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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how

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Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello and welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Katie Lambert and joining me today is Sarah Dowdy.

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Speaker 1: How are you, Sarah. I'm doing well, Katie, har are

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Speaker 1: you good. We had a reader request for today's topic

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Speaker 1: from Alexandria and Vanessa. And her name is Eleanor of

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Speaker 1: Aquitaine and she was a very busy lady in her

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Speaker 1: eighty two years of life, extremely busy, and we should

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Speaker 1: say she was living in the twelfth century. So eighty

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Speaker 1: two is an impressive feat of its own. Well, it's

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Speaker 1: also hard because there's not a lot of source material

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Speaker 1: to go from now, a lot of primary sources from

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Speaker 1: the time, or at least not concerning women, because no

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Speaker 1: one cared to record what the women were doing. So

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Speaker 1: what we're doing is is piecing together a little that

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Speaker 1: we have ferried accounts exactly. So, Eleanor of Aquitaine was

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Speaker 1: the most powerful woman in twelfth century Europe according to

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Speaker 1: lots of accounts. She was also beautiful and rich and

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Speaker 1: has been described as vital, lively, headstrong, energetic, and intelligent.

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Speaker 1: And she was the sole heir of the Duke of Aquitaine.

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Speaker 1: His son died very young, so she was in a

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Speaker 1: very powerful position from childhood um and this made her

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Speaker 1: a pretty desirable match for the bachelors of Europe right

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Speaker 1: and her full title was Countess of Plateau and Duchess

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Speaker 1: of Aquitaine and Gascony, but that's a bit of a mouthful,

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Speaker 1: so she's usually known as a lot of land. It

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Speaker 1: is a lot of land. Her father, William, the tenth

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Speaker 1: Duke of Aquitaine, possessed the largest domains in northwest Europe.

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Speaker 1: He owned more land than the King of France, so

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Speaker 1: that's pretty impressive. She also had a sister whose name

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Speaker 1: I very much enjoyed, Petronila, under brother William McGray, the

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Speaker 1: one who died uard young, as Sarah had said. And

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Speaker 1: an interesting history about her family. In the year eleven thirty,

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Speaker 1: Bernard of Clairvaux told her father, William the Tents that

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Speaker 1: God disapproved of him because he was supporting the antipope

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Speaker 1: Anaclitus against Pope Innocent the Second, and so the Pope

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Speaker 1: x communicated him, and one day when Bernard was preaching

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Speaker 1: against William and a church, William burst in and he

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Speaker 1: was armed and prepared to take Bernard out, and Bernard

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Speaker 1: held up the bread and wine. William had some sort

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Speaker 1: of a fit and foamed at the mouth and fell

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Speaker 1: down on the ground and decided that was God telling

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Speaker 1: him to change his mind, and so he did. Yeah. Well.

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Speaker 1: In addition to in addition to having that's William was

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Speaker 1: also pretty interested in educating his daughters. He had them

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Speaker 1: instructed in Latin, and they grew up in a very

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Speaker 1: sophisticated core. We tend to think of any countesses or

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Speaker 1: dukes or what not being sophisticated, but in full century Europe,

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Speaker 1: that's definitely not. Some of these people are slightly separated

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Speaker 1: from being pretty crude, but in their court they had

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Speaker 1: troubadours and extended patronage to poets. Eleanor herself loved silky

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Speaker 1: gowns embroidered in gold thread and lots of jewelry. She

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Speaker 1: definitely had a taste for lecturing. And when her mother

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Speaker 1: and her brother died in That's where, that's when Eleanor

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Speaker 1: became the heiress of all of this land. And so

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Speaker 1: her father had vassals swear fealty to Eleanor on her

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Speaker 1: fourteenth birthday, and he made her the ward of Louis

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Speaker 1: the sixth, who was the king of France at the time,

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Speaker 1: and not long after that, her father goes on a

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Speaker 1: pilgrimage to Spain and drink contaminated water and ends up dying.

