Mathilda Imperatrix

  "It is a measure of the peculiarity of Matlida's position in 1135 that we know so little about her. Her contemporaries, whether friends, enemies, or neutral observers, struggled to decide how to handle or to judge her, how to place her within a political narrative that expected its chief protagonists to be male. As a result, she is an insubstantial, inconsistent presence in the chronicles, rarely seen in more than two dimensions, often disconcertingly portrayed as a marginal figure in her own story." - Helen Castor 

 Matilda, born in England in 1102, was the daughter of Henry I of England and granddaughter of William, duke of Normandy (AKA, William the Conqueror). Her mother, Edith-Matilda was the daughter of Malcolm III, King of the Scots and Saint Margaret of Scotland. What little we know of Matilda we must glean from her male contemporaries. We know nothing of her own looks. We can only speculate based on descriptions of her father. There are also no descriptions of her mother other than as a very holy and pious woman. Matilda was not an only child. She had a brother, William, who was heir to England and Normandy and numerous half siblings from the many affairs of her father's.

In 1109, when Matilda was only seven years old she was betrothed by proxy to Heinrich V of Germany. Her dowry was 10,000 silver marks which Heinrich needed to pay for a large army to help him secure the title of Holy Roman Emperor. The following year Matilda said goodbye to her family and her life in England and set off to meet her husband-to-be in person. Imagine an 8 year old girl traveling from home for over 200 miles in a bumpy carriage to meet a stranger she was meant to spend the rest of her life with as his wife. Heinrich was twenty-four and had been King of the Germans for four years. The royal couple met for the first time at the city of Liege. Traveling onward together to the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands, Matilda and Heidrich were formally betrothed again. When they arrived at the German town of Mainz, Matilda was crowned as Heinrich's queen. Their official wedding took place in January 1114, just before Matilda's twelfth birthday.

Pope Paschal II had crowned Heinrich Holy Roman Emperor by force in Rome but had recanted his anointment as soon as Heinrich and his army had left to return to Germany for the royal wedding. War and political conflict waged back and forth between Heinrich and the Pope and where Heinrich went, so did Matilda. Across the Alps and all through Italy to Rome, Heinrich, Matilda and their imperial army travelled. Pope Paschal fled Rome before Heinrich arrived. There, at St Peter's Basilica, Matilda was crowned Empress. Unfortunately, since she wasn't crowned by the Pope but by an excommunicated Archbishop, she wasn't technically an anointed Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Officially, she was still titled Queen of the Romans, but for the rest of her life she was known as Mathilda Imperatrix.

 A peace accord was finally reached in 1122 and Matilda and Heinrich began to settle down to their lives. Happiness was not to last. While visiting Utrecht in 1125, Heinrich became ill and and died at the age of thirty-eight. Matilda was a twenty-three year old widow of an Emperor with no heir. She had to give up her own seat as Mathilda Imperatrix. She gave up the lands that Heinrich had given her and returned to her father's lands in Normandy. She was a very eligible widow and must have had several marriage offers but didn't accept any of them. Maybe she hoped she would have the freedom to choose her own path. If that were the case, she was mistaken.

Remember Matilda's brother William who was supposed to inherit his father's throne? Well, he had died in 1120 in a tragic ship wreck. That left Matilda as Henry I's only surviving legitimate heir. Henry had married again after Matilda's mother died but so far that union had not produced a child. At Christmas time in 1126 Henry presented his newly returned and widowed daughter to his nobles at the English court and made them all swear oaths of fealty to Matilda as the successor to Henry's throne. He also once again decided her fate when he married her in 1128 to fifteen year old Geoffroi of Anjou, thus creating an alliance with Normandy's southern neighbor. Matilda seems to have protested marrying such a young and inexperienced boy, especially when compared to Heinrich V. She scoffed at the title of "countess"; she was an Empress. But marry him she did. It doesn't seem like it was a happy union but it achieved two goals that were paramount to Henry. One, Matilda produced male heirs, and two, it added clout to her name as ruler of England when Anjou was joined with Normandy.

Henry, the first of his name to rule England, died on December 1, 1135. Matilda would set a precedent as the first woman to become Queen in her own right of England. No woman had ruled independently before. There were questions raised about Matilda coming to the throne. Even though the nobles had sworn an oath of loyalty (twice actually) to recognize Matilda as the rightful ruler, there was concern. Could a woman rule? Wasn't she the "fairer" sex for a reason? She certainly couldn't act as a warrior ruler which to the Anglo-Normans that was what was required in order to rule successfully. Since there was doubt about her ability, and since she wasn't in England at the time of her father's death, her cousin and Henry's favorite nephew, decided to seize the throne for himself. Stephen of Blois, Count of Mortain,  raced to Winchester and had himself crowned as King of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

When Matilda received word of Stephen being crowned King, she denounced him as a traitor. He had been among the first to swear his oath to Henry to recognize Matilda as the heir apparent. Now he had broken his oath and taken the crown for himself. Years of war ravaged England and threw the country into civil war known as the Anarchy. Sometimes Stephen had the upper hand, then the roles would reverse and Matilda would come out on top. Stephen's army was beaten and Stephen taken hostage by Matilda's half brother at one point. Likewise, Matilda found herself penned down while Stephen's army besieged her castle. Her husband Geoffroi was not much help. He was busy trying to secure lands denied him by Henry in Normandy.

Stephen's brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester had helped his brother take possession of the crown, but when he saw Matilda about to win out over his brother, Henry switched sides and declared Stephen's coronation had been false and he then crowned Matilda queen, styling her "Lady of England".  Many men who would have supported Matilda's claim didn't simply because they thought she was too proud and conceited. Wouldn't you be if you had been Empress and wife of the most formidable and titled Emperor of the Western World? But it was unbecoming and unladylike of her. Wouldn't any female ruler, a female king, try to rule the same way any other king would rule? When she tried to act as king she was criticized. 

Years of fighting, conflict in her own court and criticism from every direction finally led Matilda to the conclusion that even though she was the rightful king, no one would accept the reign of a female monarch. She decided to bring her oldest son Henry to England. Parading Henry around allowed the nobles to realize that a legitimate male heir was right before their eyes. Matilda felt that if she couldn't rule in her own right then she might as well fight for her son's right to the throne. Stephen also saw this and realized that though he might be king for the time being, his own son wouldn't stand a chance against Henry I's grandson. Stephen recognized Henry as his heir and successor. 

Once Stephen died and Henry II was successfully placed on the English throne, Matilda acted as an adviser and counselor to the new king. She tried to act as mediator when her second son Geoffrey unsuccessfully fought Henry for the crown. From her sanctuary in Rouen she guided Henry, watched her other sons die and lived her life in relative tranquility. Matilda died on September 10, 1167 at age 65. She was buried  at Bec-Hellouin abbey where she had been living. The inscription on her tomb reads "Great by birth, greater by marriage, greatest in her offspring: here lies Matilda, daughter, wife, mother of Henry". The abbey and her tomb were destroyed by fire in 1263 but were restored in 1282. In 1684 her bones were reburied in a new coffin at Bec abbey. They were once again destroyed by Napoleon's army and finally buried at Rouen Cathedral where they remain today. 

