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Eleanor of Aquitaine
The extraordinary life of Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204) still fascinates & intrigues historians today. Jean Flori attempts to write the full story of the queen who was determined, in spite of the huge moral, social, political & religious pressures bearing down upon her, to take charge of her own life in all its aspects.
200 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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135 people want to read
About the author
Jean Flori
49 books6 followersJean Flori est un historien français.
Docteur d'État ès lettres et sciences humaines (Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1981), directeur de recherche au CNRS, Centre d'Etudes Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale de Poitiers, spécialiste des XIe et XIIe siècle siècles et des idéologies guerrières (chevalerie, croisade, guerre sainte, jihad, eschatologie). Il est un spécialiste de la chevalerie à laquelle il a consacré sa thèse d’État soutenue en 1981.
Docteur d'État ès lettres et sciences humaines (Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1981), directeur de recherche au CNRS, Centre d'Etudes Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale de Poitiers, spécialiste des XIe et XIIe siècle siècles et des idéologies guerrières (chevalerie, croisade, guerre sainte, jihad, eschatologie). Il est un spécialiste de la chevalerie à laquelle il a consacré sa thèse d’État soutenue en 1981.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 28, 2017
Eleonora Akvitanska - akvitanska vojvodkyna, francuzska kralovna, vojvodkyna normanska, vojvodkyna z Anjou, kralovna anglicka, nezavisla zena, zena v podruci dvoch manzelov, neverna manzelka, obet doby, sudkyna na dvoroch lasky, vaznena kralovna, manzelka, matka, patronka, obet vlastnych tuzob, vzdelana kralovna, ziarliva manzelka... to vsetko bola, chcela byt, mala byt alebo to z nej urobili ludia okolo nej a po nej.
Jean Flori sa snazi splet mytov a legiend okolo Eleonory rozpliest a pozriet sa na jej zivot, osobnost i vplyv prisne na zaklade pramenov, ktore cita v kontexte doby a kulturneho prostredia. Nemilosrdne kritizuje svojich predchodcov a kolegov v ich uvazovani (najde sa i nejaka chvala samozrejme) a vo svetle pramenov hlada odpovede na mnohe otazky okolo tejto dvojnasobnej kralovnej.
V prvej polovici knihy sa venuje chronologicky zivotu Eleonory striktne na zaklade pramenov a odmieta rozne domnienky, dokonca sa vyhyba priklonom vlastnej osoby na rozne strany. V druhej polovici knihy potom rozobera najpalcivejsie momenty a otazky okolo Eleonory, rozobera rozne teorie a snazi sa hladat ich nedostatky ci naopak potvrdit zavery svojich kolegov, aby nasledne vyskladal vlastnu myslienku, ci priniesol svoju hypotezu.
Komplexne dielo, ktore ukazuje autorovu odbornost a scitanost v problematike. Bohaty poznamkovy aparat, obrovsky zoznam pramenov a literatury dokazuju, ze Flori si nedaval male ciele a osobnost Eleonory Akvitanskej rozobral skutocne podrobne venujuc sa i na prvy pohlad nedolezitym malickostiam.
Hutny text, ktory je narocny na citanie, splna podla mna najvyssie kvality hodnotnej vedeckej prace.
Jean Flori sa snazi splet mytov a legiend okolo Eleonory rozpliest a pozriet sa na jej zivot, osobnost i vplyv prisne na zaklade pramenov, ktore cita v kontexte doby a kulturneho prostredia. Nemilosrdne kritizuje svojich predchodcov a kolegov v ich uvazovani (najde sa i nejaka chvala samozrejme) a vo svetle pramenov hlada odpovede na mnohe otazky okolo tejto dvojnasobnej kralovnej.
V prvej polovici knihy sa venuje chronologicky zivotu Eleonory striktne na zaklade pramenov a odmieta rozne domnienky, dokonca sa vyhyba priklonom vlastnej osoby na rozne strany. V druhej polovici knihy potom rozobera najpalcivejsie momenty a otazky okolo Eleonory, rozobera rozne teorie a snazi sa hladat ich nedostatky ci naopak potvrdit zavery svojich kolegov, aby nasledne vyskladal vlastnu myslienku, ci priniesol svoju hypotezu.
Komplexne dielo, ktore ukazuje autorovu odbornost a scitanost v problematike. Bohaty poznamkovy aparat, obrovsky zoznam pramenov a literatury dokazuju, ze Flori si nedaval male ciele a osobnost Eleonory Akvitanskej rozobral skutocne podrobne venujuc sa i na prvy pohlad nedolezitym malickostiam.