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Speaker 1: He actually made a will earlier in the day kind

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Speaker 1: of looking out for his daughter, asking that she would

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Speaker 1: be brought to Louie quickly before his death was announced,

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Speaker 1: because in this time it was pretty common for an

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Speaker 1: heiress to just be kidnapped or her land, So if

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Speaker 1: people knew about his death, his daughter was going to

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Speaker 1: be in great danger, right, So he specified that he

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Speaker 1: was going to make Louisa sixth her guardian, and also

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Speaker 1: that he wanted his daughter to marry Louisa sixth son.

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Speaker 1: And he also specified, which is the interesting part, that

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Speaker 1: Eleanor's lands were to be her own and they would

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Speaker 1: be inherited by her errors. So her land wasn't going

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Speaker 1: to be swallowed up as part of the Kingdom of France.

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Speaker 1: She was going to keep properties like Aquitaine. Yeah, so

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Speaker 1: she marries Louie the seventh at age fifteen and eleven

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Speaker 1: thirty seven, and she were read and liked that detail. Yes,

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Speaker 1: she had a thousand guests and shortly thereafter, which reminds

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Speaker 1: me of Mariantoinette. Louisa sixth died of dysenterry. This is

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Speaker 1: less than a month after their wedding ends. The new

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Speaker 1: couple became the King and Queen of France. So at fifteen,

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Speaker 1: she's queen shoved right into the spotlight, and life at

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Speaker 1: the French court was a little bit different. They didn't

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Speaker 1: have a literary tradition, they didn't have a lot of entertainment.

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Speaker 1: She brought in some troubadours and tried to improve court manners,

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Speaker 1: but was generally very bored and in the French court

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Speaker 1: the queen has no power. And also also Louis was

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Speaker 1: kind of a different husband. He had been a younger son,

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Speaker 1: so he wasn't destined to be king. He'd actually been

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Speaker 1: trained as a monk, so he was very pious and

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Speaker 1: he was besotted by his wife, but you know, kind

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Speaker 1: of naive would be a good word for him. And

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Speaker 1: also devoted to God and not so much to secular life.

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Speaker 1: And one problem in their marriage was that Louis didn't

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Speaker 1: sleep with her very often because he was, you know,

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Speaker 1: a monk, or was trained as a monk. He abided

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Speaker 1: by rules that said, you weren't supposed to have sexual

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Speaker 1: really with your wife on Sundays, Holy days, feast days,

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Speaker 1: during lent, during pregnancy, or during that time of months.

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Speaker 1: So this is a problem when you're trying to produce

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Speaker 1: an heir to the French throne. Especially. Yeah, he needed

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Speaker 1: a male heir, and but wasn't visiting her bed all

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Speaker 1: that often, so this will come up later as an issue.

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Speaker 1: Once again, sounds kind of Marie Antoina exactly. And his

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Speaker 1: adviser tried to curb Eleanor's power, so the only time

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Speaker 1: she ever got to sway his opinion was in private,

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Speaker 1: and that changed the French court because before that queens

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Speaker 1: at least had a little more power, but after this

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Speaker 1: that became more of a tradition to let the queen

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Speaker 1: have her say in private, but in public she just

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Speaker 1: had the role of that was decorative. Her mother in

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Speaker 1: law thought Eleanor spent too much money and shouldn't use

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Speaker 1: makeup and wasn't very pious, and fashions at the court

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Speaker 1: at the time were a little nuts, lots of fine

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Speaker 1: wool and silicon and fine linen and piles of jewelry,

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Speaker 1: and he was about to prove her piety, though with

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Speaker 1: a crusade plan. She decided to go along when Louie went,

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Speaker 1: and she and her ladies dressed as Amazon's it said,

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Speaker 1: and wore red boots. And we were reading one book

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Speaker 1: by Alison We're about Eleanor of Aquitaine that said it

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Speaker 1: was actually a credible account. Historians have been arguing with Amazon.

