Woodstock

‘Fair Rosamund’

Sharon Bennett Connolly26 Comments
Fair Rosamund by John William Waterhouse

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 his heart and stole him away from his queen. But who was she? How much of her story is real, how much is fantasy?

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. We know nothing of her childhood, she may have been educated at Godstow Abbey, but it is not certain; nor is when she actually met the king. The rest of her life is made of rumour and gossip.

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 residence of Bredelais 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. However, there is evidence that Henry may also have been nursing some sort of injury, which would also curtail his movements.

Henry and Eleanor were to have one more child, John, born at Christmas 1166, which suggests the Christmas 1165 separation was more due to the logistics of ruling large domains than it was to Henry finding love elsewhere. However, there is a later story of Eleanor intending to have her lying in at the royal palace of Woodstock, only to find Rosamund in residence on her arrival and quickly relocating to Oxford to give birth.

Henry and Eleanor holding court

Henry was never a faithful husband and was known to have several illegitimate children, including William Longspée and Geoffrey, Archbishop of York. He numbered among his conquests Rohese, a daughter of the prominent de Clare family and Ida de Tosny, who later married Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk, and was mother of Longspée. 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 in 1172-73. Henry managed to crush the rebellion and forgave his sons, but he was not so lenient with Eleanor. In 1174 he escorted her to England and installed her in Old Sarum, condemning her to what would be 15 years of imprisonment; she would only be released when her favourite son, Richard I, ascended the throne in 1189.

In the same year as Eleanor’s imprisonment, Henry’s relationship with Rosamund became common knowledge. She resided at the royal palace of Woodstock in Oxfordshire, which was extensively refurbished in the early 1170s. It was said that ‘King Henry had made for her a house of wonderful workmanship, a labyrinth of Daedelian design.’¹ There was said to be a labyrinth, 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. They created puns derived from her name; Rosamund, or rosa mundi meaning the rose of the world became rosa immunda – the unclean rose – and rosa immundi – the unchaste rose.

The ruins of Godstow Abbey

That poor Rosamund was blamed for Henry’s infidelity 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. In the years following Rosamund’s death, Henry endowed the convent with 2 churches at Wycombe and Bloxham, new buildings and substantial amounts of building materials. Rosamund’s father, Walter, granted the abbey mills and a meadow, for the souls of his wife and daughter.

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 and ordered her remains to be removed. The tomb was resited in 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.²

Eleanor prepares to poison Rosamund by Evelyn De Morgan

Rosamund’s early death – she was still only in her 30s – inspired legends of revenge; Eleanor has been variously accused of stabbing her in her bath and poisoning her. In one extravagant version, Rosamund was hidden in her secret bower within a maze but, with the help of a silken thread, a jealous Eleanor still found her and stabbed her while she bathed. In another the discarded queen forced Rosamund to drink from a poison cup. Of course, a closely guarded prisoner in Old Sarum or at Winchester as she was, it was impossible for Eleanor to do any such thing. But it makes for a good story!

Rosamund’s relationship with Henry probably lasted no more than 10 years and possibly as little as 3 years. She may have seen little of Henry in that time, as he was a constantly on the move and only spent a little over 3 of those 10 years in England in total. It is possible that Rosamund sometimes travelled with him, discreetly, although this seems unlikely given that no one knew of her until after Eleanor’s rebellion and imprisonment. There are some theories that suggest Henry had lost interest in Rosamund even before her death, and that was the reason for her retirement to Godstow. Although his lavish endowment of the Abbey may argue otherwise, Henry is said to have turned his attentions to his son Richard’s fiancée, Princess Alys, sister of Philip II of France.

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 husband, children and a future.

Maybe the romance is what makes the story more palatable.

The Ballad of Fair Rosamund

The Flower of the World

When as king Henry ruled this land,

The second of that name,

Besides the queene, he dearly loved

A faire and comely dame

Most peerless was her beautye founde,

Her favour, and her face;

A sweeter creature in this worlde

Could never prince embrace.

Her crisped lockes like threads of golds

Appeared to each man’s sight;

Her sparkling eyes, like Orient pearles,

Did cast a heavenlye light.

The blood within her crystal cheeks

Did such a colour drive,

As though the lillye and the rose

For mastership did strive.

Yea Rossamonde, fair Rosamonde,

Her name was called so,

To whom our queene, dame Ellinor,

Was known a deadly foe.

The king therefore, for her defence

Against the furious queene,

At Woodstocke builded such a bower,

The like was never seene.

Most curiously that bower was built

Of stone and timber strong,

An hundred and fifty doors

Did to this bower belong.

