Eleanor, Queen of France
Eleanor, Queen of France
Eleanor of Aquitaine might have been the queen in Paris, but she was still an Aquitanian, a foreigner. From the beginning of the eleventh century until the end of the twelfth, it is even possible to discern a tendency towards hypergamy. Exaggeratedly concerned about the sin of incest, the Church toughened the legislation concerning the prohibited degrees of kinship that forbade all marriages within the seventh degree of kinship. This chapter explores two basic questions that arise when considering the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to the French king Louis VII. The cultural disparities, the differences in fashion, lifestyle, and mental attitude that existed between husband and wife, which may have led to disagreements. Second, the role Eleanor may have played at the French court and her influence on the King and his policies, on the new manners and civilisation beginning to develop north of the Loire at that period.
Keywords: Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen, Paris, foreigner, hypergamy, Church, marriages, kinship, Louis VII, civilisation
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