Eleanor of Aquitaine served as both Queen of France and England, bore children to kings of both countries, and was the mother of two future kings of England, Richard and John. Eventually, Eleanor became known as ôEleanor the Eagle,ö because she had fulfilled a prophesy that went: ôThe eagle of the broken bond shall rejoice in the third nestling.ö The image of the eagle represented EleanorÆs arms, which like wings spread out over two kingdoms. The broken bond referred to her dissolved marriages to Louis VII and Henry II, and her rise to prominence stemmed from the efforts of her third son, John. Despite the license often taken with depicting historical figures in popular media, popular film depictions of Eleanor of Aquitaine are quite similar to actual history. This analysis will discuss the similarities of Eleanor of Aquitaine, as portrayed by historians and biographers and in the popular film The Lion in Winter.
Eleanor of Aquitaine became the Duchess of Aquitaine at the age of fifteen, after her brother and mother died within a short span of each other. Her fatherÆs death necessitated a crisis of rule of Aquitaine. In France, King Louis the Fat was given basically parental rights over Eleanor by her father, Duke William X. Louis the Fat, having lost his eldest son and heir to the throne, promptly arranged for the marriage of Eleanor to his younger son, who in short order would become King Louis VII. As the Queen of France, Eleanor involved herself in political affairs, fighting her husband over policy issues and engaging in the Crusades. She provided Louis with two surviving children, both daughters. By all accounts an atypical 12th century medieval woman, Eleanor was not content to play mother or stay at home. She offered 1000 of her Aquitaine vassals to the cause of the Crusades, while mounting a nursing unit of 300 of her ladies-in-waiting to tend to the wounded.
By all accounts the Queen of France was ...