She-Wolves: The women who Ruled England before Elizabeth - Helen Castor

The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English - Marjorie Chibnall

Pocahantas: Princess or Pawn

 Pocahontas is a household name here in the U.S., especially if you (or your child) love Disney, but what is the truth and what is simply myth about this Native American "Princess"? Distinguishing between legend and fact is almost impossible when we are talking about the 1500s, a woman in the 1500s, and a woman from a people who had no written language in the 1500s. All of our accounts are taken from primary and secondary accounts from British subjects who weren't the most accurate when referencing the native peoples they encountered. Most of the early references of the woman we know as Pocahontas came from Captain John Smith who was known to exaggerate the truth.

Native Americans gain several different names during their lifetime as they age and mature. She was known among her own people as Amonute and her family called her Matoaka.  Pocahontas was either a nickname or an alias given to the English to use instead of her real name. She was born around 1596 in what is now Virginia. Her mother is unknown but her father, Powhatan, was chief of the Tsenacommacah; a loose confederacy of about 30 different native tribes that all spoke the Algonquin language. Matoaka was 12 or 13 when she first met John Smith who had been captured by her tribe. It wasn't until much later that Smith recounted this tale which included the famous scene of Matoaka running in to save him from execution by placing her head over his on the chopping block. Much has been made of her actions towards Smith. It is true by Smith's own account that he had spent much of his captivity with Matoaka, each teaching the other their languages. There might have been some friendship or connection but he was much older than Matoaka so love probably wasn't a factor behind her attempt to sacrifice her own life for his. What is more likely is that Smith's execution was a ceremonial sacrifice to the tribe so that he would be seen as no longer an outsider. Smith misinterpreted the actions of Powhatan and Matoaka or chose to represent it as life or death for dramatic effect.

Because of Matoaka's ability to speak English she was sent to Jamestown Settlement as part of Powhatan's trading (and scouting) parties. Matoaka was sent in among the English settlers to trade goods and information. She even helped negotiate the release of some of her people who were being held in Jamestown. Powhatan knew what he was doing sending his "favorite daughter" in to negotiate. Because she was the daughter of the leader of the natives that meant she was important. Trade and good will between the two peoples went well for a while but eventually broke down and Matoaka stopped coming to visit at Jamestown. Matoaka and Smith lost contact with each other and Matoaka was told that Smith had died. In fact he had been wounded and resigned his commission in the Virginia Company and returned to England. Relations further deteriorated between the Powhatans and the settlers and became hostile. This was the start of the first of three Anglo-Powhatan Wars.

During this time Matoaka was married to a man named Kocoum. It is unclear if Kocoum was Powhatan or possibly from a rival tribe know as the Patawomeck. If Kocoum was from the Patawomeck tribe then Matoaka was basically used  the way all princesses are used; as a bargaining tool. If she married into a rival tribe her connection would bring about a peace between the two warring tribes. However, the marriage did not last long. On April  12, 1613 Matoaka was abducted by the Patawomeck who had been convinced by the British to break their truce with Powhatan and switch sides. The English hoped to use her as a hostage to negotiate the release of several English soldiers who had been captured by Powhatan. Kocoum is believed to have been killed in one of the skirmishes of the Anglo-Powhatan Wars. It was during her time as a captive of the English that she met the Reverend Alexander Whitaker. Whitaker made it his mission to convert Matoaka to Christianity. He gave her a Bible and helped her study it during her long days of inactivity. Whitaker even took Matoaka to church on Sundays. It was at one of these church meets that she met a man named John Rolfe. Rolfe, a local tobacco farmer, was a widower with an infant son. Matoaka and John Rolfe became fond of each other and planned to marry but first Matoaka had to fully convert to Christianity and English ways. Chief Powhatan, using his brother as negotiator, agreed to release his English captives, give back the firearms he had stole and also agreed Matoaka could marry Rolfe. Once more Matoaka was used as a bargaining chip to secure a peace with the English.

Whether Matoaka was in agreement with any of these arrangements we do not know. She was eventually baptized into the Christian faith as Rebecca and on April 5 1614 was married to John Rolfe. This seemed to be a peaceful time for Matoaka, her family and the Powhatan and the English settlers. Her son Thomas was born in the spring of 1615. Rolfe had become a high ranking member of the community due to his experiments with his tobacco crop and in 1616 he was asked to serve as part of a delegation returning to England to seek out more people willing to cross the ocean and settle in the New World. Matoaka and Thomas would accompany him and the other delegates back to England. 

In June of 1616 the Rolfe family arrived on the shores of England. There are no written accounts from Matoaka's perspective and so there is no way to know what she thought of England or its people and culture. It seems that in this instance she became a pawn of John Rolfe and the Virginia company as a walking ad to entice people to the New World. A wooden engraving of her likeness was commissioned to be created for mass production. 

Simon Van de Passe first sketched, then engraved the only real -life depiction of Matoaka. After these engravings were distributed and word of Matoaka began to spread through London, she received many invitations for dinners and balls from the aristocracy. Eventually Matoaka even met the king of England himself. On January 5, 1617 Matoaka and her party were invited to Whitehall Palace where they met King James I and enjoyed a banquet and a play. John Smith, long thought dead by Matoaka, heard of her being in England and came to visit her one day. Apparently the meeting was not very favorable to Smith. It must have been a surprise to Matoaka to find out that the man who was her first connection to the English and had so abruptly disappeared was actually alive. That was their only meeting while Matoaka was visiting England.

The dirty air of London did not agree with Matoaka's health and so they moved a bit outside of London to Brentford, but her health really never did improve. But at last the time had come to return to the fresh clean air of her native home. In March of 1617, Matoaka, her family and servants were ready for the return voyage back to the New World. Sadly Matoaka, whose health had been steadily deteriorating became gravely ill. Before the ship could even sail out into the ocean Matoaka passed away. The ship docked at Gravesend where on March 21, 1617 a funeral was held and Matoaka was laid to rest  at St. George's Church far from her beloved home. There is a bronze statue there to memorialize the brave Native American woman who died upon English soil. No one knows what caused her health to decline but the likely culprit seems to be tuberculosis. 

"It pleased God at Gravesend to take this young lady to his mercy, where she made not more sorrow for her unexpected death, than joy to the beholders, to hear and see her make so religious and godly an end." - John Smith

Whatever name she is known by, Matoaka/Pocahantas is a woman well worth remembering. Though it seems everyone in her life used her for their own gain she was a pillar of strength and duty. Her acceptance of her life helped broker peace and save lives on both the English side and for her own people. Who knows what more she could have accomplished if she had lived into old age.

For further reading check out these books:

Pocahantas and the Powhatan Dilemma: The American Portraits Series - Camilla Townsend

Pocahantas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entreprenuer, Diplomat - Dr Paula Gunn Allen

Serial Killer Saturday - America's First Female Serial Killer?

  Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset, or Belle as she would later be known, was born in Selbu, Norway on November 11, 1859. Her father Paul was a poor sharecropper at the Storset farm where her family name originated. Very little is known about her childhood and accounts of her varied among the people that knew her while she was growing up. In the early 1880's she set sail from Norway to America. She moved in with her sister Nellie, who had already immigrated to Chicago some years before, and her sister's husband. Brynhild took on an American name and became Bella Peterson. She took sewing jobs, cleaning, laundry and housekeeping jobs in order to pay Nellie back for her passage to America and for her room and board.

