In addition to his wife and sister, there were four other Eleanors in the life of Henry III, his grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, cousin Eleanor of Brittany, daughter-in-law Eleanor of Castile and niece Eleanor de Montfort. A book called The Six Eleanors of Henry III could perhaps compete with The Six Wives of Henry VIII. It may seem a stretch to include the grandest dame of them all, Eleanor of Aquitaine, inasmuch as she died in 1204, three years before Henry was born, but he maintained a chaplain at Fontevrault to pray for her soul at a cost of 50 shillings a year. Although his reign saw the exchequer inundated with IOUs, the liberate rolls show that 400 shillings was paid in 1226–40, no small amount for the grandma he never knew.
Four more Eleanors
