In 1152, King Louis VII of France divorced Queen Eleanor on the grounds that he was not a woman and could not produce a male heir, and in this year Eleanor was 31 years old.
After divorcing Louis VII, Eleanor returned to her territory, Aquitaine, and on the way back, countless single European nobles began a crazy pursuit of Eleanor.
In order to become Eleanor's next husband, some people even tried to kidnap Eleanor, including Tibert V, Count of Blois, who later became an ally of Louis VII.
Why would a second-married woman be so sought-after? Just because she was the former queen of France, of course not, but because Eleanor was the heir to the Duchy of Aquitaine, which at that time was equivalent to one-third the size of modern France.
Such a rich "rich woman", no matter which nobleman he marries, this nobleman will immediately double his value, which is the reason why Eleanor is sought-after.
In fact, Louis VII married Eleanor because his father, Louis VI, wanted to use the marriage to annex the Duchy of Aquitaine.
Unfortunately, Louis VII disappointed his father, and after Eleanor had an affair with Raymond, king of the Principality of Antioch, and gave birth to two daughters in succession, he became enraged and divorced Eleanor.
Returning safely to the Duchy of Aquitaine, Eleanor began to search for her next husband, and after a rigorous screening, Eleanor discovered that the only person who was really qualified to be her husband was Henry II, Duke of Normandy.
Henry II was young and handsome, and he was also the future heir of England, and as early as eleanor was the queen of France, he met Henry II, and the two also had a good feeling for each other, and even frowned in front of Louis VII.
So Eleanor sent a letter to Henry II asking him to come to Aquitaine to marry him.
At that time, Henry II, who was only 20 years old, according to Chinese's thinking, it was impossible to go to a woman who was 11 years older than himself and was still married twice, but Henry II, who received the letter, really ran to marry Eleanor.
The reason is also very simple, one, Henry II did like Eleanor, and two, Eleanor's huge family fortune is too tempting.
In May 1152, just six weeks after divorcing King Louis VI of France, the former Queen eleanor of France married Prince Henry II of England.
Eleanor's combination with Henry II made Louis VI angry, Henry II was his opponent, Eleanor's move, to Louis VI, is simply a humiliation, immediately went to war against Henry II, only to be beaten by Henry II and his ex-wife to throw away the armor.
In contrast to Louis VI's anger, in the second year of his marriage to Henry II, he gave birth to a son to Henry II, although the child only lived for 3 years, but it was enough to prove that there was no male heir, not Eleanor's problem.
After marrying Henry II, Eleanor and her little husband lived happily, from 1153 to 1166, in 13 years, Eleanor gave Henry II 5 sons, 3 daughters and 8 children.
But as Eleanor's countenance grew older, Henry II gradually became careful, from noble ladies to dusty women, Henry II could be taken into his arms, and this bastard was also sent to the royal family one by one.
Eleanor's marriage to Henry II, love is on the one hand, but more importantly political factors, these illegitimate children, Eleanor endured, but when a prostitute gave birth to a prince was sent to the palace, Eleanor felt insulted, and returned to his court in Poitiers with the children.
In 1171, after Eleanor heard that Henry II's mistress, the "Rose of the World", Rosamond Clifford, had given birth to 3 illegitimate children to Henry II, Eleanor finally could not sit still.
This Rosamund Clifford, the daughter of the Baron, her child, is likely to threaten her son's succession to the Throne.
So Eleanor called her four sons, weeping to her four sons about how cold-blooded and ruthless her father was, and how in the future, the three sons born to Rosamond would surely become an obstacle on their way to inheriting the throne, and so on.
With one word, he asked Henry II's four sons to break with their father.
In 1173, while Henry II was out hunting, Eleanor forced Rosamond to commit suicide by poisoning himself, and then commanded his sons to rebel.
Hearing that his wife had poisoned his lover and had mobilized his sons to overthrow him, Henry II was furious and took a full year to put the rebellion down, and Eleanor was imprisoned by Henry II.
As a result of this rebellion, there was an irreparable rift between the children born to Henry II and Eleanor.
Soon, Eleanor's sons rebelled again, and England fell into civil war, until 1188, Eleanor's third son Richard united with King Philip of France to defeat Henry II the Elder, and Henry the Elder died of depression.
The civil unrest caused by Henry II's three illegitimate sons lasted for 15 years, and Eleanor was placed under house arrest for 15 years, until henry the elder was released.