Eleanor of England - Definition and Overview

Eleanor of England (also called Eleanor Plantagenet¹ and Eleanor of Leicester) was born in the year 1215, in Gloucester. She was the youngest child of King John Lackland of England and Isabelle of Angouleme. John's London was conquered and Isabella was in shame. He had been forced to sign the Magna Carta. Eleanor would never see her Father, as he died at Newark Castle when she was barely a year old. The French, led by Philip II of France, were marching through the south. The only lands loyal to her brother were in the middle and southwest. The barons ruled the north, but they united with the royalists under William Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke, who protected the young king, and Philip was defeated.

William died in 1219 and Eleanor was promised to his son, also named William. They were married on April 23,1224 at New Temple Church in London. The younger William was 34 and Eleanor only nine. He died in London on April 6, 1231, days before their 7th anniversary. There were no children of this marriage.

Fourteen years later, she met Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. They fell in love and married secretly on January 7, 1238/9 the King's chapel at Westminister Palace. Henry disagreed at first, but allowed it later. They would have six children. Simon was 34 and Eleanor 24.

Their children were:

• Henry de Montfort (1239-1265)
• Simon the younger de Montfort (1240-1271)
• Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (1243-1288)
• Richard de Montfort (-Aft 1266)
• Knight Aymer de Montfort, Canon of York (-Aft 1301)
• Eleanor de Montfort (1252-1282)

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 August 4,1265. Eleanor fled to exile in France where she became a nun at Montargis Abbey. She died and was buried there on April 13, 1275.

Notes

• ¹The surname "Plantagenet" has been retrospectively applied to the descendants of Geoffrey of Anjou without historical justification: it is simply a convenient, if deceptive, method of referring to people who had, in fact, no surname. The first descendant of Geoffrey to use the surname was Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (father of Edward IV of England) who apparently assumed it about 1448.

Other women sometimes called Eleanor of England include the daughter of King Edward I of England, wife of Alfonso III of Aragon.