Moft of the circumstances in this popular ftory of king Henry II. and the beautiful Rofamond have been taken for fact by our English Hiftorians; who, unable to account for the unnatural conduct of queen Eleanor in ftimulating her fons to rebellion, have attributed it to jealoufy, and Suppofed that Henry's amour with Rosamond was the object of that paffion. Our old English annalists feem, most of them, to have followed Higden the monk of Chefter, whofe account with fome enlargements is thus given by Stow. "Rofamond the fayre daughter of Walter lord Clifford, concubine to Henry II. (poifoned by queen Elianor, as fome thought) dyed at Woodstocke [A. D. 1177.] where king Henry had made "for her a house of wonderfull working; fo that no man or woman might come to her, but he that was inftructed by the king, or fuch as were right fecret with him touching the matter. This houfe after fome was named Laby"rinthus, or Dedalus worke, which was wrought like unto a knot in a garden, called a Maze*; but it was commonly faid, that laftly the queene came to her by a clue of "thridde, or filke, and fo dealt with her, that she lived not long after: but when she was dead, she was buried at Godftow in an house of nunnes, befide Oxford, with "thefe verfes upon her tombe, "Hic jacet in tumba, Rosa mundi, non Rofa munda: "Non redolet, fed olet, quæ redolere folet. << In Confifting of vaults under ground, arched and walled with brick and ftone, according to Drayton. See note on bis Epifile of Rofamond. 2 66 "In English thus: "The rofe of the world, but not the cleane flowre, "Is now here graven; to whom beauty was lent z "In this grave full darke nowe is her bowre, "That by her life was fweete and redolent : "But now that he is from this life blent, "Though she were fweete, now foully doth fhe flinke. "A mirrour good for all men, that on her thinke.” Store's Annals, Ed. 1631. p. 154. ... How the queen gained admittance into Refamond's bower "is differently related. Holling fhed fpeaks of it, as "the common report of the people, that the queene founde "hir out by a filken thread, which the king had drawne after him out of hir chamber with his foot, and dealt "with hir in fuch sharpe and cruell wife, that he lived not long after." Vol. III. p. 115. On the other hand, in Speede's Hift. we are told that the jealous queen found her out" by a clew of filke, fallen from Rofamund's lappe, Shee fate to take ayre, and fuddenly fleeing from the fight of the fearcher, the end of her filke faftened to her foot, and the clew ftill unwinding, remained behinde : "which the queene followed, till hee had found what the fought, and upon Rosamund fo vented her Spleene, as the "lady lived not long after." 3d Edit. p. 509. Our ballad-maker with more ingenuity, and probably as much truth, tells us the clue was gained, by furprife, from the knight, who was left to guard her bower. It is obfervable, that none of the old writers attribute Rofamond's death to poison, (Stow, above, mentions it meerly as a flight conjecture); they only give us to understand, that the queen treated her harshly; which furious menaces, we may fuppofe, and sharp expoftulations, which had fuch effect on her fpirits, that he did not long furvive it. Indeed on ber ber tombstone, as we learn from a perfon of credit*, among other fine fculptures, was engraven the figure of a cur. This, which perhaps at firft was an accidental ornament, might in after times fuggeft the notion that she was poisoned; at least this conftruction was put upon it, when the tone came to be demolished after the nunnery was diffolved. The account is, that "the tombstone of Rofamund Clifford was "taken up at Godftow, and broken in pieces, and that upon "it were interchangeable weavings drawn out and decked "with rofes red and green, and the picture of the CUP, out 's of which he drank the poifon given her by the queen, "carved in ftone." Rofamond's father having been a great benefactor to the nunnery of Godftow, where she had also refided herself in the innocent part of her life, her body was conveyed there, and buried in the middle of the choir; in which place it remained till the year 1191, when Hugh bishop of Lincoln caufed it to be removed. The fact is recorded by Hoveden, a contemporary writer, whose words are thus tranflated by Stow. 66 Hugh bishop of Lincolne came to the abbey