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Speaker 1: She says she thinks the Amazon thing could have happened,

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Speaker 1: and there were at least three hundred women along with Eleanor,

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Speaker 1: so they must have made quite a spectacle. Well, during

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Speaker 1: that time her marriage to Louis, it was already kind

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Speaker 1: of on the rocks, but things started to take a

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Speaker 1: turn for the worse. Um there was there were some

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Speaker 1: rumors that she might have cheated on her husband with

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Speaker 1: her uncle Raymond at Antioch, and she and her husband

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Speaker 1: were no longer sleeping together now. And also she sided

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Speaker 1: with Raymond against Louis. Raymond had said that they should

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Speaker 1: try to capture it Assa, and Louis said they should

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Speaker 1: try to capture Jerusalem, and siding with him really upset Louis,

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Speaker 1: and when he got upset with her, this is when

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Speaker 1: she brought up the fact that they were related and

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Speaker 1: they've known this for a long time, but consanguinity within

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Speaker 1: certain degrees wasn't allowed. They're not really closely related, but

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Speaker 1: enough for it to give grounds for an annulment, which

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Speaker 1: is what she wanted, which upset Louie quite a bit,

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Speaker 1: and he actually took her out of the city at

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Speaker 1: midnight and wouldn't let her say goodbye to Raymond, and

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Speaker 1: they went home, but the Pope, Pope be Genius, wouldn't

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Speaker 1: give them annulment, so they stayed together. They had two daughters,

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Speaker 1: but they had no heir in the years to come,

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Speaker 1: so then they thought that perhaps God really did disapprove

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Speaker 1: of their marriage, because not having a son and a

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Speaker 1: male heir was seen as celestial disapproval. So they did

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Speaker 1: get their marriage annulled in two and in accord with

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Speaker 1: her father's will. In the terms of their marriage, she

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Speaker 1: gets her land back exactly so she could go back

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Speaker 1: to Aquitaine if she wanted to. But of course, as

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Speaker 1: the great heiress, she was now pray and people seriously

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Speaker 1: tried to abduct her on her way home, so she

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Speaker 1: needed someone to protect her in a marriage and protect

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Speaker 1: her land and her interests, but she also wanted someone

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Speaker 1: she was more compatible with than she was with Louis,

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Speaker 1: because I didn't have a lot in common. So enter Henry,

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Speaker 1: Count of all Jou and Duke of Normandy. Eleanor essentially

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Speaker 1: proposes to Henry, yeah, sends him a note h They

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Speaker 1: had met before while she was married, and there were

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Speaker 1: rumors that she had actually had a sexual relationship with

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Speaker 1: Henry's father, Jeoffrey of Ajoux, before she met his son.

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Speaker 1: My favorite rumor about their family is that Henry supposedly

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Speaker 1: had a diabolical ancestress, Melusine, who was said to be

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Speaker 1: the devil's daughter. So people thought in their family she

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Speaker 1: like some flames strang around. People thought their family had

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Speaker 1: a bit of double try to it. He had red hair,

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Speaker 1: he was into diets and fasting. He was unpretentious, literate, forceful,

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Speaker 1: and complex. He also had quite the temper and quite

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Speaker 1: the sex drive. He was a womanizer and had lots

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Speaker 1: of illegitimate children. And so they get married in eleven two,

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Speaker 1: same year as the annulment, just a couple of months later. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And the odd thing here is they're just as related

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Speaker 1: as Eleanor and Louie were, in the same degrees in relation.

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Speaker 1: And also they were supposed to as Louise vassals. He

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Speaker 1: was a king of France, asked him if they could

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Speaker 1: get married, but they knew he wouldn't give permission, so

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Speaker 1: they just went ahead and did it, which was an

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Speaker 1: extremely provocative act. He could have started a war with

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Speaker 1: them if he wanted. And Henry was also louise archrival.

