As I was researching about the crusades, I was interested in finding out the women’s role in the crusade. When Pope Urban II decreed that no women should join the crusades, few women actually took part in the crusades. There are many accounts of men leaving for many years in crusades having adverse effect on their wives. However, Eleanor of Acquitane was one of the few that actually joined the crusade. She was an energetic woman dedicated to help the crusaders. Her marriage with King Lous VII, the King of France, brought together her vast region from the River to the Pyrenees. At age of 19, she knelt in the cathedral of Vézelay before the Abbé Bernard of Clairvaux offering him thousands of her vassals for the Second Crusade. According to the article: http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine2.html “Queen Eleanor appeared at Vézelay dressed like an Amazon galloping through the crowds on a white horse, urging them to join the crusades.” But the church was not happy when Eleanor and her 300 ladies decided to join the crusade to help care for the wounded. However, the women never actually took part in battle. And Eleanor returned when the crusaders lost. It amazing to see that even when Pope did not permit women to join the crusades, strong willed women like Eleanor still found a way around it.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Eleanor of Aquitane
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Eleanor was something else...The papacy often didn't encourage women to join the crusade, without the male figure's permission, and eventually, by Innocent III's time, developed the position that women should be mobilized on the home front, mainly for liturgical activities.
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