In King John, Shakespeare portrayed Eleanor of Aquitaine as a canker'd grandam. Indeed she spent 15 years in prison for conspiring against her husband Henry II. She dominated her children's lives, turning them against their father, feuded with at least one of her daughters-in-law and contributed to the death of her grandson. Yet this powerful queen consort had another side. Heiress to the rich Duchy of Aquitaine, she married Louis VII of France and, after a madcap courtship, the young King Henry of England. She was splendid in person, rank and fortune, and renowned for her beauty and generosity. She was worshipped by men, loved by her children and celebrated in song by the troubadours. This glamerous queen was the patron of artists and poets, but she was also a powerful politician and ruler. This biography shows how a rich and determined woman could throw off the constraints imposed by 12th-century conventions.