Eleanor Aquitaine: The Life of a Medieval Badass

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2023

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You would think that a woman who was queen several times, commanded armies and was possibly the most powerful woman in medieval Europe would need no introduction…yet here we are.

On today’s show we’re joined by author and new co-host of the History Hit podcast Gone Medieval, Eleanor Janega, to learn more about this most badass medieval woman: Eleanor Aquitaine.

Did she really have an affair with her own uncle? What was her relationship with her cousin? And how did medieval society take to such a powerful and influential woman?

This episode was edited by Siobhan Dale. The Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, my lovely Batrixters. It's me, Kate Lister. I am here to help you look after yourselves
0:08.0	once more. Here it is. It is your obligatory Fair Doos warning. This is an adult podcast
0:14.4	spoken by adults to other adults in an adulty way about a range of adults subject and you
0:18.8	should be an adult too. So if you persist in listening to us, don't be right in as angry
0:24.0	emails saying how offended you got because Fair Doos, we did warn you.
0:34.5	As bad ass bitches go, Eleanor of Aquitaine has got to be right up there. She was a queen
0:41.6	several times and perhaps the most powerful and wealthy woman in Medieval Europe. She had 11
0:48.5	children and outlived all but two of them and she lived well into her 80s. She was rumored
0:54.8	to have supported a revolt against her second husband. I mean, you haven't, but the revolt failed.
1:00.6	And that resulted in her being imprisoned for almost 16 years until her son succeeded the throne.
1:07.1	After being released by her son, she continued to have a massive influence on political affairs
1:12.2	until her death. She managed to avoid kidnappings, she commanded armies and she joined crusades.
1:18.4	That's not quite as cool but she was on crusades and she was doing all of this in the 12th
1:23.4	century by the way. Dear more about this Medieval badass, debunk some myths and have a look at
1:29.5	her love affairs, including one that was rumored to be with her own uncle. Here it is Eleanor of Aquitaine.
1:42.2	What do you look for, my man? Oh, money of us. You're supposed to rise when an adult speaks to you.
1:51.8	I make perfect copies of whatever my boss needs by just turning it up and pushing it up.
2:04.2	Yes, social courtesy does make a difference.
2:06.8	Goodness, my beautiful dad. Goodness, I've nothing to do with it, dear.
2:12.6	Hello and welcome back to Betwix the Sheets, the history of sex scandal in society, with me,
2:20.6	Kate Lister. After you've heard something of the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, it's impossible
2:25.8	to look at the Middle Ages in the same way again. And who have we got on to talk about this absolute
	...

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