- "In nomine sancte et individue Trinitatis, ego Helienordis, Dei gratia humilis Francorum regina, et Aquitanorum ducissa."
Eleanor of Aquitaine (c. 1122 – 1 April 1204) was duchess of Aquitaine, queen consort of both France and England, and queen mother of the latter twice, and is widely considered to have been one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Medieval Europe. She leads both the English and the French in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm.
Eleanor earns the loyalty of the world through her patronage of the arts.
Intro[]
Duchess of Aquitaine, regent of two lands, patron of troubadours and judge of the court of love, ascend your throne again. Inspire the hearts of your subjects, that they will cheer you and flock to your banners, for all who know your reign know your compassion.
In-Game[]
Eleanor of Aquitaine's unique agenda is Angevin Empire. She focuses on building up the 
Population of her cities and dislikes leaders whose nearby cities have a low Population.
Her leader ability is Court of Love. Great Works in her cities impose a cumulative penalty of -1 Loyalty per turn on foreign cities within 9 tiles, and a foreign city whose Loyalty falls to 0 immediately joins Eleanor's civilization if she is exerting the most Loyalty pressure on it.
Detailed Approach[]
Eleanor of Aquitaine is unique in that she can rule either the French or English civilization. Great Works in her cities reduce Loyalty for other cities outside her civilization. If a city leaves another civilization due to a lack of Loyalty, and Eleanor's civilization is generating the most loyalty there, the city automatically joins her without becoming a Free City first. She expands her influence at the cost of nearby civilizations, regardless of whether playing as France or England, through the power of the arts.
Lines[]
Eleanor of Aquitaine is voiced by Lucile Barbier. She speaks Occitan.
Voiced[]
| Codename | Quote (English translation) | Quote (Occitan) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda-based Approval | I am told you have placed great cities near our common border, like a garden of splendid roses. Delightful! | Om ditz qu’avetz mes grans ciutatz pres de nostra frontiera comunal aissi com rosas espandidas en un vergier. Com etz deleichos! | |
| Agenda-based Disapproval | If you are going to trouble yourself to make cities near our border, at least make them beautiful, prosperous cities, so I may enjoy the view. | Se voletz ponhar de bastir ciutatz pres de nostra frontiera, que si farsiánt fortz e belas per al quem sia bel que las mire. | |
| Attacked | I regret that we must go to war, but I regret it only a little. | M’es greu car adient far guerra entre nos, mas non tendreu. | |
| Declares War | I see weak lands, led by a weak ruler. You see my armies massing to overthrow you. | Terras frevols vey, ab frevol governador. Mas vos vezetz òst que s’amassant per vos véncer. | |
| Defeated | If your lust for power drives you to destroy my rule, so be it! I will still rule the court of love. | Se vostra setz de poder vos mena a dechazer mon regiment, qu’aissi siá! Qu'encar serai cabdels de la cort d'amor. | |
| Greeting | Welcome to the court of Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen consort of France and England, the judge of love. What tidings? | Ben siatz vengutz a la cort d'Alienor, duquesa d'Aquitania, reina consors de França e d'Anglaterra, jutjairitz d'amor. Quaus novas ditz? | |
| Quote from Civilopedia | In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, I am Eleanor, humble queen of the Franks and duchess of Aquitania by the grace of God. | In nomine sancte et individue Trinitatis, ego Helienordis, Dei gratia humilis Francorum regina, et Aquitanorum ducissa. | This is a Latin quote from her privilegium in the cartulary of Abbaye aux Dames in Saintes, France.[1] Because its abbess, Agnès of Barbezieux (1134 – 1174), was her relative, Eleanor became a generous donor to the abbey. |
Unvoiced[]
Delegation: Be pleased to accept my gifts: a crystal vase, wine, truffles, and a dozen troubadours to enliven your court.
Accepts Delegation From Player: Your delegation has been welcomed as guests to my court. I will send you a copy of the poems written to mark the occasion.
Rejects Delegation From Player: Paltry fare, offered badly, has no place in my court.
Accepts Player's Declaration of Friendship: Yes, you are indeed a good friend to me, and I am pleased to recognize you as such.
Rejects Player's Declaration of Friendship: Your admiration is flattering, but I reject it.
Requests Declaration of Friendship: So few understand the art of the monarch as we do. Should we not tell the world we stand as friends?
Player Accepts Declaration of Friendship: How could I turn down such a charming offer?
Player Rejects Declaration of Friendship: No, bless you.
Denounced by Player: A time will come when you pay for your misdeeds. And after that, a time when your name will live only as the villain of comical verse.
Denounces Player: Because your deeds promote only darkness and deceit, I will stand opposed to you—and stand for love and laughter!
Invitation to Capital: I delight in hearing of distant lands. If you tell me of your capital, I shall share the location of mine.
Invitation to City: I have invited the visitors from your lands to come and visit my fair court.
Civilopedia entry[]
Daughter of a duke, wife to two kings, and mother of three kings and two queens, she was probably the most powerful woman in Europe during her lifetime. She held the rich duchy of Aquitaine in her own right and sat on the thrones of both France and England, ruling the latter on behalf of her son. She was a powerful patron of the arts, and the woman to whom we most owe the evolution of the concept of chivalry. As a young woman she was charming, witty and energetic; as a queen she added a profoundly astute political sense.
She was born in 1122 to William, Duke of Aquitaine, who was one of the first patrons of the burgeoning troubadours. Eleanor was raised in a court that was both wealthy and cultured, and when she assumed the title of Duchess of Aquitaine on William's death, she married the crown prince of France, who became Louis VII when his father, Louis the Fat, died. Eleanor accompanied the pious Louis VII on the Second Crusade, although the French were badly beaten at Jerusalem and forced to withdraw. Eleanor wanted to support her uncle, Raymond of Antioch, but was overruled by Louis. The quarrel precipitated an annulment of their marriage. They had two daughters together, but no sons, which seems to have contributed to the estrangement.
