Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life by Alison WeirA wonderfully, well-written and researched tale about a Queen of England and Duchess of small places on the continent including Aquitaine. Queen Eleanor may have had a gossipy torrid early life, following her first husband King Louis of France to Jerusalum as part of the crusade, though there is no concrete evidence to say that she did. But Weir's thorough research has revelaed the real woman, who fought for her second husband Henry II, bore him eight children including Richard the Lionheart, and lived to a venerable old age of 84, no mean fete in those turbulent days. Eleanor managed to hold a kingdom together. She was also very close to her children. I learned a lot about early medeival life thrugh this work, some of it quite shocking and am thankful that I was born in this life - now! For all that Eleanor worked for however, after her death it was all lost because of her wayward son King John and their arch enemy Phillip of France marched in and took the lot except England, laying the basis for France's furture greatness.
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