Madre de dos reyes (Ricardo I corazón de León y Juan I sin Tierra, abuela de otros, entre ellos nuestros Enrique I y Berenguela de Castilla, bisabuela de Fernando III el Santo. Con la vinculación de su ducado a la corona inglesa contribuyó sobremanera al conflicto entre estos dos reinos que desembocó en la guerra de los 100 años. Criada entre caballeros y trovadores (su abuelo era un reconocido trovador), se casó con dos Reyes: Luis VII de Francia y Enrique II Plantagenet de Inglaterra. Heredera de uno de los ducados más importantes del reino de Francia, de facto casi independiente en su época (Siglo XII). Imprescindible para comprender uno de los personajes femeninos más interesantes y más influyentes de la Edad Media Europea. In prison, she wrote her memoir this is Eleanor’s book. Vowing revenge, he imprisoned her for fifteen years, hoping she would die in obscurity. 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. A lifelong rebel, Eleanor would defy her husband and the Church, and eventually strong-arm the Pope into annulling her unhappy marriage.

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. But Eleanor was delighted by the freedom of the crusader’s life. 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. 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. In 1137, fifteen-year-old Eleanor became Duchess of Aquitaine, a wealthy and powerful province in the south of France.

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.

The Book of Eleanor by Pamela Kaufman