Europe's Most Notorious Woman

Back in 2005, I wrote a few columns for the Unofficial Royalty site. This one celebrates the early life of Eleanor of Aquitaine. In an age when women were merely possessions and royal women were pawns, Eleanor ruled her own land, became Queen of France, went on Crusade, divorced her husband, became Queen of England, led a war against her husband, and outlived most of her many children--including Richard the Lionheart.

Click to read about how she became the most powerful woman in France, then duped her King and changed her own destiny.