Eleanor the April Queen. This item is unavailable.Eleanor the April Queen

In this new biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine - one of the most exciting women in European medieval history - author Douglas Boyd takes us to the heart of this extraordinary woman. He reveals her as a peculiarly 'modern' character - she rejects as a liberated woman the subordinate role decreed by the Church and Salic law; she refused to be a consenting victim of ethnic cleansing; and she promotes her vision of a continent wide dynasty - and uniquely sets her into the context of southern French civilisation, with its love of comforts and pleasures of life. Boyd's new biography will not only recreate the turbulent life of this extraordinary woman, but take us into the world she knew - her friendships, the food she ate, the clothes she wore, the sounds, sights and smells around her - and thus bring her to life as never before.

Douglas Boyd is a linguist, novelist, screenwriter and writer of non-fiction. After working for the rank Organisation negotiating film rights, he began work at the BBC, where he worked as an administrator, then an Assistant Producer of Outside Broadcasts, and finally as a Producer/Director, based in Manchester, where he made three series of historical documentaries as well as other programmes.