She inherited the duchy of Aquitaine from her father in 1137, the same
year in which she was married to Louis VII of France. She accompanied her
husband on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land, where it was rumored that
she committed adultery. The scandal, and the fact that she had not given
the king a male heir, resulted in an annulment of their marriage in 1152
under the pretext of blood kinship between her and the king. Later that
year, Eleanor married and gave her possessions to Henry Plantagenet, count
of Anjou, who in 1154 became Henry II, king of England. In 1170, the queen
induced her husband to invest their son Richard the Lion-Hearted with her
personal dominions of Gascony, Aquitaine, and Poitou. When Richard and his
brothers rebelled against their father in 1173, Eleanor, already alienated
from the king because of his unfaithfulness, supported her sons.
Consequently, she was placed in confinement until 1185. After her release,
she secured the succession of her son Richard, who had become heir
apparent at the death in 1183 of his eldest brother. From the death of
King Henry II in 1189 until Richard's return from the Third Crusade in
1194, Eleanor ruled as regent. During this time, she foiled the attempt of
her son John in 1193 to conspire with France against the new king. After
the return of Richard, she arranged a reconciliation between the two
brothers. Eleanor continued to be prominent in public affairs until she
retired to the abbey in Fontevrault, France, where she died.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Duchess of Aquitaine

Born: ABT 1122, Chateau de Belin, Guinne, France
Acceded: 19 DEC 1154, Westminster Abbey, London, England
Died: 1 APR 1204, Fontevraud Abbey, Maine-et-Loire, France
Interred: Fontevraud Abbey, Maine-et-Loire, France
Notes:
Other sources say she died 26 Jun 1202 and she was born Chateau de Belin.
Burke thinks she died 1162.
Countess of Saintonge, Angoumois, Limousin, Auvergne, Bordeaux, Agen.

Father: , William X the Toulousan of Aquitaine, Duke of Aquitaine, b. 1099


Mother: de Rochefoucauld, Eleanor Châtellérault, b. 1103


Married 22 JUL 1137, Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, France ANNULMENT 1152 to Capet, Louis VII the Younger of France, King of France


Child 1: Capet, Mary of France, b. 1145
Child 2: Capet, Alisa, b. 1150


Married 18 MAY 1152, Bordeaux Cathedral, Bordeaux, France to FitzEmpress, Henry II Curtmantle, King of England


Child 3: , William, Count of Poitiers, b. 17 AUG 1152
Child 4: , Henry the Young King, King of England, b. 28 FEB 1155
Child 5: , Matilda (Maud), b. JUN 1156
Child 6: , Richard I Coeur de Lion, King of England, b. 8 SEP 1157
Child 7: Plantagenet, Geoffrey II of Bretagne, Duke of Brittany, b. 23 SEP 1158
Child 8: Plantagenet, Eleanor, b. 13 OCT 1162
Child 9: Plantagenet, Joan, b. OCT 1165
Child 10: , John I Lackland, King of England, b. 24 DEC 1167

• Married: 18 May 1152 in Poitiers,France

1. John I PLANTAGENET b: 24 Dec 1167 in Beaumont Palace,Oxford,England