While her fame is often overshadowed by that of her infamous sons, Richard I and John I, Eleanor of Aquitaine was arguably one of the most powerful and influential women of the Middle Ages. Eleanor ascended from a mere Duchess to become the Queen of France and later England through her marriage to King Henry II. Furthermore, she was a military leader during the Second Crusade, and lived well into the reign of her son John before dying at the grand age of 82 in 1204.
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