After the presumed death in 1203 of her imprisoned younger brother, Arthur, Eleanor was heiress to vast lands including England, Anjou, Aquitaine, and Brittany, realms where the Salic Law barring the accession of women did not apply.
Thus she posed a potential threat to John, and following his death in 1216, equally to her cousin, King Henry III; thus, having been put in prison in 1202, she was never released.
[3] However, being King Richard's ward also meant that she was under Angevin custody; thus even her mother Constance never considered her a potential heir to Brittany, which weakened her later claim to the duchy.
[7][8] In 1193, she was engaged to Frederick, son of Leopold V, Duke of Austria, as part of the conditions to release Richard, who Emperor Henry VI had taken prisoner.
However, when she was on the way to Austria with Baldwin of Bethune the next year, the duke died, so the marriage never took place,[2] and under order of Pope Celestine III she returned to England, accompanied by her grandmother Eleanor.
Emperor Henry VI opposed the marriage;[9] and the failure was also a sign that the King would replace Arthur as heir to England with his only living brother, John.
A week's shopping list for Eleanor in captivity that has survived suggests the aristocratic diet at that time: Saturday: bread, ale, sole, almonds, butter, eggs.
Instead, the Breton barons, fearing John's claims to rule Brittany in representation of Eleanor's rights or to marry her to a vassal loyal to England, made her younger half-sister Alix duchess instead.
In 1208, He had Eleanor write a letter to Breton barons and churchmen such as the bishops of Nantes, Vannes, and Cornouaille, describing her life in captivity, expressing her hope of being liberated and asking them to arrive in England to negotiate her release: "... uos rogamus attencius quatinus uos supranominati ad dominum auunculum meum Regem Angliae in Angliam ueniatis scituri pro certo quod aduentus uester Deo uolente nobis et uobis ad magnum cedet commodum et honorem, et per Dei gratiam ad liberacionem nostram."
[25] On 15 July 1215 John instructed Eleanor's keeper Peter de Maulay to customize clothing and bed sheets for Eleanor, stating that although shirts and bed sheets should be made of high-quality linen, they were not made of his own best fabric; however, if this was the only fabric that was suitable enough, Peter would be allowed to purchase it as much as possible with John's money.
The tensions between John and the Anglo-Norman barons finally began to spill over into the First Barons' War in 1215, and Louis of France led an invasion to England in support of his claim to the English throne, as husband of Blanche, a maternal granddaughter of Henry II, whilst Innocent III argued that Eleanor had a better claim than John.
When the Magna Carta was issued that year, it was demanded that all John's hostages including Scottish and Welsh princesses be released; Eleanor, however, was excluded.
[15] Thus, albeit never a rallying point for English discontent during the early part of Henry III's reign,[10] the beautiful and defiant princess remained under gentle house arrest as before,[7][27] no matter how much ransom the Bretons would pay (if any attempts).
In September, Eleanor accompanied Isobel of Scotland in Southampton, while both received robes, cloaks, hats, and headscarves lined with squirrel and deer skin.
[28] In 1225, Peter de Maulay was accused of planning with the king of France to get a ship to spirit the princess away, and he subsequently fell out of favour.
It was recorded that she had her own apartments at the castles where she was imprisoned and received generous gifts from the royal family such as game, fruit, nuts, and wine.
[35][36] In 1224, the mayor, bailiffs, four reliable citizens, and specific noblewomen visited her once or twice a week to confirm her safety, listened to various expenses, and recounted to Henry III.
Henry III himself once sent her 50 yards of linen cloth, three wimples, 50 pounds of almonds and raisins respectively, and a basket of figs;[33][37] he offered her another saddle, a proof that she could still go horse-riding; he once asked the mayor and bailiff to increase her household there.
[10] Despite these changes in the relationship between the cousins, Henry III never supported Eleanor's claim to Brittany, nor did he give her most of the Earldom of Richmond; she remained imprisoned, and there was no indication that she had ever visited her manor.
[15] Scholar Gwen Seabourne believes that when Henry III was in power, Eleanor had already passed the childbearing age and was at least apparently unlikely to pose any risk to his regime; however, he remained determined to imprison his innocent cousin, which made his devout, kind, and innocent persona no longer so credible; with his suspicion and calculation not inferior to John, he should also be condemned more.
She was initially buried at St James' Priory, Bristol, then reburied at Amesbury Abbey, according to her wishes, announced by Henry III.
[44] Considering the association between Amesbury and the Plantagenets, Eleanor's final choice of burial place was probably a sign of submission and loyalty to her dynasty, but it may also have been her last protest about the fate of herself and her brother Arthur, as the abbey was dedicated to Virgin Mary and St Melor, a young Breton prince murdered by his wicked uncle who usurped his throne.
[7] The Annales Londonienses recorded the event of her death, referring to her as "Alienora quondam comitis Britanniæ filia, in custodia diuturni carceris strictissime reservata" (in English: "Eleanor, the daughter of the late Count of Brittany, long established in the custody of the strictest prison reserved"), and noted that she was the rightful heir to England,[46] although some years after her death Henry III was still unwilling to admit that he was initially not the hereditary king of England.
[47] The Annals of Tewkesbury record the death "IV Id Aug" in 1241 of "Alienora de Britannia consanguinea domini regis Henrici Angliæ" (in English: "Eleanor of Brittany a blood relative of the lord King Henry of England").
The limited sources about her character are consistent with this assessment and suggest that she was never resigned to her fate, as even decades of confinement could not force her to relinquish her rights although there was little hope of their being fulfilled.
[6][48] Matthew Paris simply noted "about this time died Eleanor, daughter of Geoffrey, count of Brittany, who had long been kept in close confinement", with no further detail of her life or situation.
Florentii Wigorniensis Monachi Chronicon Ex Chronids recorded, "Alienor, filia Galfridi comitis Britannia soror Arturi, obiit.
In Thomas Costain's novel Below the Salt, the author has Eleanor escape, marry a knight with land in Ireland, and raise a family there.
The series Through a Dark Mist, In the Shadow of Midnight, and The Last Arrow by Marsha Canham was also about the rescue of the princess, all suggesting that William Marshal also wanted Eleanor to be liberated.
Eleanor also appeared in the novels Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman, Sirocco Wind from the East by Virginia Ann Work, and as the heroine in The Shimmering Sky by Rik Denton.