Bonnie Wheeler

John C. Parsons

These essays provide a fresh context for understanding Eleanor of Aquitaine's multi-faceted career and reputation. She is a pivotal figure in the history of the twelfth century because of her lordly inheritance as well as the political and diplomatic scope of her marital rank as queen. Essays in this collection reassess the often fragmentary historical information about her life, and investigate her reputation in literary and historical contexts.

Lord and Lady

Eleanor of Aquitaine

B. Wheeler

Eleanor's patrilineal descent, from a lineage already prestigious enough to have produced an empress in the eleventh century, gave her the lordship of Aquitaine. But marriage re-emphasized her sex which, in the medieval scheme of gender-power relations relegated her to the position of Lady in relation to her Lordly husbands. In this collection, essays provide a context for Eleanor's life and further an evolving understanding of Eleanor's multifaceted career. A valuable collection on the greatest heiress of the medieval period.

John C. Parsons

Books

Your next favorite book is out there