of nunnes, called Godftow,.. and when he had entred "the church to pray, he saw a tombe in the middle of the quire, covered with a pall of filke, and fet about with lights of waxe: and demanding whofe tombe it was, he was answered, that it was the tombe of Rofamond, that was fome time lemman to Henry II. ... who for the "love of her had done much good to that church. Then quoth the bishop, take out of this place the harlot, and bury her without the church, left chriftian religion should grow in contempt, and to the end that, through example of her, other women being made afraid may beware, and keepe themselves from unlawfull and advouterous company with men." Annals, p. 159. Hiftory further informs us, that king John repaired Godftow nunnery, and endowed it with yearly revenues, 66 "that " these *Tho. Allen of Gloc. Hall, Oxon. who died in 1632, aged 90. See Hearne's rambling difcourfe concerning Rofamond, at the end of Gul. Newbrig Hift. Vol. 3. p. 739. thefe holy virgins might releeve with their prayers, the "foules of his father king Henrie, and of lady Rofamund "there interred.” * In what fituation her remains were found at the diffolution of the nunnery, we learn from Leland, Rofamundes tumbe at Godftowe nunnery was "taken up [of late; it is a stone with this infcription, "TUMBA ROSAMUNDÆ. Her bones were clofid in "lede, and withyn that bones were clofyd yn lether. When "it was opened a very fwete smell came out of it." See Hearne's difcourfe above quoted, written in 1718; at which time, he tells us, were still feen by the pool at Woodftock the foundations of a very large building, which were believed to be the remains of Rofamond's labyrinth. To conclude this (perhaps too prolix) account, Henry had two fons by Rofamond, from a computation of whofe ages, a modern hiftorian has endeavoured to invalidate the received ftory. These were William Longue-efpè (or Long-fword) earl of Salisbury, and Geoffrey bishop of Lincolnet. Geoffrey was the younger of Rofamond's fons, and yet is faid to have been twenty years old at the time of his election to that fee in 1173. Hence this writer concludes, that king Henry fell in love with Rofamond in 1149, when in king Stephen's reign he came over to be knighted by the king of Scots; he alfo thinks it probable that Henry's commerce with this lady "broke off upon his marriage with Eleanor [in 1152.] and "that the young lady, by a natural effect of grief and refent 66 ment at the defection of her lover, entered on that occafion into the nunnery of Godftowe, where he died probably be"fore the rebellion of Henry's fons in 1173." [Carte's hift. Vol. I. p. 652.] But let it be obferved, that Henry was but fixteen years old when he came over to be knighted; that he ftaid but eight months in this island, and was almost all the time with the king of Scots; that he did not return back to England till 1153, the year after his marriage with Eleanor; and that no writer drops the least hint of Rofamand's having ever been abroad with her lover, nor indeed is it probable that a boy of fixteen should venture to carry over a mistress to his *Vid. Reign of Henry II. in Speed's Hift. writ by Dr. Barcham, Dean of Bocking. † Afterwards Archbishop of York, temp. Rich. I. his mother's court. If all thefe circumftances are confidered, Mr. Carte's account will be found more incoherent and improbable than that of the old ballad; which is also countenanced by most of our old biftorians. Indeed the true date of Geoffrey's birth, and confequently of Henry's commerce with Rofamund, feems to be beft afcertained from an ancient manufcript in the Cotton library : wherein it is thus registered of Geofferey Plantagenet, "Natus eft 5o. Hen. ÏÏ. [1159.] Factus eft miles 25°. Hen. "II. [1179.] Elect. in Epifcop. Lincoln. 28°. Hen. II. [1182.1. Vid. Chron. de Kirkstall. (Domitian XII.) Drake's Hift. of York, p. 422. 66 The following ballad is printed from four ancient copies in black letter; tivo of them in the Pepys library. 7HEN as king Henry rulde this land, WHE The fecond of that name, Befides the queene, he dearly lovde A faire and comely dame. Moft peerlesse was her beautye founde, Her favour, and her face; A fweeter creature in this worlde Could never prince embrace. Her crifped lockes like threads of golde The blood within her crystal cheekes Did fuch a colour drive, S 10 |