Eleanor of Aquitaine ruled as Queen of France, Queen of England, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, redrawing the map of twelfth-century Europe. This deep dive cuts through centuries of propaganda written by hostile monks to uncover a pragmatic, often ruthless political strategist who was one of the most misunderstood figures in medieval history.

From inheriting Aquitaine at thirteen to the disastrous Second Crusade, her annulment from Louis VII, and her rapid marriage to Henry of Normandy that created the Angevin Empire, we follow a woman who leveraged marriage, war, and wealth to survive. After backing her sons’ failed rebellion, she endured sixteen years of confinement, then governed an empire and raised a ransom in her seventies.

• Why hostile chroniclers blamed her for a military defeat caused by insubordination
• The invented incest rumor used to strip her political legitimacy
• How she dodged repeated abduction attempts on the road to Poitiers
• Raising Richard the Lionheart’s staggering ransom through ruthless taxation
• The clash between her ‘black legend’ and the modern ‘golden myth’