And they so cunningly contriv’d,

With turnings round about,

That none but with a clue of thread

Could enter in and out.³

*

Footnotes: ¹Polychronicon quoted in Oxforddnb.com; ² Speed quoted in Oxforddnb.com; ³Anonymous quoted in Eleanor, April Queen of Aquitaine by Douglas Boyd

Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia

Sources: Oxforddnb.com by T.A. Archer, rev by Elizabeth Hallam; Wordsworth Dictionary of British History by J.P. Kenyon; kings, Queens, Bones and Bastards by David Hilliam; England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075-1225 by Robert Bartlett; King John by Marc Morris; The Devil’s Brood by Desmond Seward; The Greatest Knight by Thomas Asbridge; Eleanor, April Queen of Aquitaine by Douglas Boyd; Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir; The Plantagenet Chronicles Edited by Elizabeth Hallam.

*

My books

Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.

Out Now! Women of the Anarchy

Two cousins. On the one side is Empress Matilda, or Maud. The sole surviving legitimate child of Henry I, she is fighting for her birthright and that of her children. On the other side is her cousin, Queen Matilda, supporting her husband, King Stephen, and fighting to see her own son inherit the English crown. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how these women, unable to wield a sword, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It show how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other.

Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.

Coming on 15 June 2024: Heroines of the Tudor World

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. These are the women who made a difference, who influenced countries, kings and the Reformation. In the era dominated by the Renaissance and Reformation, Heroines of the Tudor World examines the threats and challenges faced by the women of the era, and how they overcame them. From writers to regents, from nuns to queens, Heroines of the Tudor World shines the spotlight on the women helped to shape Early Modern Europe.

Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK.

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. It is is available from King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops or direct from Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon. Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, and Bookshop.org. 

Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England looks into the relationships of the various noble families of the 13th century, and how they were affected by the Barons’ Wars, Magna Carta and its aftermath; the bonds that were formed and those that were broken. It is now available in paperback and hardback from Pen & Sword,  Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Heroines of the Medieval World tells the stories of some of the most remarkable women from Medieval history, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Julian of Norwich. Available now from Amberley Publishing and Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066. Available now from Amazon,  Amberley Publishing, and Bookshop.org.

Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.

Podcast:

Have a listen to the A Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.

*

Don’t forget! Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.

For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.

You can be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter and Instagram.

*

©2017 Sharon Bennett Connolly FRHistS

Princess Isabella, a Royal Exception

Sharon Bennett Connolly14 Comments

It has always amazed me that so little is known of the princesses of England, daughters of the kings. The lives of their fathers and brothers are, in the most part, well documented; but the Princesses are often shadowy figures, hidden in the background.

220px-Woodstock_Palace
Palace of Woodstock

Many of these ladies were married off to foreign courts or dedicated to convents, their lives and futures decided by the king, their father.

Isabella of Woodstock is, to some extent, an exception. She appears to have been very close to her parents, and spent most of her life at the English court. The eldest daughter and second child of Edward III and his queen, Philippa of Hainault, Isabella was born on 16 June 1332 at the royal Palace of Woodstock. As a child, Isabella shared a household with her older brother, Edward, later to be known as the Black Prince, and sister Joan, who was a year younger than her. The royal children’s household was governed by William of St Omer and his wife, Elizabeth.

Edward and Philippa had a large family, with at least 12 children (possibly more) of whom 9 survived infancy. They maintained a close relationship with their children often travelling with them; the older children, including Isabella, were with Philippa, in Antwerp, when their baby brother, Lionel, was born in 1338.

150px-EDuard_Filpa
Edward III and Philippa of Hainault

From her infancy, Edward was making plans for Isabella’s marriage: in 1335 negotiations were opened for her to marry Pedro the Cruel, the eldest son of the king of Castile, but Joan was sent in her place. Two of Pedro’s daughters, Constance and Isabella, would later marry Isabella’s brothers, John of Gaunt and Edmund of Langley, respectively. In 1338, plans were in motion for Isabella to marry the son of the Count of Flanders, in place of her sister Joan, now promised to Pedro; however, the count’s allegiance to the French Valois dynasty, added to English support for Flemish rebels, meant the proposals came to nought. In 1344 the proposed groom was a son of the Duke of Brabant, though as he was a descendant of Edward I, a papal dispensation was required. Whilst awaiting the dispensation, however, the proposed marriage with the count of Flanders’ son, Louis de Male, was revived. The count’s death at Crecy in 1346 meant Louis was even less inclined to the match than his father, but he was facing increasing pressure from his subjects, who saw great advantage in an English alliance. The couple met in March 1347, where Louis promised to marry Isabella within a fortnight of Easter. Louis fled before the marriage could take place and instead married Marguerite de Brabant. In 1349 Isabell was offered in marriage to Charles IV of Bohemia, King of the Romans. But these plans came to nought.