  In March of 1884 Bella married Mads Ditlev Anton Sorenson. Bella was 24. Mads was five years older than she was and worked at one of the department stores in Chicago. The Sorensons saved money and were able to purchase a candy store with living quarters on the second floor. Despite it's busy location the store wasn't profitable. Less than a year after the store was purchased, it mysteriously caught on fire. No one was in the store at the time except for Belle and Jennie, Mads and Bella's three year old foster daughter, and they both managed to escape unharmed. Suspicions of arson could not be proven and the Sorensons' insurance paid for their loss. They decided to sell the store and were able to recoup all losses. With the money from the insurance and the sale of the store they purchased a new home and Mads took a job with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. Over the next few years the Sorensons had four more children. To this day no one knows for sure if these children belonged to Bella and Mads biologically or were adopted. Bella was in her late thirties at the time the children show up in records. Two of the children died shortly after their births; one at five months old and another at three months.

   In 1897, the Sorensons almost lost everything when they were scammed into putting up their own money and using their home for collateral to a fake mining company. They filed a lawsuit and did win back the deed to their property. Mads had quit his job with the railroad company because he believed he was going to Alaska to search for gold mines with the mining company. He was able to get his old job back at the department store where he was working when he and Bella first married. This job paid significantly less than his job at the railroad and the Sorensons became poor. That was until April 1900 when once again fire plagued the Sorensons. Their house caught on fire. Firefighters were able to save the structure but their belongings were lost. Luckily they had insurance and they received a large sum of money to recover their losses. Tragedy struck again three months later when Mads suddenly died. Bella told the physician that he was suffering from a cold and a bad headache and she had given him a dose of quinine powder. When she went to their bedroom check on him after preparing dinner, she found him dead. Doctors at first thought the pharmacist had mistakenly given her morphine instead of quinine but Bella couldn't produce the power packet. The conclusion was that Mads died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Lucky for Bella, most unlucky for Mads, was his life insurance situation. He had a $2000 policy that was set to lapse at the end of that very day and his new policy worth $3000 also took affect that same day. Bella was able to collect both life insurance policies.

  Bella decided to sell her home in Chicago after Mads death. She found a 48 acre farm for sale in La Porte, Indiana that had once been a notorious brothel. Bella, now calling herself Belle, and her three remaining children moved to "Maddie Altic's Place" at the end of the year 1901. Soon after moving to La Porte, Belle remarried. Peter Gunness had boarded at Belle and Mads home in Chicago some years before. He was recently widowed with two children. According to first hand reports of Belle from people who knew her, she was not an attractive woman, but her 48 acre farm apparently was. Five days after Belle and Peter were married, Peter's infant daughter died. Her body was shipped to Chicago and buried beside Mads and the other two infant Sorenson children. Eight months later, on December 16 1902, Peter Gunness was dead. Neighbors were woken by Jennie, Belle's foster daughter, asking them to come quickly to the Gunness farm because her step father had been badly burned. When they arrived on the scene they found Peter's body on the floor face down in a pool of blood and a large dent in his skull and a broken nose. When the coroner arrived, Belle half incoherently told everyone a story about how a meat grinder fell from a shelf onto Peter's head and then knocked over a hot bowl of brine that scalded his neck. He assured Belle that he was fine and had went to lay down for a rest. She found him on the floor a few hours later. Dr. Bo Bowell, county physician and coroner, immediately upon seeing Mr. Gunness' body thought he had been murdered but waited until the autopsy before making a judgement. The postmortem only raised more questions than answers since the findings didn't match the story provided by Belle. There were no burn or scald marks anywhere on Peter's body. Dr. Bowell concluded that death was "due to shock and pressure caused by fracture and said hemorrhage." Bowell decided to open an inquest into Peter's death. The inquest was held two days later at the Gunness farmhouse in the same room where Peter died. The inquest didn't turn up any new answers. Belle, Jennie and the neighbor all testified but the story basically remained the same. Dr. Bowell concluded that Peter Gunness had died by accident due to the meat grinder hitting his head causing a fractured skull and hemorrhage. That might have been the official report and the official end to the incident but rumors and suspicions around town remained. Peter's brother Gust was of the group who remained suspicious. When he asked about Peter's life insurance policy that listed his oldest daughter Swanhild as beneficiary, Belle claimed he had invested it in a mining company. When Belle made a proposal that Gust could stay on the farm and help her manage the place, Peter's brother declined the offer and quickly left with Swanhild in tow.

  Belle took on all the roles that a farm required. She was a very large woman, tall, large boned with a tendency towards obesity. Even with her large build she soon realized the work was more than she could handle. She began to place help wanted ads in Norwegian language newspapers in the Midwest for farm workers. Olaf Lindboe, a new comer to America, responded to Belle's ad. He showed up at the Gunness farm with $600 and everything he owned in the world. He and Belle soon became friendly. Their relationship was so friendly in fact that her neighbors believed they would soon be married, as did Olaf himself. In a letter he wrote to his father describing his new living location he also mentioned that he might be getting married soon. Everyone thought it very odd when Olaf came up missing and Belle was asking a neighbor for help on the farm at harvest season. Henry Gurholt answered her ad a few months after Olaf disappeared. Chris Christofferson, a neighbor that was helping out while she was between farmhands, worked with Gurholt a few times and was surprised when Belle told him Gurholt had returned to Chicago with only a few possessions. She was later seen by Christofferson during the winter wearing Gurholt's fur coat. When he asked about it Belle replied that he must not want it since he didn't take it and she hadn't heard from him since he left.

   Belle mysteriously became a mother again to a baby boy she named Phillip. Neighbors couldn't believe the news when Jennie told them, or when they came to visit. They were sure Phillip was much too big to be a new born and Belle was still hard at work with farm chores. Not the sorts of activities a newly delivered mother should be performing. Another ad was placed again in the Midwestern Norwegian Newspapers. This time the ad wasn't just looking for a farm hand but a "partner" to share life on the farm. All the man had to do was provide some cash as security of good faith and reliability. "Triflers need not apply.", the ad read. The number of responses to Belle's ad is unknown but her mailman would later testify to delivering as many as 10 letters per day. George Berry left his home in Tuscola, Illinois with $1,500 in cash after telling friends he was moving to La Porte for a job and marriage prospects. Christian Hilkven sold his farm for $2000 and gave his friends his forwarding address in La Porte. A Swedish bachelor from Kansas quit his job and told his boss he had $2000 and was going to marry a rich widow. Ole Budsberg told his sons the same thing, also giving La Porte, Indiana as his new address. He left with $1000 in cash. And so on. One young farm hand, Emil Greening, later testified that Belle Gunness received male visitors on a regular basis and that she would always introduce them as cousins from out of state. None of these men seemed to stay for very long. The residents of La Porta always saw them arrive but no one ever saw them leave again.

