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- Eleanor of Provence
1223-1291
Queen of England, 1236-1272
"Beautiful, resourceful, clever—and unpopular"
Eleanor of Provence, the queen of Henry III of England, was his loyal marriage-partner for thirty-six years. Strong-willed, ambitious and practical, she played a major role in ruling the kingdom during the volatile thirteenth century. So why is she so little remembered in the roster of medieval queens? Probably because Henry filled his reign with so many miscalculations and disasters that not even a strong helpmeet could avert them. If Eleanor had been a reigning queen instead of a queen-consort, things might have been different.
As daughter of Count Raymond of Provence, Eleanor grew up steeped in the sunny, pleasure-loving culture of Southern France. She was acquainted with the nobility of the Mediterranean world. When she married Henry she brought from her birthplace her taste for the good life and her familiarity with many influential players on the European stage. Eleanor also brought her relatives to install in important offices in England. This didn't endear her to Henry's barons or to the English people, who mistrusted foreigners.
What Henry, an ambitious but ineffective king, lacked in willpower Eleanor more than made up for. Like her two predecessors on the English throne, Isabella of Angouleme and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Eleanor of Provence was fiercely ambitious for her children and supremely self-confident in exercising her power.
She was intimately involved in Henry's battles. These included excursions to France to fight for the Continental lands the French and English had been squabbling about for decades. At home, Henry and Eleanor had rebellious barons to contend with. When Henry was captured by his own barons and forced to agree to their terms for reforms, Eleanor went to France and raised a formidable army to free her husband. But her invasion fleet was wrecked before it reached England. Her son Edward (later Edward I), as combative as his mother, fought off the rebels and rescued his father.
After Henry died in 1272 Eleanor became Queen Dowager, but she never gave up her active role in promoting the royal family's interests. Only after fourteen years did she take off her crown and don the veil at the nunnery of Amesbury. There she lived a quiet, pious life until her death in 1291.
Queen Eleanor of Provence was beautiful, resourceful, clever-and unpopular. Her foreign airs and entanglements, her influence on her husband and her imperious manner could not endear her to the English. The chronicler summed up her contradictory qualities after her death: "the generous and devout virago."
http://www.medievalqueens.com/queen-eleanor-of-provence.htm
Eleanor of Provence (c. 1223 – 24/25 June 1291) was Queen consort of England, as the spouse of King Henry III of England, from 1236 until his death in 1272. She served as regent of England during the absence of her spouse in 1253.
Although she was completely devoted to her husband, and staunchly defended him against the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, she was very much hated by the Londoners. This was because she had brought a large number of relatives with her to England in her retinue; these were known as "the Savoyards", and they were given influential positions in the government and realm. On one occasion, Eleanor's barge was attacked by angry citizens who pelted her with stones, mud, pieces of paving, rotten eggs and vegetables.
Eleanor was the mother of five children including the future King Edward I of England. She also was renowned for her cleverness, skill at writing poetry, and as a leader of fashion
Eleanor and Henry together had five children:
1.Edward I (1239–1307), married Eleanor of Castile (1241–1290) in 1254, by whom he had issue, including his heir Edward II. His second wife was Margaret of France, by whom he had issue.
2.Margaret (1240–1275), married King Alexander III of Scotland, by whom she had issue.
3.Beatrice (1242–1275), married John II, Duke of Brittany, by whom she had issue.
4.Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (1245–1296), married Aveline de Forz in 1269, who died four years later without issue; married Blanche of Artois in 1276, by whom he had issue.
5.Katherine (25 November 1253 – 3 May 1257)
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1223 - 1291 (67 years)
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