Heroines of the CrusadesBloss, C. A. (Celestia Angenette)
History
Heroines of the Crusades
Bloss, C. A. (Celestia Angenette)
Crusades; Crusades -- Biography; Women -- Biography
It was the intention of Louis to put away his wife immediately on his
return, but the sagacious Abbot Suger dissuaded him from this course,
since he would thus detach from the crown the great duchy of Aquitaine,
the probable inheritance of the young Princesses Mary and Alix. She was,
however, closely watched, and forbidden to visit her southern domains. In
A.D. 1150, Geoffrey Plantagenet, the Count Anjou, came to the court of
Louis VII., with his son Henry, a youth about the age of Saladin, whose
fine person and literary attainments made him an object of attraction to
all the ladies of Paris. To Geoffrey Eleanor confided her troubles, one of
the greatest of which was, the refusal of the king to adopt the courtly
adornings of the times, particularly the long-toed shoes, fastened to the
knee by golden chains; and she was especially vexed that he had, at the
suggestion of the clergy, parted with his long curls, handsome beard and
mustachios.
"Already," said she, "he wears the shaven chin and the serge robe, and he
needs only the tonsure and cowl to make him a priest."
The duke repaid her confidence by delineating his own domestic afflictions
arising from the haughty demeanor of his consort the Empress Matilda,
whose irritable temper had not been improved by her ineffectual struggles
with Stephen for the throne of England. Altogether they had a very
sympathizing meeting.
Two years after, Henry of Anjou once more visited Paris to do homage for
his domains, and the queen with a facility acquired by practice,
transferred to him the partiality she had entertained for his father. The
young Plantagenet was a noble, martial-looking prince, with a fair and
gracious countenance, and eyes that sparkled with intelligence and energy.
In the light of this new attachment, Eleanor discovered that King Louis
was her fourth cousin, and farther that the divorce he had threatened was
a matter of conscience and propriety. Louis for the first time in many
years seemed to find happiness in the same plan that pleased his queen. A
council of the church was called at Beaugencie, and in the presence of
Eleanor and Louis, and a numerous circle of relatives, the marriage was
declared invalid on account of consanguinity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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