Jennie Olsen at 16 years old

  During all these comings and goings of male "cousins", Jennie Olson, Belle's foster daughter, was growing into womanhood and she herself would receive many gentleman callers. Emil Greening and John Weidner were local boys who paid suit to Jennie. In the winter of 1906 Jennie told John and Emil that Belle was sending her to college in California. When each one came to say goodbye Belle told them Jennie had already left. They both wrote to her at the address she had given them but they never heard from her again. In fact, no one ever did.


  Belle hired Ray Lamphere to be her boarder and farm hand. Ray was a member of a prominent La Porte family who had become the town drunk. Belle gave him a place to live in exchange for his help on the farm and Ray began to boast around town that Belle was giving him more than just a bed to sleep in. Even though Belle was supposedly in a relationship with Ray, she still received letters responding to her newspaper ads. She began a lengthy correspondence with a man named Andrew Helgelien who owned a farm in South Dakota. For almost two years Belle set the scene in her letters of a friend turned devoted lover with a prosperous money-making farm in need of Helgelien to save her from loneliness. Helgelien was urged to come quickly with all his cash he planned to invest in his share of the farm. "We shall be so happy once you get here," she wrote in one surviving letter. Belle also instructed Helgelien to keep their plans for the future a secret from everyone, including his own family.  "It is so much pleasure to keep this secret to ourselves and to see how surprised everyone will be when they find out." Unfortunately, Andrew Helgelien fell ill and could not come to Belle as quickly as she wanted. Even though he repeatedly told her he was unable to make the journey, her letters back to him urged him to make the trip anyway, always with the aside that he not tell anyone of plans. Finally, after 18 months of letter writing, Andrew Helgelien arrived in La Porte in January of 1908. Belle unceremoniously kicked Ray Lamphere out of his snugly bed and put Andrew in it. Ray was told to go sleep in the barn. A few days later Belle took Andrew to the bank to cash in his certificates of deposit from his own bank back in South Dakota. Belle became furious when they were told it would take 4-5 days for the money to be redeemed. A week later the two of them came back for the money. Helgelien was ready to accept a  cashier's check but Belle refused and insisted it be in cash. Almost $3,000 in cash, half in gold coins and half in currency. It totaled close to $75,000 in today's currency. And that was the last anyone would see or hear of Andrew Helgelien.

   Even though Andrew had not told anyone where he was going or why, he did tell his brother Asle that he would be back within a week's time. When he didn't arrive back home after a few weeks Asle became worried. A farmhand that worked on Andrew's small farm also began to wonder where he was. Looking through Helgelien's home to find some clue as to his whereabouts he came upon Belle's letters she had written to Andrew. These were turned over to Asle who promptly wrote to Belle, or Bella, as she had singed her letters to Andrew, asking if she knew where he was. She replied back with some crazy story about him running off to hunt down another of the Helgelien brothers who had gotten into some trouble in Chicago. Asle wrote back that he was coming to La Porte to start searching for Andrew's whereabouts. Belle told him to come on and she would help in any way she could.

  Ray Lamphere and Belle were now on the outs with each other. No one knows exactly what started the feud but Ray suddenly quit the Gunness farm leaving all his carpenters tools and most of his other belongings behind. When he finally came back for his belongings Belle had him arrested for trespassing. He hired a lawyer. She began to drop comments around town that he was harassing her, sneaking onto her property at night, looking in her windows and any other kind of dubious activity she could think to add. He was put on trial a few times for trespassing and harassment. One time he was found guilty and had to pay a fine. The next time he was acquitted of the charges. Still Belle persisted in bringing charges against him and declaring that he was insane. He was put before an insanity trial and the comity declared that he was of sound mind. She would tell neighbors and shopkeepers that she feared for her life and that she wouldn't be surprised if Ray tried to set fire to her house one night while she was asleep to try and kill her. During one of the trials where Ray was accused of harasment, Ray's lawyer began to ask Belle questions about her deceased husbands and their mysterious deaths. Belle became very agitated at all these questions. No one really thought much of it at the time except for Ray's lawyer who was asking them and Dr. Bo Bowell who had attended Mr. Gunness at the time of his death and who already had doubts surrounding the circumstances. Later, everyone in La Porte would take it as a sign that Belle feared her secrets were about to be found out.

Belle with daughters Lucy and Myrtle and baby son Phillip

  On April 27, 1908, a few weeks after the last trial of Ray Lamphere, Belle went to her lawyer's office to have her will made out because she was so afraid Ray was going to kill her. She left everything to her three children, Myrtle Adolphine Sorenson, Lucy Bergliat Sorenson and Phillip Alexander Gunness. In the event that her children died without issue, the property was to be given to the Norwegian Children's Home of Chicago. After storing her will and some money in a deposit box, she stopped by the store where she bought candy, cake and some toys to give to the children as a surprise. She also purchased a large quantity of groceries and two gallons of kerosene. According to Joe Maxson, the handyman hired to take Ray's place, he, Belle and the children sat down to a large dinner and then played games with the kids the rest of the evening. Maxson, feeling very sleepy, retired to bed around 8:30 with Belle and the children still playing in the parlor. When he awoke the next morning he believed everything was the same as it was every morning; except Mrs. Gunness was burning the breakfast. Except it wasn't breakfast that was burning. When he came fully awake he realized the house itself was on fire and his room was filled with smoke. He ran out of his room and tried to open the door that separated the guest area from the rest of the house where Belle and her children slept but it wouldn't open. He ran down the back stairs and tried to open the front door but it wouldn't open either. Grabbing an ax from the nearby tool shed he chopped at the door. The neighbors soon saw the flames and smoke and began to rush to Mrs. Gunness' farmhouse. It was engulfed in flames. One of the neighbors grabbed a ladder and put it to the window of Belle's bedroom. Peering in he saw the room was empty. Continuing on in the same way, they searched all the windows they could reach hoping to see someone still alive. Someone rode into town to alert the sheriff while everyone else stood around helplessly watching the flames reach higher into the early morning sky. By the time the fire was out there was nothing but three stone walls left standing.

  

  By mid-morning fifty people were there and by the afternoon that number had doubled. One spectator that morning was Harry Burr Darling, an editor for the Argus-Bulletin, one of La Porte's newspapers. His would be the first of many articles written about Belle Gunness and what would become known as her "murder farm." Darling was also the first to speculate that Belle Gunness had started the fire herself due to her "weakened mentality" over her recent troubles with Ray Lamphere. Sheriff Smutzer believed Ray himself was guilty of starting the fire. When the smoldering ruins had cooled enough to allow anyone to get close, people began to sift through the debris. They came upon the forms of three small bodies huddled together with an adult female. Surely these were Belle and her children. Sheriff Smutzer sent deputies out to arrest Ray for arson and murder but like most of the men in Belle's life he had disappeared. The next day Darlings article reported on the conditions of the bodies found. In describing Phillip Guness, Darling wrote "whose face was black, with a hole in the forehead evidently from a falling brick. Its limbs below the knees had been burned away. The child's mouth was open, silent testimony to the agony of death." The girls were likewise salaciously described in order to appeal to the reader's morbid curiosity. Mrs. Gunness, he went on to describe as "an unrecognizable mass, with the bones protruding through naked flesh." But was the body that of Mrs. Gunness or some other female? Jennie was supposed to be in California in collage. No other females save the small girls should have been in the house. Why would this question even be asked? Because the corpse was missing its head!

