Eleanor of Aquitaine. The Queen with a Lion's Heart

Queen Eleanor, or Aliénor, of Aquitaine is often compared to Helen of Troy. Partly this is fair, but partly it undermines the talents and achievements of this remarkable woman. She astonishingly combined the sober-mindedness of a politician with boundless passion.... She was a wonderful mother to some children, but a poor one — for various reasons — to others. Eleanor boldly went on a crusade with her first husband, King Louis VII of France, and for the sake of her love, insulted by her second husband, King Henry II of England, she jeopardized the integrity of the state. Finally, she raised the most famous king of Medieval England — Richard the Lionheart.
 
The fate of this extraordinary woman is told in another book of the series.