Hutny text, ktory je narocny na citanie, splna podla mna najvyssie kvality hodnotnej vedeckej prace.
July 17, 2024
Academic, well written, if a little dry. The first half of the work is focused on Eleanor’s life while the second half takes a deeper look into what other works call her “Black Legend”: “The Antioch Incident”; Courtly Love; Eleanor’s Power and Patronage; and the use of King Arthur’s ledged by the Plantagenet Court. Flori does an excellent job of presenting what Eleanor's motivations without falling into the trap of making this work historical fiction. She backs up her conjectures with chroniclers’ documents. Eleanor comes across as a strong woman, somewhat trapped in a misogynistic culture. She fought for her Duchy, she was unwilling to be the meek submissive wife, and she challenged male authority. [If nothing else read this for chapter 10 about Antioch, which is a fascinating take on this critical moment in Eleanor's life!]
Of interest:
(1) Flori makes a strong cased that something untoward DID occur between Eleanor and her uncle (The Antioch Incident”) Of equal importance, when King Louis would not allow her to stay in Antioch, Eleanor stating she wanted to divorce Louis and her bringing up the consanguinity argument shows her taking control of her own future, to assert some independence from the king. it was usually princes who used consanguinity to end a marriage that no longer suited them once the wife had lost the bloom of youth or turned out to be unattractive or unable to produce a son. Eleanor turned the situation round, or rather she accepted it and made it work for her. It was she who made the first move, “repudiating” so to speak, her husband she considered to be more like a monk than a king.
(2) Flori also believes that Eleanor did something during Geoffrey the Fair and Henry’s visit that caused Louis to very suddenly be willing to divorce her. We do not have the exact details of what happened, but it is highly probable that something did. That something had two results: first it made Louis decide to part from Eleanor for good; Second, it made Henry decide to marry her. … For it was immediately after the two Plantagenets had stayed at the French court that Louis went with Eleanor on the progress through Aquitaine during which he would arrange for his officials to replaced by those of the Duchess with a view of the forthcoming divorce. Could it have been that in order to put pressure on the king, Eleanor had deliberately made him jealous to prove how fickle she was and even make him wonder whether any children she might have in the future would be his? Louis, we know, was chaste, but at the same time he was anxious to maintain the continuity of the Capetian line by fathering a son by the queen. But his son's legitimacy must be beyond question. … Moreover Eleanor’s extremely swift remarriage in the numerous reports suggesting that it was pre arranged also make it at least equally plausible that Henry and Eleanor had private conversations together or even intimate relations at the French court.
Other Thoughts
Odo is no more forthcoming about the serious incident in Antioch that brought the royal couple into conflict and led to their divorce. Detailed up until that point since it was intended to inform a sugar of Lewis's doings Odo’s account ends precisely at Antioch. This sudden halt then and Odo silence about everything that happened after the couple reached Antioch is significant. As are also, in a contrary sense, the various notes and comments that do inform us about what can be called the Antioch incident its causes and consequences.
He hurried to Poitiers then married Eleanor at once. The whole thing does indeed look as if it were pre arranged, organized. For how long might Henry and Eleanor have been waiting to marry? The idea of such a plan could only have arisen between them during Geoffrey the Fair and his son’s few days visit in Paris in September 1151. Some historians have thought that the plan might explain the two Angevins change of attitude: after arriving at the court an arrogant mood they ended up giving way on numerous points: freeing their prisoner Berlai, for example, confirming the king in his possession of the much coveted and disputed Vexin, and agreeing to pay homage to Louis for Normandy. That is a plausible view and it fits with evidence from contemporary documents. Eleanor let us repeat needed a protector her remarriage was first and foremost a matter of politics.
So, by quitting the throne of France to marry Henry, Eleanor became Queen of England. She could consider she had made a wise choice, politically. There had not been many eligible Royals available at the time. As to her feelings toward her new spouse, we cannot know what those were nor whether her feminine sensuality found satisfaction. At any rate we must allow, if only on the evidence of the very numerous royal births to come, that her marital bed was honored.
In spite of the consequent discreet silences or rhetorical evasions, usually attributable to the chroniclers diplomatic or courtly prudence, Eleanor’s part in the young King's revolt is quite evident and usually mentioned. In the case of Richard and Jeffries plot her responsibility is even clearer. In any case it is hard to see how, without her, the first of the two, then aged 15, or the second younger still, could have made the decision to join their brother at the French court.
