This gripping biography is the definitive account of the most important queen of the Middle Ages. Ralph Turner, a leading historian of the twelfth century, strips away the legends that have accumulated around Eleanor and challenges the accounts that relegate her to the shadows of the kings she married and bore. Turner focuses on a wealth of primary sources, including a collection of Eleanor's own documents not previously accessible to scholars, and portrays an extraordinary woman who sought control of her own destiny in the face of forceful resistance. A queen of unparalleled appeal, Eleanor...