Eleanor of Aquitaine a Life by Weir Book Review

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Eleanor of Aquitaine plays a supporting role throughout so much historiography that it seems surprising that Alison Weir’s Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life would stand apart as one of the few scholarly biographies in publication. The woman best known for being queen to two kings, Louis VII of France and Henry II of England, comes alive on the pages of Weir’s book. Weir admits in a preface that primary sources on Eleanor’s life are scarce, though, alerting readers that filling more than 450 pages may require slight embellishments or at least padding. At the same time, the 12th century was a time during which courtly chroniclers did keep surprisingly meticulous records and logs. Genealogies of the Tudors are relatively straightforward to research partly for this reason, which is why Weir can cull information from numerous sources. Unfortunately, most of the sources available refer only indirectly to Eleanor. The lack of information about the mother of Richard the Lion-Hearted is due in large part to patriarchal bias, the belief that women’s lives, perspectives, points of view, and political positions are far less important than those of their male counterparts. Thus, most of the primary sources Weir uses are about Eleanor’s husbands. Nevertheless, Eleanor of Aquitaine is a superbly well-researched and meticulous historical biography about one of medieval Europe’s most important female figures.

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Following the preface is an interesting prologue dated 18 May, 1152: the fateful day when Henry of Anjou wed Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine. Somewhat contradicting her statement in the preface that sources do not discuss Eleanor’s appearance, in the prologue Weir claims that the heiress and former Queen of France was known for her striking beauty and long auburn hair. Eleanor was also known for her “unconventional,” even “scandalous” behavior, and for her inability to produce a male heir for King Louis VII (Weir, Prologue, Kindle Edition, n.p.). Women were brutally blamed for their inability to give birth to boys, stigmatized, and deemed unfit partners for a man of high standing. As such, Eleanor’s first marriage to King Louis VII was annulled and she was then free to marry Henry of Anjou, who would become the King of England. Eleanor is introduced as being business-minded, forward-thinking, and willing to do whatever it took to overcome the formidable barriers inherent in a patriarchal society.

Weir presents the meat of the text in 22 individual chapters that follow a standard….....

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