Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most extraordinary women of the Middle Ages: Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen of France, Queen of England, crusader, rebel, prisoner, mother of kings — and one of medieval Europe’s great political survivors.

In Episode 2 of An Illustrated Journey, we follow Eleanor across an astonishing eight decades of history: from her childhood in wealthy Aquitaine and marriage to Louis VII of France, through the disastrous Second Crusade, her marriage to the formidable Henry II, the birth of the Plantagenet dynasty, rebellion and nearly sixteen years of captivity.

And her story certainly didn’t end there.

After Henry II’s death, Eleanor returned to public life in her late sixties with remarkable energy. She supported Richard the Lionheart, helped hold his kingdom together while he was away on crusade, fought to secure his release when he was captured and imprisoned, survived the deaths of several of her children, and was still travelling across Europe on royal business when she was approaching eighty.

Along the way, we’ll also look at:

👑 What Eleanor may really have looked like ⚔️ The Second Crusade and what went wrong 💔 Her very different marriages to Louis VII and Henry II 🏰 The extraordinary Angevin Empire 👨‍👩‍👦 The spectacularly dysfunctional Plantagenet family 🕯️ The death of Henry the Young King ⛓️ Eleanor’s years in captivity 🦁 Richard the Lionheart’s imprisonment and enormous ransom 📖 The legends surrounding Eleanor and “courtly love” ⛪ Fontevraud Abbey, where her famous effigy can still be seen today

Eleanor is also a particularly special subject for me. I first read Alison Weir’s biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine when I was eighteen, during the summer before I went to Oxford to study History, and it helped deepen my fascination with medieval history. She was one of those historical people who stopped feeling like simply a name and became a real, complicated human being.

That is exactly what I hope An Illustrated Journey can do.

I’m Vic Nemm, an Oxford history graduate and postgraduate with a particular love of medieval history. This series is about making history accessible, visual and enjoyable — no manufactured outrage, no shouting, and no pretending every historical discovery has changed everything we know about the past.

Just fascinating people and stories, explored calmly and with the occasional bit of humour.

📚 Read Eleanor of Aquitaine: An Illustrated Journey:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eleanor-Aquitaine-Illustrated-Journey-Number-ebook/dp/B0GDXZ6QQW?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SmfA0wFktv9j4cXNDd7JShNy4_01qFNqi79aLvbh78VpwtT7GyXPDORXJ3mCcbouvnjwmVPu8lx37rsnwPIsb0dlxJVAMGbgaH7K_lvoK8JTm116n2ppbuhdroAcieTWGpy1R0CjMgXQXoKtSSyLaD4N5HlbguQ9gcS5khJfgVCQLAgTGi2WySn8W0K9aWhhpR7wEh6Qc9ukjJN0_B2jC_n0QHRlyP9ACMVIHIRo57I.5IkV-4VRAiac-_tMtgstLlub-ZfsVdsPnG9UjWDMsVA&qid=1793279294&sr=8-1

New Illustrated Journeys regularly — please subscribe if you’d like to come along.

And let me know in the comments:

Which part of Eleanor’s remarkable life surprised you most?

Was it the Second Crusade? Her rebellion against Henry II? Nearly sixteen years in captivity? Raising Richard’s ransom? Or crossing the Pyrenees when she was almost eighty?

MUSIC

“Teller of the Tales” — Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

#EleanorOfAquitaine #MedievalHistory #Plantagenets

Æthelflæd was the daughter of Alfred the Great — but she became one of the most remarkable rulers of Anglo-Saxon England in her own right.

In this first episode of An Illustrated Journey, Vic Nemm explores the life of Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians: a woman who governed Mercia, built and strengthened fortified towns, directed armies against Viking-controlled territory and helped shape the political world from which a united England would eventually emerge. Aethelflaed (8.5 x 11 in)

We’ll travel back to a time before England existed, when Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia were separate kingdoms under intense pressure from Viking expansion. We’ll follow Æthelflæd from her childhood as Alfred’s daughter, through her marriage to Æthelred and rise to power in Mercia, to the capture of Derby, Leicester’s submission and the extraordinary approach from York. Aethelflaed (8.5 x 11 in)

Along the way, we’ll also look at the world around her: Anglo-Saxon women, clothing, jewellery, hairstyles and everyday life, as well as the fortified burhs that became central to Æthelflæd’s strategy. Aethelflaed (8.5 x 11 in) Aethelflaed (8.5 x 11 in)

And yes — we’ll also deal with the important question of how on earth you pronounce Æthelflæd.

This is calm, accessible history for anyone who enjoys discovering fascinating people from the past. No manufactured drama, no shouting — just an extraordinary story, told in a relaxed and engaging way.

📚 Accompanying book: Æthelflæd: An Illustrated Journey by Vic Nemm Aethelflaed (8.5 x 11 in) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aethelflaed-Illustrated-Journey-Number-23-ebook/dp/B0HLWTHFXR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1RBZGVISW5KSE&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cAWMur3J4BtmzGiL14LQuz7_jvfYhKK-PEkfFXRXnvgGs6mKMeEavyPHDLObdZZj2mI3K39Ltjzqu9p594Bfdj-hKkEqvlH1rJwm6f523XOl3HBWC0xld-Cp2-7naqYD0vjaLqM0o8FHZYpPtgWlwUJsfxq-0siVjv9OhnxQCYkax2KAdixdlo6SoZ54LzBAHTFR47sfabsluHweZWcAU4am2aF2yxNclvlZjFNQhxg.ljgM6UeLZtLHEKVhRHx0Javlf7Hx0QCRjn-P6A85nQ0&dib_tag=se&keywords=vic+nemm&qid=1791458978&sprefix=vic+nemm%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-1

📖 Explore the full Illustrated Journeys series: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Vic-Nemm/author/B0G5Z1YXDS?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true