Eleanor then had several grounds for feeling bitter towards her husband. On top of marital discord, recently exacerbated, there were the more political motives mentioned earlier. The question historians often ask is not so much why there was a revolt as why it began when it did in 1173. There are several reasons why this may have seemed like a good moment. At that point Eleanor may have feared not only being supplanted by Rosamund Clifford but also being ousted from the English throne in favor of a rival. In addition, she felt that her authority was threatened in her own lands, with Raymond of Toulouse paying homage to Henry II and the young Henry in February of that year for a region she considered part of her dutchy of Aquitaine. Also her son Richard, to whom she had handed over her dutchy, had been demoted to 3rd place in the power chain in spite of his father's promises and the solemn investitures that have confirmed him as Duke of Aquitaine.
And so the Antoich incident requires our attention. The more so because it coloured the image of Eleanor that the Chroniclers tried to create and was probably what stared her “dark legend” And if it did, I am sure it was because Eleanor (a woman!) had dared to take a political decision on the basis of her own feelings, to behave like a fully paid-up human being, thus assuming responsibilities that the chroniclers, who shared the mindsets of their time, were not prepared to allow to a wife who was supposed to be not exactly passive, but docile, to submit to her husband in private and refrain from taking the initiative in public … Eleanor did not fit into that constrictive mould
Of interest:
(1) Flori makes a strong cased that something untoward DID occur between Eleanor and her uncle (The Antioch Incident”) Of equal importance, when King Louis would not allow her to stay in Antioch, Eleanor stating she wanted to divorce Louis and her bringing up the consanguinity argument shows her taking control of her own future, to assert some independence from the king. it was usually princes who used consanguinity to end a marriage that no longer suited them once the wife had lost the bloom of youth or turned out to be unattractive or unable to produce a son. Eleanor turned the situation round, or rather she accepted it and made it work for her. It was she who made the first move, “repudiating” so to speak, her husband she considered to be more like a monk than a king.
(2) Flori also believes that Eleanor did something during Geoffrey the Fair and Henry’s visit that caused Louis to very suddenly be willing to divorce her. We do not have the exact details of what happened, but it is highly probable that something did. That something had two results: first it made Louis decide to part from Eleanor for good; Second, it made Henry decide to marry her. … For it was immediately after the two Plantagenets had stayed at the French court that Louis went with Eleanor on the progress through Aquitaine during which he would arrange for his officials to replaced by those of the Duchess with a view of the forthcoming divorce. Could it have been that in order to put pressure on the king, Eleanor had deliberately made him jealous to prove how fickle she was and even make him wonder whether any children she might have in the future would be his? Louis, we know, was chaste, but at the same time he was anxious to maintain the continuity of the Capetian line by fathering a son by the queen. But his son's legitimacy must be beyond question. … Moreover Eleanor’s extremely swift remarriage in the numerous reports suggesting that it was pre arranged also make it at least equally plausible that Henry and Eleanor had private conversations together or even intimate relations at the French court.
Other Thoughts
Odo is no more forthcoming about the serious incident in Antioch that brought the royal couple into conflict and led to their divorce. Detailed up until that point since it was intended to inform a sugar of Lewis's doings Odo’s account ends precisely at Antioch. This sudden halt then and Odo silence about everything that happened after the couple reached Antioch is significant. As are also, in a contrary sense, the various notes and comments that do inform us about what can be called the Antioch incident its causes and consequences.
He hurried to Poitiers then married Eleanor at once. The whole thing does indeed look as if it were pre arranged, organized. For how long might Henry and Eleanor have been waiting to marry? The idea of such a plan could only have arisen between them during Geoffrey the Fair and his son’s few days visit in Paris in September 1151. Some historians have thought that the plan might explain the two Angevins change of attitude: after arriving at the court an arrogant mood they ended up giving way on numerous points: freeing their prisoner Berlai, for example, confirming the king in his possession of the much coveted and disputed Vexin, and agreeing to pay homage to Louis for Normandy. That is a plausible view and it fits with evidence from contemporary documents. Eleanor let us repeat needed a protector her remarriage was first and foremost a matter of politics.
So, by quitting the throne of France to marry Henry, Eleanor became Queen of England. She could consider she had made a wise choice, politically. There had not been many eligible Royals available at the time. As to her feelings toward her new spouse, we cannot know what those were nor whether her feminine sensuality found satisfaction. At any rate we must allow, if only on the evidence of the very numerous royal births to come, that her marital bed was honored.
