The Courts of Love: The Story of Eleanor of Aquitaine Read online

  I had discovered all I could about the Court of France since I had heard that I might well one day marry into it. I was fascinated by the reputed size of the King. He had grown so large through excessive eating and drinking that it was difficult for him to move about. In his youth he had been tireless and excelled in all physical exercise. I suppose this had developed his appetite, which continued to be large when he was less active. In spite of this foolhardy indulgence, he was a wise man and a shrewd ruler. He had always been on friendly terms with Aquitaine until this unfortunate matter of the Popes had arisen. I think he probably wanted a match with us as much as we with him.

  Now that my father had repented, friendship between the two was resumed. But I was not sure whether the union between myself and the heir to the crown of France would be so attractive if he discovered that my father was contemplating marriage. As the sister of the ruler of Aquitaine, I would be a much less desirable match than its Duchess would have been.

  I had always imagined that my husband would be Philip but a strange thing had happened. He had been killed when out riding. It was so sudden that it was almost like an act of God. Philip had been riding through Paris when a pig had run under his horse’s legs. He had been thrown clear, hitting his head on a stone wall; he had died instantly.

  This was so unusual, so unexpected, that people said it was “meant.”

  Louis the Fat had several children besides Philip and Louis. There was Robert who became Count of Dreux, Peter de Courtenay, Henry and Philip and a daughter, Constance. She was later Countess of Toulouse, and the two younger boys became bishops. The second son, Louis, was intended for the Church and was being brought up to this until the pig changed the course of history. Louis was taken from his cloisters to become heir to the throne of France; and that meant that if I were to marry into France, Louis would be my husband.

  My father went on: “There is one great concern for me. I hesitate to leave you and Petronilla.”

  I stared at him in amazement. “What harm could come to us?”

  “What harm indeed! There are those who might well take advantage of my absence. I shall talk to you very seriously. You are not ignorant of the ways of men. You are a very attractive girl. I have seen some of the men’s eyes on you and I have heard their songs. They sing of romantic love, my dear, while they are planning seduction, perhaps even rape.”

  “I understand well the nature of men, Father.”

  “Then you will understand my concern. If I left you here alone ... you and Petronilla ... some brigand might come along, take possession of the castle and of you. He might even force his attentions on you.”

  “Do you think I should submit ... to that?”

  “If his physical strength was greater than yours, you would be obliged to. Only recently there was the case of poor Emma of Limoges. You are especially attractive; you have exceptional beauty; but to some, Aquitaine would be even more desirable.”

  “I would fight to the death.”

  “But I do not want you dead, dear child. No, no, you have had freedom here at Court. You have been surrounded by young men and girls. You have made your verses, sung your songs, indulged in flirtatious conversations with young gallants. You have happily basked in their admiration. You revel in it. Some of these young men have been very handsome, very plausible. Sometimes I have feared ... There must be no dalliance, Eleanor, neither for you nor for Petronilla. You must go to your husband completely pure ... virgins ... nothing else will do.”

  I laughed aloud. “You have no need to remind me of that, Father. I saw no reason why I should not be amused by these young men. Light amusement ... that is all it has been.”

  “I could not be at peace if I left you and your sister here while I was away. We shall all leave for Bordeaux, and I want you two to remain in the palace there until I return. I have spoken to Archbishop Geoffrey du Lauroux. He is a good man and he is one whom I can trust. He will watch over you and there will be none who dare flout his rule. He is a man of God and much respected.”

  “Father, there is no need.”

  “Daughter, there is every need, and that is how it shall be.”

  I was not displeased. I loved Bordeaux and, in spite of the stern Archbishop, I intended to have a merry time there. I would discuss with Petronilla which members of our entourage we should take with us.

  “I shall inform the King of France of my intentions,” said my father.

  “Of your intentions to marry?” I asked quickly.

  “No ... no ... that is in the future. I shall tell him that I am leaving for a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. He will understand. He knows well what has happened and will realize the necessity for me to make my peace with God.”

  “It seems,” I said, “that it is all arranged.”

  He nodded. “We will make preparations to leave for Bordeaux without delay. I am eager to begin my pilgrimage and return to you.”

  So we left for Bordeaux.

  None would have believed that the man at the head of the little group of pilgrims was Duke William of Aquitaine. Dressed in sackcloth, a pilgrim’s hat on his head, he resembled the humblest of his subjects. I thought that he must indeed be a worried man to contemplate such hardships as he would have to face.

  But that was the object of the pilgrimage; it was a penance: if it were a pleasant journey, there would be no merit in it.

  Petronilla and I stood in the Courtyard to say our farewells. There was a chill wind, and although we were wrapped in our fur-lined cloaks we shivered.

  He embraced us with great emotion. “I shall pray to God and all the saints to guard you,” he said.

  “And we shall pray to them for you, Father,” I replied. “You will need their help more than we shall.”

  “I shall be returned to you ... refreshed.”

  But, I could not help thinking ruefully, as a prospective bridegroom.

  “We shall eagerly await your return,” I told him.

