Rosamund de Clifford

FAIR ROSAMUND

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The story of Rosamund de Clifford is shrouded in more legends than most medieval lives.

After Eleanor of Aquitaine, she is the woman most associated with Henry II, king of England.

In historical fiction, she is the woman who claimed the king's heart, and stole him away from his queen.

Rosamund de Clifford was probably born around 1140.

She was the daughter of Walter de Clifford, a lord on the Welsh Marches, and his wife Margaret de Tosny.

Unfortunately, very little is known of her childhood.

Rosamund’s father served Henry II on campaign in Wales, in the 1160s.

It is possible that the king first met the young woman on a visit to de Clifford’s home, during the campaign.

Some theories have Henry’s affair with Rosamund starting around 1165, the first Christmas that Henry spent apart from his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Eleanor held her Christmas court at Angers, while Henry was at Oxford.

Henry had a tendency to be constantly on the move, and it was unusual for him to be so immobile, which has led to suspicions that this was when his love affair with Rosamund began.

If Henry and Rosamund did begin their relationship in the mid-1160s, they did a marvellous job of keeping the affair secret, as it was not made public until 1174.

Henry’s relationship with his queen soured considerably in the early 1170s, with Eleanor taking the side of their sons, and joining them in open rebellion.

This would be the start of Eleanor's 15 years of imprisonment.

In the same year as Eleanor’s imprisonment, Henry’s relationship with Rosamund became common knowledge.

Henry was enamoured with his beautiful Rosamund, and gave her everything she wanted.

She resided at the royal palace of Woodstock, in Oxfordshire.

There was said to be a maze, a secret bower where Henry and Rosamund met, and a well where Rosamund bathed.

'Rosamund’s Well' can still be seen today in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, which now stands where Woodstock once stood.

Although it has come down through legend as a great love story, nothing is known of Rosamund’s feelings towards Henry, nor whether she any any say in her position as the king’s mistress.

The chroniclers of the time, of course, painted her as the fallen woman, a seductress and adulteress.

Rosamund was blamed for Henry’s infidelity, this was a sign of the times; women were the daughters of Eve, temptation for honourable men, who had no power to resist them.

Rosamund’s early death, was seen as a just punishment for her lascivious lifestyle.

Rosamund ended her relationship with Henry in 1175/6 and withdrew to Godstow Abbey.

It seems likely that she was already ill when she entered the priory and she died in 1176.

Henry paid for a lavish tomb within the convent church, at which the nuns left floral tributes on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, however, Rosamund was not allowed to rest in peace.

In 1190 when the saintly Bishop Hugh of Lincoln visited Godstow, he was horrified that Rosamund’s tomb had a place of honour within the church.

He ordered her remains to be removed.

Rosamund's tomb was moved to the nun’s chapter house, with an accompanying inscription admonishing her lifestyle:

"This tomb doth here enclose the world’s most beauteous Rose,

Rose passing sweet erewhile, now nought but odour vile"

Rosamund’s early death – she was still only in her 30s – inspired legends of revenge.

Eleanor of Aquitane has been variously accused of stabbing her in her bath, or poisoning her.

Perhaps the truth of Rosamund’s story matters less, than the legend and romance that has grown up around it.

Maybe the story of unrequited love, secret trysts and hidden bowers, are just as important to history than the sordid truth.

A woman seduced by a king, with little say in the direction of her own life, denied a husband, children and a future....

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https://historytheinterestingbits.com/.../12/fair-rosamund/

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https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

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'Fair Rosamund' by John William Waterhouse