Entry extracted from the book The Plantagenets 
It could be thought that the leading role of Eleanor of Aquitaine after the death of her husband Henry II, with which the second entry dedicated to her ended, had ended with her accession to the throne of his son Richard. But neither the character of the two offspring she saw reign, nor the relationship between them allowed it... although it is possible that Eleanor's own character would not have led her to a quiet retirement in Fontevrault Abbey.
Richard's accession to the throne of England was the typical whirlwind characteristic of the king who has gone down in history with the nickname of the Lionheart:coronation in London, extensive fundraising for his projected adventure in the Holy Land ("I would sell London if I found a buyer," a chronicler of the time put it in his mouth) and departure for the crusades.
During the early years of Richard's reign, Eleanor played a leading role, sometimes desired and sometimes not, in various significant events:
1.- A trip to Spain to accompany Ricardo's future wife, Berenguela de Navarra. The reasons for this link and the role played by Leonor in it were analyzed in the first of the blog posts dedicated to Berengaria.
2.- Leonor had to curb the desire of her little son, Juan de Ella, to seize the throne of her brother. Juan sin Tierra had failed to fulfill the promise given to Ricardo not to set foot in English territory within three years (while he was on the crusades) and also taking advantage of an incident between the chancellor of the kingdom, William Longchamp, and his stepbrother Godofredo, Archbishop of York, accelerated his plans to take over England. Godfrey landed at Dover (although he, too, had promised not to return to England) and was arrested and imprisoned by Longchamp's forces, despite taking refuge in a church. Juan, already in England by then, called a council of nobles and members of the clergy; both he and Longchamp headed to London. The latter arrived earlier and tried to convince the Londoners to close their doors to the prince, but the citizens refused, accusing Longchamp of being "a traitor and disturber of the peace of the realm"; Longchamp locked himself in the Tower of London and John was greeted with cheers on his arrival in the city. The next day the council of nobles and bishops dismissed Longchamp from his positions, who had earned the resentment of the entire kingdom for his despotic behavior and his search for personal gain, replacing competent men with others of his rope and unprepared who They only defended their interests. The council also decided to name Juan regent of the kingdom. And all its members (beginning with the prince) renewed their oath of allegiance to Richard, the rest pledging to obey John while the king was absent and to accept him as king if his brother did not return to the country. Leonor was willing for this event not to take place.
3.-Richard was taken captive on his way back from the Holy Land, whence he sailed in October 1192. Had it not been for his mother, he would never have returned to England. In November 1192, fifty miles from Vienna and while crossing the territories of Duke Leopold of Austria, Richard was recognized and taken prisoner. In February 1193, Leopold in turn proceeded to deliver Richard at a price of gold to his sovereign, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, who imprisoned the English king in the castle of Hagenau and demanded a large ransom to free his prisoner. . Both Felipe de Francia and above all Juan sin Tierra reacted with great joy to the news and tried to get Enrique to keep Ricardo captive. However, despite being imprisoned, Richard was able to maneuver to straighten things out in his country and to appoint Hubert Walter, his companion in the adventure in the Holy Land, as Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor. Walter was able to counter John's maneuvers to seize the crown and with the invaluable help of Eleanor of Aquitaine managed to squeeze noblemen, merchants, clergy and the English people in general until he obtained the amount of ransom required by Henry VI to return the crown. free Richard. The liberation took place on February 4, 1194, against the payment of one hundred thousand marks and the promise of paying another fifty thousand, in guarantee of which various hostages were delivered to the emperor. He even demanded that Ricardo give him the crown of England as a pledge, which would later be returned to him as a symbol of vassalage under the emperor. Leonor convinced her son to accept even this humiliating condition, making him see that the important thing was to regain his freedom.
During the rest of Richard's reign, Eleanor juggled for Richard to first forgive John for his maneuvering during his captivity and secondly designate him as his heir if, as was the case, he died childless. On more than one occasion, the Lionheart thought of removing his brother from the line of succession and designating his nephew Arthur of Brittany. But when in March 1199 he was wounded at the siege of Chalus-Chabrol and convalesced for ten days before dying, his mother came to his deathbed.
Arthur, by then Duke of Brittany, had been placed by his mother and the Breton nobles in the custody of the King of France. Ricardo had no intention of naming a teenager who was under the influence of his worst enemy as heir. This fact, together with the constant efforts of his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, was decisive for Ricardo to designate his brother Juan as heir and not his nephew Arturo. As for his English subjects, it was really a matter of choosing between a lesser evil; the unpopular but adult and independent Juan or the young and inexperienced Arthur, supported by the king of France.
A woman who had two husbands who wore the crowns of France and England, three children who were crowned kings of England, who traveled much of the known world from the crusades to Hispania and that he was in his eighties, he could well afford to spend his final years in peace. But in the year 1200 Eleanor decided that she was fit for one more role as a matchmaker, very significant in bringing about peace between the kingdoms of France and England that were so dear to her. She returned to travel to Hispania, in order to find a bride for the dauphin Luis de Francia. Eleanor's daughter, who had inherited her name, was the wife of King Alfonso VIII of Castile and had two daughters of marriageable age. Eleanor of Aquitaine traveled to the Castilian kingdom and chose Blanca de Ella from among them to accompany her to be the wife of what would become Louis VIII of France and mother of Saint Louis. In the blog we have already talked about Blanca de Castilla.
After her new role as matchmaker, Eleanor of Aquitaine still had one last test left:being besieged by an army led by her grandson, Arthur of Brittany . When Arthur turned sixteen he was knighted by Philip Augustus of France and promised to one of his daughters, which was a recognition of his coming of age and a way of telling the world that he was willing to fight for the inheritance. of the. Philip put at their disposal a force of two hundred men and Arthur joined them in Tours, from where they tried to take Eleanor of Aquitaine prisoner, who took refuge in the castle of Mirebeau and had time to send a messenger informing Juan sin Tierra , which was at Le Mans. John came in typical Angevin style (he covered a hundred miles in forty-eight hours) to the aid of his mother and surprised Arthur's forces, who were taken prisoner on August 1, 1202.
Leonor's liberation from the siege of her grandson by her son Juan can be interpreted as a final act of reconciliation between a mother and the son to whom she denied her support on many occasions for putting the interests of her beloved Ricardo Corazón de León first. Already old, and quite possibly unaware of the fate that her son Juan de Ella intended for her grandson Arturo de Ella, Eleanor retired to the Abbey of Fontevrault where she died on April 1, 1204 and where she is buried. . One of the most remarkable characters of the European Middle Ages died with her.
Fonts|
Fernández de Lis, D. The Plantagenets. Madrid (2021).
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Ackroyd, P. A History of England Volume I (Foundations) .Ed. Mcmillan, London. 1st edition (2011)
Strong. A. The Story of Britain. Ed. Pimlico, London. 1st edition (1998)
Schama, S. A History of Britain .BBC Worldwide Limited, London. 1st edition, fourth printing (2000)
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