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Sons rebelling against their father were a cause of outrage and sorrow, but the 12th century had seen it all before. A wife rebelling against her husband was a new and profoundly alarming phenomenon. One chronicler scoured his archive to find more than 30 examples of sons taking up arms against their father, but not a single precedent of a queen in revolt against her husband. In a public letter, the Archbishop of Rouen told Eleanor that she threatened the very fabric of society. "Man is the head of woman", he said. "We know that unless you return to your husband, you will be the cause of a general ruin". But Eleanor, as always, refused to be cowed. She set about mustering support from the disaffected Lords of Aquitaine who were always ready to resist Henry's rule. Finally, she rode North to join her sons. But she never arrived. She was captured on the road by her husband's forces. According to one chronicle, they found her disguised as a man. |
