About book Eleanor: April Queen Of Aquitaine (2015)
Few female personalities dominate medieval history in the way that Eleanor of Aquitaine does. History is so utterly dominated by men, from kings and princes to bishops, soldiers, merchants, that to encounter an individual like Eleanor, whose influence is still being felt to this day, is beyond refreshing. In an era when noblewomen were little more than pawns to their families' ambitions and political manoeuvring, Eleanor stands out as a truly remarkable figure, no less subject to the actions of the men in her life than any other of her sex, but able in the end to rise above it and exercise real power in her own right.And what a life she led! Queen of France, Queen of England, Duchess of Aquitaine, mother of Richard the Lionheart and Bad King John. Wife, mother, grandmother, crusader, rebel, regent, prisoner - the list of roles she played throughout her long life goes on. And an extraordinarily long life it was for a medieval woman: Eleanor lived to be 82 in a time when the average life expectancy for a woman was little more than 30. By the time of her death she had become a legend in her own lifetime, wielding influence and power almost unique for a woman in Western European history.Douglas Boyd's biography contributes little new to the field of study of Eleanor of Aquitaine - at this remove in history it would be almost impossible for any real new information to come to light - but he writes well and the narrative clips along as a fair pace. He has some interesting new conclusions about why Henry made Becket Archbishop of Canterbury and how it fitted into Henry's ambitious plans for control of the European continent, which seem plausible enough albeit little more than informed speculation. But it's any enjoyable read and one I'd recommend as an introductory text to Eleanor of Aquitaine and her time.
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Douglas Boyd has done a masterful job of immersing himself in primary source material in order to render this thorough and enjoyable biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine. He keeps an impartial stance throughout with the exception of a noticeable fondness for Eleanor's language, Occitan or langue d'oc. This is hugely helpful to the book because Eleanor, as Queen of France and then Queen of England, remained at heart a daughter of Aquitaine, the region of Southwestern France near the mountains of Spain.I had heard from my grandmother Marion who was fascinated by her that Eleanor grew up surrounded by troubadors, singers of poems about courtly love and fate. Boyd includes many such poems in their original Occitan, with excellent original translations, and these are a beautiful element in binding the myriad episodes of her life together. Boyd takes relevant and interesting side trops through the Latin Kingdom of the Crusaders, into the food and dress of the time, weaving a complete tapestry that brings the reader into her time. That there is at times a lack of soaring prose is the only negative thing I can say about this terrific book, I recommend it highly.
—Lemar
