Eleanor of England, Countess of Leicester
Eleanor of England (also called Eleanor Plantagenet[1] and Eleanor of Leicester) (1215 – 13 April 1275) was the youngest child of John, King of England and Isabella of Angoulême.
For other people named Eleanor of England, see Eleanor of England (disambiguation).Eleanor
1215
Gloucester, Gloucestershire
13 April 1275
Montargis Abbey, France
13 April 1275
- Henry de Montfort
- Simon de Montfort the Younger
- Amaury de Montfort
- Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola
- Joanna de Montfort
- Richard de Montfort
- Eleanor de Montfort, Princess of Wales
Early life[edit]
At the time of Eleanor's birth at Gloucester, King John's London was in the hands of French forces, John had been forced to sign Magna Carta and Queen Isabella was in shame. Eleanor never met her father, as he died at Newark Castle when she was barely a year old. The French, led by Prince Louis the Lion, the future Louis VIII, were marching through the south. The only lands loyal to her brother King Henry III of England were in the Midlands and southwest. The barons ruled the north, but they united with the royalists under William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who protected and was regent for the young king Henry, and Louis was defeated in a few battles, and was forced to sign a treaty.
Before William Marshal died in 1219 Eleanor was promised to his son, also named William. They were married on 23 April 1224 at New Temple Church in London. The younger William was 34 and Eleanor only nine. He died in London on 6 April 1231, days before their seventh anniversary. There were no children of this marriage.
Eleanor had brought a dowry of 10 manors and 200 pounds per year to this marriage. According to the law of the time, widows were allowed to retain one third of the estates of the marriage. However, her brother-in-law Richard took all of the estates and sold many, including her dowry, to pay William's debts. Eleanor strove for many years to recover her lost property.[2]
The widowed Eleanor swore a holy oath of chastity in the presence of Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury.[3]
Fiction[edit]
Eleanor appears as a major character in Sharon Kay Penman's novel Falls the Shadow, where she is called Nell.
Eleanor is the main character in Virginia Henley's historical romance The Dragon and the Jewel, which tells of her life from just before her marriage to William Marshal to right before the Battle of Lewes in 1264. Her romance and marriage to Simon de Montfort are much romanticized in this novel, especially since in real life Simon is killed the year following the Battle of Lewes and the pair had already had all 7 of their children; in the book, Eleanor and Simon have only just had their first two sons. Eleanor makes a second appearance in Henley's The Marriage Prize. Her role in the book is that of the legal guardian to her niece, Rosamond Marshal.
Eleanor appears as a side character in James Blish's novel Doctor Mirabilis, which is primarily about Roger Bacon. Early on, Bacon's mentor Adam Marsh is confessor to Eleanor. He tries to withdraw as her confessor, not stating the reasons, but she deduces the truth: he is too attracted to her beauty and wishes to avoid temptation. Nearer to the end of the book, Bacon visits her after Simon's death. He is commissioned by the Pope to write a book about human longevity and wishes to raise money to write it. Eleanor remembers him as Adam's protege. She gives him a piece of jewelry she has had for most of her life, and when he attempts to refuse it, she insists.