  We watched him leave and afterward Petronilla and I went to the highest point of the ramparts and strained our eyes looking into the distance until we could see him no more.

  “I wonder how long it will be before he returns,” said Petronilla.

  “I wonder what sort of man he will be when he comes back,” I replied.

  She looked at me expectantly but I ignored her. I did not want to explain my thoughts to Petronilla.

  “Now,” she said, “you are the ruler of Aquitaine.”

  “Yes,” I answered slowly.

  “You must be pleased about that. It is what you always wanted.”

  I laughed and taking her by the shoulders kissed her.

  “Yes,” I agreed, “it is what I always wanted. And it is mine ... for a while. Come. We’ll make the most of it.”

  “What shall we do?”

  “You’ll see. The Court at Ombrire will be as it was in our grandfather’s day. Do you remember how we used to sit in the hall in the evenings watching the jugglers and listening to the singers? You were too young. But our grandfather used to take me on his knee and sing to me.”

  “Tell me about it,” said Petronilla, for she could remember little.

  So I told her of the songs they sang glorifying love and telling of the exploits of our grandfather and his knights.

  “I remember some of it,” I said, “but I did not understand it all at the time. They were a little risqu. Men were very daring in those days and they have changed little. They will sing songs of love and devotion and how they adore you and set you on a pedestal so that they can worship you, and all the time it is merely to lull your feelings into a sense of security, and when you are sufficiently lulled they will take advantage of you. And once that has happened they will tire of you.”

  “Is that really true? Our grandfather did not tire of Dangerosa.”

  “That was because she was clever. We have to be clever ... more clever than they are, Petronilla. That is what I learned in the Courts of Love.”

&nb
sp; And during those months while we awaited my father’s return I set up my own Court. In the evenings I would have the minstrels play for us; there were the story-tellers and the itinerant troubadours who were constantly arriving. It was becoming more and more like the Court of my grandfather’s day.

  I was the Queen of it all. It was in praise of me that they wrote their songs. They would sit at my feet, those handsome knights, and in their songs and in their looks they would proclaim their love for me.

  I believe there were some who thought I would succumb. It was not that I should not have liked, on occasion, to do so. I was susceptible to their handsome looks and charming manners. I would pretend to waver. It was exciting to see the hope in their eyes. But I never gave way. I had learned my lessons. Whatever happened, I must be aloof. I must be the one they dreamed about, the one about whom they wove their fancies.

  The Archbishop was dismayed. This was not seemly in his eyes. There was too much levity. There should be more time spent in devotions. I pretended to be contrite, but I did not change my ways. This was my Court and because my power might be transient, I was determined to enjoy it while I could.

  I feared that, if my father came back a rejuvenated man with his sins washed away, he would marry, and if he had a son, that would be the end of my hopes. I threw myself into the enjoyment of those days when I was in truth Queen of my Court, the ruler of Aquitaine, and the days passed all too quickly.

  There was no news.

  Sometimes I went to the topmost tower and looked around. One day I must see the returning party. Surely he must come home soon, and this pleasant existence at Court must end.

  Petronilla would stand beside me. “He must soon come back,” she said. “He has been gone so long.”

  “It is a long way to go.”

  “Then when he comes back he will take a wife, our stepmother, Eleanor. I think we shall hate her. She will have children, and if they are boys they will be more important than we are.”

  “She may be barren.”

  “I hope she is. No one but you should be ruler of Aquitaine.”

  “If I marry the son of the King of France I shall have to go away.”

  “I shall come with you.” I was silent and she went on: “Please say I may. I should hate to be parted from you. I wouldn’t. I should run away to where you were.”

  I smiled, pleased by her devotion. “You are always impulsive, Petronilla,” I said. “You are a little like our father. You act without thinking what effect your actions will have.”

  “Some say that of you.”

  “Then we are a pair.”

  “Promise I shall come with you when you marry and go away.”

  “I promise.”

  As we stood there one day, we saw a lonely figure riding along the road.

  “He brings news,” I said. “Let us go down and see what he has to tell us. It may be that he comes from our father.”

  We were not the only ones who had noticed the arrival and when we went down a little crowd had gathered there.

  A groom took the rider’s horse. He was clearly exhausted and must have ridden a long way. He came to me and kneeling before me lifted woeful eyes to my face.

  “I bring sad news, my lady.”

  “You come from my father?”

  “The Duke is dead, my lady.”

  “Dead! No, that cannot be.”

  “Alas, it is so, my lady. There were many hardships on the journey. The Duke developed a cough. It settled on his lungs. His legs became stiff. There were nights when there was no shelter. We could not travel fast.”

  “He should never have gone,” I said. “He should have stayed with us. There are other ways of expiating sins.”

  “He became too ill to ride, my lady. We had to make a litter for him. It impeded our progress. It became clear to us all that he could not make the journey to Compostela.”

  “Why did you not bring him back?”

  “He would never have made that journey either; and he wished to go on.”

  “And he did not reach the shrine.”

