Page "Eleanor of Aquitaine" Paragraph 34

Even before the Crusade, Eleanor and Louis were becoming estranged.

The city of Antioch had been annexed by Bohemond of Hauteville in the First Crusade, and it was now ruled by Eleanor's flamboyant uncle, Raymond of Antioch, who had gained the principality by marrying its reigning Princess, Constance of Antioch.

Eleanor supported her uncle's desire to re-capture the nearby County of Edessa, the cause of the Crusade.

In addition, having been close to him in their youth, she now showed excessive affection towards her uncle – whilst many historians today dismiss this as familial affection ( noting their early friendship, and his similarity to her father and grandfather ), many of Eleanor's adversaries mistook the generous displays of affection between uncle and niece for an incestuous affair.

Louis was directed by the Church to visit Jerusalem instead.

When Eleanor declared her intention to stand with Raymond and the Aquitaine forces, Louis had her brought out by force.

His long march to Jerusalem and back north debilitated his army, but her imprisonment disheartened her knights, and the divided Crusade armies could not overcome the Muslim forces.

For reasons of plunder and the Germans ' insistence on conquest, the Crusade leaders targeted Damascus, an ally until the attack.

Failing in this attempt, they retired to Jerusalem, and then home.

Before sailing for home, Eleanor got the terrible news that Raymond, with whom she had the winning battle plan for the Crusade, had been beheaded by the overpowering forces of the Muslim armies from Edessa.