Eleanor of Aquitaine by Marion Meade

Eleanor of Aquitaine by Marion Meade

Author:Marion Meade [Meade, Marion]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781842126189
Publisher: Weidenfeld
Published: 1991-06-01T04:00:00+00:00


In London, Eleanor had followed developments on the Continent between her present and former husbands with interest and possibly a touch of amusement. Whatever other emotions she may have had at this time, she had good reason to feel gratified. There was peace at home and abroad. The quarrel sparked by her remarriage had been patched, and now her eldest son stood an excellent chance of someday wearing Louis’s crown. In England the year 1158, marked by nothing more important than a new issue of coinage, was closing amid general tranquility. Well satisfied with her administration of the country, assured that every situation remained under control, Eleanor left England in the steady hands of Robert of Leicester and crossed the Channel to celebrate Christmas with Henry at Cherbourg.

Domestically as well as politically, the Christmas court was a happy one. With another son added to their family, with their domains in peace and perfect order and the future so promising that it took one’s breath away, the Plantagenets had much cause for thanksgiving. Possibly one dark cloud dimmed their euphoria, but even that turned out to bear a silver lining. On July 26, Henry’s twenty-four-year-old brother, Geoffrey, had died. Shortly after Henry had bought him off with an annuity in 1156, Geoffrey had stumbled across a piece of good luck that undoubtedly saved him from the temptation of future strife with his brother. Brittany, in a state of anarchy ever since its duke had died twenty years earlier, was beset by rival claimants to the title, and the citizens of its key city, Nantes, tired of lawlessness, had offered the dukedom to Geoffrey. Eager for standing in the world, he accepted with delight. Now, upon his death, Henry had no intention of allowing the duchy to escape from the Plantagenet circumference, even though his claim to Brittany rested on the shakiest of foundations. During his honeymoon with the Franks that fall, he persuaded Louis to recognize him as overlord of Brittany, and he then took an army to Nantes to make certain of the city’s loyalty. When the citizens received him as Geoffrey’s rightful heir, he placed the city under the supervision of a few trusted men. Certainly, Nantes was not the whole of Brittany, but Henry felt positive that the rest of the duchy would follow in time.

With Brittany more or less added to the empire, one might think that the Plantagenets would have been content. On the contrary, their mania for land and more land continued unabated. In this respect, Eleanor was no different from, or better than, her husband. Still laboring under the impression that she and Henry were partners in all enterprises-a justifiable impression at that stage, it must be admitted—she was eager to make a contribution to the Plantagenet holdings. She had, of course, already given him Aquitaine, a gift of dubious value, but now she presented another possibility. Even though Toulouse had not belonged to her family for nearly fifty years, she had never stopped considering the county part of her rightful inheritance.



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