learn to be careful what she wishes for. Eleanor's alliance to Louis VII may be a dazzling one, but her husband is a cautious man, originally intended for the priesthood, whose wit and courage do not always match Eleanor's own; and she ultimately finds herself seeking an even greater match with Henry II of England. Sweeping from the courts of Paris to the perils of the Crusades, Duchess of Aquitaine gloriously illuminates the life of one of the most powerful, resourceful, and fascinating women in all of history.

Author : Ralph V. Turner
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300159897
Total Pages : 626 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Eleanor of Aquitaine written by Ralph V. Turner and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-16 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eleanor of Aquitaine’s extraordinary life seems more likely to be found in the pages of fiction. Proud daughter of a distinguished French dynasty, she married the king of France, Louis VII, then the king of England, Henry II, and gave birth to two sons who rose to take the English throne—Richard the Lionheart and John. Renowned for her beauty, hungry for power, headstrong, and unconventional, Eleanor traveled on crusades, acted as regent for Henry II and later for Richard, incited rebellion, endured a fifteen-year imprisonment, and as an elderly widow still wielded political power with energy and enthusiasm. This gripping biography is the definitive account of the most important queen of the Middle Ages. Ralph Turner, a leading historian of the twelfth century, strips away the myths that have accumulated around Eleanor—the “black legend” of her sexual appetite, for example—and challenges the accounts that relegate her to the shadows of the kings she married and bore. Turner focuses on a wealth of primary sources, including a collection of Eleanor’s own documents not previously accessible to scholars, and portrays a woman who sought control of her own destiny in the face of forceful resistance. A queen of unparalleled appeal, Eleanor of Aquitaine retains her power to fascinate even 800 years after her death.

Author : Susan Signe-Morrison
Publisher : Oxbow Books
ISBN 13 : 1785700804
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Medieval Woman's Companion written by Susan Signe-Morrison and published by Oxbow Books. This book was released on 2015-11-30 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What have a deaf nun, the mother of the first baby born to Europeans in North America, and a condemned heretic to do with one another? They are among the virtuous virgins, marvelous maidens, and fierce feminists of the Middle Ages who trail-blazed paths for women today. Without those first courageous souls who worked in fields dominated by men, women might not have the presence they currently do in professions such as education, the law, and literature. Focusing on women from Western Europe between c. 300 and 1500 CE in the medieval period and richly carpeted with detail, A Medieval Woman’s Companion offers a wealth of information about real medieval women who are now considered vital for understanding the Middle Ages in a full and nuanced way. Short biographies of 20 medieval women illustrate how they have anticipated and shaped current concerns, including access to education; creative emotional outlets such as art, theater, romantic fiction, and music; marriage and marital rights; fertility, pregnancy, childbirth, contraception and gynecology; sex trafficking and sexual violence; the balance of work and family; faith; and disability. Their legacy abides until today in attitudes to contemporary women that have their roots in the medieval period. The final chapter suggests how 20th and 21st century feminist and gender theories can be applied to and complicated by medieval women's lives and writings. Doubly marginalized due to gender and the remoteness of the time period, medieval women’s accomplishments are acknowledged and presented in a way that readers can appreciate and find inspiring. Ideal for high school and college classroom use in courses ranging from history and literature to women's and gender studies, an accompanying website with educational links, images, downloadable curriculum guide, and interactive blog will be made available at the time of publication.

Author : Alison Weir
Publisher : Ballantine Books
ISBN 13 : 030783185X
Total Pages : 620 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Eleanor of Aquitaine written by Alison Weir and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2012-12-05 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this beautifully written biography, Alison Weir paints a vibrant portrait of a truly exceptional woman and provides new insights into her intimate world. Renowned in her time for being the most beautiful woman in Europe, the wife of two kings and mother of three, Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the great heroines of the Middle Ages. At a time when women were regarded as little more than chattel, Eleanor managed to defy convention as she exercised power in the political sphere and crucial influence over her husbands and sons. Eleanor of Aquitaine lived a long life of many contrasts, of splendor and desolation, power and peril, and in this stunning narrative, Weir captures the woman—and the queen—in all her glory. With astonishing historic detail, mesmerizing pageantry, and irresistible accounts of royal scandal and intrigue, she recreates not only a remarkable personality but a magnificent past era.

Author : Rachel A. Koestler-Grack
Publisher : Infobase Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1438104162
Total Pages : 164 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Eleanor of Aquitaine written by Rachel A. Koestler-Grack and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In addition to being queen consort of both Louis VII of France and Henry II of England, she was also the mother of Richard I the Lion-Heart and John of England.

