Eleanor of Aquitaine: The Mother Queen Read Online Free Page B

the abbot was also a gifted statesman, anxious to extend Capetian territory and good government. He regarded Aquitaine as a heaven-sent acquisition and did his best to encourage good relations between the king and queen.
    Nevertheless Eleanor managed to take his place, sending Louis on expeditions that can hardly have had Suger’s entire blessing. When, in the year after their marriage, the bourgeoisie of Poitiers repudiated all feudal obligations to her and set up a corporation or ‘commune’, Louis and his knights at once stormed the presumptuous city; he then rounded up the sons and daughters of its leading citizens in the square outside the Maubergeon with the intention of taking them back to Paris as hostages. Their frantic parents sent a message to Suger, begging him to intervene. The abbot came as quickly as he could and, with some difficulty, persuaded the king to release the children. It has been plausibly suggested that this merciful act turned the queen against Suger; she did not like people meddling in affairs that directly concerned her. Louis was far from merciful when, shortly afterwards, he had to deal with certain of her vassals who, led by the lord of Lezay, refused to pay homage and stole some valuable gerfalcons from her hunting lodge at Talmont; he cut off their hands with his own sword. In 1141 the king led an expedition against Toulouse, claiming the county for his wife. He achieved nothing and was soon forced to retreat, but Eleanor, who was obviously delighted, gave him a magnificent present — a vase of crystal mounted in gold and set with rich jewels (which can be seen in the Louvre today).
    Nevertheless, Louis still retained his interest in ecclesiastical matters. In May 1140, in Sens cathedral (the cathedral church of the primate of France), the king — together with the papal legate and numerous bishops and clergy — presided over the disputation between St Bernard and Peter Abelard. Bernard, who liked to take his sacred texts literally, was infuriated by Abelard’s advocacy of examining the scriptures and the writings of the fathers in the light of reason and by his claim that, because logic and philosophy must inevitably be on the side of truth, a sceptical approach was a virtue. In horrified tones, the saint read to the assembly seventeen carefully chosen passages from Abelard’s writings that, out of context, sounded damning; the shocked assembly immediately condemned the author without allowing him to defend himself. Later, however, when Abelard went to Rome and appealed to the pope, he was at once absolved of any heresy. Bernard of Clairvaux was a ruthless enemy, as Eleanor was to discover to her cost.
    Ironically, the next unfortunate incident in which Louis was involved began with a Church matter. He insisted on appointing his chancellor Cadurc as archbishop of Bourges, despite the fact that Pierre of Le Châtre had been canonically elected and had even received the pallium from the pope. The king refused to allow Pierre to enter Bourges, whereupon Innocent II placed France under an interdict; he also sent Louis a stern letter telling him to stop acting ‘like a silly schoolboy’. The king’s reaction was to take a solemn oath to keep Cadurc as archbishop. Meanwhile Pierre had taken refuge with count Thibault II of Champagne, with whom Louis was already in conflict.
    Eleanor’s younger sister Petronilla had eloped with count Raoul of Vermandois, who was the king’s cousin and grand seneschal of France. Although Raoul was married and much older, the queen gave Petronilla her complete support. Raoul persuaded his brother the bishop of Noyon and two other prelates to annul his marriage on grounds of consanguinity and then married Petronilla with royal approval. Horrified, St Bernard protested to the pope, who excommunicated the bishop of Noyon and ordered Raoul to return to his first wife. No one took any notice.

    The countess of Vermandois took refuge with her uncle, Thibault