Eleanor of Leicester

Eleanor of England (c. 1215 in Gloucester, England; † April 13, 1275 in the monastery of Montargis, France) was an English princess of the House of Plantagenet. By marriage with William Marshal, the second Earl of Pembroke, she was only Countess of Pembroke and then through her ​​marriage to Simon V. de Montfort Countess of Leicester. As the sister of the English King Henry III. was it because of their financial systems in nearly lasting quarrel with him. Even when her second husband Simon sat at the head of English nobility revolt and in open military conflict with Henry III. lay, Eleanor supported her husband and not her brother.

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Life

Childhood and time as Countess of Pembroke

Eleanor was the third daughter and youngest child so of King John and his wife Isabella of Angoulême in Gloucester to the world. The name she was given in honor of her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine. The princess had never chance to meet her father, for he died when she was only one year old. For their still immature brother Henry III. William Marshal took over the regency. Under his leadership, the invasion of a French army under the French heir Ludwig was terminated and expelled the invaders from the island.

Eleanor was then also promised the widowed son of the Regent, whose name was William, as a woman, after having been previously considered three years to marry the princess with a foreign prince. The wedding took place on April 23, 1224 in the Temple Church in London. Because Eleanor was at this time only nine years old, she still remained to 1229 at the court of her brother, before she moved into the household of her 25 years older husband. In the following years she accompanied him on his travels through England, France and Ireland.

The death of Williams in April 1231 made ​​Eleanor after a childless marriage with only 16 years a widow. In the presence of Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, put it after a vow of chastity and vowed not to marry again for the rest of their lives. Because of their young age, Eleanor still allowed their financial matter not self- regulate, but was again under the tutelage of her brother. However, the met 1233 - While on their behalf, but without their consent - a very unfavorable agreement with respect to their widow supply. From her brother Richard Marshal, who succeeded her husband as Earl of Pembroke, it should receive from the income of their goods widow 400 pounds a year, although this sum does not even equivalent to a quarter of the actual receipts from estates. This unfavorable for Eleanor agreement was in later years repeatedly the reason for disputes between the siblings.

Widowhood and time as Countess of Leicester

Eleanor moved after the death of her husband Intebergh Castle in Kent, before Henry her 1237 Odiham Castle rendered in Hampshire, which made them to their main residence. It was in these years, but also a frequent guest at the royal court, where Simon V. de Montfort became aware of them. Eleanor and he married on January 7, 1238 with the consent of Henry III. secretly in the King 's Chapel of Westminster Abbey. The marriage of the two was kept secret for several months, because actually, Heinrich would have to obtain according to the Magna Carta, the consent of the leading English noble representative, called the barons to this compound. At some point, but this was publicized. A noble opposition under their leader, the king's brother, Richard of Cornwall, claiming that the marriage was not valid because the consent of the barons was missing it. The Catholic Church, however, doubted the validity of the marriage, because Eleanor had made a vow of chastity shortly after the death of her first husband. However, Simon de Montfort went on a pilgrimage to Rome and the Pope was there - not least due to high cash donations - reach the subsequent confirmation of his marriage. Due to the constant harassment to which Eleanor was suspended during the absence of her husband at the English court, she moved to Kenilworth Castle and lived a very secluded life there. The castle had Henry III. the pair as compensation for Eleanor's much too low widow's pension and compensation that he had been without a dowry in the second marriage, granted.

Eleanor's husband stood upon his return from Rome the king high in the favor, but that changed abruptly in August 1239th Henry III. publicly claimed that Eleanor had been seduced before the wedding of Simon and he was the only reason given his royal consent to the marriage of the two. For this accusation that Henry had given in angry state of himself, there was not the slightest evidence, but it can be assumed that Simon de Montfort his impetuous brother had angered by the fact that he had unasked named him as guarantor for its high debt. The couple was forced from the fury of the monarch to France - possibly after Montfort - to flee when Eleanor was pregnant at that time. Her departure was done so hastily that they had to leave even their first-born son Henry in England.

On the occasion of the Crusade of the barons Eleanor accompanied her husband and her brother Richard of Cornwall on their way through France to Marseilles, where they boarded. While her brother drove straight to Palestine made ​​her and her husband making a stop in Brindisi, Italy, to her brother Emperor Frederick II to visit. Simon also went then on to Palestine and Eleanor returned alone to England. The dispute between her husband and her brother was settled in 1242, so she could return to England. However, they did not remain long on the island, but accompanied the two in the same year on an expedition to France. Eleanor continued in the following years, often in France since 1247 from Simon acted as seneschal of Gascony and thus represented the English king in this land. During this time she was also a frequent guest on the French king Louis IX yard. and his wife Margaret of Provence. This resulted in a lifelong friendship that Eleanor still often should redound to the benefit later. Several times, the royal couple acted as an intermediary between Eleanor and her brother, when the two quarreled again over the low financial income widow of King's Sister. And this was very often the case, because the princess had the same irascible temperament as her brother. By letters of the Franciscan Adam Marsh, Eleanor was the confessor, is narrated that she was easily excited and very argumentative. Marsh also mentioned her extravagant and expensive taste, which brought them into almost permanent financial difficulties. In order to bring Henry to pay her any indemnities for the deprivation in terms of widow's pension, they also did not shrink from extortion. So they blocked a long time the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris, by refusing to waive Angevin territories. The claim it was due to the legacy of her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, the large territories on the French mainland in marriage to Henry II of England and had thus brought to the House of Plantagenet. However, the waiver of such claims from all heirs Eleanor was a central point in the peace treaty between England and France. It was only when Henry III. made a number of outstanding payments and a large sum of money had been deposited as collateral for future payments to the French king, Eleanor signed the waiver of their heritage.

From 1254 her husband was the head of a noble revolt against Henry III. and was with him in an open military conflict. When Simon finally defeated in 1265 at the Battle of Evesham and died, Eleanor organized the upcoming defense of Dover Castle against royalist troops, but the castle was captured in October of Prince Edward. All possessions Eleanor were confiscated by the Crown before she was exiled by her brother and had to go with her daughter Eleanor into exile in France. However, she managed before yet, two of her sons, Richard and Amaury, in September of the year with a larger sum of money to send to France in order to escape in this way at least a small part of their property to access their brother. In intercession of Louis IX. Henry III granted. his sister in 1267, however, compensation for the confiscated lands and goods.

Eleanor spent her last years in the Dominican monastery of Montargis, which was founded by her sister Amice de Montfort. There she died in 1275 and was buried in the monastery grounds.

Descendants

Eleanor's first marriage to William Marshal II remained childless. From the second marriage to Simon de Montfort seven children were born:

Historical significance

For the writing of history is Eleanor of England for two reasons of particular interest. For one, a six-month accounting of its budget has been preserved from the year 1265. It represents not only an important source of life, customs and habits of English noble courts of the Middle Ages, but also documented in great detail Eleanor's last months in England before they had to go into exile in France after the death of her husband. Secondly, Eleanor's name was repeatedly mentioned in official state documents after they come of age, which proves that they perceived their own financial interests and not let represented by her second husband, Simon V. de Montfort in these things. This approach was very unusual for a woman of her time, even if it was of such a high level as Eleanor.