By careful research, Alison Weir has produced a vivid biography with a fresh and provocative perspective on this extraordinary woman. Eleanor has exerted a fascination over writers and biographers for 800 years, but the prevailing myths and legends that attach to her name still tend to obscure the truth. She lived to be 82, but it was only in old age that she triumphed over the adversities and tragedies of her earlier years and became virtual ruler of England. Eleanor married in turn Louis VII of France and Henry II of England, and was the mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John. However, its rulers could not extend their power into the feudal. She had been reared in a relaxed and licentious court where the arts of the troubadours flourished, and was even said to have presided over the fabled Courts of Love. It was a land of small walled cities, fortified keeps, moated castles, and wealthy monasteries. She was beautiful, intelligent and wilful, and in her lifetime there were rumours about her that were not without substance. Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine was one of the leading personalities of the Middle Ages and also one of the most controversial.
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