Eleanor of Aquitaine
...ure, which made her one of the most knowledgeable people of her day. Before William X died, he made sure that Eleanor would be powerful by marrying her to someone with a big kingdom. At age 15 Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII, King of France and she moved to Paris, France where they didn’t have troubadours who could play her their music. Eleanor insisted that the troubadours come and play for her courts in Paris where other wealthy aristocrats would hear the troubadours sing and recite poems. The only problem with the troubadours singing, was that they sung in the language d’oil which the people in France didn’t speak. The language barrier only slightly slowed down the spread of the troubadour music because it was soon translated into d’oc which the French did speak. Due to everyone hearing the new kind of music in the courts of Eleanor, the troubadour’s music started to spread throughout the aristocratic society , and troubadours were starting to be heard at other courts all around France too. Eleanor held many courts with troubadours at them to entertain mainly the lady aristocrats. The Troubadours were a successful genre of music and literature throughout all of France thanks to Eleanor. In 1147 CE. Eleanor accompanied her husband Louis VII on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land to aid the church in keeping Jerusalem. Eleanor went along with her husband, and took with her despite the churches objection 300 other women to help in any way they could. On the way to Jerusalem Eleanor and the crusaders first stopped at Antioch for a few months, where Eleanor’s Uncle Raymond of Tripoli had been appointed prince of the city. Raymond let the troubadour’s that Eleanor brought with her play and sing for entertainment, they soon became a big hit because the people in Antioch had never seen anything like them. “During her stay in Antioch Eleanor spent almost all of her time with her Uncle Raymond and was even rumored to have commited adultery with him, Louis grew very jealous of Raymond.” When Louis wanted to continue his expedition to Jerusalem, Eleanor refused to go with him and threatened to divorce him because she and Raymond thought it would be a better idea to capture Edessa which would protect the presence of western society in the holy lands. Only when Louis used force on her did Eleanor go with him to Jerusalem. When Louis VII lost the expedition Eleanor and him returned back to France in bad terms and on separate ships, their marriage was quickly plumbiting. Shortly after their second daughter was born in 1152, Eleanor and Louis VII marriage was finally annulled at the requests of Eleanor, and she was given back her estates to have under her control. Shortly after Eleanor’s divorce to Louis VII, Eleanor married Henry, duke of Normandy who soon became Henry II of England. Some say Eleanor married Henry II to get back at Louis but others say it was to have more power. Whatever the case was, Eleanor married King Henry, became the Queen of England, and moved back to England with him. In England because they spoke the language d’oc, the toubadour’s music and poetry spread a lot faster. When Eleanor moved into England though, she continued to insist on having the troubadours play at her courts, and like in all the other places the troubadour’s were a big hit. Eleanor who’s influence of the music kept it alive and spread it spread it in many other ways to. Because Eleanor traveled all over the place for her marriages she took the troubadour’s with her everywhere she went, and got them exposed which helped their popularity to spread. During her marriage with king Henry Eleanor had eight children, the most famous out of them being, Richard Coeur de Lion, also known as Richard the Lionhearted, and John Lackland. Both Richard and John were taught the ways of the troubadours and about th...