Eleanor of Aquitaine

Lindy Grant is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the University of Reading and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her books include Blanche of Castile, Queen of France (2016).

This is an outstanding, sharply observed biography written by one of the UK’s foremost specialists in the history of medieval France and its queens. A tour de force combining profound critical analysis with engaging writing, this is the best biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine to date. - Elisabeth van Houts, Emeritus Honorary Professor of Medieval European History, University of CambridgeWho can resist the idea of comparing Eleanor of Aquitaine with Winston Churchill? Not me! Certainly not when the thought comes from Lindy Grant, world-renowned authority on French politics and culture and author of Blanche of Castile, Queen of France, the modern study on Eleanor’s granddaughter and one of France’s greatest queens. - John Gillingham, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, London School of Economics and Political ScienceIn a brilliantly conceived and beautifully written book, Lindy Grant provides a powerful and convincing portrait of the most extraordinary woman of her age. By first telling Eleanor’s story and then examining her pedigree and contemporary setting, Grant shows us who Eleanor really was, warts and all, finally freeing us from the tyranny of the Eleanor of Legend. The book is a triumph of the biographer’s art. - Stephen Church, Professor in Medieval Studies, University of Lincoln, and author of King John: England, Magna Carta and the Making of a TyrantRejecting the rose-tinted, make-believe version of Eleanor, Lindy Grant here tells the queen’s story as it has never been told before. The outcome is not only the best short biography of Eleanor, but of any medieval queen. - Nicholas Vincent, Professor of Medieval History, University of East Anglia[An] outstanding new biography . . . beautifully written and attractively illustrated, which is that rare thing: entirely authoritative, yet engaging and immediately accessible . . . A tremendously insightful volume [that] is the best biography yet published on a woman who confused even contemporaries with her many contradictions. - David Robinson, Country Life