It was discovered by the prelates--rather late--that the queen was the cousin of her husband within the prohibited degrees. This, however, was the sole ground on which the laws of the Church permitted a divorce, which, under any circumstances, was only granted to princes. Eleanor, who regarded her husband as "more a monk than a king," assented readily to a separation; and on the marriage being annulled, she set out for her own domains, and remained for a while in the town of Blois. The repudiated wife seems to have had no want of suitors, and rather found a difficulty in protecting herself from their importunities. Theobald, Count of Blois, the brother of King Stephen, offered her his hand, and having met with a refusal, he detained the duchess a prisoner in his castle, with the determination of marrying her by force. Suspecting his design, Eleanor escaped from the castle by night, descended the Loire in a boat, and reached the city of Tours, which then belonged to the duchy of Anjou. Geoffrey of Anjou, the second son of Matilda, hearing of the arrival of the duchess, and tempted, probably, by her vast possessions, determined also to make her his wife, and placed himself in ambush at the Port de Piles on the Loire, to intercept her as she passed, and carry her off. Eleanor, however, "warned by her good angel," turned aside and took the road to Poitiers. Here Henry, with more courtesy than his brother or the Count of Blois, presented himself to her, and the offer of his hand being accepted, married her within a few weeks after her divorce (May 18). The conduct of the young prince in this transaction does not appear in a very delicate or chivalrous light; and it is evident that motives of policy alone could have induced him to marry a woman who, however beautiful, was considerably older than himself, and whose reputation was certainly not without stain. By this alliance Henry received the titles of Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou, in addition to those which he had previously possessed. His domains now nearly equalled in extent those of the French king; and Louis, alarmed at the increase of the Norman power, forbade Henry--who, as Duke of Normandy, was his vassal--to contract the marriage with Eleanor. Henry, however, paid no regard to the prohibition, and the French king was compelled to accept the new vows of homage which the prince now offered him for the territories of Aquitaine and Poitou. These oaths--which were, in fact, little else than matters of form--had been for many years the only bond which remained between the ancient Capetian kings and the lords of those provinces which extended between the Loire and the two seas.