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.

Autorentext
Bonnie Wheeler teaches at Southern Methodist University, USA where she directs the Medieval Studies Program. She has edited and co-edited fourteen books, among them Listening to Heloise and Heloise and the Paraclete (forthcoming). She was founding editor of the journal Arthuriana and is series editor for two Palgrave Macmillan book series, The New Middle Ages and Arthurian and Courtly Cultures.

Inhalt
Introduction; J.Carmi Parsons & B.Wheeler Eleanor of Aquitaine Reconsidered: The Woman and her Seasons; E.A.R.Brown Queen Eleanor and Aquitaine, 1137-1189; M.Hivergneaux Eleanor of Aquitaine in the Reigns of her Sons Richard and John; R.V.Turner Wife, Widow and Mother: Some Comparisons between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Noblewomen of the Anglo-Norman and Angevin World; R.C.DeAragon Alianora Regina Anglorum: Eleanor of Aquitaine and her Predecessors as Queens of England; L. L.Huneycutt Queenship: Office, Custom or Ad Hoc? The Case of Queen Matilda of England (1135-1152); H.J.Tanner The Birth and Childhood of King John: Some Revisions; A.W.Lewis A Taste of the Feast: Re-considering Eleanor of Aquitaine's Female Descendants; C.Hoffman Berman & M.Shadis The Canon Law of Divorce from Louis VII: The Uses of Consanguinity; C.Brittain Bouchard The Reciprocal Loyalty of Eleanor of Aquitaine and William Marshal; E.Mullally Scandalizing Desire: Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Chroniclers; P.McCrackenDamned if She Didn't and Damned When She Did: Bodies, Babies and Bastards in the Lives of Two Queens of France; J.Carmi Parsons Tempering Scandal: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Benoit de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie; T.F.O'Callaghan What Ever Happened to Eleanor? Reflections of Eleanor of Aquitaine in Wace's Roman de Brut and Lawman's Brut; F.Tolhurst Marie de France, Alienor d'Aquitaine, and the Alien Queen; M.A.Pappano The Eleanor of Aquitaine Vase; G.T.Beech The Queen's Choice: Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Tombs at Fontevraud; K.Nolan Fontevraud, Dynasticism, and Eleanor of Aquitaine; C.T. Wood Epilogue: Eleanor of Aquitaine and a 'queenly court'?; J.Martindale