Copy Book Archive

Fair Rosamund Charles Dickens tells the story of King Henry II and the enchantingly beautiful Rosamund Clifford.

In two parts

1166-1174
King Henry II 1154-1189
Music: Marie de France and Bernart de Ventadorn

By John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source

About this picture …

Rosamund Clifford in her retreat, discovered by Queen Eleanor. Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine at Whitsun, May 18th 1152, in Poitiers while he was still only Duke of Normandy; he acceded to the English throne in 1154. Their children included King Richard I and King John. Henry seems to have embarked on his affair with Rosamund – daughter of Walter de Clifford of Clifford Castle in Herefordshire – in 1166, and it was publicly acknowledged in 1174.

Fair Rosamund

Part 1 of 2

The story of Rosamund Clifford, mistress of a young Henry II, is one of the great romances of English literature. Disappointingly (or perhaps not, since it is a bitter tragedy) apart from the most essential facts it is a legend. The best one can do is to ask one of our great novelists, Charles Dickens, to let us down gently.
Abridged

THERE is a pretty story told of this Reign, called the story of Fair Rosamond. It relates how the King doted on Fair Rosamond, who was the loveliest girl in all the world; and how he had a beautiful Bower built for her in a Park at Woodstock; and how it was erected in a labyrinth, and could only be found by a clue of silk.

How the bad Queen Eleanor, becoming jealous of Fair Rosamond, found out the secret of the clue, and one day, appeared before her, with a dagger and a cup of poison, and left her to the choice between those deaths.

How Fair Rosamond, after shedding many piteous tears and offering many useless prayers to the cruel Queen, took the poison, and fell dead in the midst of the beautiful bower, while the unconscious birds sang gaily all around her.

Jump to Part 2

Précis

Charles Dickens summarised the story of Rosamund Clifford, mistress of King Henry II in the 12th century. He tells how the King hid Rosamund at the heart of a labyrinth, but a jealous Queen Eleanor discovered it, and having tracked her down in her secret bower, gave Rosamund a choice between death by poison, or death by dagger. (58 / 60 words)

Part Two

© Chris Gunns, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. Source

About this picture …

The ruins of Godstow Abbey, where Rosamund Clifford was educated, and where she was buried at the joint request of Henry and the Clifford family following her death in 1176, when she was still in her late twenties. Rosamund’s grave within the abbey church became something of a popular shrine, which the Bishop found a little embarrassing (she was a married man’s mistress, after all) and it was respectfully but firmly relocated in the churchyard along with everyone else. It was not the mediaeval church but the Reformers who destroyed both tomb and Abbey, in Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.

NOW, there was a fair Rosamond, and she was (I dare say) the loveliest girl in all the world, and the King was certainly very fond of her, and the bad Queen Eleanor was certainly made jealous.

But I am afraid — I say afraid, because I like the story so much — that there was no bower, no labyrinth, no silken clue, no dagger, no poison. I am afraid fair Rosamond retired to a nunnery near Oxford, and died there, peaceably; her sister-nuns hanging a silken drapery over her tomb, and often dressing it with flowers, in remembrance of the youth and beauty that had enchanted the King when he too was young, and when his life lay fair before him.

It was dark and ended now; faded and gone. Henry Plantagenet lay quiet in the abbey church of Fontevraud, in the fifty-seventh year of his age — never to be completed — after governing England well, for nearly thirty-five years.

Copy Book

Précis

Dickens now candidly admits that much as he likes the legend of Rosamund, most of it is without historical foundation. Rosamund was Henry’s mistress, and Eleanor was jealous, but the rest of it is legend, from the labyrinth to the poison and the dagger; Rosamund died of natural causes in an ordinary convent. (53 / 60 words)

Source

From ‘A Child’s History of England’ by Charles Dickens.

Related Video

Bernart de Ventadorn (fl. 1147 and 1180) was a musician from France, who fell in love with his patron’s wife and was forced to leave Ventadour. He became part of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine’s court, following her and King Henry II around France. ‘Can vei la lauzeta mover’ is like much of his poetry, full of sadness, longing, and betrayal. Sung in Old Occitan (the language of the Languedoc region) by the ensemble Alla Francesca.

Suggested Music

1 2

‘Lai Du Chèvrefeuille’

Marie de France (late 12th century)

Performed by Alla Francesca.

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‘Can vei la lauzeta’

Bernart de Ventadorn (1135-1194)

Performed by Alla Francesca.

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How To Use This Passage

You can use this passage to help improve your command of English.

IRead it aloud, twice or more. IISummarise it in one sentence of up to 30 words. IIISummarise it in one paragraph of 40-80 words. IVMake notes on the passage, and reconstruct the original from them later on. VJot down any unfamiliar words, and make your own sentences with them later. VIMake a note of any words that surprise or impress you, and ask yourself what meaning they add to the words you would have expected to see. VIITurn any old-fashioned English into modern English. VIIITurn prose into verse, and verse into prose. IXAsk yourself what the author is trying to get you to feel or think. XHow would an artist or a photographer capture the scene? XIHow would a movie director shoot it, or a composer write incidental music for it?

For these and more ideas, see How to Use The Copy Book.

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