In spite of the consequent discreet silences or rhetorical evasions, usually attributable to the chroniclers diplomatic or courtly prudence, Eleanor’s part in the young King's revolt is quite evident and usually mentioned. In the case of Richard and Jeffries plot her responsibility is even clearer. In any case it is hard to see how, without her, the first of the two, then aged 15, or the second younger still, could have made the decision to join their brother at the French court.
Eleanor then had several grounds for feeling bitter towards her husband. On top of marital discord, recently exacerbated, there were the more political motives mentioned earlier. The question historians often ask is not so much why there was a revolt as why it began when it did in 1173. There are several reasons why this may have seemed like a good moment. At that point Eleanor may have feared not only being supplanted by Rosamund Clifford but also being ousted from the English throne in favor of a rival. In addition, she felt that her authority was threatened in her own lands, with Raymond of Toulouse paying homage to Henry II and the young Henry in February of that year for a region she considered part of her dutchy of Aquitaine. Also her son Richard, to whom she had handed over her dutchy, had been demoted to 3rd place in the power chain in spite of his father's promises and the solemn investitures that have confirmed him as Duke of Aquitaine.
And so the Antoich incident requires our attention. The more so because it coloured the image of Eleanor that the Chroniclers tried to create and was probably what stared her “dark legend” And if it did, I am sure it was because Eleanor (a woman!) had dared to take a political decision on the basis of her own feelings, to behave like a fully paid-up human being, thus assuming responsibilities that the chroniclers, who shared the mindsets of their time, were not prepared to allow to a wife who was supposed to be not exactly passive, but docile, to submit to her husband in private and refrain from taking the initiative in public … Eleanor did not fit into that constrictive mould
February 10, 2021
La mejor biografía posible para entender lo que se conoce y se cree conocer de Leonor de Aquitania, acudiendo constantemente a las fuentes y corrientes históricas que la han interpretado.
Si bien se trata de una biografía bastante larga, en comparación con otras del mismo personaje, es bastante completa y además separa claramente las certezas de las incertidumbres. Acude asimismo a las obras literarias contemporáneas al personaje para establecer el paralelismo entre la ficción y lo real, en una realidad en la que aún era difícil separar ambos mundos.
Es sin duda la obra más completa y actualizada de Leonor de Aquitania y la recomiendo encarecidamente a todo aquel que quiera conocer algo mejor a este personaje histórico. Ahora bien, recomiendo leerla fuera de todo prejuicio, pues el autor desmonta concienzudamente todos aquellos estereotipos y fantasías que se han construido sobre Leonor desde su vida hasta la actualidad.
Si bien se trata de una biografía bastante larga, en comparación con otras del mismo personaje, es bastante completa y además separa claramente las certezas de las incertidumbres. Acude asimismo a las obras literarias contemporáneas al personaje para establecer el paralelismo entre la ficción y lo real, en una realidad en la que aún era difícil separar ambos mundos.
Es sin duda la obra más completa y actualizada de Leonor de Aquitania y la recomiendo encarecidamente a todo aquel que quiera conocer algo mejor a este personaje histórico. Ahora bien, recomiendo leerla fuera de todo prejuicio, pues el autor desmonta concienzudamente todos aquellos estereotipos y fantasías que se han construido sobre Leonor desde su vida hasta la actualidad.
July 29, 2015
A very readable, scholarly work that gives a detailed account of Eleanor's life. Not anywhere near as bloaty as many works, your eyeballs won't dry up and fall out of your head. It's divided into two parts, the common, widely held history with some caveats thrown in and a second part that lists some of the controversies surrounding Eleanor's life story. Definitely a strong female in a time most patriarchal. And why read Game of Thrones when you can read about the mostly slimy Plantagenents? This book G.O.T.s that feeling, it would make a great Kingmaker variation.
April 15, 2021
Very comprehensive coverage of both Eleanor's biographical life, and the "dark legend" surrounding her. I really enjoyed Flori's writing style, and think she did an excellent job of making an often complex and confusing topic (all the intricacies of 12th century society) easily understood.
October 25, 2025
Biografía erudita y exhaustiva de Leonor de Aquitania; inevitablemente, algo lenta y pantanosa. El autor no se limita a exponer sus tesis, sino que recoge prácticamente todas las ideas, legítimas o no, que existen en torno a la figura de Leonor, y las contrasta con las fuentes primarias de que disponemos. Estoy seguro de que, pese a haber sido escrito hace ya veinte años, presenta el más completo estado de la cuestión que puede encontrarse.
