She Wolves (13 page)

Following Henry’s departure, Eleanor again raised the suggestion of divorce. This time Louis was prepared to consider the matter and, on 21 March 1152, Eleanor and Louis’ marriage was annulled on the grounds of consanguity.
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The separation appears to have been amicable and Louis retained custody of their daughters. He did not know of Henry and Eleanor’s plans and allowed Eleanor to return home to Aquitaine. Louis and Eleanor were never to meet again. Following the divorce, Eleanor set out home to Poitiers. She must have travelled with a considerable escort, as Eleanor was once again the most desirable heiress in Europe. En route she learnt of two separate ambushes laid for her, one by Theobold of Blois and the other by Henry’s own brother, Geoffrey.
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Both men meant to kidnap and forcibly marry her and Eleanor must have known she was in considerable danger. She probably uncomfortably remembered the fate of Emma of Limoges and she cannot have relished the possibility of being forced into yet another arranged marriage. It must have been a great relief to arrive back in Aquitaine safely.

Henry was also journeying secretly to Aquitaine and he arrived in Poitiers in mid-May, where he and Eleanor were married. It is actually unlikely that the marriage was a love match and it seems to have been based on political considerations. However, Eleanor probably reflected that Henry would make a more fulfilling husband than Louis had been. The marriage was conducted with great secrecy. Louis had clearly been unaware of their intentions. He had agreed to divorce Eleanor on the basis of consanguity because he believed their marriage was against God’s will. However, Eleanor and Henry were much more closely related to each other than she and Louis and the latter was furious when word reached him of the marriage. Louis apparently claimed that Henry had basely stolen his wife and immediately invaded Normandy, only to be quickly repelled by Henry and forced to retreat impotently to Paris.
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Eleanor must have known how hurt Louis would be upon hearing of her marriage and it is possible that there was an element of revenge in her choice of Louis’ greatest rival.
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The marriage also provided personal fulfillment for Eleanor because on 17 August 1153, she gave birth to her first son.
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For Eleanor, at thirty-one, this must have been a major source of satisfaction and a major reproof to Louis.

The first years of Eleanor and Henry’s marriage were dominated by his struggle for the crown of England and they were often apart. The death of King Stephen’s son, Eustace led to Henry being named heir to England and this was a major triumph for the couple. In June of 1154 Eleanor joined Henry in Rouen then on the death of Stephen in December sailed for England.
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Henry and Eleanor were crowned together at Westminster on 19 December 1154 and in February 1155 Eleanor bore her second son, Henry.
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Eleanor must have felt triumphant.

Henry and Eleanor ruled vast lands in England and on the continent and Eleanor was expected by Henry to play an active political role. Early in 1156, Henry crossed to Normandy leaving Eleanor as co-regent in England with Richard of Luci.
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Eleanor obviously performed the role satisfactorily and was left as regent again when Henry travelled to Normandy in 1158.
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Eleanor also had some influence over Henry, encouraging him to invade Toulouse on her behalf in 1159.
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This campaign proved a failure but demonstrates Eleanor’s continuing preoccupation with the county.

Despite the importance of Eleanor’s political contribution, her main purpose during the early years of her marriage was to bear children. Her eldest son, William, died in 1156 but in June of that year Eleanor bore a daughter, Matilda.
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This birth was followed at Oxford in September 1157 by Richard and then Geoffrey one year later. Daughters Eleanor and Joanna were born in 61 and 65 and Eleanor’s last child, John, was born on Christmas Eve 1166. After years of childlessness and disappointment Eleanor must have been delighted with her children. Richard appears to have been Eleanor’s favourite and she named him heir to Aquitaine at his birth.