 Ray Lamphere was eventually found right where he should have been; at work. The first words out of Ray's mouth when the deputies arrived where to ask if the children and Belle had escaped the fire. How did he know about the fire? Simple, he saw the smoke as he was walking to work that morning but didn't stop because it wasn't any of his business or that given his history with Mrs. Gunness they would suspect him right off. Ray was taken to the county jail where he was questioned multiple times.When asked where he was the night of the fire he reluctantly admitted that he had been at the home of Elizabeth Smith, a colored woman. Smith corroborated Lamphere's story but many La Porte residents still believed Ray was responsible for the fire and subsequent deaths of the Gunness family. An inquest was held, then an arraignment where Ray was charged with arson and murder. He pleaded not guilty and was held without bond to await a grand jury to meet on May 11th.

  Meanwhile, back at the farm, men from all over the county arrived to help sift through what was left of the Gunness home in the hopes of finding the lost head of Belle Gunness. According to the local physicians no fire could have been hot enough to have entirely cremated a human skull. Surely her gold teeth or some other part had to remain. Had Ray Lamphere murdered Mrs. Gunness first and cut off her head and then set the fire? If so, where was the head now? A postmortem exam lead the doctors to believe that the head had not been removed before the fire. There was no evidence of violence having occurred.

  More newspapers began to pick up the story and La Porta began to have more and more visitors pouring into town. Nellie Larson, Belle's estranged sister came to town from Chicago. She was shocked to learn how her sister died and even more shocked to learn she wouldn't be the recipient of Belle's estate. She did make arrangements to have her sister's remains sent to Chicago and buried at the Forest Home Cemetery. Jennie Olson's older sister also came to town looking for Jennie. She had not heard from Jennie and over two years after Jennie had written to say she was being sent away to school in California. Attempts to locate said school by Jennie's sister had been unsuccessful. News reports claimed that Jennie was even then on her way home but Jennie never arrived. Asle Helgelien had also arrived in La Porte and went straight away to the police looking for his lost brother Andrew. Andrew's presence in town several months back was confirmed by the police chief and by the banker. Sheriff Smutzer drove Asle out to what remained of the Gunness farm. Asle joined in with the rest of the men still looking for Belle's missing head. While walking the property he began to look for anything suspicious or anything that would give him a clue as to the whereabouts of his brother. He asked the workers if any large holes had been recently dug. Why, yes, there were. Maxson, the current handyman had helped Mrs. Gunness haul some household trash to a pit in a fenced off around of the hog lot. The men took their shovels and headed for the pit where they began digging. Soon enough a shovel struck something hard. It was covered in a burlap sack. When the sack was opened up they found human remains. While someone raced into town to get the sherrif and the coroner, the other men kept digging. Finally, they found what Asle had been searching for. A human skull that resembled his brother Andrew. The partial remains of a young adult female were found with a lock of long blonde hair still attached. Jennie Olson had finally been found. Ole Budsberg's sons arrived to try and find their father whom they knew had come to La Porte to married a wealthy widow. They picked out his skull from among the remains that had been dug up. His red mustache a dead give away. (Heh, sorry). More and more people, fearing for missing loved ones,wrote inquiries to the La Porte police or came to town to search the bodies. All of them giving the same story of a single man cashing in all he owned to go off to marry a widow who owned a farm.

  The buggy shed was turned into a makeshift morgue as the men kept digging and searching other areas of the murder farm. Bodies with severed limbs were placed on tables. There were so many that it was impossible to match the pieces up for a full skeleton and know for sure that it was all of the same person. Body upon body was being discovered all over the property. It is estimated that as many as 40 were possibly killed and buried in various places around the Gunness farm. In one pit they uncovered more than a dozen pairs of men's shoes. Some of the bodies had been wrapped in the "gunny" or burlap sacks, some had been casually tossed like trash. Some had been covered with quicklime to cover the smell and help with decomposition. Severed, crushed, dismembered; legs, arms, skulls. Most were beyond even basic identifications like sex or age

News article from 1908 reporting on the murders at the Gunness farm

 Over night Belle became infamous. Belle Gunness and her murder farm would make front-page news throughout the country for several months. She was labeled by the Chicago American as "the most fiendish murderer of the age," even the most "fiendish murderess in history."  As evidence emerged from other men who had previously contacted  Belle regarding her advertisements,  her motives and, as Harold Schechter describes her in his book, her "diabolical cunning", it seemed reasonable to believe that the headless body was not that of Belle at all. Could she possibly have committed all these murders and somehow gotten away with it?! The newspapers dubbed her everything from the "La Porte Ghoul" to the "High-Priestess of Murder" to the "Queen of Crime." All kinds of sensational stories hit the press regarding her whereabouts, the murders and her possible link to other crimes. Sightings of her were reported everywhere and yet when investigated were obviously false. She was part of a murder for hire gang in Chicago that sent victims out to her murder farm where she would dispose of them. She was part of a mail order murder gang that lured unsuspecting men (and their money) to their deaths. This she did do but she was solitary in her efforts. But because it could possibly be true, mail order marriages were banned in Chicago. Though there was a multi-state hunt for Gunness and many reported sightings, nothing led to her apprehension. Not long after the story broke, a moving pictured titled Mrs. Gunness, the Female Bluebeard  appeared in theaters in the Midwest. Fake love letters to would be victims began to appear. Even fictional paperback dime-store novels were written about Mrs. Gunness.

 Crowds began to gather at the farm to watch as the men dug and retrieved body parts and articles of men's clothing. They would come from all around the surrounding counties, even from the surrounding states. They would bring picnics out to the farm and spend the day in morbid amusement as piece by piece Belle's victims were unearthed. There was still that pesky missing head to find as well. The only parts of the farm that were off limits to the public were the cellar and the make-shift morgue. People could walk around the farm all they liked. The Lake Erie and Western Railroad even arranged for special excursion trains to bring in visitors from Indianapolis and Chicago and livery companies hired extra drivers to take sightseers out to the farm. Every hotel room in La Porte and the nearby cities and towns were full.  Sixteen thousand people, possibly more, showed up on Sunday May 10th. It was like a giant death circus. According to Harold Schechter's book "Hell's Princess", there were even vendors there selling their wares. Popcorn, peanuts, ice cream and cake could all be had while looking down on these poor dead people's remains. Photographers roamed the grounds taking pictures and selling them to the visitors. Some even found small bone fragments and sold them as well, alleging they were the bones of Belle's victims. They later found out the bones weren't human but were actually pig. Chunks of brick, bent nails, trash from the house that remained in the burn pile; all were scooped up as souvenirs. At first a single file line for viewing the make-shift morgue was arranged but the crowd became out of control and Sheriff Smutzer was forced to padlock the shed doors so no one else could get in. 

