ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE By Melrich V. Rcsenberg
Mr. Rosenberg is apparently the first to attempt a full-length biography in English (Hamish Hamilton, Jos. 6d.) of the masterful lady who was in turn the Queen to Louis VII of France and Henry II of England, and whose own domains in the south-west of France were a cause of strife between the two Kings. It is unattractive in style and nmateurish in the treatment of twelfth- century politics. Still the author has set out the main facts of Eleanor's lively career (1122-1204), notably her partici- pation in the Second Crusade, her divorce and remarriage, and her share in the revolt of her sons against Henry II in 1173, and her journey to the Con- tinent in 1194 to rescue the imprisoned Richard. Mr. Rosenberg shows a special interest in Eleanor's patronage of the troubadours and the " courts of love " to which he devotes three chapters, as if this were her chief claim to be rer---_--n- bered.
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