Sophie (age 7) & Ellie (age 5) tell of Eleanor of Aquitaine. In a time of knights and castles, men rule. But Eleanor is Duchess of Aquitaine - no one is telling her what to do.----more----
 
800 years ago Eleanor became Duchess of Aquitaine in South West France. It was a time of Knights and Castles. But the King of France, Louis the Fat, didn’t want to lose control of Aquitaine. So he quickly married 13 year old Eleanor off to his son – also called Louis. Louis didn’t much want to be King. He also didn’t much want to be a husband. He had thought he was going to be a monk. But after his older brother died he had to be King.
 
He loved Eleanor. But she thought he was really boring. He worried about having babies as he thought he might be more holy not to have any. But the monks and later the Pope himself told him to have some. He had Eleanor had girls. But that wasn’t any good for France. The laws of France said they needed a King.
 
They went on Crusade together to the Holy Land. It didn’t go very well. France lost the battles. Eleanor became very good friends with her uncle. Some people even thought they had become girlfriend and boyfriend. When they got back to France Eleanor and Louis decided to divorce. Eleanor went back to Aquitaine.
 
But Eleanor wasn’t upset by this. In fact for the first time in her life she was free to make her own decision. That decision was to lead to her becoming Queen of England.
 
But that’s the topic of the next History Storytime episode.
 
OTHER EPISODES
 
If you liked this episode about Eleanor of Aquitaine you might also like our Matilda episode. It’s set around the same time in history with knights and castles. and tells you what is happening in England while Eleanor of Aquitaine is married to the King of France. It’s a another story about a powerful woman.
https://link.historystorytime.com/Matilda
 
You might also like to try our Jousting with the Royal Armouries episode. We made it with the world famous Royal Armouries in England. We tell the story of knights, tournaments and jousting. All the sorts of things that Eleanor of Aquitaine and her knights and nobles enjoyed.
https://link.historystorytime.com/Jousting
 
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