Eleanor of Aquitaine has been called the “Queen of the Troubadours” by fawning biographers. She has been credited with transforming medieval European culture through her patronage of the arts. It’s also been written that she presided over elaborate “Courts of Love” where she made rulings on matters of the heart. However, this image of Eleanor may just be another aspect of the so-called “Golden Myth”. Some historians have argued that it was only after Eleanor became a widow that she really stepped into her role as the “Mother of Empires”. Has Eleanor’s formidable widowhood coloured our perceptions of her entire life. Tune-in and find out how romantic lawsuits, secret love nests, and Blink-182 all play a role in the story.

Works Cited

Cockerill, Sara. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France and England, Mother of Empires. Amberley Publishing, 2021.

Evans, Michael R. Inventing Eleanor: the Medieval and Post-Medieval Image of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Bloomsbury, 2016.

Markale, Jean. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of the Troubadours. Inner Traditions, 2008.

Meade, Marion. Eleanor of Aquitaine: a Biography. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2015.

Owen, D. D. R. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen and Legend. Blackwell, 2000.

Weir, Alison. Eleanor of Aquitaine. Ballantine, 1999.

Wheeler, Bonnie, and John Carmi Parsons. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Wheeler, Bonnie. “Medieval Heroines in History and Legend.” The Great Courses: Western Literature. The Great Courses, 2013. Digital Lecture.