  “He passed away when we were within a mile or so of it. We could see it in the distance. But he died contented. He knew that, although God had denied him the satisfaction of reaching the shrine, his sins would be forgiven and he would be received into Heaven. He talked of Moses, who did not reach the Promised Land. He wished to be buried at the shrine, my lady; and this was done.”

  I felt dazed. I said: “You are exhausted. You must rest. You should take some food. Come into the palace.”

  This was a possibility which had not occurred to me. I had thought my father might return debilitated, for I knew his health was not such that he could endure hardship, but I had not thought of death. Never to see him again. Then one thought overwhelmed all others: Aquitaine was mine. No one could replace me now.

  The Court was still in mourning for its Duke. Attitudes had changed. I had been admired by the courtiers as a beautiful girl; now I was their Duchess. They regarded me with a new respect.

  I missed my father. When people have gone forever, one remembers so much that one wished one had done. I wished that I had let him know how much I had cared for him, that I had known, even when he planned to displace me, that his great concern had been for me. He did not want me to have to face difficulties such as those which had confronted him and given him great anxiety. I could have told him that I was different from him. I believed I would not have made the mistakes that he did. This was not so much conceit as conviction. I know now how wrong I was when I look back over a lifetime of mistakes; perhaps as great as any he made. But I wanted him back; I wanted to talk to him; I comforted myself with the thought that God had accepted his final sacrifice and given him absolution in return for his life, that he would be in Heaven and from there perhaps be able to look down on me and know that his fears for me were groundless.

  I learned more from the messenger, of the hardships they had endured, and how when he became so ill he had sent a messenger to the King of France offering him my hand in marriage with the King’s eldest living son. He had received assurances from Louis before he died, and I was told that because of this he died content.

  That Louis intended to keep his promise was evident. Almost immediately emissaries from the Court of France arrived at Bordeaux.

  The King’s son, Louis, was on his way to visit Aquitaine, and I knew that he was coming to ask my hand in marriage. It was a courtly gesture—and typical of the French—for it was a foregone conclusion that I should accept him, since the marriage had been a possibility for some time. There was no fear now that any son of my father could claim Aquitaine from me. I was the best match in France for him; and as he would one day be King of France, he was the best for me.

  Petronilla and I talked constantly of what would happen next. Perhaps it was rather soon after the death of my father for there to be all this excitement about a wedding, but the circumstances were unusual. I was a girl of fifteen and therefore in need of protection, and the King of France had decided to waive convention and act as good sense commanded him.

  We were often at the tower from which we had a good view of the road. We expected to see signs of the French cavalcade at any moment. When I was Queen of France, Petronilla reminded me, she would be with me. I assured her that was a promise I intended to keep. She was too young as yet to be married and it was only to be expected that I should want to keep her with me and choose her husband for her.

  So we talked as we watched and waited, and one day our patience was rewarded, for we saw in the distance a glittering company approaching. Pennants waved in the wind and from far off came the strains of music.

  As we watched, a messenger came riding up. It was the Archbishop Geoffrey du Lauroux, whom my father had made my guardian while he was away. I went down to greet him, Petronilla beside me as usual.

  “The French are approaching, my lady,” he told me. “We must welcome them. The Prince is with them and I think I should bring hi
m to my palace. A meeting between you must be arranged without delay.”

  I agreed that this should be and he went off immediately.

  Petronilla and I could not contain our excitement. Soon I should see my prospective husband. We went up to the top of the tower from where we could see the French camped close by. Their tents and pavilions made a colorful show with the banners displaying the fleurs-de-lys. It was as though an army was encamped there.

  It is a never-to-be-forgotten moment when one is presented to a man never seen before and who is to be one’s husband.

  Poor Louis; knowing him so well now, I realize he was far more nervous than I. I try now to analyze what I felt then. Was I disappointed? In a way. He was no bold knight like those of whom I had heard so frequently in the songs of the Courts of Love, and scarcely a romantic figure. There was something rather timid about him. While that irked me in a way, for perhaps I had dreamed of a masterful lover, in another way it pleased me for I knew at once that I should be able to lead him the way I wanted him to go.

  He was tall, fair-haired and blue-eyed, with rather pale skin, and there was little animation in his face. I suppose he was about as different from me as any person could be from another.

  I had discarded my wimple and wore my abundant dark hair loose about my shoulders; it was too beautiful to be hidden. I had dressed with care in a blue gown with long, wide, hanging sleeves, a little demure yet seductive. The color suited my dark eyes and olive skin.

  The Archbishop stood there like some recording angel. I was sure he disapproved of my flowing hair. But there was so much that good man disapproved of.

  Louis bowed. I curtsied. I spoke first: “Welcome, my lord, to Aquitaine.”

  “It gives me great joy to greet you,” he replied. “May I present my commanders, Count Thibault of Champagne and Count Raoul of Vermandois.”

  I turned to the two men who accompanied him. Count Raoul was very attractive; his eyes betrayed his admiration for me in a manner to which I was accustomed, but it was none the less welcome for that. I had heard of him. He was the Seneschal of France and the King’s cousin, a man of great importance at the Court of France. I thought how differently I should be feeling if he had been the prospective bridegroom instead of Louis.