The Woman in the Bower

A collection of 25 posts

The Woman in the Bower Featured

The Woman in the Bower

A Murder at Woodstock: Fair Rosamond vs Eleanor of Aquitaine

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'Becket'

Henry II and Eleanor appear in the film Becket (1964); Fair Rosamond does not. However, many find homoerotic undertones in the key relationship between Henry and Becket. The film is an adaptation of a 1959 play by Jean Anouilh and both feature a number of significant historical inaccuracies.

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Blenheim Palace

The original Woodstock Palace may have been more of a hunting lodge than a palace and it was probably rebuilt several times. Now it is long gone and Blenheim Palace stands in its place. It is situated near the town of Woodstock, northwest of Oxford. All that remains of Rosamond,

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Chapbooks

Chapbooks were the original "street literature" or pop culture from the 16th century onwards, and they often were read aloud since not enough people knew how to read. They were called chapbooks because they were sold by peddlers known as "chapmen" - usually printed on single

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Château de Chinon

The Forteresse Royale de Chinon was built by Henry II of Anjou who died there after being defeated by his sons Richard and John in 1189. Henry, Eleanor, their son Richard, their daughter Joan and other members of the extended Plantagenet family are buried at the nearby Abbey of Fontevraud

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Chaucer and 'Balade to Rosemounde'

Geoffrey Chaucer gently satirized the legend of Fair Rosamond in this undated poem, in which he takes the role of the pining poet whose affections are not returned by the Lady but oh, the suffering is worth it: "For though I weep a basin of tears,/Yet may that

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Christine de Pizan’s 'City of Women'

Christine de Pizan was born in Venice (her father was from Pizzano, not Pisa), but she spent most her life in Paris. Her Le Livre de la cité des dames or City of Women was first published in 1405. The title and theme of the book are derived from St.

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Eleanor of Aquitaine's Coat of Arms

Technically, this is the coat of arms of Eleanor's County of Poitou (at Poitiers), which was absorbed into the duchy of Aquitaine. The Coat of Arms for Aquitaine has a horizontal lion (see at bottom), which may be compared with the imperial Chinese dragon at the bottom of

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Fellini's 'City of Women'

Fellini's film came out in 1980; it was not well received. These are some of the posters and DVD covers...

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Godstow Nunnery ruins

All that remains of Godstow Nunnery are these ruins, in Oxford’s northern suburbs, just up the Thames. Nearby is the Trout Inn (at bottom), which puts in appearances in the Inspector Morse TV series. Rosamond's home town of Clifford is further west, near Hay-on-Wye, by the Welsh

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Henry II, King of England

Henry II is shown above left, Henry the Younger is shown center bottom, and Richard I, the Lionheart, is on the right. This image is from an illuminated manuscript, said to be from between 1250 and 1259. Henry's Angevin empire can be seen in this visual:

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Hölderlin's Tower

Rosamond's retreat to Godstow reminds me of a host of writers (plus Rapunzel) who have found inspiration in their own private tower. One of them was the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin. In 1807, when he was 37, he retreated into this tower overlooking the Neckar River in Tübingen

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Marie de France

We don't know much about Marie de France but we do have The Lais de Marie de France, 12 Breton lais (poems) comprising wonderful tales of adultery and romantic love, Celtic magic and the supernatural and they are available today translated in elegant prose (I have the translation

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Queen Eleanor and the Fair Rosamond in paintings

Eleanor confronts Rosamond inside the secret bower. The painting below is by late pre-Raphaelite painter Evelyn de Morgan from around 1901 to 1905. She was a fascinating figure in her own right, believing in spiritualism, feminism (she supported the suffragettes) and pacifism. Many of her paintings are women-centered. Note the

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'Roman de la Rose'

In the century that followed Henry and Eleanor, the rose garden metaphors associated with Fair Rosamond and courtly love were adapted by the most famous of French medieval poems, Roman de la Rose. In this allegorical dream-poem, the lover tells of his quest for the rose (his love) inside the

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Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'Rosamond'

This is Rossetti's pre-Raphaelite Rosamond (1861), hiding out in the royal manor of Woodstock. Note the red silk cord in her hand, by which she would know if Henry was on his way. The model here is Fanny Cornforth, whom Rossetti often used. She became his housekeeper after

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The English Rose

The rose became the floral symbol of England with the marriage in 1236 of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence, who was associated with the Golden Rose of Provence. From this rose was derived the red rose of the House of Lancaster and the white rose of the House of

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'The French Chronicle of London'

In this popular tabloid an anonymous writer portrays Eleanor of Aquitaine as the complete sadist. First, she strips the poor innocent Rosamond then she roasts her between two fires. To follow, she places two toads on Rosamond’s breasts to suck away, while she bleeds her slowly to death in

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The Griselda Story

The Griselda story is the most well known example of the "wife testing" genre, where a husband wonders if his wife might be unfaithful to him and so he sets in motion a series of tests for her. The results can go both ways. Griselda first appears in

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'The Lady of Shalott'

Rosamond was always a tender domestic image, a doomed image. Tennyson may have had something like this in mind when he wrote the poem, The Lady of Shalott (1842), where his heroine tires of life in the nunnery and goes out into the world to experience her carnality and mortality.

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'The Lion in Winter'

The Lion in Winter film posters from 1968 are above and below. Curiously Peter O'Toole had played Henry II earlier, in 1964, in Becket. Mediocre movie, although it was successful commercially and it won three Academy Awards, perhaps because of its great cast: Peter O'Toole, Katharine

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'The Princess of Clèves'

La Princesse de Clèves (1678) was published anonymously, but its author is now thought to be Madame de La Fayette, who lived most of her married life in Paris, where she participated in the salons. The novel was very successful and it is still widely taught in French schools, if

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The Tristan and Yseult Legend

Tristan and Yseult (or Isolde) became popular when Henry and Eleanor were on the throne. French-English and German storytellers all took a crack at enhancing the older Celtic plotlines. As Joseph Campbell put it, the legend dramatizes a conflict between love and marriage, in an era when aristocratic families were

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The Woman in the Bower - Timeline

* 1151 Eleanor’s marriage to King Louis VII of France is annulled; she marries King Henry II of England * 1153 Death of St. Bernard of Clairvaux * 1165 Henry II first meets Rosamond de Clifford * 1166 John is born (the last child born to Henry and Eleanor) * 1166 Eleanor relocates to

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William Blake's 'The Fall of Rosamond'

Even William Blake tackled the story. This 1783 engraving shows Eleanor going for the knife and forcing Rosamond to drink the poison! And apparently there were witnesses.