A Better Method for World Domination

Over the last several thousand years or so, men have fought each other for supremacy and world domination. They get all mad at some rival king/ruler, wage war, lots of people die, and often the conflict continues on. I think that they've got the wrong idea- you know whose got it right? Eleanor of Aquitaine, who schemed her way to the top through marriage and her children (I'm not really advocating this as a life plan, but it definitely is a better way to go about things than war).

Eleanor was born in 1122, and inherited the title of Duchess of Aquitaine from her father at the age of 15. That same year (1137 for those of you keeping track), she married Louis VII and became Queen of the Franks (the EoA success method: 1 point). After the disaster of the Second Crusade (which she insisted on participating in), she decided she wanted to move on to bigger things and convinced Louis to annul the marriage.

So at this point, she is restored to her title and has two daughters that are legitimate princesses. In 1152, only two months after her annulment, Eleanor got engaged again. This time she married Henry II, Duke of the Normans, who by the way, was 12 years younger than her. After a while, Henry become King of England, which made Eleanor Queen of England (EoA method: 2 points). Queen twice by your thirties? Nice.

In the 1170s, things got a little tense for Eleanor. She encouraged her son, also named Henry, to lead a revolt against the king (Henry), and her husband had her imprisoned. She was freed in 1189, when Henry died and Eleanor's son Richard the Lionheart succeeded the throne. While Richard went off to the Crusades, Eleanor served as Queen Regent (she should get a point for that).

In the end, Eleanor outlived all of her children (she had 10), except for King John of England and Eleanor, Queen of Castille. Overall, not bad work for 82 years: Queen twice (in different countries no less!) and all of her kids were royalty. Although not exactly the shy and retiring lady of the Middle Ages, she certainly got work done, and for that you have to give her credit.There are lots of ways to go about attaining world domination, but I think the Eleanor of Aquitaine method has flair and panache.

 Note: That picture is of her tomb effigy in Fontevraud, which lays next to the effigy of her son Richard the Lionheart. You can see from her ravishing good looks why she is also known as "Helen of the Middle Ages".