Spectators watch as the remains of Belle Gunness' victims are unearthed  - La Porte Historical Society

 Ray Lamphere was still in jail. There were many who still believed that Belle was innocent and Lamphere had committed these murders out of jealousy and revenge. Ray still insisted he was the innocent one. If they could find Belle then obviously Ray was innocent and Belle the murderer. Yet though there were all those sightings there was nothing that was confirmed as it actually being Belle. They either had to find Belle, her missing head, or her teeth. A sluice box was constructed on the farm by an old prospector determined to find Belle's gold teeth. If she died in the fire and her head had indeed "combusted" from her body due to the heat of the fire, then her 4 gold teeth should be somewhere amidst the ashes that were once her home. Right? Men's watches, knives, rings and suspiciously a badly burned book on anatomy were all found. Finally on May 19th, the crazy old prospector was rewarded for his hard work by finding a pair of dental bridges. Belle's dentist confirmed they were in fact those of Mrs. Gunness. Sheriff Smutzer firmly believed Ray was the culprit. Since they now had confirmation that Belle was in fact dead, they could proceed with the trial. Of course there were doubters. How could they have not melted in the heat of the fire? Was it possible she used someone else's dentures? The dentist pointed out that a real tooth was still attached to the bridgework. Could she have pulled out her own tooth? With this new evidence the coroner finally positively identified the body of Belle Gunness and Ray Lamphere was  indicted by a grand jury with charges of arson and the first-degree murders of Belle, her three children and Andrew Helgelien. What about all the other bodies though? Who killed them? Did Ray help Belle kill them but as was suggested grew jealous of Helgelien? Lamphere still denied having anything to do with the fire or any of the murders. Even though other dentists testified for the defense that the teeth presented as those of Belle Gunness had to have been planted after the fire, and Elizabeth Smith saying that Ray had been at her place the night of the fire, and witnesses that claim to have seen Belle after the fire, Ray Lamphere was convicted of arson with no mention of the charges of murder. The jury's decision had been 10 who were in favor of second degree murder, two who were in favor of the arson charge and one who wanted to acquit. They finally came to an agreement on the arson charge after their 19th ballot. Ray Lamphere died in prison while serving his two year term for arson.

  Sightings of Belle Gunness reappeared every so often for the next 20 years or so all across the country. Once they were investigated though they all proved to be false. The most credible of these sightings was in 1931 when a man named Peter Lindstrom received a call that his father had passed away. When he traveled to Los Angeles to take care of his father's estate, he was met by his father's housekeeper for the last 15 years. Her name was Mrs. Carlson. The circumstances of Peter's father's death didn't sit right with Peter when Mrs. Carlson gave him the details. He became more suspicious when he learned that his father had added Mrs. Carlson's name onto his bank account and that just days after Lindstrom's death, all the money in the account had been withdrawn by authority of Mrs. 
Carlson. An  autopsy was performed and two and a half grains of arsenic were found in the old man's body. Upon making inquiries into Carlson's past and with the help of a woman who had been conned into helping Carlson then subsequently poisoned by Carlson, charges were brought against her for the murders of Lindstrom, another man and Mr. Carlson too. Upon searching the Carlson home, police came across two little girls and a boy. The photo was somehow shown to a former resident of La Porte, Indiana who identified the children as belonging to none other than Belle Gunness. Carlson denied that she was not Mrs. Gunness. Esther Carlson was dead before anyone else could positively identify her. The mode, means and motive certain fit that of Belle Gunness. Every one who saw her after her death felt positive that the facial features and nationality all made her a shoe-in for Belle. 

 In 2008, the remains of what are supposedly Belle Gunness' body were exhumed from their resting place at Chicago's Forest Home Cemetery in order to perform DNA testing. Those results are still inconclusive. In 2014, a native of Selbu, Norway researched Carlson's background and came to the conclusion that she and Belle Gunness were not the same person. 

Did Belle Gunness escape the fire at the murder farm? Did Ray Lamphere have anything to do with the fire or any of the deaths that took place there? Here are my own thoughts about Belle Gunness:

 Did she kill her husbands? Yes. Perhaps the first time was an accidental overdose.  Did Belle kill Jennie? Yes. And Phillip was actually Jennie's son.  Did Belle kill all of those other people? Yes.  Did Ray Lamphere kill anyone? No.  Did Ray start the fire at the Gunness house? No.  Did Ray know about Belle's extracurricular activities? Yes.  Did Belle start the fire? Yes.  Did Belle set Ray up for the murder and arson charges? Yes.  Did Belle die in the fire huddled together with her children? No. That was someone else's skeleton.  Did Belle get away? Most definetly.  Was Belle Gunness ever found? Nope. Will the mystery ever be solved? I don't know.


To learn more about Belle Gunness and come to your own conclusions check this stuff out:

Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men 
by Henry Schechter

Hell's Belle : The True Story of Belle Gunness

by Lindsay Garrett

The Truth about Belle Gunness: The True Story of Notorious Serial Killer Hell's Belle

by Lillian de la Torre

The Mistress of Murder Hill: The Serial Killings of Belle Gunness

by Sylvia Elizabeth Shepherd

Belle Gunness: The Lady Bluebeard

by Janet L. Langlois 

You can watch a documentary about Belle on Amazon Prime. 

There was another movie in the works but there has been no news from them since 2018. There 

has also been talk of a Netflix series based on her life and crimes but nothing confirmed.

Eleanor of Aquitaine

In today's blog post we will learn about one of my favorite female historical figures.

A ruler in her own right to the Duchy of Aquitaine, this woman would become queen of two countries and mother to two kings of England. She went to war, made war against her own husband, and was locked away in a tower. The Woman, the Myth, The Legend: Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Aquitaine, a very rich and fertile land, is a region in southwestern France. It's name possibly originated with the Romans and their Latin word aqua, meaning water, since it boarders on the Atlantic Ocean. At one point in it's varied history Aquitaine was declared it's own separate Kingdom when Emperor Charlemagne bestowed the title of King of Aquitaine on his son Louis. After a while the kingdom fell apart and reverted back to a Duchy. Aquitaine grew into one of the most cultured courts in all of Europe. Eleanor's grandfather is touted as being the very first troubadour and the ideas of chivalry and "courtly love" supposedly developed in Aquitaine.  Eleanor came from a long line of Dukes that had ruled over Aquitaine since the year 835 when the Ramnulfids led by Ramnulf I of House Poitiers took control over the lands. 

Eleanor's early life remains unknown to us. Her name was originally spelled Alienor. Named after her mother, it meant "the other Aenor." She was schooled in housekeeping and needlework, but because of the urbane and sophisticated court at Aquitaine she was probably highly educated in reading, writing, languages, poetry, music, dance and a musical instrument or two. We have no factual evidence of what she looked like. No descriptions of her eyes, hair color or stature have been left for us. Even Eleanor's specific birth date is unknown but historians believe she was born either in 1122 or 1124. This would make her between 13-15 in the year 1137 when her father William X Duke of Aquitaine passed away. Eleanor's brother and the only son of William X and Aenor had died some years earlier leaving Eleanor, as the oldest daughter, heir to the Duchy of Aquitaine. Since Eleanor had not yet reached the age of maturity her father had asked Louis VI, King of France to become her guardian. Louis saw a golden opportunity to gain some of the most fertile lands in all of France and he quickly betrothed his young ward to his son and heir, sixteen year old Prince Louis. However, France would only benefit from Aquitaine so long as Eleanor remained married to Louis. The land was hers by right of inheritance and would remain in her name. 