Henry was also pleased with the births of his children and proved to be a fond father. Like Eleanor, he also had great plans for their futures and attempted to arrange grand marriages for them. In August 1158, Henry crossed to France and swore fealty to Louis for his French possessions. Whilst he was there, he betrothed young Henry to Marguerite, Louis’ eldest daughter from his second marriage. This betrothal was made for political reasons and it is clear from its terms that Louis had not yet forgiven Eleanor. It was usual for a betrothed girl to be raised by her future husband’s mother, but Louis stipulated that Marguerite should not be placed in Eleanor’s care, instead being raised by a mutually acceptable Norman family.
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Even in his provisions for his daughter, however, Louis was to be thwarted. In 1160 Henry had the two infants brought together and married prematurely in order to claim Marguerite’s dowry for himself.
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Marguerite was then given over to Eleanor’s care.

In the early years of their marriage Eleanor and Henry worked together as an effective team in ruling their empire. However, relations between them began to sour quickly, perhaps as a result of Henry’s adultery. In around 1165 Henry began his famous and lengthy affair with Rosamund Clifford.
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The Christmas of that year was the first Eleanor and Henry had spent apart, with Eleanor at Angers and Henry at Oxford. Eleanor probably deeply resented Rosamund Clifford who proved a more enduring rival than Henry’s earlier more fleeting affairs. It was rumoured that Eleanor even went so far as to murder Rosamund in her jealousy: according to legend, Henry, concerned for Rosamund’s safety, built a specially designed maze in which to hide his mistress. Eleanor discovered the way through the maze with the use of a thread and, in the centre, offered Rosamund the choice of a dagger or poison with which to kill herself; Rosamund chose the latter.
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This story is clearly fantasy and Rosamund is known to have retired to a convent after her affair with Henry. However, it does suggest that Eleanor’s feelings against Rosamund were strong and it is possible that this affair turned Eleanor against Henry. At Christmas 1167, Eleanor informed Henry of her decision to return to Aquitaine, a move that signified an informal separation. Eleanor spent the years 1168 to 1173 ruling Aquitaine personally.

In spite of the apparently amicable nature of the separation, over the years animosity grew between Eleanor and Henry. In 1170 Henry succeeded in having young Henry crowned as his heir at Westminster and Eleanor does not appear to have been invited to the coronation. Eleanor was ambitious for all her children and probably resented this keenly. Henry was also fond of his children but, unlike Eleanor, was unable to accept that they had grown up and needed to be given independence. This led to a growing resentment between Henry and his sons and, in April 1173, they rose against him. Most contemporary sources make it clear that Eleanor was considered a ringleader in the revolt and, when Henry summoned her to join him at Easter 1173, she refused.
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The Archbishop of Rouen also threatened Eleanor with excommunication if she refused to join her husband but still she remained in Aquitaine, conspiring with her children and her ex-husband. There is no doubt that Eleanor, as Henry’s wife, received the greater share of the blame for the revolt and this was very damaging to her reputation. Eleanor was certainly guilty of conspiring against Henry but he had also treated her badly through his affairs and her actions seem, to modern eyes, understandable, even if they were not so excusable to her contemporaries.

By June, the rebellion had spread throughout Henry’s French lands, with his sons, young Henry, Richard and Geoffrey, as active participants. In August Henry struck back and soon recaptured his lands, making peace with Louis in September. Eleanor was left without support in Poitiers as Henry marched towards her. She cannot have relished being captured by her husband and she would have known that she could expect no mercy from him. In September she was captured trying to escape to France dressed as a man and brought as a prisoner to Henry.
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This must have been one of the darkest moments of Eleanor’s life and it would have been doubly worse for her knowing that the man who had brought her so low was her own husband, the hated Henry. Perhaps at this point Eleanor looked back on her time as Queen of France and considered that Louis had not been so bad after all. Henry took Eleanor over to England with him where she was confined at Salisbury.

Eleanor’s fortunes reached their lowest ebb in 1173 and she must have felt that the future looked bleak. Henry talked openly of divorcing her and, in 1175, the papal legate was sent to her to persuade her to retire to Fontevrault Abbey as its Abbess.
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This would have allowed Henry to both remarry and keep control of Eleanor’s lands. As such this was unacceptable to Eleanor, despite the only chance of freedom it offered. Eleanor totally refused to agree to a divorce and remained in captivity. She must have had little hope as, at eleven years Henry’s senior, she was unlikely to survive him.

