Eleanor of Brittany (1184-1241)

Eleonore von der Bretagne (English Eleanor of Brittany , also known as Fair Maid of Brittany , Damsel of Brittany , Pearl of Brittany or Beauty of Brittany ), (* around 1184 , † August 10, 1241 in Bristol Castle or Corfe Castle ( Dorset ) ) was an English princess who came from the House of Plantagenet . Due to their claims to the throne, she was during the governments of Johann Ohneland and Heinrich III. held captive from 1202 until her death.

Life

Eleonore was the eldest daughter of Duke Gottfried II of Brittany and his wife Constance of Brittany . In addition to a younger sister Mathilde, who died in infancy, she also had a younger brother Arthur . Her paternal grandparents were King Henry II of England and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine .

After Gottfried's death on August 19, 1186, a dispute broke out between the French King Philip II August and the English King Henry II over the guardianship of the only two-year-old Eleanor. The little princess first grew up in the care of her uncle Richard the Lionheart and her grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine. When Richard, who had become the new English king in July 1189, called his mother to take part in a council in Nonancourt in spring 1190 , she was accompanied on her journey by several noble girls, including Eleanor from Brittany.

During his participation in the Third Crusade , Richard the Lionheart offered his sister Johanna as the wife of Saladin's brother al-Adil I in the autumn of 1191 , but Coelestin III's approval would first have to be given for this marriage project . be obtained. In the event of the rejection by the Pope, the English king proposed his niece Eleanor as a replacement for al-Adil, but the Muslim side did not want to know about this. In any case, nothing came of the aforementioned marriage plans.

On his return from the crusade, the English king was taken prisoner by the Austrian Duke Leopold V. In his contract, concluded on February 14, 1193, to extradite Richard to Emperor Heinrich VI. it was demanded, among other things, that Richard's release conditions must include Eleanor of Brittany having a son of Leopold V to marry. Baudouin de Béthune was sent to Vienna with Eleonore to realize this marriage after December 12, 1194 , but found out when he arrived in Austria of the death of Leopold V († December 31, 1194) and went home with the young princess. Eleanor returned to England with Richard's mother.

In the summer of 1195, the English and French kings negotiated about a marriage between Eleonore and the Dauphin Ludwig . Richard Gisors , Neauphle, the Vexin normand , Vernon , Ivry and Pacy were to cede Eleonore's dowry to Philip August and pay 20,000 silver marks; in return, the French king would have been ready to return the county of Aumale , the castle of Eu and other places occupied by him. However, these marriage plans also failed.

When Richard the Lionheart died in April 1199, Eleanor was living with her mother and brother Arthur in France. In the power struggle between Eleonore's brother and Richard's brother Johann Ohneland , Arthur was captured by Johann during the Battle of Mirebeau (August 1, 1202). It is unknown on what occasion Eleanor came into the power of the English king; perhaps she was caught at Mirebeau with her brother. After Arthur's death in April 1203, Johann kept his niece in custody for fear of her claims to succession in the Angevin Empire and in Brittany . In December 1203 he took her from Normandy to England and had her locked up in various castles. In vain did the French king demand Eleanor's release in early 1204 so that she could marry his younger son. That year she was held at Corfe Castle in Dorset.

In 1208, the bishops of Nantes , Vannes and Cornouaille also tried unsuccessfully to obtain Eleonore's release. In the same year Eleonore wrote her only surviving letter at Johann's instigation; this was addressed to the Breton nobility and clergy. In it she described her life in captivity, referred to herself as the Duchess of Brittany and Countess of Richmond and asked the Breton barons to intercede for her release. When the Scottish King William I sent his daughters Margaret and Isabella hostage in order to maintain the peace between England and Scotland in 1209 , they were locked up together with Eleanor in Corfe Castle. At the beginning of 1214 Johann tried, based on an alliance with Emperor Otto IV , to militarily regain his lost territories on the continent. He took Eleanor with him to Poitou to install her as a puppet duchess of Brittany, where she should oust her half-sister Alix , who was recognized as a Breton duchess, from her mother's second marriage to Guido von Thouars . But King Philip II. August achieved a decisive success with his victory in the Battle of Bouvines (July 27, 1214). In the same year Johann returned to England with Eleanor, who was still in his control.

Even as after Johann's death his son as Heinrich III. ascended the English throne in October 1216, Eleanor remained in captivity, in which she was treated like a princess. Her whereabouts included Gloucester , Marlborough and Bristol . She had her own household and was frequented by local bailiffs and high-ranking citizens to ensure her well-being. The unmarried princess, who was kept in custody until her death, died in August 1241 at the age of about 57. First she was buried in St. James' Church in Bristol; later, however, her remains were, according to her wishes, on the orders of Henry III. transferred to Amesbury Abbey .

According to a legend presented in the Chronicle of Lanercost , Henry III. Out of remorse or to legitimize his descendants, he gave his crown to Eleonore shortly before her death, but it was given to Heinrich's young son and heir to the throne Eduard after just three days .

literature

• Michael Jones: Eleanor of Brittany . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB). Vol. 18 (2004), p. 22 f.
• M. Prevost: Aliénor de Bretagne . In: Dictionnaire de biographie française (DBF). Vol. 2 (1936), Col. 6 f.

Remarks

1. ↑ Ulrike Kessler: Richard I. Lionheart . Verlag Styria, Graz; Vienna; Cologne 1995, ISBN 3-222-12299-7 , p. 72 f.
2. ↑ Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Plantagenet Ancestry: a study in colonial and medieval families , p. 6 (quoted from a parallel article in the English Wikipedia).
3. ↑ Ralph V. Turner: Eleanor of Aquitaine - Queen of the Middle Ages. CH Beck, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-406-63199-3 , p. 356.
4. ↑ Ulrike Kessler: Richard I. Löwenherz , p. 200 ff.
5. ↑ Ulrike Kessler: Richard I. Löwenherz , p. 256 and p. 260.
6. ↑ M. Prevost, DBF, Vol. 2, Col. 6.
7. ↑ Michael Jones, ODNB, Vol. 18, p. 22; M. Prevost, DBF, Vol. 2, Col. 6.