Rosamund Clifford
DESCRIPTION: King Henry II loves Rosamund Clifford, and constructs a bower at Woodstock to guard her from Queen Eleanor's jealousy. The King and Rosamund talk at length. He departs for the wars. Queen Eleanor poisons Rosamund
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 (Percy) (Broadside registered 1656)
KEYWORDS: love separation death poison royalty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1154-1189 - Reign of Henry II
c. 1176 - Death of Rosamund Clifford
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 154-164, "Fair Rosamund" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2820, "When as King Henry rul'd this Land/"; cf. BBI, ZN2442, "Sweet youthful charming ladies fair"
cf. Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 163-164, "Rosamund" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Queen Eleanor's Confession" [Child 156] (subject)
cf. "Fair Rosamond" (subject)
SAME TUNE:
When Anne, a Princess of renown/The Glorius Warriour (BBI ZN2817)
Notes: Romantic pieces based on the tale of Rosamund Clifford seem to have been fairly common, but I have lumped them all here, excerpt for "Fair Rosamund," on the grounds that few can be demonstrated to be traditional.
The versions listed above seem to fall into two families; the Percy text goes with the broadside "When as King Henry Ruled this Land"; Chappell's version is a "Sweet Youthful Charming Ladies Fair" type of text.
There are traditional elements to the songs, however, as the folk accounts do not match the actual facts. This possibly justifies their inclusion here.
The facts are these: Henry II truly did marry Eleanor of Aquitaine, and he truly did have an affair with Rosamund Clifford. Rosamund seems to have been the true love of Henry's life.
Beyond this, all is conjecture. We do not have dates of Rosamund's romance with Henry, and the evidence conflicts. Geoffrey, Bishop of Lincoln, is said to have been their (second) son, born in 1159. But this conflicts with other evidence about Henry's amours. Also, Henry was still busily having children by Eleanor at that time. The last child of Henry and Eleanor was the future King John, born 1166/67. Henry was still a relatively young man of about 34, while Eleanor was about 45 and probably incapable of bearing further children.
Rosamund was the daughter of Walter FitzPonce, who took the surname Clifford upon gaining the title of Clifford Castle (by marriage) some time before 1138. The date of Rosamund's birth is uncertain. She died around 1176, but the death was the result of natural causes. Indeed, by the 1170s, Henry had Eleanor under virtual house arrest; even had she wanted to, she probably could not have arranged Rosamund's death. - RBW
File: Perc2154
Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Bibiography
Go to the Discography
The Ballad Index Copyright $TrueYear by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.