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Speaker 1: He had about the same amount of power and land,

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Speaker 1: and shortly after their marriage, Henry's crowned King of England

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Speaker 1: at Westminster uh In. This starts the rule of the Plantagenets,

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Speaker 1: who go on for the next three thirty years in

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Speaker 1: parts of the continent. They die out in England with

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Speaker 1: Richard the Third actually the Tutors take over. Henry was

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Speaker 1: a good governor. He was a good King of England.

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Speaker 1: He finally brought peace to the land. Although he may

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Speaker 1: not have been the best husband, he was good at

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Speaker 1: being king. He had a very messy family life, as

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Speaker 1: we will as soon as we will see. And during

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Speaker 1: this time, Eleanor didn't have much of a role. He

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Speaker 1: didn't give her much of one, so she did what

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Speaker 1: she could within the parameters of her powers. She gave

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Speaker 1: a lot of money to the Abbey of Fontravoo, and

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Speaker 1: she was the patronist to poets and true the doors,

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Speaker 1: and she had her own little court. His court was

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Speaker 1: really chaotic and messy and disgusting, like you'd mentioned they

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Speaker 1: could be. So she had her private terrifying in court

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Speaker 1: exactly when she kept very luxurious, and her only rule

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Speaker 1: was that men had to have tempt hair before her

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Speaker 1: that came before her unkempt fair enough Eleanor. Eleanor and

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Speaker 1: Henry were married for about forty years, and they had

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Speaker 1: lots of children, several of whom go on to be kings.

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Speaker 1: They had a tumultuous relationship and very rebellious children, quite

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Speaker 1: literally rebellious, as in these staged actual rebellions against their

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Speaker 1: father and their other siblings. Henry was not even remotely

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Speaker 1: faithful to Eleanor through any of these years, and he

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Speaker 1: started his affair with Rosamond and Clifford in even sixty five,

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Speaker 1: and her name would appear in stories in verse for centuries.

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Speaker 1: People were really interested in the idea of Rosamond, and

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Speaker 1: she'll come up later as well. But in eleven sixty

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Speaker 1: eight the marriage had started to go to pot and

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Speaker 1: Eleanor initiated a separation, and no one knows why. People

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Speaker 1: have said it was because he was unfaithful, but reading

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Speaker 1: Weird's books, she was saying she didn't think that was

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Speaker 1: a credible explanation, So it may just have been that

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Speaker 1: she was tired and the marriage hadn't gone very well

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Speaker 1: and things were starting to go downhill, and she moved

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Speaker 1: back to Aquitaine and set up a court at Potier.

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Speaker 1: At this point, though, things are still fairly amicable between them.

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Speaker 1: In eleven sixty eight, Henry sets up the Treaty of

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Speaker 1: mont Murial, I think uh, and kind of splits up

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Speaker 1: his domain between all his different sons, which is an

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Speaker 1: odd thing to do. He had every right to leave

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Speaker 1: all of his extensive lands to his eldest son, Um,

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Speaker 1: but he might have not thought they were capable of

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Speaker 1: managing it all. Regardless, he leaves Aquitaine to his son Richard,

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Speaker 1: who is Eleanor's favorite, so things are still, you know,

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Speaker 1: workable between them. Then in eleven seventy, Eleanor was in

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Speaker 1: Normandy at the time with her eldest son, also called Henry,

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Speaker 1: and her husband Henry. Henry the second decides it's time

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Speaker 1: for his son to become king, and that sounds odd

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Speaker 1: to us now we're used to children's seating their parents

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Speaker 1: after they've died, after they've died, but it was actually

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Speaker 1: a French customed to crown the air while the father

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Speaker 1: was still alive. But the Pope isn't okay with this

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Speaker 1: because it's the Archbishop of Canterbury's role to crown the king.

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Speaker 1: And this is Thomas Beckett and he's on the outs

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Speaker 1: with Henry and they used they used to be best

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Speaker 1: friends and had a falling out over which the things

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Speaker 1: were never the same after that, definitely not. But Henry

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Speaker 1: goes ahead crowns his son, who now goes by the

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Speaker 1: Young King. And the Young King is really popular. He's

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Speaker 1: extremely good looking. He was supposed to have taken after

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Speaker 1: his mother strongly. Um, but he's really contemptuous of his father.

