Tomb of Eleanor of Aquitaine - Fontevraud Abbey, France

walwyn Tue, 02/19/2019 - 20:47
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Tomb of Eleanor of Aquitaine (d1204) at Fontevraud Abbey in France. Eleanor was first married to Louis VII of France, and had two daughters by him. However, they divorced in March 1152,1 and in May of the same year she married Henry of Anjou the future Henry II of England.2

 

Three of Eleanor's sons became kings of England. Though her eldest son Henry "the young king" was crowned during his father's life and dies before Henry, both Richard and her youngest son John ruled in their own rights.

 

In 1202 she was besieged at Mirebeau by her grandson Arthur of Brittany. Her son, John, marched the 80 miles from Le Mans within 48 hours to relieve her. In the ensuing battle Arthur and some 200 other knights were captured and subsequently imprisoned in Normandy and England.3  After the battle  Eleanor retired to Fontevraud Abbey living the life of a nun, where she died on the 1st of April 1204.