Rosamund Clifford (before 1150 – c. 1176), often called "The Fair Rosamund" or the "Rose of the World", was famed for her beauty and was a mistress of King Henry II of England, famous in English folklore. Events Åhus, Sweden gains city privileges City of Airdrie, Scotland founded King Sverker I of Sweden is deposed and succeeded by Eric IX of Sweden. ... Events May 22 - Murder attempt by the Hashshashin on Saladin near Aleppo Raynald of Chatillon released from prison in Aleppo May 29 - Frederick Barbarossa is defeated in the Battle of Legnano by the Lombard League leading to the pactum Anagninum (the Agreement of Anagni) September 17 - Seljuk Turks defeat Manuel... Henry II of England (called Curtmantle; 25 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) ruled as King of England (1154–1189), Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Rosamund was the daughter of the marcher lord Walter de Clifford and his wife Margaret Isobel de Tosny. Walter was originally known as Walter Fitz Richard, but his name was gradually changed to that of his major holding, first as steward, then as lord. This was Clifford Castle on the River Wye. Rosamund had two sisters, Amice and Lucy. Amice married Osbern fitz Hugh of Richard's Castle and Lucy Hugh de Say of Stokesay. She also had three brothers, Walter II de Clifford, Richard and Gilbert. In European history, marches are border regions between centres of power. ... Clifford Castle is in the village of Clifford which lies to the north of Hay-on-Wye in Herefordshire (grid reference SO243457). ... River Wye and Lancat and Ban y Gore Nature Reserve The Wye at Hay-on-Wye The Wye at Tintern This article is about the river that flows along the Anglo-Welsh border. ... The current king and queen of Richards Castle is believed to be Steven and Lyn Broom according to themselves Richards Castle is a village on the border between Herefordshire and Shropshire in England. ... Stokesay is a small village in Shropshire, England. ...

Rosamund probably first met the King when he passed by Clifford Castle in 1163 during one of his campaigns in Wales against Rhys ap Gruffydd. Clifford Castle is in the village of Clifford which lies to the north of Hay-on-Wye in Herefordshire (grid reference SO243457). ... // Events Owain Gwynedd is recognized as ruler of Wales. ... This article is about the country. ... Rhys ap Gruffydd (1132–28 April 1197) was the ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth (South Wales) from 1155 until his death. ...

Did she have any children?

Historians are divided over whether or not Rosamund's relationship with the King produced children. The question is complicated by the difficulty of separating the facts of Rosamund's life from the profusion of legends surrounding it. Many historians have concluded that Rosamund most likely bore Henry a single child but cannot identify it or even provide a specific date of birth. Some modern writers, including Alison Weir, are of the opinion that Rosamund had no children; but whether this means she never gave birth or merely that none of her children survived remains unclear. Alison Weir (born 1951) is a British writer of history books for the general public, mostly in the form of biographies about British kings and queens. ...

Legend has attributed to Rosamund two of King Henry's favourite illegitimate sons: Geoffrey Plantagenet (1151–1212), Archbishop of York, and William Longsword (17 August before 1180–1226), Earl of Salisbury. Her maternity in these two cases was not widely believed at the time but was claimed centuries later. Geoffrey is now not accepted as Rosamund's son. Henry and Rosamund met about 1163, and their relationship lasted until 1176. Geoffrey and Rosamund would therefore have been about the same age which ruins any chance of Rosamund being his mother. Geoffrey was almost certainly the son of Ykenai, another mistress of Henry. William de Longespee's maternity was a mystery for many years but the truth was discovered when charters issued by him were found to contain references to "Comitissa Ida, mater mea." (Bradenstoke Cartulary, 1979). This Ida is now known to be Ida, Countess of Norfolk. She was daughter to Ralph Tosny and Margaret de Beaumont. Events Ghazni is burned by the princes of Ghur Geoffrey of Anjou dies, and succeeded by his son Henry, aged 18. ... Events The first Great Fire of London burns most of the city to the ground Battle of Navas de Tolosa Childrens crusade Crusaders push the Muslims out of northern Spain In Japan, Kamo no Chōmei writes the Hōjōki, one of the great works of classical Japanese... Arms of the Archbishop of York The Archbishop of York, Primate of England, is the metropolitan bishop of the Province of York, and is the junior of the two archbishops of the Church of England, after the Archbishop of Canterbury. ... William de Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury (William Longsword in English) (ca. ... Events April 13 - Frederick Barbarossa issues the Gelnhausen Charter November 18 - France Emperor Antoku succeds Emperor Takakura as emperor of Japan Afonso I of Portugal is taken prisoner by Ferdinand II of Leon Artois is annexed by France Prince Mochihito amasses a large army and instigates the Genpei War between... Events Carmelite Order approved by Pope Honorius III Frederick II calls Imperial Diet of Cremona Births June 21 - King Boleslaus V of Poland (died 1279) Abul-Faraj, Syriac scholar (died 1286) Bar-Hebraeus, Syriac historian and bishop (died 1286) Deaths March 7 - William de Longespee, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English... The title Marquess of Salisbury is a British title of Peerage, created in 1789 for James Cecil, 7th Earl of Salisbury. ... Raoul III de Tosny[1] seigneur de Conches-en-Ouche[2] (d. ...

