Page:The Queens of England.djvu/69

ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE. 55 to gratify the king, Archbishop of Canterbury ; and hence, dur- ing seven long years, raged that deadly feud which only ended in the murder of Becket and the king's abject contrition. On occasion of the quarrel with Louis respecting the sene- schalship of France, .Henry's mother, the aged Empress Ma- tilda, came forward as mediator, by order of Pope Alexander, to whom she had written on the subject; she also received the pontiff's commands to act as mediator in the great church feud between her son and a Becket ; but death put an end to her en- deavors, and that at a time when Henry was busied in taking- possession of Bretagne on behalf of the infant Duchess Con- stance, the betrothed bride of his young son Geoffrey. In 1166 Eleanor, who had resided latterly at Woodstock, gave birth to Prince John, and the following year, having been placed by her husband as regent in Normandy, the people re- volted, and Henry was obliged to hasten to her aid. But if the people of Normandy revolted because Eleanor was placed over them, her native country of Aquitaine did the same because they were no longer gladdened by her presence. Henry, there- fore, as the best means of pacification, established his queen as regent at Bourdeaux, together with her favorite son, Rich- ard. It was fortunate for Henry that, with all his various scattered territories, he had a wife capable of governing with wisdom equal to his own./ Indeed, from 11 57 to 1172, Eleanor takes a prominent place in history as an able sovereign, either in her own possessions, or as regent in England during the absence of the king. Hitherto, however, she had maintained her sway in perfect concord with her husband, but from this period a much less amicable relationship existed between them. Whilst Eleanor and her son Richard remained happily at Bourdeaux, Henry and his son, Prince Henry, returned to England, which was now agitated by the dispute with a Becket. Prince Henry, who, as has been said, had been brought up, to- gether with his young bride, under the care of a Becket, re- tained for him still the strongest affection, and seemed likely enough to become a dangerous partisan on his side against his father. To prevent so undesirable an event, Henry took the singular resolve of associating him with himself on the throne, to which, of course, the young prince could have no objection ; and preparations were accordingly made for his coronation, his bride, the youthful Marguerite of France, who was now under the charge of Queen Eleanor in Aquitaine, being sent for, that