The Fair Rosa Mundi

Many roses have been named after people. Fewer though, in all probability after mistresses and fewer still commemorating royal mistresses. Once upon a time though such was bestowed on a beautiful medieval maid. Rosamund Clifford lived during the middle years of the 12^th century. She is believed to have been born at Woodstock, where Blenheim Palace now stands. Definitely upper class, Rosamund was raised with two sisters and three brothers at Castle Clifford on the River Wye in Hertfordshire and educated at Godstowe Abbey near Oxford.

It may have been there that 'The Fair Rosamund,' as she was known, first met Henry II. Or perhaps it was Woodstock--Henry was peripatetic, constantly on the move. Or making a move--he was a notorious womanizer. Rosamund Clifford seems to have stirred more permanent thoughts. She is believed to have dwelt with him for several years at Woodstock--the exact length of time is uncertain. Folklore has it that Henry created magnificent maze in the centre of which he could clandestinely meet his mistress. So enamoured was Henry with Rosamund that he dubbed her 'Rosa Mundi' or the 'Rose of the World.' When did her rose come into being? Rosa gallica officinalis, to get technical about it, is a spectacular deep pink and white striped sport of the Rose of Province, one of the earliest grown in medieval times. One source claims it dates back to "before 1600." Another, more precise, gives the date as prior to 1581. One of the world's greatest rose experts, David Austin, pegged it as 1200. Today classified as an 'Old Rose,' like most ancient selections, the very showy, semi-double fragrant blooms are displayed only once per season on bushy, compact shrubs. Unlike many of its kind, 'Rosa Mundi' is hardy to an average -29ºC. According to David Austin it is disease resistant, although the Royal Horticultural Society, less enthusiastic, warns it may suffer from what seems every pest known to rose lovers.

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Alas, a rosarian's path is often thorny. So it was for Rosamund Clifford. Earlier Henry, himself the product of Anglo-French parents, had wooed away the French King's landowning wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. Despite apparent practices, French wives do not necessarily tolerate their husband's mistresses. Eleanor might have forgiven Henry's short-term dalliances, but not something altogether more serious. Folklore has it that she used a thread to trace to Rosamond's bower in the maze. There she challenged her with suicide by poison or knife. In truth, such peccadilloes were punished by banishment to a nunnery. So poor Rosamund ended her days where she was earlier educated, at Godstowe Abbey. Even in death, though, she was not permitted to rest in peace. A bishop was enraged at discovering her entombed in front of the high altar there. He demanded her remains to be buried outside, with engraved upon her tombstone the words:

Hic jacet in tumbra rosa mundi,non rosa munda Non redolet, sed olet, quae redolere solet. [Here in this tomb, lies a rose of the world, not a pure (or honorable) rose.]"

Even that was not good enough for, as the fates would have it, her tomb was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. The Fair Rosamund's mortal remains may have disappeared but her memory survives. Popular in English folklore, she has appeared in numerous modern novels, as well as poems, plays, a movie (The Lion in Winter), even an 1834 Italian opera (Rosmonda d'Inghilterra) as well as pre-Raphaelite paintings. There is even a historical interpretation society formed in 1990 rosamundi.org.uk