The Prince traveled to Aquitaine in the accompaniment of 500 knights to meet his bride. On July 25, 1137 in Bordeaux's Cathedral of Saint Andre, Eleanor and Louis were wed. After their wedding they traveled to Poitiers, the capital of Aquitaine, where they were crowned Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine. Louis VI, King of France had passed away during their travel from Bordeaux to Poitiers. After their coronations in Poitiers they rushed to Paris to make sure Prince Louis' right to the throne wasn't questioned. Eleanor, a young girl not yet sixteen, became a duchess in her own right and Queen of France all within the span of a few months.

It is generally believed that King Louis was so besotted with the bold and spirited Eleanor that he would do anything for her. He went to war against several important French dukes to gain lands that Eleanor felt should have belonged to her, he spent lavishly and even went against the Pope when Eleanor urged him to take her sister's side in a forbidden romance. Louis had originally been meant for the church and so was a very pious and cautious person. It does seem that for whatever reason he did have a bit of a personality shift after his marriage to Eleanor. Was Eleanor so charming and persuasive that she convinced Louis to go against his own character? Was he so in love with her that he would do anything she wanted; so enraptured that he took her with him when he went to fight in the Crusades? Possibly. But they eventually had a falling out and divorced so I feel this view is slightly exaggerated. Was she just a big nag and he did these things to shut her up? Possibly. I'm sure if we looked closely enough at the political gains that were to be gained from some of his decisions we would see it had more to do with continuing to build a reputation for France than for any crazy love he felt for Eleanor.

Eleanor gave birth to their first child, a daughter they named Marie, in 1145. The next year they both "took the cross" and made plans to fight in the Second Crusade to keep Jerusalem safe from the Turks. It is worth noting that Eleanor took the cross under her title of Duchess of Aquitaine and not Queen of France. This way the barons of Aquitaine who weren't loyal to Louis but were loyal to her would be bound to join the Crusade. Not many people wrote first hand accounts of the Crusades and even fewer wrote about Eleanor's part so we must take rumors, innuendos and implications with a grain of salt. Eleanor brought with her a train of ladies in waiting (some later accounts report at least 300 women), servants and baggage. Here is where Eleanor as a legend begins to take shape.  A Greek historian writing some 50 years after the Crusade described Eleanor and her ladies as wearing armor and riding astride their horses like men. He compared them to Amazons and thus a legend was born. Here was a woman already famed for her beauty, boldness, quick wit and adventurous nature. Being compared to the Queen of the Amazons only heightened her fame and appeal.  

Unarguably the undertaking of this Second Crusade is where her relationship with Louis, already fragile due to lack of a male heir, began to fall apart. No doubt the pious King of France took his role in the Crusade seriously. But what about Eleanor? Maybe not so much. Can you just imagine the scene of the procession as she rode into Constantinople and Antioch with her 300 women dressed to impress with armor and all the splendors of royalty. I think Eleanor viewed the Crusade as one lavish party and not the bloody, deadly war that it actually was. Eleanor was later blamed for being partly responsible when the French army was ambushed by the Turks and almost completely wiped out. In fact, when Louis and Eleanor arrived in Antioch in March of 1148, most of the French foot soldiers had been killed and the majority of his barons had died as well. In Antioch, the ruling seat of Eleanor's uncle Raymond, their relationship deteriorated further. It is not known exactly what happened while they were in Antioch. There are many rumors but nothing we can confirm as factual. We do know that Louis wanted to finish his pilgrimage to Jerusalem and that Eleanor was content to remain at her uncle's court. Eleanor also wanted Louis to help Raymond who was having his own trouble along his western boarder. Eleanor began to spend more and more time with her uncle and less time with Louis. Rumors later surfaced that Eleanor and her uncle were having an incestuous affair. As with every other legend about Eleanor, this rumor is just that, rumor. There is no evidence to confirm an affair, but then again there is no evidence to confirm there wasn't.  Louis finally put his foot down and forcibly removed Eleanor from Antioch and continued on to Jerusalem. By the time Easter of 1149 came around, Louis felt it was time to return to France. The King and Queen set out for the first leg of the journey to Italy on separate ships. Eleanor's ship was captured by the Byzantines and she was held hostage. Luckily she was rescued by the Normans who were at war with Byzantine and was safely reunited with Louis. Together they made their way to Rome to pay their respects to Pope Eugene III. The Pope acted as counselor and tried to amend Eleanor and Louis' marital disagreements. He even issued a decree that anyone who tried to separate the couple would face excommunication.

Eleanor and Louis finally returned to France. They were reconciled long enough to produce another child. Their daughter Alix was born in 1150. But even the birth of Alix could not save their marriage. Maybe it was because Alix was a daughter when Louis clearly needed a male heir. Maybe given the time of  Alix's birth and the rumors about Eleanor and her uncle, Louis questioned her legitimacy. Louis and Eleanor both agreed to have their marriage annulled based on the grounds of consanguinity (having too close a blood kinship).  In March 1152, despite all the Pope could do to prevent it, the King and Queen of France were granted their annulment, leaving both free to marry again. 

Seal of Eleanor of Aquitaine with flower and hawk

Since Eleanor retained the right to rule Aquitaine in her own right, she returned to Poitiers as Duchess of Aquitaine. Her daughters remained at the French court as legitimate daughters where Louis would make important political marriages for them both. The eldest daughter Marie would also inherit Aquitaine unless her mother produced a male heir. 

Eleanor, not yet 40, was once again one of the most eligible women in Europe. As she traveled back to Poitiers, Eleanor evaded an abduction attempt by Geoffrey of Anjou while she was traveling to Poitiers. He lay in wait at Port des Piles, near the River Creuse, and would have married her had the abduction been successful. Eleanor was forewarned and able to escape his plans of capture. Eleanor escaped from another abduction attempt shortly after Geoffrey's failed. This time Theobald V, Count of Blois tried to seize her and her lands for himself.  (Theobald V would later marry her daughter Alix) Eleanor knew that so long as she remained unmarried, her person and her lands were at risk. Eleanor set out to find a worthy husband and 8 weeks after her annulment decree from the king of France, Eleanor was married to Henry Plantagenet, brother to Geoffrey of Anjou. Although younger than Eleanor, Henry didn't seem to mind the age difference, nor did either of them mind they were more closely related that Eleanor and Louis had been. This seems like a hasty married, arranged way too quickly. Perhaps it was. Maybe Eleanor and Henry already knew each other and had already been planning their marriage for some time. They had met on at least one occasion when Henry came to court in Paris in 1151. Gervase of Canterbury in his Historical Works wrote that Eleanor "sent secret messengers to the Duke (Henry) to tell him that she was free again, and urging him to enter into marriage with her." William of Newburgh and several other chroniclers of the time suggest this claim as well. Henry was definitely a worthy match for the rich Duchess. Henry was the complete opposite of Louis. He was not very religious, enjoyed hunting and riding, was described as being bold and athletic and loved the ladies.  He was Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine, and had a legitimate claim to the English throne through his grandfather Henry I. The ceremony was very small and not very elaborate; almost secretive. The suggested reason for this is the fact that as Duke of Normandy, Henry was a vassal of the French King and should have asked Louis' permission to marry which he certainly would not have given.

