'No man in my realm is strong enough to hold Aquitaine without the agreement of my other vassals,' Eleanor pronounced. Instead of being turned politely around and told to go finish her needlework, she was commanding them all. 'No.' Somehow the girl stood a few inches taller, and the reverend archbishop stopped in mid-sentence.

'If it's about the May Day pageant,' said Geoffrey du Lauroux, 'I fear it would not be wise for you to go out into the town at this time, my dear-' 'I have had an excellent idea, my lord archbishop.' 'No, no.' The girl waved away Archbishop Geoffrey's proffered list of names as if they were a tray of honey cakes. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.Ī slim young girl with leaves in her tangled hair came boldly into the room without asking permission. Sweeping from the courts of Paris to the perils of the Crusades, Duchess of Aquitaine gloriously illuminates the life of one of the most powerful, resourceful, and fascinating women in all of history. Eleanor's alliance to Louis VII may be a dazzling one, but her husband is a cautious man, originally intended for the priesthood, whose wit and courage do not always match Eleanor's own and she ultimately finds herself seeking an even greater match with Henry II of England. But she must learn to be careful what she wishes for. In order to safeguard her lands and her life, Eleanor devises a scheme to marry the heir to the throne of France. Everyone, that is, except for her dying father, who insists on leaving Eleanor his most valuable provinces-and making her prey to the first baron who rides in to kidnap her. For all of the duke's boasts that Eleanor has the brains of a man and the soul of a warrior, everyone knows that a girl of fifteen cannot possibly hold the richest dukedom in France.

And I intend to make a very good one.'īeautiful and brilliant, Eleanor is the daughter of the duke of Aquitaine, whose glittering court is the twelfth-century birthplace of courtly love.

Duchess of Aquitaine by Margaret Ball