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ELEANOR OF AQUITANE
if you were alive in the middle ages, chances are, you were un-educated and illiterate. you’re hard pressed to find anybody quite so smart and clever as eleanor of aquitane. as far as medieval women go, she was miles ahead of the rest. her father did his best to get her the best education possible and made sure that when he was gone, she wasn’t only taken care of but wasn’t taken advantage of…good man. at fifteen, eleanor married louis vii and was crowned queen of france. aside from her political duties, eleanor also fought in the second crusade, oh yah she went there. badass. shortly after returning to france she divorced her husband and married king henry of england, the couple bore 8 children. the marriage wasn’t exactly happy but served it’s political purpose. estranged from henry, eleanor set up the fabled court of love in aquitane where scholars of all kinds and leading women discussed matters of love, marriage and duty. later in life, she served 16 years in prison for supporting her sons in a rebellion against her husband but was set free upon henry’s death. see? she was really really badass. eleanor is also acknowledged as one of the most beautiful women in history. lucky her.
1: eleanor of aquitane: dress by tsumori chisato, shoes by proenza schouler, cuff by jean paul gualtier
2: queen of france and/or england: alexander mcqueen
3: crusade bound: dress by elie saab, crazy war armor by jean paul gaultierthanks to fairphantom for this suggestion, keep the requests coming!
We did a piece on her and her interactions with King Henry the [something] in DEP, one of the numerous unseens we went through, a historical period drama. Was pretty impressive, and also I heard that Ele got her name from Eleanor of Aquitane! Jolly good show.


