Good morning and I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving where relevant!

I was talking yesterday about my favourite folk song. It is called “Queen Eleanor’s Confession” and you can listen to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoKLn3aEOyE

Whilst an exceptionally fun song, it is really just anti-Eleanor of Aquitaine propaganda and not historically accurate. Eleanor gets into Fem Friday for being a queen of two different countries (consecutively – not concurrently) and the power behind more than two thrones. At the age of 67 or so (after 16 years in prison!) she travelled to Austria and back to get her kidnapped son back to England. I can’t imagine what this would have been like 1189. I have been to Austria on the train at that felt like it took a long time.

http://www.britishheritage.com/eleanor-of-aquitaine/

Speaking of power behind thrones, I don’t have a fun song for you about Sorghaghtani Beki but knowing about her is the best thing I got out of an internet spat about the Most Powerful Woman Ever. She was born in the same year Eleanor of Aquitaine died and had 4 sons who ruled an enormous chunk of the world under her influence:

Sorghaghtani wielded great authority at home. Mongol women had far more rights than in many other cultures at the time, especially since the men were often away and they were the ones responsible for the home. Although she herself was illiterate, she recognized the value of literacy in running such a far-flung empire. Each of her sons (one of whom was Khubla Kahn!) learned a different language for different regions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorghaghtani_Beki

Happy Friday,

Alex.