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Speaker 1: He's real stubborn. He's kind of jealous of his younger

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Speaker 1: brothers who have their own duchies. Uh. He doesn't have

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Speaker 1: any of his own political power. He's destined to be

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Speaker 1: King of England. He kind of is. He's the junior

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Speaker 1: king now, but he doesn't have any of his own

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Speaker 1: right for the time being, he's got a political power.

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Speaker 1: He was kind of spoiled wasn't he, You were mentioning

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Speaker 1: they were very indulged, She was very spoiled. Both parents

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Speaker 1: really doated on the children, but in kind of an

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Speaker 1: unfortunate spin on it, they pit the children against the

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Speaker 1: other parents, because that always works out well. Yeah, um,

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Speaker 1: and Eleanor especially is considered to have worked on turning

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Speaker 1: her kids against their father and you know, inspiring their

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Speaker 1: ambitions to take over their political control a little early

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Speaker 1: in life. Speaking of political maneuvers, around this time, Beckett

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Speaker 1: is murdered at Canterbury, and it's very violent, and we're

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Speaker 1: kind of put forth a hypothesis that this might be

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Speaker 1: around the time when Eleanor really can't stand her husband.

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Speaker 1: She started to hate him at some point and there

265
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Speaker 1: was a switch, something happened, and no one quite knows

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Speaker 1: what it is, but I think that's a pretty It

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Speaker 1: goes from an amicable separation to she can't stand as good,

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Speaker 1: inciting her children to rebel against their mother. So was

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Speaker 1: he involved with the murder? He claimed he wasn't, and

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Speaker 1: he was extremely remorseful about about the whole thing. But

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Speaker 1: what level of intrigue he said, his lord's misunderstood words

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Speaker 1: against Beckett. So but in eleven seventy two, Eleanor starts

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Speaker 1: her her own maneuvers and has Richard invested as the

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Speaker 1: Duke of Aquitaine, and she calls him the great One.

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Speaker 1: He is her beloved, the favorite son, and she will

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Speaker 1: do anything she can to help him. And around the

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Speaker 1: same time, uh King Louis of France, his daughter is

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Speaker 1: married to the Young King, starts to talk to Young Henry,

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Speaker 1: also stirring up trouble, saying, you know, you maybe go

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Speaker 1: for some political power. It's not enough to just be

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Speaker 1: the young king exactly. Um So, by eleven seventy three,

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Speaker 1: Eleanor is backing up her son's and everybody's ready for

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Speaker 1: a rebellion. But Henry the Second hasn't even suspected his

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Speaker 1: wife is involved. It's pretty inconceivable that a wife would

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Speaker 1: incite her children to to do this, so it's not

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Speaker 1: even on his radar. But he's starting to keep a

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Speaker 1: pretty close eye on the young King and actually keeps

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Speaker 1: him close by his side and until he escapes to Paris.

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Speaker 1: And at that point Henry knows that King Louis is

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Speaker 1: in league with the young Kings, so his wife's ex

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Speaker 1: husband doesn't leave with his son, so that's really nice

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Speaker 1: for Henry the Second. Finally, Henry the Second starts to

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Speaker 1: suspect Eleanor has a role in this everybody is just

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Speaker 1: a little too well arranged for her to not be involved,

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Speaker 1: and he commands the Archbishop of Ruined to remind her

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Speaker 1: of her wifely duties. He sent through this long letter

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Speaker 1: and there's no evidence she ever replied, but she gets

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Speaker 1: a little concerned and decides that the decides that the

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Speaker 1: safest place for her to be is in Louise Court,

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Speaker 1: her old husband's, so she dresses in men's clothing rides

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Speaker 1: horse astride to Paris, but on the way she's apprehended

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Speaker 1: by Henry's men and sent to the king, and this

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00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:55,520
Speaker 1: marks a period in her life that's not so great

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Speaker 1: for Eleanor. Henry didn't make any sort of public announcement

305
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Speaker 1: about it, but he put her in a fortress and

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Speaker 1: had her guarded for the rest of his life. So

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Speaker 1: she was a prisoner for the rest of her husband's life. Yeah,

308
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Speaker 1: and the rebellion doesn't even end up going very well.

