Tigress & the Rose
Eleanor of Aquitaine & the Fair Rosamond

By Richard Cameron Low
Book Guild Ltd.
June 2003
ISBN: 1-85776-705-5
423 Pages, 6 1/4" x 9 1/2"
$48.95 Hardcover

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The twelfth century in England is a period of history that is rife with mysteries and contradictions. It is also host to some of the most famous, dramatic and romantic moments in British history: Henry II's legendary love affair with Rosamond Clifford: the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral; Richard I's Third Crusade to the Holy Land and his confrontation with Saladin; the miseries of England under the stewardship of Prince John, and that monarch' later reluctant signing of the Magna Carta. In this book, Richard Low examines in detail the period from 1140 to the death of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Many years of painstaking research have led him to question a number of crucial aspects of this period. When did Henry's long love affair with Rosamond really begin, and what are the implications of this? Did Eleanor conceive a son on her travels during the Second Crusade, and if so, what was his identity? Was he, in fact, Saladin himself? Why did Thomas Becket's manner and attitude undergo such a great transformation after he was made Archbishop of Canterbury? Could Eleanor have been involved?

These and many other historical conundrums are examined and carefully unraveled, leading to some surprising and often shocking conclusions. Revisionist history at its best, this book combines erudition and high adventure to present a vision of twelfth century-century Europe as you have never seen it before.

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