Author : Alison Weir
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Eleanor of Aquitaine written by Alison Weir and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine was one of the leading personalities of the Middle Ages, and also one of the most controversial. Married in turn Louis VII of France and Henry II of England, she was the mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John. She lived to be eight-two and became the virtual ruler of England.

Author : Desmond Seward
Publisher : Hippocrene Books
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Eleanor of Aquitaine written by Desmond Seward and published by Hippocrene Books. This book was released on 1978 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine (ca.1122-1204) one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. First, she became First Lady of France as the wife of Louis VII, and then First Lady of England when she next married Henry II. Many saw her as a ruthless hellcat, governed by a lust for power, who schemed against her husband and dominated the lives of her sons, Richard the Lionheart and King John. Shakespeare portrayed her as a "monstrous injurer of heaven and earth." Yet there was another side to this powerful queen consort. Worshipped by men and idealized in the songs of the troubadours, she was the sex symbol of her age. She also became renowned as a generous and strong ruler, throwing off the constraints that shackled twelfth-century women. Among her achievements was her patronage of the abbey at Fontevrault, a refuge for battered wives

Author : Régine Pernoud
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 310 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Eleanor of Aquitaine written by Régine Pernoud and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By Robert Fripp on August 31, 2008.

Author : William W. Kibler
Publisher : University of Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 1477300244
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.44/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Eleanor of Aquitaine written by William W. Kibler and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2014-07-03 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eleanor of Aquitaine was the wife of two kings, Louis VII of France and Henry II Plantagenet of England, and the mother of two others, Richard the Lionhearted and John Lackland. In her eventful, often stormy life, she not only influenced the course of events in the twelfth century but also encouraged remarkable advances in the literary and fine arts. In this book, experts in five disciplines—history, art history, music, French and English literature—evaluate the influence of Eleanor and her court on history and the arts. Elizabeth A. R. Brown views Eleanor as having played a significant role as parent and politician, but not as patron. Rebecca A. Baltzer takes a new look at the music of the period that was written by and for Eleanor, her court, and her family. Moshé Lazar reexamines her relationship to the courtly-love literature of the period. Eleanor S. Greenhill and Larry M. Ayres reassess her influence in the realm of art history. Rossell Hope Robbins traces the lines extending from the French courtly literature of Eleanor's period down into fourteenth-century Chaucerian England. The essays reflect divergent but generally complementary assessments of this remarkable woman's influence on her own era and on future times as well. This volume is the result of a symposium held at the University of Texas in 1973.

Author : Amy Kelly
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674417445
Total Pages : 452 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings written by Amy Kelly and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1991-01-01 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of that amazingly influential and still somewhat mysterious woman, Eleanor of Aquitaine, has the dramatic interest of a novel. She was at the very center of the rich culture and clashing politics of the twelfth century. Richest marriage prize of the Middle Ages, she was Queen of France as the wife of Louis VII, and went with him on the exciting and disastrous Second Crusade. Inspiration of troubadours and trouvères, she played a large part in rendering fashionable the Courts of Love and in establishing the whole courtly tradition of medieval times. Divorced from Louis, she married Henry Plantagenet, who became Henry II of England. Her resources and resourcefulness helped Henry win his throne, she was involved in the conflict over Thomas Becket, and, after Henry’s death, she handled the affairs of the Angevin empire with a sagacity that brought her the trust and confidence of popes and kings and emperors. Having been first a Capet and then a Plantagenet, Queen Eleanor was the central figure in the bitter rivalry between those houses for the control of their continental domains—a rivalry that excited the whole period: after Henry’s death, her sons, Richard Coeur-de-Lion and John “Lackland” (of Magna Carta fame), fiercely pursued the feud up to and even beyond the end of the century. But the dynastic struggle of the period was accompanied by other stirrings: the intellectual revolt, the struggle between church and state, the secularization of literature and other arts, the rise of the distinctive urban culture of the great cities. Eleanor was concerned with all the movements, closely connected with all the personages; and she knew every city from London and Paris to Byzantium, Jerusalem, and Rome. Amy Kelly’s story of the queen’s long life—the first modern biography—brings together more authentic information about her than has ever been assembled before and reveals in Eleanor a greatness of vision, an intelligence, and a political sagacity that have been missed by those who have dwelt on her caprice and frivolity. It also brings to life the whole period in whose every aspect Eleanor and her four kings were so intimately and influentially involved. Miss Kelly tells Eleanor’s absorbing story as it has long waited to be told—with verve and style and a sense of the quality of life in those times, and yet with a scrupulous care for the historic facts.