Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 3451
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Nolan , Kathleen.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: The Queen's Choice: Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Tombs at Fontevraud [The tombs Eleanor of Aquitaine commissioned for Henry II, Richard I, and herself at Fontevrault, with their life-like images of royalty, were novel in their day. Eleanor was probably not inspired by royal tombs she saw on her travels, although Capetian queens' tombs had incised images. Eleanor's own tomb showed her as a living person, whereas the others were shown lying in state. It appears that Eleanor took charge of all these commemorations of the Plantagenet dead. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady.  Edited by Bonnie Wheeler and John Carmi ParsonsThe New Middle Ages.  Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.  Pages 377 - 405.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Adelaide of Maurienne, Wife of Lois VI, King of France Art History- Sculpture Burials Commemoration Eleanor of Aquitaine, Wife of Louis VII of France and Henry II of England Fontevrault- l'Abbaye, Maine-et-Loire, France- Abbey, Double House Founded by Rob
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: France
  • Century: 13
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Eight illustrations. Figure One View of the interior of the nave and choir from the West (Fontevrault Abbey). Figure Two Tombs of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine (Fontevrault Abbey). Figure Three Tomb of Eleanor of Aquitaine (Fontevrault Abbey). Figure Four Tomb of Eleanor of Aquitaine, detail of head and torso (Fontevrault Abbey). Figure Five Tomb Plaque of Geoffrey of Anjou (Le Mans, Musée de Tessé). Figure Six Sarcophagus of Blanca of Navarre, detail of front (Nájera, Santa Maria del Real). Figure Seven Tomb slab of Adelaide of Maurienne (Paris, Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre). Figure Eight Tomb slab of Fredegonde, from Saint-Germain des Prés, now Saint-Denis).
  • Table:
  • Abstract: Eleanor of Aquitaine, in the tradition of queens controlling burial sites and monuments, commissioned her family tombs at Fontevraud, drawing from a lifetime of experience with royal funerary customs. [Reprinted with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.]
  • Related Resources: Against the backdrop of royal women's control over the burial of their families, Kathleen Nolan in "The Queen's Choice: EA and the Tombs at Fontevraud," examines EA's choices both of the location of her family's burial and its artistic components. She arg
  • Author's Affiliation: Hollins University
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2003.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0312295820