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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (93751)	1/15/2005 2:44:07 PM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful and fascinating personalities of feudal Europe. At age 15 she married Louis VII, King of France, bringing into the union her vast possessions from the River Loire to the Pyrenees. Only a few years later, at age 19, she knelt in the cathedral of Vézelay before the celebrated Abbé Bernard of Clairvaux offering him thousands of her vassals for the Second Crusade. It was said that Queen Eleanor appeared at Vézelay dressed like an Amazon galloping through the crowds on a white horse, urging them to join the crusades. While the church may have been pleased to receive her thousand fighting vassals, they were less happy when they learned that Eleanor, attended by 300 of her ladies, also planned to go to help "tend the wounded." The presence of Eleanor, her ladies and wagons of female servants, was criticized by commentators throughout her adventure. Dressed in armor and carrying lances, the women never fought. And when they reached the city of Antioch, Eleanor found herself deep in a renewed friendship with Raymond, her uncle, who had been appointed prince of the city. Raymond, only a few years older than Eleanor, was far more interesting and handsome than Eleanor's husband, Louis. When Raymond decided that the best strategic objective of the Crusade would be to recapture Edessa, thus protecting the Western presence in the Holy Land, Eleanor sided with his view. Louis, however, was fixated on reaching Jerusalem, a less sound goal. Louis demanded that Eleanor follow him to Jerusalem. Eleanor, furious, announced to one and all that their marriage was not valid in the eyes of God, for they were related through some family connections to an extent prohibited by the Church. Wounded by her claim, Louis nonetheless forced Eleanor to honor her marriage vows and ride with him. The expedition did fail, and a defeated Eleanor and Louis returned to France in separate ships. On her way home, while resting in Sicily, Eleanor was brought the news that her fair haired uncle had been killed in battle, and his head delivered to the Caliph of Baghdad. Although her marriage to Louis continued for a time, and she bore him two daughters, the relationship was over. In 1152 the marriage was annulled and her vast estates reverted to Eleanor's control. Within a year, at age thirty, she married twenty year old Henry who two years later became king of England. In the papal bull for the next Crusade, it expressly forbade women of all sorts to join the expedition. All the Christian monarchs, including King Louis, agreed to this. But by this time Eleanor had problems of her own in her marriage to King Henry II of England. womeninworldhistory.com

To: epicure who wrote (93751)	1/17/2005 11:57:23 PM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

That is an interesting article, Ionesco. I cannot see the conservative U.S. government giving tax credits or anything else to help women stay home with their children. It would be totally out of character! There are western European countries that actually value children and believe societal health is based on healthy families that give 2-3 year PAID maternity leaves. However, in America you are pretty much on your own as a woman unless your husband/partner makes enough for you to stay home and take care of your babies/young children. I do think most Americans are way too materialistic, and many young families who think they need two incomes could survive on one during those years. But another complicating factor is the high price of homes--many families have very large mortgages. I think mid- to late-twenties is the ideal age to have children, but there are so many factors, as the article points out, keeping women from having children during these prime years. We have a couple of female family friends who would have been really excellent mothers but just didn't find the right man to settle down with. Bad timing often has a lot to do with women not having children, and it is really sad.