Eleanor of Aquitaine

            The last of the three big monotheistic religions in the world is Christianity. Christianity appeared for the first time in Judea, after the birth of Jesus Christ, whose teachings gave birth to a new religion. After his death, his disciples dedicated their lives to travel throughout the Roman Empire and give speeches in order to reach out to people that later converted to Christianity.  Christians were persecuted and killed many times by command of the Roman emperors until they realized that the religion had spread so much that the smartest decision to make in order to gain support from the Romans was to declare it the official religion of the empire. As a result, Constantine the Great, converted to Christianity and declared the religion the official religion of the whole Empire.

             During the Middle Ages, Christianity played the central role in the society. Almost any decision had to be consulted with the Popes and representatives of the church. It was during then Middle Ages that Eleanor of Aquitaine lived. Eleanor was Duchess of Aquitaine by birth, and queen of France and England as a result of her marriages first with Louis VII, and then with Henry II. She was the mother of ten children; two from her marriage with Louis VII, king of France, and eight from marriage with Henry II, king of England. Eleanor could annul her marriage with Louis VII of France by cleverly manipulating the representatives of the church in France. Her child, Richard the Lionheart, the legendary king of Robin Hood stories, changed the destinies of England and France by inheriting Aquitaine from his mother and England from his father. Aquitaine was located in France, and from the moment Richard the Lionheart became king, the kings of England possessed part of the French territory; a fact that caused may problems between the kingdoms and was the cause for the One Hundred Years’ War. The following is a fragment from the book “Eleanor of Aquitaine” by Pamela Kaufman. 

Yes, I will tell my story twice, both my public and private life, with a double objective, as suggested by my grandfather, the first and greatest travador of all times, William IX: If one could write about his life of passion, one could live two lives. Now, I have made ​​myself smile, because the true maximum reads: If one could write about his life of virtue, one could live two lives.
My life of virtue would compose a small book. Should I begin with my birth in Aquitaine? With the mystery of my parents? The war between my aunts and my mother? The bitter fate of my father? So much to tell, so much to tell... Everything is so compelling. The fertile soil from which I fed, but this is his story, not mine. My childhood was a paradise, as I remember it. Did the adults protect me from their misery and resentment? I doubt it. I rather think that everybody loved me, regardless of their other loyalties and their animosities against each other, and love is what makes a child happy, right? I hope my children would remember that. No, my story began when I was fifteen years old, the night I occupied the center of stage in the theater of the world.