Eleanor of Aquitaine

Combining the pace and descriptive quality of a novel with the authority of a text book, Alison Weir's study of the revered and reviled Eleanor of Aquitaine should be valuable to anyone with an interest in medieval European history. Wife of Louis VII of France and subsequently of Henry II of England and mother of Richard the Lionheart, Eleanor played a prominent part in the politics of the 12th century. The author of a number of other books on the medieval period, Alison Weir brings all the colour and ever-present dangers of Eleanor's world to life, filling the text with absorbing background detail and revelatory contemporary anecdotes. She is concerned throughout to make critical analysis of the primary sources, the later myths about Eleanor and other modern biographies. This results in a fresh and thoughtful perspective on the energetic 82 years of the life of a determined and ambitious woman living with the sexism, excesses and violence of a society in which the word of a single man could condemn thousands to be put to death. Eleanor of Aquitaine is a vivacious but scholarly book with extensive notes and references appended, giving an objective and rich account of the staunch Eleanor, her feuding family and her complex and unstable world. --Karen Tiley

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By the Wrath of God, Queen of England - Rated
Some of the most fascinating characters in history hail from the murkier depths of times lacking much documentary sources. Perhaps their interest comes from this patchwork of conflicting sources, or perhaps the temporal distance lends enchantment. It also presents a problem for the biographer, in that the lack of sources makes it difficult to write authoritatively on the subject. If the subject is a mystery then the book can't be much more than conjectures joined up with speculation.

Eleanor of Aquitaine occupies an odd place in such a time. As a ruler and heiress in her own right, and as queen of France and later England, her life is much more richly documented than most of her contemporaries. Her movements, lodgings, nutrition and clothing can be conjured from the surviving accounts. Richer detail comes from monastic accounts, surviving letters and a good deal of conjecture based on related sources.

Weir has chosen a fascinating subject. She was a woman ruler at a time when women's right to rule was far from established, and in many areas banned by Salic Law. She was forthright, independent and had unorthodox views that capture the essence of the troubadour culture that flourished in her Aquitanian provinces.

Eleanor was wife of Louis VII of France, and then Henry II of England. She was mother to Richard the Lion Heart, and of King John. She herself went on crusade, appearing as the Amazonian queen Penthesilea to rally the troops. She lived as everything from Queen to prisoner, and did so over a remarkable 82 years.

As a writer of engaging `popular' history, Weir has been criticised for dumbing down the subject. In my opinion this is ridiculous. The idea that a book need be impenetrable and complex to be worthy of the appellation `academic' strikes me as simply the fulmination of the historical profession seeking to ensure the plebs don't scale the ivory towers. Whilst Weir's book may not push too many boundaries, it does present its subject well, contextualises admirably and is properly referenced with what source material survives.

The dearth of source material is shown by Weir quoting in full the surviving letters from Eleanor to the pope at the time of Henry II's capture and imprisonment at the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor. As these are the most extensive extant sources it is not difficult to see why they have been quoted in full. But quotations of this length in a work of popular narrative history do somewhat stall the flow of the read. This is a minor point, and Weir compensates by ensuring most of the narrative is written in an engaging and pacey style. Some might sniff at such a tome, but if you have an interest in history you will be rewarded with a fascinating insight.

Conversations with Eleanor - Rated
This is one of very few books which gets my unreserved recommendation- it is brilliant! Weir fills out the few known facts about Eleanor with side-details from all aspects of twelfth life: political, cultural, social, religious, poetic, courtly, fiscal....and far from a dull list of events the facts bounce off each other to create an astonishingly dynamic and real image, with al the contradictions and idiosyncracies of a real person. Weirs book is more than a borrowing and accumulation of facts- the sum is more than the parts and given the parts are dramatic indeed the end result is an utter triumph of historical vision, clearly yet lyrically told.

A waste of paper - Rated
How anyone can make Eleanor of Acquitaine dull and present her as conventional (by the standard of Eleanor's contemporaries) is beyond my understanding but Alison Weir succeeds. Worse her history is bad, her analysis weak and her prose turgid. I know she is popular but on the strength of this book it is really difficult to see why; I struggled to read it to the end.

Disappointing - Rated
I realise that there is very little source information available to biographers, but I was disappointed with this biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine. The information about the social and political background is interesting but there is more information about Eleanor's husbands and sons than there is about her, and a lot of the information that we do get is just itineraries, telling us where Eleanor was on a specific date.
I also think that the style is too subjective, with Alison Weir making assumptions that suit her story, and I also thought that it was unprofessional to mention one other biographer by name just for the sake of trying to discredit a different theory about Eleanor of Aquitaine's life.

excellent biography - Rated
I didn't know very much about Eleanor apart from her being the mother of Richard I & John and so I really enjoyed this book. It's a good read if you're not familiar with this period as Weir takes the time to explain the cultural and political environment in which the story is taking place. I've studied medieval literature but not history and so this was an excellent 'filler' and interesting to see where myth and literature intersect with known or documented history.

Having said that, my gut feel is that the history is probably biased and clearly not objective. But I guess whether that's a problem or not depends on why you're reading the book: if it's for a 'historical' take then this probably isn't for you, or it should at least be supplemented with something more academic. If, like me, you're looking for an entertaining read that fills in some of the gaps in your knowledge, then I can fully recommend this.