134Despite taking a vow of perpetual chastity on widowhood she married Simon de Montford!
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Eleanor of LeicesterEleanor of Leicester (also called
Eleanor Plantagenet and
Eleanor of England) (1215 – 13 April 1275) was the youngest child of King
John of England and
Isabella of Angoulême.
Early life
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 the
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
Philip Augustus, were marching through the south. The only lands loyal to her brother, Henry III, 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 the young king
Henry, and Philip was defeated.
Before William the 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. The widowed Eleanor swore a holy oath of chastity in the presence of
Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Simon de MontfortSeven years later, she met
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. According to
Matthew Paris, Simon was attracted to Eleanor's beauty and elegance as well as her wealth and high birth. They fell in love and married secretly on 7 January 1238 at the King's chapel in Westminster Palace. Her brother King Henry later alleged that he only allowed the marriage because Simon had seduced Eleanor. The marriage was controversial because of the oath Eleanor had sworn several years before to remain chaste. Because of this, Simon made a pilgrimage to
Rome seeking papal approval for their union. Simon and Eleanor had seven children:
1. Henry de Montfort (November 1238-1265)
2. Simon the younger de Montfort (April 1240-1271)
3. Amaury de Montfort, Canon of York (1242/1243-1300)
4. Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (1244–1288)
5. Joanna, born and died in Bordeaux between 1248 and 1251.
6. Richard de Montfort (1252–1281)
7. Eleanor de Montfort Princess of Wales (1258–1282)
Simon de Montfort had the real
power behind the throne, but when he tried to take the throne, he was defeated with his son at the
Battle of Evesham on 4 August 1265. Eleanor fled to exile in France where she became a nun at
Montargis Abbey, a nunnery founded by her deceased husband's sister Amicia, who remained there as abbess. There she died on 13 April 1275, and was buried there. She was well treated by Henry, retained her incomes, and her proctors were allowed to pursue her litigation concerning the Leicester inheritance in the English courts; her will and testament were executed without hindrance.
Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of
Edward IV, was her descendan
FictionEleanor appears as a major character in Sharon Kay Penman's novel Falls the Shadow, where she is called Nell.
Eleanor is also the main character in
Virginia Henley's 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 very 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
Virginia Henley's historical romance The Marriage Prize. Her role in the book is that of the legal guardian to a young Marshall niece, Rosamond Marshall, who was left an orphan and lived with Simon and Eleanor de Montfort until her marriage to a wealthy noble knight, Rodger de Leyburn. However, in this novel her loyalty to her husband Simon and his last war with the king "battle of Evesham" where he died depicts her love and strength before and after the outcome of the battle.