Desde el punto de vista de su estructura, el libro se divide en dos grandes bloques.
El primero recoge los hechos de la vida de Leonor, con las obligadas referencias contextuales, en un orden cronológico y centrándose en lo que conocemos positivamente, sin renunciar a las distintas interpretaciones que de ello podamos hacer, empezando por el papel efectivo que juega la reina en cada uno de esos eventos. Constituye, por tanto, una biografía al uso.
El autor reserva para la segunda mitad de la obra aquellas cuestiones que permanecen casi plenamente abiertas. Primero, el incidente en Antioquía, que, pese a referirse a un hecho de la vida de Leonor, es tan ambiguo y disputado que merece una sección aparte. Después, el papel que juega la reina en el mecenazgo de las artes en general y, en particular, la influencia ejercida por su figura en el desarrollo de la corriente del amor cortés, que supera lo estrictamente literario para convertirse en una ética para sus contemporáneos, y en una categoría de análisis histórico y cultural para los historiadores. Por último, y sin salir del ámbito de la cultura, Flori explora la relación entre la corte Plantagenet y el desarrollo de una leyenda artúrica que, en esa época, se aleja de su original formulación britana para acercarse al nuevo mundo anglonormando e, incluso, fundirse con los romances en clave cortés, a partir, por ejemplo, de la historia de amor prohibido entre Lancelot y la reina Ginebra.
Aunque es un texto completísimo e instructivo, solo me parece recomendable para los estudiosos del tema o para aquellos aficionados que, ya iniciados en la lectura de obras de historiografía, sientan un profundo interés por el personaje y su época.
Desde el punto de vista de su estructura, el libro se divide en dos grandes bloques.
El primero recoge los hechos de la vida de Leonor, con las obligadas referencias contextuales, en un orden cronológico y centrándose en lo que conocemos positivamente, sin renunciar a las distintas interpretaciones que de ello podamos hacer, empezando por el papel efectivo que juega la reina en cada uno de esos eventos. Constituye, por tanto, una biografía al uso.
El autor reserva para la segunda mitad de la obra aquellas cuestiones que permanecen casi plenamente abiertas. Primero, el incidente en Antioquía, que, pese a referirse a un hecho de la vida de Leonor, es tan ambiguo y disputado que merece una sección aparte. Después, el papel que juega la reina en el mecenazgo de las artes en general y, en particular, la influencia ejercida por su figura en el desarrollo de la corriente del amor cortés, que supera lo estrictamente literario para convertirse en una ética para sus contemporáneos, y en una categoría de análisis histórico y cultural para los historiadores. Por último, y sin salir del ámbito de la cultura, Flori explora la relación entre la corte Plantagenet y el desarrollo de una leyenda artúrica que, en esa época, se aleja de su original formulación britana para acercarse al nuevo mundo anglonormando e, incluso, fundirse con los romances en clave cortés, a partir, por ejemplo, de la historia de amor prohibido entre Lancelot y la reina Ginebra.
Aunque es un texto completísimo e instructivo, solo me parece recomendable para los estudiosos del tema o para aquellos aficionados que, ya iniciados en la lectura de obras de historiografía, sientan un profundo interés por el personaje y su época.
October 14, 2023
It was one of those books that drags and you actually suffer to end.
I can't say I like it, but I give it two stars because at least is was the most factual take on Eleanor's life I have ever read.
I can't say I like it, but I give it two stars because at least is was the most factual take on Eleanor's life I have ever read.
August 7, 2020
Ésta biografía de Jean Flori, explora la vida y los hechos del personaje de Leonor de Aquitania (1124-1204), personaje que sigue intrigando y fascinando a los historiadores por el liderazgo y control de ejerció sobre el reino de Inglaterra y de su propia vida. Una mujer culta e inteligente, adelantada a su época y negada a tener un papel pasivo en la historia. Un libro denso que detalla más que los hechos, analiza el contexto de los rumores y leyendas que rodean su figura, sobre todo para entender lo que se escribió sobre ella desde un punto de vista de la época machista y misógeno.
Reseña completa sobre Leonor en el blog:
https://elmundodeeleanor.wordpress.co...
Reseña completa sobre Leonor en el blog:
https://elmundodeeleanor.wordpress.co...
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