Eleanor Of Aquitaine Essay

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Eleanor of Aquitaine was the daughter of Duke William X of Aquitaine. Due to such a high position, Eleanor was born with more rights than a lot of women during that time period. Compared to today’s standards, however, she had virtually no rights. Through her powerful position, Eleanor was able to slightly change the view of women during her time period. Eleanor was born in 1122 in Aquitaine, a part of southern France that was larger than the land the King of France ruled over. Unlike much of Europe during that time, Aquitaine gave many rights to women. Women in Aquitaine could inherit land and rule over it by themselves, something that would later be important in Eleanor’s life. Being her father’s oldest child, Eleanor was severely spoiled and was taught to read and write. Once she was 14, her father decided to go on a pilgrimage, so he had all of his vassals swear homage to Eleanor as the heiress of Poitou, Aquitaine, and Gascony and made Eleanor a ward of the King of France, Louis VI. William died during his pilgrimage and not long afterwards, Eleanor married the prince of France, Louis, in 1137. After Louis and Eleanor were married, Eleanor went to Paris with Louis. Not long after they arrived, Louis VI died and Louis and Eleanor …show more content…

Many people plotted to kidnap her, so she sent letters to Henry of Anjou telling him to marry her. After this decision, she had her chief vassals renew their allegiance to her and approve of her choice of husband. As vassals of the king of France, Eleanor and Henry both had to get Louis’s approval before they were married, but they decided not to. Unlike Eleanor and Louis, Eleanor and Henry were well matched. They were both intelligent, ambitious, strong-willed, and very sexual. Henry’s dominance did not work in Eleanor’s favor, however, because he confined her to the domestic sphere from the start and only gave her rule of her own lands if it helped