Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1122?-1204, queen consort first of Louis VII of France and then of Henry II of England. Daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine, she married Louis in 1137 shortly before his accession to the throne. She accompanied him on the Second Crusade (1147-49). Eleanor bore Louis two daughters, but in 1152 their marriage was annulled. Soon afterward Eleanor married Henry, duke of Normandy and count of Anjou, uniting her vast possessions with those of her husband. Louis VII feared this powerful combination, and when Henry ascended the English throne in 1154, the stage was set for a long struggle between the English and French kings. Eleanor bore Henry three daughters and five sons, and two of the latter, Richard I and John, became kings of England. Because of Henry's infidelities, especially his relationship with Rosamond, Eleanor's relations with her husband grew strained, and in 1170 she established a court of her own at Poitiers. She supported her sons in their unsuccessful revolt against Henry in 1173 and was held in confinement by Henry until 1185. Her efforts helped Richard secure the throne in 1189. While Richard was on the Third Crusade and later held captive in Europe (1190-94), Eleanor was active in forestalling the plots against him by his brother John and in collecting the ransom for his release. She brought about a reconciliation between the two brothers, and on Richard's death in 1199 she supported John's claims to the throne over those of Arthur I of Brittany. Eleanor's court at Poitiers was the scene of much artistic activity and was noted for its cultivation of courtly manners and the concept of courtly love. She was the patroness of such literary figures as Wace, Benoǐt de Sainte-More, and Chrétien de Troyes. In literature Eleanor has appeared as the jealous murderess of the "fair Rosamond," but she was apparently innocent of this crime. She was an able and strong-minded woman.

Aquitaine, Lat. Aquitania, former duchy and kingdom in SW France. Julius Caesar conquered the Aquitani, an Iberian people of SW Gaul, in 56 B.C. The province that he created occupied the territory between the Garonne River and the Pyrenees; under Roman rule it was extended northward and eastward almost as far as the Loire River. It had been thoroughly Romanized when it was occupied (5th cent.) by the Visigoths, and the persistence of Latin culture made it a rich but indigestible addition to the Frankish realm after the defeat (507) of the Visigoths by the Frankish ruler Clovis I. In the chaotic strife among Clovis's successors, much of Aquitaine escaped Frankish control. After the separation of Gascony from Aquitaine (7th cent.), the area N of the Garonne was considered Aquitaine proper.

From 670, Aquitaine was ruled by semi-independent native dukes, but an Arab invasion (718) forced the Aquitanian duke Eudes to seek the protection of the Frankish ruler Charles Martel, who defeated (732) the Arabs. In 781, Charlemagne, who subdued the native nobles, made Aquitaine into a kingdom for his son Louis (later emperor of the West Louis I). After the death (838) of Louis's son Pepin I, Louis added Aquitaine to the West Frankish kingdom of Neustria (France) and granted it to his youngest son Charles the Bald (Charles II, emperor of the West). A group of Aquitanian nobles made Pepin's young son, Pepin II, king, and a struggle for control ensued between Charles and the Aquitanians (840-52; 862-65). Charles was the eventual victor. During this period Aquitaine was subject to attacks by both Normans and Muslims. The repeated invasions, combined with the civil wars, weakened Carolingian control over Aquitaine, despite Charles the Bald's victory over Pepin II. Charles's successors were forced to recognize the hereditary rights of a number of independent noble families, and during the 10th cent. royal influence virtually disappeared.

After 973 the counts of Poitou bore the title of duke of Aquitaine; their control beyond Poitou, however, was not realized for many years. In the 11th cent. the dukes of Aquitaine expanded at the expense of their weaker neighbors, establishing themselves over all Aquitaine and Gascony. The new duchy of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful states in western Europe. The marriage (1137) of Eleanor of Aquitaine to French king Louis VII joined Aquitaine to France. Eleanor's subsequent marriage to Henry II, duke of Normandy, who became king of England in 1154, initiated a long struggle between France and England for possession of Aquitaine. Henry and his successors held Aquitaine in vassalage from the kings of France. Over the years, however, France regained various parts of Aquitaine from England, and in the Hundred Years War France recovered all of Aquitaine. After its recovery, Aquitaine was constituted as the French province of Guienne, a name that had been used interchangeably with Aquitaine for many years.

(born circa 1122—died April 1, 1204, Fontevrault, Anjou, Fr.) Queen consort of Louis VII of France (1137–80) and Henry II of England (1152–89), the most powerful woman of 12th-century Europe. She inherited the duchy of Aquitaine and married the heir to the French throne. Beautiful, capricious, and strong-willed, she accompanied Louis on the Second Crusade (1147–49), and her conduct aroused his jealousy. The marriage was annulled (1152), and she married Henry Plantagenet, soon to be Henry II; the marriage united England, Normandy, and western France under his rule. She bore Henry five sons, including the future kings Richard I the Lionheart and John Lackland, and three daughters who married into other royal houses. Her court at Poitiers became a centre of culture, fostering the poetry of the troubadours. She may have spurred her sons to revolt against Henry (1173); when the rebellion failed she was captured and confined until his death (1189). She was active in government during the reign of Richard I, ruling during his crusade to the Holy Land and ransoming him from Austria. After Richard died (1199) and John became king, she saved Anjou and Aquitaine for John against French threats, then retired to the monastery at Fontevrault.

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Historical region, southwestern France. It was roughly equivalent to Aquitania, the Roman division of southwestern Gaul, which consisted of the area between the Pyrenees Mountains and the Garonne River. Conquered by Clovis in AD 507, it was later made a subkingdom by Charlemagne in the 8th century. After the Carolingian decline, it became a powerful duchy, which by the 10th century controlled much of France south of the Loire. It passed to the Capetian line when Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII (1137); on her second marriage, to Henry II of England (1152), it passed to the English Plantagenets. The name Guyenne, a corruption of Aquitaine, came into use in the 10th century, and the subsequent history of Aquitaine is merged with that of Gascony and Guyenne.

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