In this biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the most exciting women in European medieval history, Boyd takes the reader to the heart of this extraordinary woman. He reveals her as a peculiarly "modern" character - she rejects as a liberated woman the subordinate role decreed by the Chruch and Salic law; she refused to be a consenting victim of ethnic cleansing; and she promotes her vision of a continent wide dynasty - and sets her into the context of southern French civilization, with its love of comforts and pleasures in life. The book not only recreates the turbulent life of this woman, but takes the reader into the world she knew - her friendships, the food she ate, the clothes she wore, the sounds, sights and smells around her.