Eleanor of Aquitaine: One of the Wealthiest and Most Influential Women in Western Europe

Eleanor of Aquitaine is a controversial figure in history. Many have referred to her in a different light. Some with some opinions, others with others. Today, you will learn more about those and get as many facts straight as possible.

Though meant to represent the extension of the unbroken line of emperors from Augustus to Constantine VI, Charlemagne’s crowning led to the facility of two different (and usually competing) empires and claims to royal authority. It led to war in 802, and for centuries later, the emperors of the West and the East would contend for supremacy over the whole continent.

Historians have disputed for centuries whether Charlemagne understood the Pope’s intent to crown him emperor before the crowning (Charlemagne announced that if he had known, he wouldn’t have gone into Saint Peter’s, according to chapter 28 of Einhard’s Vita Karoli Magni), but this dispute has obscured the more vital question of why the Pope gave the title and why Charlemagne accepted it.