The Eleanor of Aquitaine Dupe
Where I got deceived into reading a source..that doesn't exist!
You know when you have that historical figure you just adore? The one you name your pet or car after (or is that just me?). The one you’d always choose when asked who you’d want to have dinner with, dead or alive? Well, that person for me is Eleanor of Aquitaine. I know, she’s one of the most famous medieval historical figures. So it’s a bit of a cliché to say she’s my favorite. But alas, it’s true. Which is why I got beyond excited when I came across a new medieval primary source written by the famous Marie de France all about Eleanor of Aquitaine.
First off, Marie de France is a fascinating and mysterious person herself. She is the ‘earliest known French women poet,’ known for writing romances with female characters at the center (which was unusual considering most chivalric literature focused on men). Yet, who she was is a mystery. No one really knows who she was. Such intrigue!
Anyways, this book is Marie’s memoirs of her time with Eleanor. Here’s the synopsis:
“Eleanor's Crusades, the autobiographical account of her extraordinary youthful adventures as bard to Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, was lost until its rediscovery in 2005. A remarkable document providing a unique view of the tumultuous rebirth of western civilization at the dawn of the high middle ages, Eleanor's Crusades contains dramatic first-hand accounts of the trial of Peter Abelard, early chivalric tournaments, the Cathar heresy, the building of the first Gothic cathedral, the founding of the University of Paris, the sieges of Poitiers and Valencia, chariot races in Constantinople, the sea battle of Cape Malea, and the spectacular and terrifying expedition now known as the Second Crusade. This is its first English translation.”
I mean…really!?! It was speaking my love language: Eleanor, crusades, chivalric tournaments, the Cathars! I was so excited, how had I not heard of this before?! I bought it and dove in. But within seconds red flags were going up as I read. The language sounded off. It flowed like a historical fiction book…which if you’ve read material from the Middle Ages, you know the style of writing back then does not read like our modern novels. I tried to tame my alarm bells by suggesting to myself that the translation was more of an adaptation of sorts to appeal to the modern reader. But still, something was off.
The prologue goes into detail of Marie’s life…which, as I already mentioned, is still a mystery for us. We do not have evidence of who she was or what her life looked like. Scholars can only guess and make conjectures. The alarm bells were getting louder. There’s a bit about engines, but my desire for this to be a new source about Eleanor was so strong that I chalked it up to me not understanding the reference, ha. Then the first scene depicts Marie de France beside Eleanor in the Holy Land about to pick up a lance and charge the beastly Turks across the battlefield. I know there have been rumors of Eleanor and her ladies dressed for battle as Amazons, but there is actually no evidence of this. It was just all a bit too much compared to what I already know of the subject. The medievalist (novice, yes, but still) in me just couldn’t continue reading, there was something wrong.
So, I did what I’ve been trained to do…began researching to legitimate its authenticity…which is what I should have done in the first place. And guess what? NOTHING. I could not find anything about this source. It’s not listed or associated with Marie de France anywhere or in any of the primary source databases I checked. I could not find any provenance on it. There are no scholarly reviews of the source itself or of this particular translation. It claims to be the first English translation, but of what? There’s no original manuscript. Surely, if an entirely new medieval source written by Marie de France about Eleanor of Aquitaine was truly discovered in 2005, there would be record of this. The book itself didn’t even had notes regarding the original source from which it was translated. And the supposed translator…Robert Zubrin…an aerospace engineer who is mostly associated with Mars? Something smells fishy.
Guys, I don’t think this thing ever existed. Either I’m just an idiot and can’t find it or this is a brilliant hoax! A cruel hoax for an Eleanorphile like me (yes, I’m coining a new term). How did someone manage to write an entire book, claim it’s a medieval source only having recently been discovered, and get it published and sold by Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, et al, without anyone asking if it was legit?!? Am I missing something? Am I supposed to know it’s not a real thing? I can’t decide if I’m offended or want to say kudos to the genius who pulled this off!
Moral of the story…authenticating your sources is crucial. It is just so important to critically evaluate your source material. If it sounds too good to be true…then it probably is. C’est vrai, n’est pas?! And as a historian, I should have known better. Lesson learned. This also brings up pertinent issues a historian needs to consider in terms of authenticating legitimate source material, whether primary or secondary, but also the more modern concerns of ChatGPT and AI and how to know what is written from a real historian or not. I’ll post on this in a separate essay.
However, the Eleanor dupe is a fun read. So, I’m torn between not wanting to direct you to it because of how offensive it is to the craft and science of medieval historiography, but also wanting you to enjoy it as a thrilling and fantastical read. So, I decided to straddle the fence. I’ve placed it in a list alongside more accurate and reputable sources that you should also take a gander at. Enjoy!
But seriously, if you have any information on this, please leave a comment. I’m still baffled at all of it. Was/is this a legitimate source discovered in 2005 that I can’t seem to hunt down? If not, how can this be published and not have some disclaimer like, “Note: this is all nonsense, but still fun to read, so knock yourself out and pretend it’s real, like we’ve claimed it is!”
UPDATE: Just to inform all of you, I finished reading Eleanor’s Crusade. It is most definitely a work of fiction. No doubt about that. Not the most eloquent piece of writing, but a very fun, engaging, and entertaining story. Well done. Kudos to whoever actually did it. I’m still baffled it can claim to be a translation of an original source and not have to announce anywhere that it is in fact fiction. But whatever. It's a fun read!
Further Reading:
The Dupe: Eleanor’s Crusade, by Marie de France, translation by Robert Zubrin
French Medieval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France, by The Project Gutenberg
The Lays and Fables of Marie de France, by The British Library
The Lays of Marie de France, by Penguin Classics (always a good option!)
A Companion to Marie de France, edited by Logan Whalen
Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life, by Alison Weir
Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography, by Marion Meade
Inventing Eleanor: The Medieval and Post-Medieval Image of Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Michael Evans
Historical Fiction Option: Time and Chance, by Sharon Kay Penman (this is the second in her series on the Plantagenets, which I highly recommend!)