hith 1 Cure of England, te 1 Lance, and what was of still 'Prince of Antioch, wit stue to the nation, added thoge ¦ perdug to fix en 1 Esention French provinces of Poiton integne. Auvergne. P. Anjouam is, aal Line win to extensive continental possese () She welter of William, Coun. Foco and, on scent of the pioty deval 1. - who, bez in of 1. age, *c ors of his youth by ae closing years of his est ELEANORA OF AQUITAINE, Queen of Benry the Second. CHAPTER I. Birth of Eleanora-Her beauty-Inheritance-Parentage-Her father, St. William, goes to the Holy Land-Dies there-Her marriage to Louis, heir to the French throne-Her guardian dowers her with his titles and territories, and becomes a religious recluse-She becomes Queen of France-Sedateness of her husband Louis the Seventh-Her light-heartedness-Accomplishments-Quarrels between her husband and the Pope-Horrible conflagration at Vitry-Eleanora and Louis the Seventh take the cross-Her disastrous journey to the Holy Land-Her levity enrages Louis -Her indignation on reaching Jerusalem-The indignity she suffered there-The failure of the expedition-The return home-Her husband's conduct disgusts herHer intrigue with Henry Plantagenet-Her divorce-Her children by King Louis. LEANORA OF A-1 of his latter days, and his death in the QUITAINE, the first of those provincial princesses who, for about a century, shared the throne of England with the royal line of Plantagenet, was born about the year 1123, and wore successively the crowns matrimonial of France and England. No less accomplished than beautiful, she introduced to the English court the arts and the polished refinements of the south of France, and what was of still higher value to the nation, added those seven sweet southern French provinces of Guienne, Poitou, Saintogne, Auvergne, Perigord, Anjoumois, and Limousin to the already extensive continental possessions of the English crown. She was the eldest daughter of William, Count of Poitou, named, ou account of the piety To wipe away the sins of his youth, St. William undertook a journey to Palestine, whither he proceeded in 1132, accompanied by his younger brother, Raymond of Poitou, after having first bequeathed his extensive territory to his beautiful daughter, the gay Eleanora, upon condition that she became the consort of the heir to the French throne. St. William fell, but Raymond, after bravely supporting the cause of the Crusaders, married the inheritress of Conrad, Prince of Antioch, and ultimately succeeded to the crown of that principality. St. William left Eleanora and his sister Petronilla, his only children, under the guardianship of his sire Duke William the Fourth of Aquitaine, who, being in the sixty-ninth year of his age, resolved to atone for the errors of his youth by devoting the closing years of his exist |