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Speaker 1: There's little open warfare, even though a lot of towns

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Speaker 1: are plundered, and Henry's son seemed very intent on destroying

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Speaker 1: their father's land. As the tide begins to turn and

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Speaker 1: Henry the Second looks like he's gonna win come out

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Speaker 1: on top and this rebellion his enemies start to sue

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Speaker 1: for peace, but he's still convinced that he's not going

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Speaker 1: to have total victory and peace until he atones for

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Speaker 1: Beckett's murder and makes proper pennants. Uh. This isn't to

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Speaker 1: say he was, you know, admitting involvement in it, but

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Speaker 1: just to atone for he and Beckett's estrangement. So he

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Speaker 1: actually goes to Canterbury and uh does extreme pennants, starves himself,

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Speaker 1: gets flogged by monks, and literally the next day things

321
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Speaker 1: look up and there ends up being peace in England,

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Speaker 1: and he's really generous about the fact generous sons were

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Speaker 1: treason us. Um he gives them land still no power,

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Speaker 1: so it's likely they're not going to be satisfied. The

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00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:23,640
Speaker 1: only person who he won't give amnesty to is Eleanor,

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Speaker 1: but he doesn't quite feel the same about his son's

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Speaker 1: After that, his old favorites are no longer his favorites.

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Speaker 1: The littlest Boy is his favorite one, and also his

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Speaker 1: illegitimate son just good by him, right, Um, So Eleanor

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Speaker 1: is going to stay in prison, that looks like, and

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Speaker 1: she's not allowed to talk to the kids because she

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Speaker 1: might incite them through rebel again. But prison isn't as

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Speaker 1: quite as bad as it sounds. She's staying in nice

334
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Speaker 1: households and has a small retinue, very small. But Henry

335
00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:03,360
Speaker 1: begins living openly with his mistress the aforementioned Rosamond to Clifford,

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Speaker 1: which had to be a bit of a slap in

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Speaker 1: the face to Eleanor. Yeah, and by eleven seventy five

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00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:12,440
Speaker 1: he's starting to think about having the marriage annuld. But

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00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:17,560
Speaker 1: there's a problem with that, um. Eleanor is not interested.

340
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,080
Speaker 1: She's already had one an element. I think she's done

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00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:24,320
Speaker 1: with a whole annulment thing. It's it's a good deal

342
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:30,440
Speaker 1: for him. He considers forcing her basically to take the

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00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:35,320
Speaker 1: veil become a nun, and in which case he would

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00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,080
Speaker 1: wouldn't have to surrender her lands under the which he

345
00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:44,359
Speaker 1: ran much want to marriage, um, and it would be

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00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,800
Speaker 1: an easier deal than an annulment, which brings up a

347
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,840
Speaker 1: lot of messy facts about there. Right, and you had

348
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:53,840
Speaker 1: to get a lot of people involved for an annulment,

349
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Speaker 1: but she doesn't want to give up her crown and

350
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Speaker 1: her position of power, even if she doesn't have much

351
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:00,960
Speaker 1: at the time, and also said she didn't have a

352
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,040
Speaker 1: calling to be a nun, so she appealed to the

353
00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:06,680
Speaker 1: archbishop and said, you know, you can't let my husband

354
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Speaker 1: force me into being something that I'm not into being

355
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Speaker 1: a nun which is something she respected and believed you

356
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:17,080
Speaker 1: needed a vocation for Rosamond, however, does end up in

357
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Speaker 1: a nunnery around the same time because she's sick and

358
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,800
Speaker 1: basically that was the place to go. The king made

359
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 1: her a very nice tomb, and there was a myth

360
00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:31,360
Speaker 1: that's been going on in history for a very long

361
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 1: time that Eleanor murdered her, but she didn't, not true.