Eleanor spent the rest of Henry’s reign a prisoner. It is likely that news did reach her in her prison but she was isolated from the world. In 1179 Louis died. Whilst Eleanor is unlikely to have grieved from him, news of his death must have reminded her of her own mortality and her own bleak future. A bigger blow reached Eleanor in June 1183 when Henry the younger fell ill and died suddenly on the continent. It is reported that his last request was for his father to show Eleanor mercy but she remained a captive. In 1186 Eleanor suffered a further blow when her third surviving son, Geoffrey, was killed in a tournament in Paris.
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Eleanor must have realised that she would never be released in Henry’s lifetime and probably resigned herself to die in prison. The years of rebellion by his sons had affected Henry adversely, however. During the winter of 1188 and 1189, Richard was in open rebellion in alliance with Philip Augustus, the young king of France. By July 1189 Henry was ill and finally defeated by his son. As part of the terms of his surrender, Henry asked for a list of names of those who had rebelled against him. On seeing that the first name was that of his favourite son, John, Henry turned his face to the wall and died.
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Eleanor is unlikely to have mourned for Henry and she probably welcomed his death. Her favourite son, Richard, succeeded to his father’s lands unchallenged and immediately sent word to England for Eleanor to be released and appointed regent in his absence.
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This proved unnecessary; once word of Henry’s death reached England, Eleanor’s gaolers released her, presumably recognising that the new king was unlikely to favour those who imprisoned his mother. After years of inactivity, Eleanor threw herself into preparing England for Richard’s arrival. Richard was not a familiar personage in England and Eleanor immediately carried out a number of acts in his name with the aim of increasing his popularity. One of these acts, probably also close to her own heart, was to order the release of all prisoners in England.
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She also ordered the removal of royal horses from religious houses, thereby removing an expensive and hated burden.
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Richard landed at Portsmouth on 13 August 1189 and met Eleanor at Winchester. They had not met for several years and it must have been an emotional reunion. Richard and Eleanor then travelled slowly to London for his coronation. Richard was crowned on 3 September in Westminster Abbey. Eleanor had arranged a splendid ceremony and she took a prominent place, dressed in silk and furs.
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It is clear that Eleanor was happy to resume her role of queen and was not prepared to relinquish her position to anyone. Nevertheless this probably suited Richard as he knew little of England and relied on Eleanor to help govern his new kingdom. He also had no intention of remaining in England for long and quickly set about raising money to fund his crusade.

Eleanor’s release also saw her reunited with her youngest son, John. It has often been suggested that Eleanor hated John and certainly she seems to have preferred Richard. However, the surviving evidence suggests that Eleanor was as ambitious for John as she was for the rest of her children and was prepared to support his interests. When Richard was ready to go on crusade he asked his brother John and Henry II’s illegitimate son, Geoffrey, to take oaths swearing that they would stay out of England for three years.
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Richard of Devizes writes how Eleanor begged Richard to release John from his oath – hardly the actions of a mother who hated her son.
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Nonetheless her actions do seem to have focused on her eldest surviving son. Soon after Richard left England for the Holy Land in December 1189, Eleanor set out for Navarre to fetch Berengaria, a sister of the King of Navarre, to marry Richard. They then travelled together to Sicily where Eleanor left Berengaria with Richard before rushing back to England where her presence was badly needed.

With both Richard and Eleanor absent, John had begun to call himself the king’s heir and had himself appointed supreme governor of England in Richard’s absence.
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He also ordered that all the castles in England be turned over to him, ignoring all Richard’s provisions for the regency. Eleanor landed at Portsmouth on 11 February 1192. On hearing of his fearsome mother’s arrival, John attempted to flee to France but Eleanor swiftly prevented him. According to Richard of Devizes ‘with all her strength she wanted to make sure that faith would be kept between her youngest sons, at least, so that their mother might die more happily than their father, who had gone before them’.
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Eleanor arrested John’s Flemish mercenaries and closed the channel ports to prevent any further support arriving for John.
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Following her arrival she also called a number of councils and took control of the government of England.