On 25 October 1154, Henry did in fact become Henry II of England when Stephen I died without heir. He and Eleanor were crowned King and Queen of England by the archbishop of Canterbury on 19 December 1154. Eleanor spent much of her time traveling back and forth from England to Aquitaine holding court while Henry was busy waging war against Louis. In Henry's absence she spent money where needed, made charters and decrees. There is only one instance of Henry's nobles not obeying Eleanor's decisions. When this was made known to him, Henry rushed back to England to quell this small rebellion and any objections to Eleanor's rule were never voiced again. 

Eleanor also spent much of her early marriage to Henry pregnant and giving birth to his 8 children. Their first child, a boy named William, was born before they were King and Queen of England and died at three years of age. Their other sons Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, John proved that it was not Eleanor's fault that she and Louis didn't have a male heir. Eleanor also had three daughters with Henry; Matilda, Eleanor and Joanna. Eleanor's marriage to Henry may have started out happy but their relationship too quickly became turbulent. They were both too much alike; too bold, too independent, too outspoken. Henry also had a wandering eye which later put a lot of strain on their marriage when he began to flaunt his infidelities openly at court. By 1168 their marriage had completely deteriorated and they were very seldom together. Eleanor seems to have stayed at Poitiers holding court.

In 1170 Henry II believed he was dying and had Young Henry crowned as co-ruler to ensure a smooth succession when Henry died. He divided the rest of his lands between his four sons. Richard would inherit Eleanor's lands in Aquitaine to which Eleanor had already agreed and been acting to promote. When King Henry recovered from his illness he decided that his land grants where in name only until he actually passed away. Eleanor and her three oldest boys disagreed. They felt they should be allowed to rule their lands that had been given them and not wait for their father's death to make it official. A revolt was brewing with Eleanor right in the middle. Young Henry fled to France where Louis supported his claim as current and rightful ruler, not co-ruler, of England. Eleanor entreated Richard and Geoffrey to stand with Young Henry against their father. Eleanor was pressured to end her part of the rebellion and reconcile herself back to her husband by more than one contemporary. Eleanor had no intention of returning to Henry. Instead she raised an army in Aquitaine to join the rebellion. Henry was the more experienced soldier and one by one put down the revolt in each rebellious territory. He made his way to the place where Eleanor was staying with her uncle Raol de Faye. Eleanor tried to escape by disguising herself as a man but she was captured and held as a prisoner at Chinon. Eleanor's part in the rebellion against Henry was over and soon her sons would be stopped as well. 

For the next 15 years Eleanor would spend her life a closely guarded prisoner under house arrest. Henry made a few moves toward divorce so that he could marry his long time mistress. This would have been a critical hit for Eleanor. She was in her early 50s and would no longer be such a marriageable prize as she was when she and Louis divorced. Once again rumors on Eleanor's part reared their head. Henry revived an old rumor that Eleanor had an affair with his own father years before they were married. And when Henry's mistress suddenly died, Eleanor was rumored to have poisoned her. These rumors of course have no basis in fact. 

Eleanor and Henry's sons fought each other for years over land. Young Henry resented that Richard had more power as Duke of Aquitaine than he had as co-king of England and tried to take Aquitaine from Richard. Henry retrieved Eleanor from house arrest and sent her to treat with her sons. He gave her back full rights to Aquitaine hoping that Richard wouldn't fight his own mother. Ultimately it was the death of Young Henry that ended the fighting. When Geoffrey unexpectedly died Henry II tried to give away his territories John the youngest son, leaving Richard out. Richard once more went to war against his father. This rebellion ended with King Henry II himself dying. Upon Henry's death, Richard the Lionheart, became king of England. Richard released his mother and have her power over England. She also set free many others who had been imprisoned by Henry for political reasons. 

King Richard was crowned in September 1189 with his mother Eleanor by his side. A well known prophecy supposedly spoken by the magician Merlin himself became associated with Eleanor even while she was held captive by Henry. The prophecy was written down and circulated by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his The History of the Kings of Britain. The prophecy refers to an eagle from a broken alliance rejoicing in its third brood. Many believed the eagle to represent Eleanor and the "third brood" to reference her third son Richard who set her free from captivity to reign once more as Queen. Soon after Richard was crowned king of England he took the cross himself and set off on the Third Crusade. Eleanor was left in control of Aquitaine and a the right to exercise power over the Council of Regency that Richard left to govern England. Eleanor and Richard had worked together to secure a marriage for him with Berengaria of Navarre. While Richard was away, his brother John was working to undermine his authority and take England for himself. Eleanor wrote to Richard urging him to return home. Richard did as his mother bid but was captured on his way home and held captive for two years by Henry Vi, Holy Roman Emperor. Meanwhile Eleanor could not keep John under control and he was able to seize power. 

Eleanor worked with the Barons that remained loyal to Richard to help them take back some of the castles and territories taken by John but her main concern was raising funds to pay a ransom to set Richard free from his captivity. She traveled all over gaining the money and support for Richard. When she finally had enough money saved up she traveled to Germany to give up the money. She also offered two of her own grandsons as hostages in place of Richard. Finally, in February of 1194, Richard was freed and along with Eleanor by his side made his way back to England. He put down the revolt he and John repaired their relationship. A second coronation was held to mark his recovery with Eleanor again by his side. His reign as King of England would not last for much longer. He went to Aquitaine to put down another rebellion in 1199 and received a wound from a crossbow bolt that became infected. He sent for Eleanor who rushed to his side and was with him when he died.

Eleanor and Henry's youngest child John became King of England after Richard's death. Eleanor was still much involved in the ruling of England. She was even sent to lead a war defending John's right to the English throne from her 12 year old grandson Arthur. Arthur's claim was backed by Phillip II of France. John and Phillip negotiated a treaty of peace between the two countries and agreed to marry Phillip's heir Louis to one of John's nieces. It was up to Eleanor to journey to Castile (in Spain) to choice which niece was to be the lucky winner. One her way there she was ambushed and captured by Hugh le Brun who refused to recognize Plantagenet rule because his lands has been taken by Henry II. She had to negotiate her own freedom. She was in her 70s. 

War between England and France continued but Eleanor would not be there to see it or an end to the conflict. In April of 1204, Eleanor died at Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon. Her cause of death is unknown. Most likely she died from old age. She was burried at the Abbey alongside her second husband Henry and her son Richard. 

Eleanor and Henry II's effigies at their graves at Fontevraud Abbey

There is much myth and very little fact about Eleanor, but I believe from what historical accounts can be found that she truly was a fierce woman and a born leader. There have been numerous books written and several movies made about Eleanor. She remains an Amazon among women. 

Movies and TV: 

The Lion in Winter - 1968

The Lion in Winter -  2003

The Devil's Crown - 1978

Bios and Novels:

Eleanor of Aquitaine - Marion Meade

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France and England, Mother of Empires - Sara Cockerill

Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life - Alison Weir

Eleanor of Aquitaine Trilogy - Elizabeth Chadwick