First Marriage
On 25 July 1137 the couple was married in the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux by the Archbishop of Bordeaux. Immediately after the wedding, the couple were enthroned as Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine. However, there was a catch: the land would remain independent of France until Eleanor's oldest son became both King of the Franks and Duke of Aquitaine. Thus, her holdings would not be merged with France until the next generation. She gave Louis a wedding present that is still in existence, a rock crystal vase, currently on display at the Louvre. Louis gave the vase to the Saint Denis Basilica. This vase is the only object connected with Eleanor of Aquitaine still surviving.
Louis's tenure as Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony lasted only few days. Although he had been invested as such on the 8th of August, on his and Eleanor's tour of the provinces a messenger caught up with them with the news that on 1 August, King Louis VI had died of dysentery. Louis VII had become the King of France. He and Eleanor were anointed and crowned King and Queen of the Franks on Christmas Day of the same year.
Possessing a high-spirited nature, Eleanor was not popular with the staid northerners (according to sources, Louis´s mother, Adélaide de Maurienne, thought her flighty and a bad influence). She was not aided by memories of Queen Constance, the Provençal wife of Robert II, tales of whose immodest dress and language were still told with horror.
Her conduct was repeatedly criticized by Church elders (particularly Bernard of Clairvaux and Abbot Suger) as indecorous. The King, however, was madly in love with his beautiful and worldly bride and granted her every whim, even though her behavior baffled and vexed him. Much money went into beautifying the austere Cité Palace in Paris for Eleanor's sake.
Read more about this topic: Eleanor Of Aquitaine
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