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.
Bernard Cornwell: The Battle of Waterloo (1815)
Stephen Greenblatt: The Death of Christopher Marlowe (1593)
Season Five Trailer!
Colin Jones: The Fall of Robespierre (1794)
Alex Renton: Blood Legacy (1839)
Ellen Alpsten: The Tsarinas and Peter the Great (1709)
Alasdair Cross: The Spitfire and the Schneider Trophy (1925)
Philip Hoare: Albert and the Whale (1520)
Richard Ovenden: The fall of Glastonbury Abbey (1539)
Nicholas Crane: Latitude (1739)
Edward Rutherfurd: China and Queen Victoria (1839)
Leo Hollis: The Lost History of Mary Davies (1701)
Frances Wilson: D.H. Lawrence, Burning Man (1915)
Edmund Richardson: The Quest for the Lost City (1833)
Jane Rogoyska: The Katyń Massacre (1940)
Llewelyn Morgan: Ovid and the Augustan Age (14 AD)
Lindsey Davis: A Comedy of Terrors (89 AD)
Helen Carr: The Red Prince (1381)
Roland Philipps: Mathilde Carré, ‘La Chatte’ (1940)
Ross King: The Bookseller of Florence (1434)
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