362
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,639
Speaker 1: Eleanor was imprisoned, and as we said earlier, she had

363
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,280
Speaker 1: very little contact with anybody because the king was so

364
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,840
Speaker 1: concerned about her influence, so she didn't have a lot

365
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:49,160
Speaker 1: of time or space and murdering mistresses, and the bishop

366
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:54,800
Speaker 1: made Rosman's tomb be removed because she was a mistress.

367
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Speaker 1: In the following years, there's more familial strife going on

368
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Speaker 1: in the years. They never did have a very peaceful

369
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 1: family life, and the young King dies of Dysenterry and

370
00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,520
Speaker 1: Henry the second was scared to go and visit him

371
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Speaker 1: while he was dying because he was afraid there would

372
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,520
Speaker 1: be some sort of traps set, which, knowing his sons,

373
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 1: would make sensely, but he sent a ring as a

374
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Speaker 1: token of his love, and on his deathbed, the young

375
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:23,240
Speaker 1: King pleads for mercy for his mother, and Eleanor actually,

376
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 1: when she's brought news of the death of her son,

377
00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:29,560
Speaker 1: she actually says that she had a dream about it

378
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,639
Speaker 1: and even dreamt of the ring, which she wouldn't have

379
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:37,960
Speaker 1: known about. Kind of a strange supernatural tale. After the

380
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 1: Young King dies, Richard starts getting a little risky again

381
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 1: in regards to rebellion, and John, the youngest son, backs Richard.

382
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:54,200
Speaker 1: And as we said earlier, John is Henry's favorite legitimate

383
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:59,600
Speaker 1: son um who's always been most invested in him, and

384
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 1: when Henry finds out that John is supporting his brother,

385
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,520
Speaker 1: he just sort of loses his will to live. He's

386
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:11,239
Speaker 1: already sick, but he dies shortly. They're often betrayed by

387
00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,359
Speaker 1: his entire family one by one at this point, except

388
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,400
Speaker 1: for his legitimate son Jeffrey, who was allowed to stay

389
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:21,879
Speaker 1: at court. So Henry the Second dies in nine and

390
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 1: Richard the First becomes king and his first thing is

391
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,119
Speaker 1: to release his mother, And actually he comes back to

392
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 1: England and finds out that his mother has already been

393
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:36,360
Speaker 1: released because his handlers know this is her favorite son,

394
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 1: and they go ahead and take care of business before

395
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:44,199
Speaker 1: they'ven here from him. And then she spends time kind

396
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,920
Speaker 1: of acting as a cheerleader for her son. Almost He's

397
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:52,560
Speaker 1: been living in Aquitaine almost his whole life. He's not

398
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,800
Speaker 1: well known there and just sort of bolstering his reputation

399
00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:01,120
Speaker 1: are from Eleanor. But Richard the First leeds England dry

400
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:05,399
Speaker 1: with crusades and war. He's not a good governor like

401
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:12,000
Speaker 1: Henry was, and they're still family problems. Um is nipping

402
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 1: it Richard now and Um Richard when he goes away

403
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 1: on a crusade, he actually ends up kidnapped in Austria.

404
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 1: And this is just to show how low John kind

405
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:29,400
Speaker 1: of goes here. Um John raises money for the ransom

406
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,800
Speaker 1: from his tenants and then he ends up using it

407
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 1: himself for rebellious purposes. But Eleanor, through like Eleanor's diligent,

408
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 1: she raises the King's ransom and brings Richard and John

409
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 1: and Richard eventually do make up in Normandy because Eleanor's

410
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:50,119
Speaker 1: mediating between them and making it happen, and John kind

411
00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 1: of keeps a low profile over the next few years.

