This collection of papers brings together leading experts in the literature and history of southern medieval France. The important figure of Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204) is used as a point of entry into wider-ranging discussions of the literary, social, political and religious milieux into which she was born, and to which she contributed. The contributors explore a range of methodological and substantive issues, addressing many of the misconceptions that have grown around both Eleanor herself and the medieval Midi in general, and opening up new areas of debate.