Born around 1122, Eleanor of Aquitaine ⓘ was one of the most powerful women of the medieval world. Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she became queen consort of two great monarchs in succession, first as the wife of Louis VII of France, ⓘ whom she married in 1137, and later as queen of England through her marriage to Henry of Anjou ⓘ in 1152. Through these unions, Eleanor stood at the centre of the political and dynastic networks linking France and England in the 12th century.

Her marriage to Louis VII was troubled from an early stage. Differences of temperament and political outlook strained the relationship, and although the couple participated together in the Second Crusade (1147–1149), the hardships of the campaign only deepened existing tensions. Their marriage was annulled in 1152, after which Eleanor swiftly remarried Henry, who was soon to become Henry II of England. As queen of England, she played a significant role in the consolidation of the Angevin empire.

Eleanor was the mother of ten children, including two future kings of England, Richard I (the Lionheart) and John. Throughout her life she acted as a political agent, patron, and dynastic figurehead, supporting courtly culture and exercising authority both directly and through her sons. Her long career made her an enduring symbol of female power, lineage, and continuity in medieval rulership.

In her later years Eleanor retired to the Abbey of Fontevraud, a religious foundation she had long favoured. She died there in 1204 and was buried alongside Henry II and Richard I. Her celebrated effigy at Fontevraud, depicting her crowned and holding an open book, stands as a deliberate statement of queenship, learning, and dynastic memory, and remains one of the most powerful visual expressions of female authority in medieval Europe.