Other stories

Little is known about Rosamund, but she is discussed in books about Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry's queen. The legends concerning her life are many, but few hard facts are available. The story that she was poisoned by a jealous Eleanor is certainly untrue, and so is the tale that Henry constructed the hunting lodge at Woodstock for her and surrounded it with a garden that was a labyrinth ("Rosamund's Bower," which was pulled down when Blenheim Palace was built nearby). In the 'French Chronicle of London', she is, oddly enough, described as having been roasted by the wife of Henry III, Eleanor of Provence. During the Elizabethan era, stories claiming that she had been murdered by Eleanor of Aquitaine gained popularity; but the Ballad of Fair Rosamund by Thomas Delaney and the Complaint of Rosamund by Samuel Daniel (1592) are both purely fictional. Eleanor of Aquitaine (or Aliénor), Duchess of Aquitaine and Gascony and Countess of Poitou (1122[1]–1 April 1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe during the High Middle Ages. ... Woodstock Palace was a royal residence in the Oxfordshire town of Woodstock. ... This article is about the mazelike structure from Greek mythology. ... Blenheim Palace is a large and monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. ... Elizabethan redirects here. ... Samuel Daniel (1562 – October 14, 1619) was an English poet and historian. ...

She is thought to have entered Henry's life around the time that Eleanor was pregnant with her final child, John who was born on 24 December 1166 at Oxford. Indeed, Eleanor is known to have given birth to John at Beaumont Palace rather than at Woodstock: because, it is speculated, having planned to give birth at Woodstock, she refused to do so upon finding Rosamund there. This article is about the King of England. ... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ...

Authorities differ over whether Rosamund stayed quietly in seclusion at Woodstock while Henry went back and forth between England and his continental possessions, or whether she traveled with him as a member of his household. If the former, the two of them could not have spent more than about a quarter of the time between 1166 and 1176 together (as historian Marion Meade puts it: "For all her subsequent fame, Rosamond must be one of the most neglected concubines in history"). Historians do seem to agree, however, that Rosamund was Eleanor's opposite in personality and that Henry and Rosamund appear to have shared a deep love.

Death and thereafter

Henry's liaison with Rosamund became public knowledge in 1174; it ended when she retired to the nunnery at Godstow near Oxford in 1176, shortly before her death. Her death was remembered at Hereford Cathedral on 6 July, the same day as that of the king. This article is about an abbey as a religious building. ... The ruined Godstow Abbey. ... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ... The current Hereford Cathedral, located at Hereford in England, United Kingdom, dates from 1079. ...

Henry and the Clifford family paid for her tomb at Godstow in the choir of the convent's church and for an endowment that would ensure care of the tomb by the nuns. It became a popular local shrine until 1191, two years after Henry's death. Hugh of Lincoln, Bishop of Lincoln, while visiting Godstow, noticed Rosamund's tomb right in front of the high altar. The tomb was laden with flowers and candles, demonstrating that the local people were still praying there. Unsurprisingly calling Rosamund a harlot, the bishop ordered her remains removed from the church: instead, she was to be buried outside the church 'with the rest, that the Christian religion may not grow into contempt, and that other women, warned by her example, may abstain from illicit and adulterous intercourse'. Her tomb was moved to the cemetery by the nuns' chapter house, where it could be visited until it was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII of England. The remains of Godstow Priory still stand and are open to the public. Hugh of Avalon or Hugh of Burgundy, best known as Saint Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, (1135/1140 – London, November 16, 1200) was at the time of the Reformation the best-known English saint after Thomas Becket. ... Arms of the Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln heads the Anglican Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. ... William Hogarths 1731 engraving of A Harlots Progress is about a young woman, Mary Hackabout, who arrives in London from the country. ... For other uses of the term dissolution see Dissolution. ... Henry VIII redirects here. ...

Sources

• Biography from Who's Who in British History (1998), H. W. Wilson Company. Who's Who in British History, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998.
• W. L. Warren, Henry II, 1973.
• Remfry. P.M., Clifford Castle, 1066 to 1299 (ISBN 1-899376-04-6)

Fiction

• Rosamund Clifford is mentioned in Virginia Henley's historical romance, "The Falcon and the Flower." (1988)
• The affair with Henry II is also detailed in Sharon Penman's historical novelisation "Time and Chance". This represents the life of the King based on scholarly research.
• The relationship between Rosamund and Henry is a major framing device in Robin Paige's mystery novel, "Death at Blenheim Palace." (2006)
• Rosamund is mentioned and is credited as the mother of a would-be nun of the same name in Lynsay Sands' romance novel, "Always." While she was not truly featured as a character in the novel, Henry II was as he was featured as the nun's father.
• Rosamund is a character in the fictional novel "The Book of Eleanor, A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine" by Pamela Kaufman.
• Rosamund appears as a character in death in the fictional novel "The Serpent's Tale" by Ariana Franklin. (2008)

Sharon Kay Penman (born 1945) is an American author of fiction, born in New York, but her ancestors were Anglo-Irish. ... Henry II of England (called Curtmantle; 25 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) ruled as King of England (1154–1189), Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. ...

External links

• Photo of Godstow Priory
• The Legend of Rosamund and Eleanor of Aquitaine