Eleanor of Aquitaine was Duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As the heiress of the House of Poitiers, which controlled much of southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
Year 1103 (MCIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Louis VII, called the Younger or the Young to differentiate him from his father Louis VI, was king of France from 1137 to 1180. His first marriage was to Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe. The marriage temporarily extended the Capetian lands to the Pyrenees.
Eleanor is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name Aliénor. It was the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. The name was introduced to England by Eleanor of Aquitaine, who came to marry King Henry II. It was also borne by Eleanor of Provence, who became queen consort of England as the wife of King Henry III, and Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I.
Eleanor of Provence was a Provençal noblewoman who became Queen of England as the wife of King Henry III from 1236 until his death in 1272. She served as regent of England during the absence of her spouse in France in 1253.
William IX, called the Troubadour, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou between 1086 and his death. He was also one of the leaders of the Crusade of 1101. Though his political and military achievements have a certain historical importance, he is best known as the earliest troubadour—a vernacular lyric poet in the Occitan language—by whom some work survives.
William X, called the Saint, was Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, and Count of Poitou from 1126 to 1137.
Petronilla of Aquitaine was a French noble. She was the second daughter of William X of Aquitaine and Aénor of Châtellerault. She was the elder sister of William Aigret and the younger sister of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was Queen consort of France, later England. She is variously called Alix and Petronilla; she typically went by Alix after her marriage, while Petronilla seems to have been her childhood name.
Châtellerault is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. It is located in the northeast of the former province Poitou, and the residents are called Châtelleraudais.
Ralph I of Vermandois was Count of Vermandois. He was a son of Hugh, Count of Vermandois and his wife, Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois. Ralph was a grandson of Henry I of France, while Ralph's mother had been the Carolingian heiress to Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois.
Philippa was suo jure Countess of Toulouse, as well as the Duchess of Aquitaine by marriage to Duke William IX of Aquitaine.
William des Roches was a French knight and crusader who acted as Seneschal of Anjou, of Maine and of Touraine. After serving the Angevin kings of England, in 1202 he changed his loyalty to King Philip II of France and became a leading member of his government.
Raoul II of Lusignan was the son of Raoul I of Lusignan and his wife Alix, Countess of Eu. He became Seigneur d'Exoudun and Count of Eu upon his father death in 1219.
Exoudun is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France.
The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or domaine royal of France were the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France. While the term eventually came to refer to a territorial unit, the royal domain originally referred to the network of "castles, villages and estates, forests, towns, religious houses and bishoprics, and the rights of justice, tolls and taxes" effectively held by the king or under his domination. In terms of territory, before the reign of Henry IV, the domaine royal did not encompass the entirety of the territory of the kingdom of France and for much of the Middle Ages significant portions of the kingdom were the direct possessions of other feudal lords.
Dangereuse of L'Île-Bouchard was the daughter of Bartholomew, Lord of L'Île-Bouchard and his wife Gerberge of Blaison. She was the maternal grandmother of the celebrated Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was also mistress to her granddaughters' paternal grandfather, William IX, Duke of Aquitaine. As the mistress of William the Troubadour, she was known as La Maubergeonne for the tower he built for her at his castle in Poitiers.
Aimery I de Châtellerault, was the Viscount of Châtellerault and father of Aenor de Châtellerault. Through his daughter he was the grandfather of Eleanor of Aquitaine, successively queen of France and England.
Aénor was a feminine given name in medieval France. It is likely the origin of, and by the later Middle Ages was replaced by, the name Eleanor (Alienor).
Sir Hugh Purcell of Loughmoe was the founder of the Lordship and Barony of Loughmoe, as well as being the builder of a fragment of Loughmoe castle. He was married to Beatrix FitzWalter, who was the daughter of Theobald FitzWalter. He is known for being the first Lord of Loughmoe.
