Matilda and Eleanor

Matilda and Eleanor

Available on MagellanTV Documentaries
800 years ago Matilda came within a hairs breadth of being the first woman to be crowned queen of England in her own right. In this programme historian Helen Castor explores how Matilda reached this point and why her bid for the throne ultimately failed. Her daughter in law Eleanor of Aquitaine was an equally formidable woman, she's remembered as the queen of courtly love but in reality during her long life, she divorced one king, married another, only to lead a rebellion against him. She only finally achieved the power she craved in her seventies.