Adelaide, the daughter of the French king, was contracted to Richard; but Henry shewed no impatience to consummate their marriage. Her father and intended husband pretended to be displeased at this, in order to give grounds for the continental war, which destroyed the peace of Henry's old age: and Eleanor accused him of being himself fond of Adelaide. A report even arose, that he wished to divorce the former, marry her, and, if he had children by her, would declare them his heirs. It is doubtful whether the troubles caused by his family, in reality, awakened this idea in the mind of Henry, or whether it was merely the jealous suggestions of the restless Eleanor.
After the death of Henry, when Richard was retained in prison by the emperor Henry VI. Eleanor, indignant at the indifference with which Europe, and the pope himself, suffered the hero of the crusades to be oppressed, wrote to the latter, and joined the bitterness of maternal complaint to the haughtiness of reproaches: but the pope, who had more to fear from the emperor than all the other sovereigns, refused to commit himself, by interfering in behalf of her son; and no cardinal was found who would charge himself with this perilous legation: yet, at length, the princes of Europe, ashamed of their backwardness in favour of so great a warrior, forced the emperor to release him; on condition of receiving a ransom, which Eleanor found it very difficult to raise. She had disapproved and repressed, as much as she was able, the revolts and misconduct of John; but, on the return of his brother, interceded for him, and obtained his pardon. She is supposed to have influenced the will of Richard, who appointed him his successor, in exclusion of Arthur, the true heir; and doubtless preserved a great ascendant over him, and a
