most popular works on Eleanor's life. For over 20 years, it was the only
biography in print about the woman and for that reason it naturally held the
field. That is no longer the case, though most of the works that have
appeared about Eleanor since Marion Meade's biography in 1977 (and including
Meade's book) are flawed by a continuing tendency to romanticize the queen's
life beyond what the historical record will bear, and to pad out with
nothing more than imagination the many areas of her career that are quite
poorly documented.
Amy Kelly was not an historian. A specialist in the courtly literature of
the Middle Agess she was primarily interested in Eleanor's legendary
patronage of courtly literature. Kelly was responsible for making the
strongest "case" in favor of Eleanor's active literary patronage and for
creating a highly colored account of the queen presiding over the so-called
"courts of love" at Poitiers. Kelly's view, consistent with her personal
interests, that Eleanor was an active patroness of literature, was most
authoritatively exploded by Karen Broadhurst, "Henry II of England and
Eleanor of Aquitaine: Patrons of Literature in French?", *Viator* 27 (1996):
53-84, who concluded from an exceptionally careful examination of texts and
dedications that it was Henry II, not Eleanor, who sponsored most of the
literary works created for his court.
The passage Kelly cites from Suger regarding Eleanor's marriage does not
bear on Eleanor's age in 1137. It deals only with the general political
circumstances surrounding her union with Louis: that her father died
leaving two daughters whose guardianship the dying duke entrusted to King
Louis VI, who then arranged for the elder daughter, Eleanor, to marry his
son Louis. Wherever Kelly found information that Eleanor was 15 in 1137, it
was not in Suger. Since she did not provide any further details of her
sources or authorities, we don't know where she found that information. Her
likely authority, though she did not cite it, was Alfred Richard's 2-volume
history of the counts of Poitou. As Andrew Lewis states, however, details
such as dates of birth were "not among Richard's strengths as a scholar"
(Lewis, "The Birth and Childhood of King John: Some Revisions," in *Eleanor
of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady*, eds. Bonnie Wheeler and John C. Parsons (New
York: Palgrave World Publishing, 2003), p. 161.
Kelly never referred to the chronicle Andrew Lewis found, which is the only
direct evidence for Eleanor's age in 1137. Most probably Kelly knew nothing
of that text, which was not available in print. Lewis consulted it in
manuscript (Paris, BNF, lat. 5452, a chronicle written at St-Martial in
Limoges, within the domains of the dukes of Aquitaine/counts of Poitou).
New discoveries of forgotten or unpublished manuscripts occur regularly and
the testimony of these witnesses, even if they are at variance with
prevailing opinions, must be allowed to enter into our discussions if the
discipline is to evolve and not remain statically tied to those prevailing
beliefs. We constantly revise our opinions on lines of genealogical
descent; why not for dates of birth, when new evidence is made available?
Regards
John P.
From: "Ginny Wagner" <ginnywagner@austin.rr.com
To: GEN-MEDIEVAL-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: RE: Eleanor Of Aquitaine
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 11:39:01 -0600
Comments, Quibbles & Discussion?
In Amy Kelly's Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings: On the first page
under The Rich Dower:
But his [Guillaume, Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine] early death in
1137 brought the king [Louis the Sixth of France, Louis the Fat] face to
face with problems that could not be postponed.
Guilliame's only heirs were two daughters. Eleanor, the elder, was a girl
(jeune pucelle) scarcely fifteen. This young duchess, with her legacy of
violent and unfinished quarrels, was King Louis's vassal, his lawful
marriage prize ....[4]
Notes: [4]Sug, Vie L. VI, 128.
Biblio: Sug Suger, De Administratione and De Consecratione. See
Panofsky.
Epistolae (HGF XV)
Vie de Louis le Gros and Vie de Louis VII. See Molinier.
1137 - 15 = 1122
Best,
Ginny