The marriage between Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine was unsuccessful for a number of reasons. Kings required male heirs and Eleanor had produced only two daughters, born in 1145 and 1149. There were also serious differences; Eleanor felt that being married to Louis was like being married to a monk. Louis in turn was probably dominated sexually by his powerful wife and, as a result, lacked manliness in contemporary eyes.

Deep discord flared up in 1149 on the Second Crusade, when Eleanor was suspected of adultery with her uncle Raymond of Antioch. A remarkable reconciliation was, however, later achieved on the return journey by Pope Eugenius III which concluded with his arranging for the couple to sleep in a bed which he himself had decked out with valuable ornaments. But even this proved fruitless in the long term.

A divorce was granted to Eleanor and Louis by four French archbishops on 21 March 1152 on grounds fo consanguinity. The two had ancestors in common within the degrees prohibited by the Church; a common excuse at this time for dissolving an obviously failed marriage. It is clear that Eleanor knew exactly what she wanted since she immediately sent messengers to Henry of Anjou. The were married on 18 May 1152.

The origin of the liaison must have been formed in August of the previous year in Paris, when the two had met. Like his father, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Henry took on a woman several years his senior. Like him, he also acquired great prospects through his wife: in this case, the duchy of Aquitaine which was Eleanor's inheritance. At a stroke Henry, who had become duke of Normandy in 1150 and count of Anjou after his father's death in 1151, became far more powerful than his lord, King Louis.

News of the marriage provoked Louis to make war. He was joined by Henry's younger brother Geoffrey, who must have realized that marriage with Eleanor meant that Henry would not relinquish Anjou to him, as he was supposed to do under his father's will. In England, King Stephen and his son Eustace also joined Louis.

But Henry's success in the war, easily achieved, established his dominance throughout all his French territories. A continuous block of land was now in his power, from Normandy in the north, through Anjou to Aquitaine in the south. A famous and turbulent marriage had been made, and the greatest period in Plantagenet history had begun.