Eleanor of Aquitaine fascinated me from university days. Married to Louis VII of France, then Henry II of England, mother or Richard the Lion Hearted and John who sign the Magna Carta. Owner of he Aquitaine in France.
After reading another biography of her and seeing Stephane Bern's television program on her life and rewatching Katherine Hepburn's portrayal of her in Lion in Winter for the umpty umpth time, I decided on trying to visit places where she'd been, excluding her crusade to the Holy Land.
What better excuse than my 75th birthday.
This morning we drove thru miles of sunflowers and cornfields to arrive at Fontevraud, where she was buried although her bones have long since disappeared. Still I will be where she was, can imagine what it was like in the 1100s when she helped rule England and part of today's France.
In a way it is like meeting her personally.
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