THE OLDEST PARENTS  some really fertile wenches (& one exemplary king)     Eleanor of Aquitaine While her date of birth is uncertain, most historians concur it was circa 1122. Eleven or so years her husband's senior, Eleanor's last child by Henry II, John, was born on Christmas Eve 1166, putting her at roughly 44 years of age. Lest we forget, she bore two daughters in her first marriage, plus Henry's devil's brood of eight brats, for a grand total of ten offspring, nine of whom survived to adulthood. Not bad in a day where dying in childbed was routine & infants were often carried off by disease. Jolly good show, Eleanor!   Eleanor of Castile First wife of the legendary Longshanks, Eleanor gave birth to a whopping sixteen Plantagenets. While her offspring did not prove as hardy as Eleanor of Aquitaine's & mostly ran in the petticoat brigade, her last child, the future Edward II, was born in April 1284 when she was about 42 years of age. There is some confusion as to if this was actually her last; some historians think she had a stillborn daughter about 3 years later at age 45. Methinks Longshanks may have been a more apt nickname than previously thought.   Edward I (Longshanks himself) Following Eleanor of Castile's demise & the erection of the fabled Eleanor Crosses, Edward turned his erector set in the direction of France & a youthful bride, Marguerite de Valois. They had an additional 3 children together before Edward's death. The youngest, Eleanor, was born in May 1306 a mere 6 weeks or so before his 67th birthday. Gentlemen, start your engines! This man is truly a legend.   Philippa of Hainault This teen queen gave birth to her 1st child, Edward, the Black Prince, in 1330 at the tender age of 19. She & Edward III had thirteen children in all, the lastborn being the troublesome Thomas, Duke of Woodstock, in January 1355 (anyone seeing the birth order theory at work in this family as far as malcontents besides me?) at age 43. Looks like Edward was swimming in Grandpa Longshanks's splendid gene pool.   Elizabeth Woodville Buxom Bessie had 2 sons by her Lancastrian spouse, who very obligingly got himself killed in the Wars of the Roses & enabled her to wed its eventual Yorkist victor, Edward IV. Though most of their 10 offspring were also female (or we would have had a plethora of Princes in the Tower to discuss), they emerged from her womb with tiresome regularity over a period of about 15 years. The youngest, Bridget, came forth in November 1480 when Elizabeth was about 43 years of age. The Sunne in Splendor seems to have been.