Petronilla of Aquitaine
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Petronilla of Aquitaine, (circa 1125 – 1153) was the daughter of William X of Aquitaine and Aenor of Châtellerault. She was the sister of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was Queen consort of France and England. She is variously called Alix (or Aelith in Occitan) and Petronille; she typically went by Alix after her marriage, while Petronille seems to have been her childhood name (she is referred to as such in her father's will).
Petronille accompanied her sister to the French court, where she met the very-married Count Raoul I of Vermandois, a cousin to her brother-in-law Louis VII of France. He repudiated his wife and married her, and they were excommunicated by the Pope. Pope Innocent II promised to lift the excommunication, but recanted his promise in 1143. Hostilities flared, and Louis VII infamously burned Vitry. Finally the Pope died and his successor Pope Celestine II lifted the excommunication at Council of Reims in 1144. However, Petronille and Raoul divorced in 1151, as he remarried the next year. Together they had three children:
- Raoul II, count de Vermandois and Valois (1145 - 1167), married Margaret of Lorraine, later countess of Flanders. Died of leprosy.
- Isabel Mabile (1143 - 1183), married Philip I of Lorraine, count of Flanders.
- Elizabeth (1141-1151)
[edit] In fiction and literature
- Kristiana Gregory. Eleanor Crown Jewel of Aquitaine: France, 1136. Scholastic Inc. (2002). ISBN 0-439-16484-2. She is mentioned as Petronilla and sometimes just Petra in this fictional diary of her sister, Eleanor.
[edit] References
- Kerrebrouck, Patrick van (2000). Les Capétiens 987-1328.