In 1351, aged 19, Edward III gave his consent for Isabella to marry Bernard, heir to the Lord Albret. Five ships were prepared to escort Isabella to Gascony and her new husband, but the English princess pointedly refused to embark and the marriage plans were abandoned. Edward III does not seem to have been too ‘put out’ by this. He continued to support Isabella and described her as ‘our very dear eldest daughter, whom we have loved with special affection.’ Edward indulged Isabella, she was with him almost constantly – more than any of his other children. In 1348, during a tournament in Lichfield, she was one of the ladies given blue and white robes – to match those of the knights – by the King. In 1354 Edward paid for a new balcony to be built outside Isabella’s suite of rooms at Woodstock, so that she would have a better view of the park. In 1358 King Edward gave her an annuity of 1,000 marks and in 1364 she was give the valuable wardship of Edmund (III) Mortimer, Earl of March and Ulster.

Marie de Coucy, Countess of Soissons

By late 1361 Isabella was her parents’ last surviving daughter. Her sister, Joan, 18 months her junior, had died of plague in France in 1348 whilst on her way to her marriage in Castile. And her younger sisters Mary and Margaret, just teenagers, died within a short time of each other in 1361. though there is no evidence that she exerted any political influence, Isabella was a regular at court, participating in the feasts for the Order of the Garter and in hunts; she was a frequent spectator at tournaments and was present at the Siege of Calais of 1346-7.

Isabella finally married in 1365, at Windsor, at the rather late age of 33, in what appears to have been a love match. Her husband, Enguerrand VII Lord of Coucy, was 7 years her junior, and a hostage for the fulfilment of the Treaty of Bretigny. On marrying Isabella he was released, without ransom, and created a knight of the Garter. In the hope that Enguerrand and Isabella would remain in England, Edward made Enguerrand Earl of Bedford in 1366 and, later, Count of Soissons.

Philippa de Coucy and her husband, Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland

Two daughters followed quickly, in 1366 and 1367. Mary was born at the Chateau of Coucy, France, and would later marry Henry of Bar; and Philippa, who was born at Eltham and made a lady of the Garter in 1379, and would later marry Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland; de Vere, a favourite of Richard II, would cause a great scandal in 1387 when he rejected Philippa for a Bohemian woman.

As England and France moved towards war, Enguerrand left England for the continent and went on to fight in Italy. Isabella appears to have returned to England and remained at her father’s court, with her daughters. Edward’s will gave to his ‘very dear daughter’ Isabella, an income of 300 marks per year, until her daughters were married. Isabella and Enguerrand were briefly reunited in France in 1374, but Isabella then returned to England while Enguerrand pursued his claims to lands in Aargau and Alsace, as a grandson of Leopold I, duke of Austria. After another reunion in 1376, Isabella again returned to England, remaining there with her daughter Philippa. Mary remained in France with her father, becoming heir to her father’s French possessions. Enguerrand was now totally committed to France, his loyalty firmly with the Valois’. On 26 August 1377, he renounced all his English honours in order to serve France.

Isabella received robes of the Order of the Garter in 1376. In 1379, she did so again, after her husband’s resignation of his English lands and titles, under the style ‘countess of Bedford’. Isabella had had a greater control over her own life than most English princesses, before and after her, maintaining a great deal of independence, even within her marriage. She was always figure in her own right. She died before 4 May 1379 – although 1382 also has been suggested – and was laid to rest at the Greyfriars Church in Newgate, London. Isabella was one of the figures that graced her father’s tomb in Westminster Abbey, though it has not survived. Neither has the statue that Enguerrand de Coucy erected, alongside his own, in the Celestine church at Soissons.

*

Further reading: Ian Mortimer The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III; Alison Weir Britain’s Royal Families; WM Ormrod The Reign of Edward III; Paul Johnson The Life and Times of Edward III; Roy Strong The Story of Britain.; Oxforddnb.com; The Oxford Companion to British History Edited by John Cannon; The Plantagenets, the Kings who Made England by Dan Jones; History Today Companion to British History Edited by Juliet Gardiner and Neil Wenborn;  Brewer’s British Royalty by David Williamson; The Chronicles of Chivalry Edited by Elizabeth Hallam; The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley; The Plantagenets, the Kings that made Britain by Derek Wilson

Pictures: courtesy of Wikipedia.

*

My Books

Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available, please get in touch by completing the contact me form.

Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, of the successes and failures of one of the most powerful families in England, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey is now available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, Bookshop.org and Book Depository.

1 family. 8 earls. 300 years of English history!

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England looks into the relationships of the various noble families of the 13th century, and how they were affected by the Barons’ Wars, Magna Carta and its aftermath; the bonds that were formed and those that were broken. It is now available in paperback and hardback from Pen & Sword,  Amazon, Bookshop.org and from Book Depository worldwide.

Heroines of the Medieval World tells the stories of some of the most remarkable women from Medieval history, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Julian of Norwich. Available now from Amberley Publishing and Amazon, Bookshop.org and Book Depository.

Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066.  Available now from Amazon,  Amberley Publishing, Bookshop.org and Book Depository.

*

You can be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter and Instagram.

*

©2015 Sharon Bennett Connolly