In 1152, the marriage of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine was celebrated in the 11th-centry cathedral of Poitiers. Perhaps the building was too old-fashioned for Eleanor's taste: ten years later, according to local tradition, she began to fund the construction of the present building. Her involvement may be apocryphal, but work certainly started on the new choir in the 1160s, under the cosmopolitan Anglo-Norman bishop of Poitiers, John aux Belles-Mains, close friend of Thomas Becket and John of Salisbury.

Construction proceeded steadily during the rule of Eleanor and Henry -- Poitiers was one of their most important cities, and money was plentiful -- but came almost to a standstill as Poitiers lost its prestige in the 13th century. The west front was finally completed almost a century after work had begun.

The cathedral is a hall-church, with aisles as high as the central vessel -- a common design in Romanesque Poitou -- and dome-shaped vaults reminiscent of Fontevrault. These are ribbed, however, the piers slender, the scale spacious and the interior luminous. Poitiers is a genuinely Gothic building and it is tempting to see the influence of Eleanor, who, as queen of France, must have had many opportunities to admire the new architecture of Saint-Denis. Like Saint-Denis, Poitiers has large, richly colored windows. The east window, which shows the crucifixions of both Christ and St Peter, was the gift of Eleanor and Henry, who appear kneeling at its base, presenting it between them.