She quickly married Henry, Duke of Normandy, just two months after the annulment was issued. The young Plantagenet king was bent on restoring his family's lands, and the marriage to Eleanor immediately plunged them in conflict with Louis. A complex, multi-front conflict composed of equal parts open and cold warfare emerged, lasting until 1154. Eleanor bore Henry four sons who would survive to adulthood.
During this time she lived in Poitiers with her daughter Marie (from Louis), and there she and the noble women of the Poitiers court instituted the famous court of love, which popularized the traditions of chivalry and courtly love. The great women (and some men) of the court would plead their cases of romantic love to Eleanor and her nobles, and the women would render their judgement. The troubadours would carry many of the ideals of courtly love to the rest of Europe, under Eleanor's patronage.
Eleanor's sons possessed all their parents' ambitions. Discontent with playing his father's strongman, the younger Henry launched a revolt, and attempted to recruit his brothers into the enterprise. Eleanor appears to have encouraged her sons in the revolt. When it failed, Henry imprisoned Eleanor for the next 16 years. Henry the Younger died in 1183 after a second failed uprising, and after that, Henry II relaxed some of the restrictions on Eleanor, and she appeared with him at court.
When Henry II died in 1189, his son Richard the Lionheart assumed control of the family lands in England and France. Eleanor was released from prison and proceeded to govern England in Richard's name. Richard himself went on the Third Crusade, which went very badly for him (please see Saladin's entry for details). That England remained loyal to Richard speaks to her successes, as her youngest son, John, attempted a coup, but did not gain control of England during his brother's absence. Eleanor was instrumental in securing the massive ransom needed to rescue Richard from being held hostage in Austria.
Richard died in 1199, and rule passed to the feckless John, whose reign marks the decline of the Angevin fortune, the rise of Robin Hood and the Magna Carta, and whose incompetence must have driven his capable mother to despair.
Now in her 70s, John dispatched his mother Eleanor on a diplomatic mission to the court of Castile. There her daughter (also named Eleanor) was queen, with daughters of her own. Eleanor was to choose a bride for the new crown prince of France, who was, in fact, the grandson of Eleanor's first husband, Louis VII, in order to cement a peace between France's Philip II and King John. The return trip was difficult, and she remained in Fontevraud, sending the future Queen Blanche on ahead.
The end of Eleanor's life continued the pattern of successive generations trying to overthrow the previous ones. In 1202 her grandson, Arthur Duke of Brittany, attempted to capture Eleanor in the castle of Mirebeau. John marched against Arthur, broke the siege of Mirebeau, and captured the 15-year-old Arthur. Arthur vanished in John's custody. Eleanor retired to Fontevraud, took religious orders, and died in 1204. She is entombed in Fontevraud between her husband, Henry II, and her son Richard.
Trivia[]
- In Civilization VI: Rise and Fall, Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the leaders to whom players could be compared on the Ranking screen (if their final score was 1,100-1,199 points).
- Eleanor is the first leader in Civilization history to lead two different civilizations in the same game.
- Her appearance changes based on which civilization she leads: she wears a floral crown, braided hair and longer sleeves while leading England, and a golden crown, long flowing hair and shorter sleeves when leading France. In either case, she's often seen holding a jeweled golden chalice - while never visible in-game, this chalice's model is full of wine, in which the Firaxis logo can be seen.
- Eleanor's diplomacy screen also changes depending on which civilization she leads. It shows the land around Fontevraud Abbey when she leads England, and the land around the Palace of Poitiers when she leads France.
- Eleanor's leader ability references the Medieval European concept of noble, chivalrous love (and purported all-female tribunals that heard and ruled on cases of love), while her leader agenda is named after the holdings of the Angevin kings of England.
- Eleanor is the ancestor of several other leaders in Civilization VI, its expansions, and its DLC: Victoria, Elizabeth I, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Ludwig II, Wilhelmina, Philip II, João III, Pedro II, Jadwiga, Kristina, Catherine de Medici, Wilfrid Laurier, and Simón Bolívar. Eleanor is also the ancestor of Beatrice of Hungary, wife of Matthias Corvinus.
- She is also the ancestor of several past Civilization leaders: Eleanor Roosevelt, George Washington, Otto von Bismarck, Frederick the Great, William of Orange, Catherine II, Winston Churchill, Henry VIII, Maria Theresa, Maria I, Gustavus Adolphus, Isabella I, João II, Louis XIV, Prince Henry the Navigator, Franklin Roosevelt, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Charles V.
Gallery[]
_loadscreen_(Civ6).png "Eleanor of Aquitaine (English) loadscreen (Civ6).png (2.6 MB)")
_loadscreen_(Civ6).png "Eleanor of Aquitaine (French) loadscreen (Civ6).png (2.54 MB)")
Videos[]
Civilization VI- Gathering Storm - First Look- Eleanor of Aquitaine
First Look: Eleanor of Aquitaine
Related achievements[]
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Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
As Eleanor, gain a city to loyalty that was owned by a different civilization with Eleanor as its leader.
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Majestrix of the Court of Love
Win a game as Eleanor of Aquitaine
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For Queen and Country
Playing as England on a Huge map, have a city on every continent at the start of the turn.
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Taxation Without Representation
As England, lose a city to disloyalty which has an established Financier Governor
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Loire Valley
Create 5 Châteaux in one city with the Wine resource.
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Blackest Queen
As France, build an Intelligence Agency
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References[]
See also[]
- Eleanor of Aquitaine in other games
