How did Eleanor get the name of Eleanor of Aquitaine?

Question

is it just because she ruled Aquitaine? and do you know any good sites to go to find info about her?? thanks

Answer 1

You had it right. It was because she ruled Aquitaine - most rulers just use a first name and if needed, the name of their country so they aren't confused with anyone else. Eleanor was a common name in those days (still is) so she was known as Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Answer 2

Eleanor of Aquitaine ,Duchess of Aquitaine and Gascony and Countess of Poitou (1122 to–1 April 1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe during the High Middle Ages. Eleanor was Queen consort of both France (to Louis VII; from1 August 1137to 21 March 1152  ) and England (to Henry II from 25 October 1154 to 6 July 1189) in turn, and the mother of two kings of England, Richard I and John. She is well known for her participation in the Second Crusade.

     Eleanor was the oldest of three children of William X, Duke of Aquitaine, and his duchess, Aenor de Chatellerault, the daughter of Aimeric I, Vicomte of Chatellerault and countess Dangereuse, who was William IX of Aquitaine, the Troubadour's, longtime mistress as well as Eleanor's maternal grandmother. Eleanor was named for her mother Aenor and called Alienor, from the Latin "alia Aenor", which means "the other Aenor". It later became Eleanor in English.

     In the spring of 1130, when Eleanor was eight, her four-year-old brother William Aigret and their mother died at the castle of Talmont, on Aquitaine's Atlantic coast. Eleanor became the heir to her father's domains. Aquitaine was the largest and richest province of France; Poitou and Aquitaine together were almost one-third the size of modern France.

Her half brothers, William and Joscelin, were acknowledged by William X as his sons, but —not as his heirs—and by his daughters as brothers.

     In 1137, Duke William X set out from Poitiers to Bordeaux, taking his daughters with him. Upon reaching Bordeaux, he left Eleanor and Petronilla in the charge of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, one of the Duke's few loyal vassals who could be entrusted with the safety of the Duke's daughters. The Duke then set out for the Shrine of Saint James of Compostela in northwestern Spain, in the company of other pilgrims; however, on April 9th (Good Friday), 1137 he was stricken with sickness, probably food poisoning. He died that evening, having bequeathed Aquitaine to Eleanor.

     Eleanor, about the age of 15, became the Duchess of Aquitaine, and thus the most eligible heiress in Europe.

     In those days, one was listed, so to speak, as "Joseph of some-such place" in order to tell one Joseph from another. So, though she was in fact ruler of Aquitaine after her father's death, her surname became Aquitaine. The above is just part of a longer article about her at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_...

Answer 3

Just search on her name.  There is plenty of info on her on the web.  She was quite a woman.

Actually, this might have been a better question in the History section.

Answer 4

The common spelling of her name was Alinor (she is my favorite ancestor). She got the name because her father was the Duke of Aquitaine. If you're looking for sites on the internet, search for the keyword "Plantagenets". She was a formidable woman by being the queen of both France and England and mother of Richard the Lion-Hearted.