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
PATRONS' CLUB
If you liked this episode you might like to join our Patrons’ Club. There you can listen to exclusive new episodes, help choose an episode or be in an episode. You can join on www.patreon.com/historystorytime
Medieval: Joan of Arc
Cleopatra
Medieval: Jousting with the Royal Armouries
The Glorious Revolution and the Battle of the Boyne
American History: Alexander Hamilton - The History Behind the Hamilton Musical
Windrush
Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo
The Slave Trade
WW2: The Miracle of Dunkirk and Winston Churchill in 1940
Romans: The Fall of the Roman Empire and the End of Roman Britain
American History: George Washington and the Battle of Yorktown
American History: Jamestown, Pocahontas and the colonisation of America
WW2: VE Day 1945 - the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe
WW2: The Battle of Britain and Winston Churchill in 1940
Medicine: The Cow and the Smallpox vaccine (and the Coronavirus)
Medieval: The Wars of the Roses and Richard III
The Great Fire of London of 1666
Romans: Hannibal and his Elephants cross the Alps in 218BC
Animals in History: Dogs, Cats and Pigeons!
Renaissance: Henry VIII and his Six Wives
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