1152–1453 · Bordeaux and England
Bordeaux and the English trade
Three centuries of English rule over Aquitaine built Bordeaux into an export powerhouse.
What happened
The marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to the future Henry II in 1152 brought Bordeaux under English control for three hundred years.
The resulting tax-advantaged trade made Bordeaux England's principal wine supplier and shaped the region's commercial orientation permanently.
The wine of the period was pale and light — clairet, from which the English word "claret" derives, still used for red Bordeaux.
The commercial relationship outlived the political one, and the English market continued to shape what Bordeaux made for centuries afterwards.
How firmly this is dated
Documented. Recorded contemporaneously. The date is not in question.
English customs rolls and Gascon trade records, which give volumes year by year.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO) — INAO, France
Along the timeline
Before · c. 800–1400
Monasteries and medieval viticulture
Monastic orders preserved and systematised viticulture, and effectively invented the study of terroir.
After · c. 1250–1500
The northern wine trade
Rhine wine moved north by river and sea in commercial quantities, and northern Europe acquired a taste it has never lost.