Great Britain -- Kings and rulers -- Biography; Richard I, King of England, 1157-1199
So he married Eleanora and brought her to England, and lived with her,
as has already been described, in the various palaces which belonged
to him, sometimes in one and sometimes in another.
Among these palaces, one of the most beautiful was that of Woodstock.
The engraving on the opposite page represents the buildings of the
palace as they appeared some hundreds of years later than the time
when Rosamond lived.
[Illustration: VIEW OF WOODSTOCK.]
In the days of Henry and Rosamond the palace of Woodstock was
surrounded with very extensive and beautiful gardens and grounds.
Somewhere upon these grounds the story was that Henry kept Rosamond in
a concealed cottage. The entrance to the cottage was hidden in the
depths of an almost impenetrable thicket, and could only be approached
through a tortuous and intricate path, which led this way and that by
an infinite number of turns, forming a sort of maze, made purposely to
bewilder those attempting to pass in and out. Such a place was often
made in those days in palace-grounds as a sort of ornament, or,
rather, as an amusing contrivance to interest the guests coming to
visit the proprietor. It was called a labyrinth. A great many plans of
labyrinths are found delineated in ancient books. The paths were not
only so arranged as to twist and turn in every imaginable direction,
but at every turn there were several branches made so precisely alike
that there was nothing to distinguish one from the other. Of course,
one of these roads was the right one, and led to the centre of the
labyrinth, where there was a house, or a pretty seat with a view, or a
garden, or a shady bower, or some other object of attraction, to
reward those who should succeed in getting in. The other paths led
nowhere, or, rather, they led on through various devious windings in
all respects similar to those of the true path, until at length they
came to a sudden stop, and the explorer was obliged to return.
The paths were separated from each other by dense hedges of thorn, or
by high walls, so that it was impossible to pass from one to another
except by walking regularly along.
It was in a house, entered through such a labyrinth as this, that
Rosamond is said to have lived, on the grounds of the palace of
Woodstock, while Queen Eleanora, as the avowed wife and queen of King
Henry, occupied the palace itself. Of course, the fact that such a
lady was hidden on the grounds was kept a profound secret from the
queen. If this story is true, there were probably other labyrinths on
the grounds, and this one was so surrounded with trees and hedges,
which connected it by insensible gradations with the groves and
thickets of the park, that there was nothing to attract attention to
it particularly, and thus a lady might have remained concealed in it
for some time without awakening suspicion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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