Eleanor of Aquitaine : The Legacy

Published Dec 3 2019


Here is the 6th and final novel in Mark Richard Beaulieu’s Eleanor Code cycle. In The Legacy, rich in language and storytelling, Eleanor must escape prison, only to find she must reprise her life. Once again, the persistent queen will travel distantly to the south, east, and west in a grand odyssey to save her family before she can go home to find peace.


The year is 1173. Eleanor is moved between jails and cut off from the world. What can she do behind prison walls for her family? King Henri II moves to divorce her, the Church vilifies her, as all evidence of her legacy achievement is destroyed. Meanwhile, her sons are at war with her husband. Her persistent belief in their winning and her liberation is not far from reality — only, victory would be more elusive than she desired.


As freedom comes in degrees, Eleanor will revive her court of manners at Berkhamsted for her daughter’s family in exile from Germany. They learn from Eleanor’s medieval Book on Love that she struggles to finalize with the Church. In her book, she hides a mysterious code. Why are there 31 rules and 12 chief laws?
Older and wiser, the enigmatic woman’s adventures are just as much about each of her children and grandchildren to build their own legacy. Even in prison, Eleanor defends their thrones and advances their German, Spanish, and French domains. Eleanor champions the restoration to power of her eldest son, Young Henry. Two irreconcilable sons Richard Lionheart a product of her code, and John Lackland, absent of her code, take center stage as the queen becomes involved in Richard’s 3rd Crusade. There is one major problem with Holy War, the Church itself. It betrayed her in the 2nd Crusade. As much as Richard learns from his mother’s mistakes, the skilled warrior is unable to obtain their favor. At the calling of a 4th Crusade, Eleanor’s code and chivalry flee for good. Into her late seventies, Eleanor travels the ends of the earth, giving everything she’s got to ensure the viability of her progeny. In The Legacy, perhaps the good a person does can live after them.
---
This ten-year writing project draws on the latest scholarly research. Beaulieu’s historical fiction significantly updates what we know of this powerful medieval queen. Find out how she becomes one of the most enigmatic women of the middle ages as she develops the Eleanor Code. Born Alienor d’Aquitaine in 1124, living until 1204, she twice becomes a queen, once for France with King Louis 7th, then for England with King Henri 2nd.
---
Mark Richard Beaulieu is an expert on the 12th-century life of Eleanor of Aquitaine. He is an accomplished author, collected painter, award-winning photographer, and innovative software technologist. Trained as a studio artist, Mark holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of California at Davis and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. / Dec 3 2019 /