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A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine
Broadway Books
April 2003
On Sale: March 25, 2003
Featuring: Eleanor of Aquitaine
560 pages
ISBN: 0609808095
EAN: 9780609808092
Kindle: B003FCVEYQ
Trade Size / e-Book
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Historical
One of history's greatest women, celebrated by her
contemporaries, descendants, and biographers, now comes to
life in this mesmerizing new novel by bestselling author
Pamela Kaufman.
In 1137, fifteen-year-old Eleanor
became Duchess of Aquitaine, a wealthy and powerful province
in the south of France. Rich and influential in her own
right, her tumultuous marriages thrust Eleanor into the
political and cultural spotlight, where she would remain for
more than half a century.
Still in her teens, young
Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII of France, a sickly
religious fanatic so obsessed with fears of adultery that he
kept his beautiful wife under lock and key, even forcing her
to go on a long and dangerous crusade with him. But Eleanor
was delighted by the freedom of the crusader's life. Her
handsome Aquitanian knights, her deeds on horseback, and her
scandalous attire were the talk of Europe; it soon became
clear that Louis's young wife was more than he could
handle. A lifelong rebel, Eleanor would defy her husband and
the Church, and eventually strong-arm the Pope into
annulling her unhappy marriage.
Once free of Louis,
Eleanor thought to marry Baron Rancon, her childhood love,
but found herself forced into another political marriage,
this time with a younger and more dangerous husband—Henry II
of England, a ruthless soldier known throughout Europe as
"the red star of malice." In Henry Eleanor found a man
whose iron will and political cunning matched her own, but
the marriage was a bitter and brutal one, which escalated
into open warfare when Eleanor backed their sons in an armed
rebellion against Henry. Vowing revenge, he imprisoned her
for fifteen years, hoping she would die in obscurity. But
Eleanor would not go quietly. In prison, she wrote her
memoir; this is Eleanor's book.
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