21 March 1152

The annulment of the marriage of Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine becomes final.

Eleanor, the richest woman in Europe and one of the most remarkable figures in European history, had married the king in 1137 when she was fifteen. She went on crusade with him, but failed to produce a male heir and was growing bored with her royal husband. Louis wanted a son, so on this day, his annulment, based on consanguinity (the default excuse for annulment back in the day) became final. He did get his son, but Eleanor went off and married Henry of Anjou, almost ten years her junior, and three months after the wedding, bore him a son. Henry, of course, shortly thereafter inherited the throne of England as Henry II, and between his lands and Eleanor's, he became the most powerful monarch in Europe. This annulment and subsequent marriage meant English kings for centuries had land claims in France, and led to lots and lots of wars.

Eleanor is a fascinating person. She outlived her husband and a few of her sons, dying early in the thirteenth century, well past 80. And then Kate Hepburn played her in the movie.