412
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,480
Speaker 1: He's he's done for the tough for a time with

413
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: all the strife, and Richard ends up dying though, so

414
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: it's kind of a lost cause dies with no airs.

415
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:07,480
Speaker 1: Um he's shot by an arrow by Bertram Digger Dunn,

416
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 1: who had a family grudge against him for killing his

417
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:15,879
Speaker 1: brothers and father, and Richard is on his deathbed with

418
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:20,399
Speaker 1: this horrible infected arrow wound. Is so impressed by this

419
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 1: man's story that he actually pardons him the guy who

420
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:28,080
Speaker 1: shot him Um lets him go. Uh, he doesn't. After

421
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:32,600
Speaker 1: his death, the pardon is dropped, but but he tried

422
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 1: her stuff does. During this time, Eleanor had withdrawn to

423
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,400
Speaker 1: the abbey at Fontravaux, and she wasn't a nun there,

424
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,000
Speaker 1: she was a guest. She sort of turned it into

425
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 1: in a place for aristocratic first retirement, but she was

426
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,600
Speaker 1: still involved in politics. She was very much behind the

427
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:55,400
Speaker 1: scenes moving pieces around. But after Richard dies she has

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Speaker 1: to fully invest herself in public life again. Um to

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Speaker 1: help John actually claim the crown because he's not the

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Speaker 1: automatic shoe in. But it seems like he would be

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Speaker 1: the Jeffrey who was illegitimate. No, a little fuzzy here,

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Speaker 1: so if if y'all know why this is, please send

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Speaker 1: us an email why this other guy was the illegitimate

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Speaker 1: Sonner would be the king? Um. And at one point, Arthur,

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Speaker 1: Jeffrey's son, tries to kidnap Eleanor, who is after all

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Speaker 1: his grandmother and welcomed his father, the illegitimate son, into court,

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Speaker 1: so that was quite a moment of ingratitude. John still

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Speaker 1: having trouble with Philip of France, though, um, but they

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Speaker 1: eventually work it out. Philip was initially supporting Arthur, but

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Speaker 1: on the provision that Philip's heir, Louis, be married to

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Speaker 1: one of John's Castilian nieces, one of his sister's daughters. Um.

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Speaker 1: There they can work out a piece. So Eleanor, who

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Speaker 1: is eighty years old at this point, goes to fetch

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Speaker 1: her granddaughter and their two to choose from. And this

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Speaker 1: is kind of a great story. But if they're too

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Speaker 1: you know, equally beautiful and dignified daughters and one would

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Speaker 1: assume she'd pick the elder, but she doesn't because her

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Speaker 1: name is Uraca, and she doesn't think that the French

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Speaker 1: are going to stand for having a queen named Rocca,

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Speaker 1: so she goes for a Blanch, who it proved to

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Speaker 1: be a good choice. Blanch ends up to be a

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Speaker 1: very formidable queen, has many children and you know, who knows.

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Speaker 1: Maybe the problem wasn't the name so much as Eleanor

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Speaker 1: seeing some promise in her younger granddaughter. And I think

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Speaker 1: we learned a lesson about baby names there. Yeah, if

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Speaker 1: you want your daughter to be queen, good for a

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Speaker 1: standard name, I guess. But Eleanor at this point is

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Speaker 1: very tired, being eighty two and having been on the

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Speaker 1: scene and political entrigue for so long, and she retires

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Speaker 1: to Fontravall once again, and the nun say of her

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Speaker 1: after her death that she was beautiful and just imposing

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Speaker 1: and modest, humble and elegant, and they also said she

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Speaker 1: was a queen who surpassed almost all the queens of

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Speaker 1: the world. She died in twelve o four. So if

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Speaker 1: you'd like to learn more about the Middle Ages and

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00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: the Crusades, please check out the stuff you missed in

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00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 1: History Class blog and try our web page at www

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Speaker 1: dot how stuff works dot com. For more on this

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Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.

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Speaker 1: Let us know what you think. Send an email to

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Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff works dot com, and be sure

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