In this captivating episode of Travels Through Time, we venture back to the year 1199 to see Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the great operators of the High Middle Ages, at the peak of her powers.
Eleanor is a remarkable character. She was queen of France and England and the mother of two English kings. One chronicler, describing her in late life, asserted that she was, “a matchless woman, beautiful yet chaste, powerful and modest, meek yet eloquent … whose power was the admiration of her age.”
But how much of this was reputation and what was the reality?
Our quest to answer this riddle begins in early spring 1199 when Eleanor’s son King Richard I, “the Lionheart”, is struck in the shoulder by a stray shotgun arrow. Richard’s wound swiftly becomes gangrenous. With death imminent, and the fate of his kingdom uncertain, Richard sends for his mother.
Today’s guest Sara Cockerill guides us, in three scenes, through the dramatic and uncertain sequence of events that follows.
Show notes:
Scene one: 6 April 1199, near Limousin, France. Deathbed of Richard the Lionheart
Scene two: 20 July 1199 Tours. Eleanor at the age of 65 performing homage to Philip Augustus.
Scene three: Autumn 1199. Fontevraud, Aquitaine. Eleanor burying her daughter Joanna.
Memento: A gold ring with a sapphire inset, inscribed with the letters R A.
Sara Cockerill’s book, Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France, Queen of England, Mother of Empires is available in hardback now.
People / Social
Presenter: Peter Moore
Guest: Sara Cockerill
Producer: Maria Nolan
Digital Production: John Hillman
Titles: Jon O.
Felipe Fernández-Armesto; The Year Our World Began (1492)
Paul Fischer: Motion Pictures and the Rise of Modern Britain (1888)
Dr Suzie Sheehy: The Matter of Everything (1932)
Nicholas Guyatt: The Dartmoor Massacre (1815)
Bronwen Riley: Journey to Britannia (130 AD)
Katherine Rundell: John Donne, Super-Infinite (1601)
Mary Wellesley: Hidden Hands (1413)
Nick Higham: The Mercenary River (1837)
Margaret Willes: In The Shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral (1666)
Daniel Levy: The Great Fire of New York (1835)
Matthew Green: Shadowlands (1965)
Seb Falk: The Astronomer and the Astrolabe (1327)
Nadine Akkerman: Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Hearts (1620)
Anthony Tucker-Jones: Winston Churchill and Victory in North Africa (1943)
Christopher de Bellaigue: Suleyman the Magnificent (1534)
Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen: A History of the Library (1850)
Lulu Jemimah: The Last Pre-Colonial King of Buganda (1885)
Ronen Steinke: The Arab Doctor and the Jewish Girl (1943)
Dr Priya Atwal: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire (1837)
David Bosco: The Struggle to Rule the Ocean (1982)
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra