As part of the continuing research that distinguishes between strong women and “strong” women, it is worth devoting ourselves to the amazing figure of Eleanor of Aquitaine. In this context, I would like to present you with some details from her life story, and finally some insights.
Eleanor of Aquitaine becomes Queen of France and Queen of England
Aquitaine, in general, is the southwestern corner of France. The nation-state as we know it was far from being realized. We are talking about the 12th century, the height of the Middle Ages, feudalism. Dukes and counts, vassals and serfs – they are the name of the game. If such titles correspond to elegant elderly people who come to the horse races at Ascot today, once this was life itself: the Duke of Aquitaine was a strong local ruler, who gave the peasants security, and in return collected taxes. Everyone strives for power, Nietzsche taught us, and the dukes were no exception to this rule, whoever wanted to survive had to get stronger. Getting stronger meant alliances against common enemies. Everyone knew, as we do today, that an alliance is just a piece of paper, so the real foundation and the lasting alliance, since ancient times, were family and marriage.
The Duke of Aquitaine, William VIII, married the Duke of Gascony (the French Basque region) and significantly enlarged his duchy. His grandson, William X, also aspired to greatness, and in his last days married his daughter, Eleanor, to the son of the King of France, the one who would later be called Louis VII. France was then reduced to a large territory in the region of Paris Today's.
If the Middle Ages are a stigma for women of low status today, here is a completely opposite example: a 14-year-old girl inherits the richest duchy in France, and her marriage to Louis made her the queen of half of what is now France. All the heroes, knights, counts, and dukes were subject to her. Her father insisted on a very clever clause in the marriage, which would greatly strengthen her but would also complicate the situation – all her assets and estates would remain in her private possession, and would not pass to her husband.
Eleanor was an amazing girl: fearless, fearless, mastered singing and classical studies, was good at riding and archery, and had an iron will. In 1146, one of the church leaders, Berner of Lourdes, called for a second crusade to the Land of Israel. The first to respond were Louis and Eleanor. Eleanor, who had deep religious feelings, was not content with prayers and waiting for the knights, but set out with her husband at the head of the crusade. As is also the case today, long trips challenge a relationship. When they reached Antioch, on the border of modern-day Syria and Turkey, Eleanor realized that “this is not it,” and filed for divorce. Divorce, as we know, is forbidden in the Catholic Church, but this detail did not stand in her way. She went to the Pope and found that the marriage could be annulled retroactively for a technical reason. And it was carried out.
Life as a single mother was difficult, and Eleanor immediately turned to a new match, this time with Henry, Duke of Anjou. The Duke, 9 years younger than Eleanor, was strong and hot-tempered, and ruled over an area that is today's central western France. After the marriage, Eleanor was co-ruler of all of present-day western France. Henry, a man-man, was not satisfied with this and had claims to the crown of England. Britain was the Texas of the 12th century, a large, primitive, and relatively empty space that called for adventurers and invasions: Danes, Vikings, Normans, Celtic Angles, and more. Henry had justified claims, he was the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066 and ruled it. The bold one will say the future David Stirling, and so it was in this case. To the surprise of the entire world, which stood by and applauded, Henry, Duke of Anjou, became Henry II – King of England. Thus Henry and Eleanor became kings of England and the western half of France. What historians call the “Angevin Empire.” What further complicates the picture is that in the feudal hierarchy the powerful Henry was a vassal, subordinate, to Louis VII, King of France, his enemy, and his wife’s ex.
Eleanor, despite her extensive political activity, was far from being a tomboy. She fulfilled all her roles as a wife and mother, and gave birth to no less than 8 children. Five sons and three daughters. She created the first family courts, and worked to strengthen the troubadour culture, the love songs of the Middle Ages. At every opportunity, she traveled to the base of her power, to her beloved homeland of Aquitaine.
The more possessions, the more worries.
The couple's children grew up, and they had their own opinions about the empire. The father on one side, the mother, most of the boys and the nobles of France on the other. The third son stood out. His mother's favorite son, red-haired, tall (1.90m, which in the Middle Ages was Shaquille O'Neal) and brave. His name was Richard, and nicknamed "Lionheart", Henry was furious with Eleanor, and ordered her imprisoned in a castle. At the age of 50, Eleanor, Queen of England, Duchess of Anjou, Aquitaine and Gascony, was imprisoned for 15 years (!) in a castle. The conflict became an open war in which Richard won, Henry fell ill, and Eleanor was freed. In a nobly and impressive manner, on his deathbed, Henry II granted the kingdom to Richard, his enemy son, and deprived it of his favorite son, John "Countryless". When her son became king of England and half of France, aged 67, Eleanor retired back to Aquitaine. But life never ceased to challenge her.
Her son Richard went on the Third Crusade, fighting the Muslim Saladin, proved his bravery and his war skills, but was forced to return prematurely. His brother John took advantage of his absence and tried to rebel. On the way, unprepared, he was captured by a German duke who handed him over to the German emperor who took him prisoner and demanded a huge sum in return. Richard the Lionheart was a Gilad ruler. A mother is a mother. Eleanor almost went mad with worry, and at the age of seventy-two she set out on a mounted journey to collect funds for her son. She collected from farmers, monasteries, the English treasury, and subordinate nobles...Emperor Henry VI extorted from England an amount equivalent to about two years' budget - for a queen. It was paid - and Richard was set free. Curiosities about Richard: Richard the Lionheart, King of England, one of the icons that shaped her legacy. He lived in England, cumulatively, for only one year, and his language was FrenchWhen Eleanor was 80, Richard died of a battlefield wound and her youngest son, John “Landless,” ascended to power. He was so called because he remained King of England—but lost all his lands in western France. At a time when a small infection would kill a mother of 8, let alone a queen with enemies and at war—reaching the age of 82 was literally a milestone. She died, seven years later, in 1204, and was buried, like her son, Richard the Lionheart, At Fontbrough Abbey.
Eleanor's divorce from the King of France and her marriage to Henry II were to have an impact for centuries to come on the claims of the kings of England to estates in western France, and were one of the reasons for the outbreak of the French Revolution. The Hundred Years' WarIn this fascinating life story, a 14-year-old girl, heiress to a duke in a French country town, became the most powerful figure in Europe of that generation: the wife of two kings, and the mother of two kings, a participant in a crusade, and a senior participant in the political shaping, for better or worse, of Europe.
Some personal insights
- For strong women, the sky was the limit. There was never a glass ceiling. Only connections and skills mattered.
- Between partners: The encounter between two dominant partners creates “psychic” strengths (in the slang sense) and successful results, as well as bad ones on a large scale.
- Today's Europe, of nation-states, borderless, static and peace-loving, is the result of hundreds of years of war. That is why the moral discourses of European countries about "secure and recognized borders" and "peaceful solutions", about the prohibition of "dominion over another people" and the recognition of the rights of "others" are so hypocritical and ridiculous.
- Only those who succeeded in controlling others, in the evolution of history, achieved sustainable rule.
If you haven’t heard of this story, it’s perhaps because it shatters too many myths: medieval oppression, the perpetuity of nation-states, the status of women, the nation’s use of force. If you want strong women, these are not women who need postmodern crutches. For metaphorical benches to help you get through walls. For gender nonsense and the Supreme Court.
But something closer to Eleanor of Aquitaine.