Eleanor of England
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Eleanor of England (also called Eleanor Plantagenet1 and Eleanor of Leicester) was born in the year 1215, in Gloucester. She was the youngest child of King John Lackland of England and Isabelle of Angouleme. John's London was conquered and Isabella was in shame. He had been forced to sign the Magna Carta. Eleanor would never see her Father, as he died at Newark Castle when she was barely a year old. The French, led by Philip II of France, were marching through the south. The only lands loyal to her brother were in the middle and southwest. The barons ruled the north, but they united with the royalists under William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who protected the young king, and Philip was defeated.
William Marshal died in 1219 and Eleanor was promised to his son, also named William. They were married on April 23,1224 at New Temple Church in London. The younger William was 34 and Eleanor only nine. He died in London on April 6, 1231, days before their 7th anniversary. There were no children of this marriage. The widowed Eleanor swore a holy oath of chastity in the presence of Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Seven years later, she met Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. They fell in love and married secretly on January 7, 1238 at the King's chapel at Westminister Palace. Her brother King Henry later alleged that he only allowed the marriage because Simon had seduced Eleanor. The marriage was controversial because of the oath Eleanor had sworn several years before to remain chaste. Because of this, Simon made a pilgrimage to Rome seeking papal approval for their union. Simon and Eleanor would have six children:
- Henry de Montfort (November 1238-1265)
- Simon the younger de Montfort (April 1240-1271)
- Amaury de Montfort, Canon of York (1242/1243-1300)
- Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (1244-1288)
- A daughter, born and died in Bordeaux between 1248 and 1251.
- Richard de Montfort (1252-1266)
- Eleanor de Montfort (1258-1282)
Simon de Montfort had the real power behind the throne, but when he tried to take the throne, he was defeated with his son at the Battle of Evesham on August 4,1265. Eleanor fled to exile in France where she became a nun at Montargis Abbey, a nunnery founded by her dead husband's sister Amicia. She died and was buried there on April 13, 1275.
Sources
- Maddicott, J.R. Simon de Montfort, 1996
Notes
- 1The surname "Plantagenet" has been retrospectively applied to the descendants of Geoffrey of Anjou without historical justification: it is simply a convenient, if deceptive, method of referring to people who had, in fact, no surname. The first descendant of Geoffrey to use the surname was Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (father of Edward IV of England) who apparently assumed it about 1448.
Other women sometimes called Eleanor of England include the daughter of King Edward I of England, wife of Alfonso III of Aragon.