William X, Duke of Aquitaine

On this date in our family history . . . the 9th day of April . . . in the year 1137 . . . Duke / Count William X of Aquitaine dies while on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela . . . on his deathbed, he expresses his wish to see King Louis VI of France as protector of his fifteen-year-old daughter Eleanor . . . and to find her a suitable husband . . . Louis VI accepts this guardianship . . . and marries the heiress of Aquitaine to his own son, Louis VII . . . this William is believed to be a 23rd (et al) great-grandpa (via Eleanor) to our Josephine . . . 


A short course of history Second Series ...  IV. Greeks and Mahomentans.  V. History of the Middle Ages ...  By Havilland Le Mesurier Chepmell:    ""    

1152 :: Aquitaine Sundial Ring

Aquitaine's Ring
Originally uploaded by
Prestidigitizer

In our family history . . . in the spring of the year 1152 . . . the 15-year marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to King Louis of France is annulled at Beaugency . . . famous for her beauty and wit, this Eleanor is believed to be a multiple great-grandma to our Josephine . . .

And in the spring of the year 1152, it is said that the 30-year-old Eleanor gave to a 20-year-old Henry Plantagenet (King Henry II) of England, a special "portable" sundial . . . known as an Aquitaine Sundial or Aquitaine Ring . . . supposedly because when he was out hunting (which he frequently did) he tended to forget about scheduled appointments, and was frequently late for their "dates." Apparently the "pocket watch" helped, because negotiations continued between Eleanor and Henry of Anjou . . . and soon Eleanor marries Henry II at Poitiers . . . the story told in "A Lion in Winter" is a part of the tale of this Eleanor and Henry . . .

ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE, queen of France and afterward of England: b. 1122; d. Fontevrault, France, 1 April 1204 . . . married to Louis VII. She was gay, frivolous, a lover of poetry and art . . . accompanied him on the second crusade to the Holy Land in 1147 . . . they were divorced 18 March 1152. A short time afterward she bestowed her hand upon Henry Plantagenet, the future Henry II of England. . . . She bore him many children, but his infidelities and neglect changed her love into hatred. She incited her sons Geoffrey and Richard Cœur de Lion to rebel against their father, was imprisoned in 1174, and remained in confinement until after Henry's death in 1189, when she was released by his successor, Richard I, who placed her at the head of the government on his departure for the Holy Land. She negotiated his marriage with the daughter of the king of Navarre, and went to Germany with his ransom from captivity. She afterward retired to the abbey of Fontevrault and surviving Richard, lived to see him succeeded by one of her other sons, John Lackland, the signer of Magna Charta. She was a favorite personage with the troubadour poets of the day and appears in a very different light in their works from that in which she is represented by French and Norman chroniclers. Consult Adams, "History of England, 1066-1216" (London 1905). Google Books. The Encyclopedia Americana: a library of universal knowledge, Published by Encyclopedia Americana Corp., 1918

• Josephine > Eleanor
  
• Famous Descendants
  
• Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor
  
• Not-so-famous Descendants
  
• Great Englishwomen, by the author of "Great Englishmen", By Englishwomen. Published 1884.
  
• The Dictionary of National Biography By Leslie Stephen, Sidney Lee, Robert Blake, Christine Stephanie Nicholls
  
• Eleanor of Aquitaine, Courtly Love, and the Troubadours By Ffiona Swabey

Whales of August

On this date in our extended family history . . . the 5th day of April . . . in the year 1908 . . . future actress, Bette Davis, is born in Lowell, Massachusetts . . . Bette is said to be a 23rd great-granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine . . . who is thought to be a 22nd great-grandma of our Josephine (1842-1899) . . . who is definitely a 2nd great-grandma to the Keeper of this family history blog . . .


My favorite Bette Davis movie happens to be one of the last ones she was in -- The Whales of August -- which was filmed on location in Casco Bay off the shore of Portland, Maine . . . the film was shot a few miles down Casco Bay from the site of David Berry's family cottage on Peaks Island, from where, in fact, the characters and story were drawn when Berry wrote the original play that was the basis for this movie . . .


We have photos of my maternal grandma -- Elizabeth Marilla Henry nee Smith (1912-1932) -- on holiday on Peaks Island . . . said Island was once owned by one of our Elizabeth's 8th great-grandpas -- Michael Mitton (c.1617 - c.1661) . . .

Peaks Island
Photos by Roberta

. . . Peak's Island in Casco Bay is just two miles from downtown Portland. It once was owned by Michael Mitton, son-in-law of Portland's first settler, George Cleeve. According to legend, Michael was out alone fishing in his dory when a triton swam up to his boat. Michael tried to fend off the monster with an oar, but the triton grasped hold of the side of the dory. Afraid that the triton could capsize the little boat, Michael seized a hatchet and, with one mighty blow, severed both hands of this son of Poseidon. To his horror, Michael Mitton saw that the monster's hands remained fastened to his boat. He could not pry them loose. It was then that Mike heard the haunting sound of the triton's conch, and at the sound, the severed hands gave one mighty effort at rocking his boat, finally flipping him into the water and swamping the dory. Michael drowned that day. . . . from Haunted Maine by Charles A. Stansfield, Jr.

Truth or fiction?!? 

The ancestry part . . . believed to be true . . . 

The death scene . . .