On the 1st of April, 1204, Eleanor of Aquitaine died at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou, France. Born around 1122, Eleanor was not only the Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, but also the queen consort of two great medieval monarchs, first Louis VII of France, whom she married in 1137,1 and later Henry II of England,2 whom she wed in 1152 after her marriage to Louis was annulled.3 Through these unions, she became a central figure in the complex political web that linked France and England.

Eleanor was also the mother of ten children, among them two future kings of England, Richard I (the Lionheart) and John, both of whom inherited aspects of her formidable intelligence and ambition. A patron of the arts and a key political actor in her own right, she supported courtly culture and took part in major events of her era, including the Second Crusade and later the governance of England during her sons’ reigns.

In her final years, Eleanor retired to the Abbey of Fontevraud, a religious community she had long supported, where she lived quietly until her death. She was buried there beside her husband, Henry II, and her son, Richard I, an enduring testament to her role as the matriarch of the Angevin dynasty and one of the most influential women in medieval Europe.

• 1.
  
  Turner, Ralph V Eleanor Of Aquitaine: Queen Of France, Queen Of England New Haven and London Yale University Press 2011.

  p39.

• 2.
  
  Turner, Ralph V Eleanor Of Aquitaine: Queen Of France, Queen Of England New Haven and London Yale University Press 2011.

  p108.

• 3.
  
  Turner, Ralph V Eleanor Of Aquitaine: Queen Of France, Queen Of England New Haven and London Yale University Press 2011.

  p106.