Eleanor of Leicester

Eleanor of England, also known as Eleanor Plantagenet and Eleanor of Leicester, was born in 1215 as the youngest child of John, King of England, and Isabella of Angoulême. Her birth occurred in Gloucester during a tumultuous period when King John’s London was controlled by French forces, and he had been compelled to sign the Magna Carta. Eleanor’s father died when she was just a year old, and she never met him. In 1219, Eleanor was betrothed to William Marshal, the son of the 1st Earl of Pembroke, and they married when she was nine years old. She became a widow at the age of sixteen and later took a vow of chastity.

Despite her vow, Eleanor married Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, in 1238. They had seven children together. Her husband’s role in the Second Barons’ War led to his temporary control over England and the establishment of a reformed government, which included the first parliament elected by citizens of the towns. After Simon de Montfort’s death in 1265, Eleanor sought refuge in France and eventually became a nun at Montargis Abbey, where she passed away on 13 April 1275.