CHAPTER VI. ELEANORA OF AQUITAINE, QUEEN OF HENRY II.

(A.D. 1134-1204.)

Eleanora was born in the beautiful province of Aquitaine, a name that Julius Caesar gave to the south of Gaul on account of its numerous rivers and fine ports. The people liked the name and adopted it; but it was really the ancient kingdom of Provence.

Eleanora and her sister Petronilla were daughters of William, Count of Poitou, such a good, pious man,'that as he happened to be in the Holy Land at the time of his death, he was forever after called St. William.

The grandfather of these girls was William IX., not a very good man, but a learned one, and an excellent poet. The most polished and civilized people on the face of the earth in the 12th and 13th centuries were to be found in Provence, and their language, which was a mixture of French and Italian, was particularly adapted for poetry and music. This is no doubt the reason why there were so many minstrels in that country, who wandered about from one nobleman's house to another, singing their songs and reciting their poems.

William IX. was a troubadour, and his compositions were so popular that they became models for all the others. He was the most powerful prince in all Europe, but as he advanced in years his conscience began to trouble him, and he thought he must reform before it was too late. So, when Eleanora was about fourteen years of age, he ap> pointed her ruler of Aquitaine in his place, assembled all the nobles of the land, and made them take an oath of allegiance to her, because, as he told them, he wished to occupy himself with spiritual matters.

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This done, he planned a marriage between Eleanora and the son of Louis VI. of France. The young people had no objections to offer, and they were married at Bordeaux without delay.