Eleanor of Aquitaine
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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If you want a job done properly, get a woman to do it. That seems to me the unanswerable lesson of that wild ride, that wild period in Western European history, which was the late 12th and early 13th century. The era of the Angevin Empire, the era of the Lionheart, the soft sword, the road to Magna Carta, the era. we should call it, of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Kings loved her. Men died for her. She redrew the map of medieval Europe. She was the only woman to be crowned both Queen of France and England. She marched on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land. She led a coup against her own husband. Even the Pope feared her. Eleanor of Aquitaine was the beating heart. She was the matriarch of that most powerful and explosive families, the Plantagenets.
Her wealth from Aquitaine bankrolled kings, her patronage shaped courtly culture, and her children. Oh, what can we say about her children? including Rich the Lionheart and King John. They ruled and they rebelled and they quarreled and conquered and were defeated. She was twice a queen. She was mother of monarchs. She was the glue that held Europe's most unlikely empire together. Eleanor's story is the story of one of Europe's most dramatic periods. Now, to take us through it, I am joined by the medieval queen of history hit, the historian, the host, the frankly online phenomenon That is the Gone Medieval podcast host, Dr. Eleanor Janager. This is Dan Snow's History Hit, and this is the story of one of history's most powerful and dysfunctional dynasties, and the queen at the center of it all.
And to tell us about it, we have the queen. And just to let you know, some of the stuff we chat about in this episode maybe isn't suitable for listening with kids.
T-minus 10. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. God save the king. No black-white unity till there is first and black unity. Never to go to war with one another again. And liftoff. And the shuttle has cleared the tower.
Anna Yonaga, good to have you back on the podcast. Dan, you can't stop me. You and I have done a lot of work together, but when we talk about Anna Rakuten, I feel that's when you hit your flow, because I think there's an affinity there. She's your kind of spirit animal.
She is. Well, I mean, listen, I was literally named after the woman. I never had a choice in my destiny. Anything that happened. And, you know, it's one of those things where I think once you're told from an early age, this is someone who is important in your naming. Of course, I was going to become obsessed with her. Of course. My mother was reading a book about her when she was pregnant with me.
Really? Yeah. I was getting it through, baby. Well, now we're going to get the benefit of that. Let's talk about her birth.
birth from the beginning was it clear she was someone's but there was a lot riding on it she was an heiress absolutely you know she is born into one of the most important land holding families in france so aquitaine at the time it's essentially all of southwestern france okay so aquitaine's a glorious place yep we are talking what so around bordeaux south and west
Yep. And then almost like a nice little reach out to the Alps as well. That's right.
It goes a little bit further east than you would think. And it goes a little bit further north than you would think.
Who was Eleanor of Aquitaine and why is she central to the Angevin Empire?
You know, when we tend to talk about it, we say, oh, southwestern France. But Poitiers, the capital, is actually really kind of central. And so, yeah, I mean, culturally it is southern, but now you wouldn't call Poitiers southern France, I don't think.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:58
2
Who was Eleanor of Aquitaine and why is she central to the Angevin Empire?
3:58–10:40
3
How did Aquitaine’s geography and culture shape Eleanor’s upbringing?
10:40–21:54
4
Why did the King of France rush to marry Eleanor after her father’s death?
21:54–33:50
5
What went wrong on the Second Crusade and how was Eleanor blamed?
33:50–49:54
6
How did Eleanor’s marriage to Henry II create the vast Angevin Empire?
49:54–56:44