Rosamund's Bower, also called Rosamund, is a pictorial game of patience or
card solitaire
Patience (Europe), card solitaire or solitaire (US/Canada), is a genre of card games whose common feature is that the aim is to arrange the cards in some systematic order or, in a few cases, to pair them off in order to discard them. Most are inte ...
that uses a single pack of 52
playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...
s.Parlett (1979), p. 212. Peter Arnold, author of the 2011 book ''Card Games for One'', connects it to
Rosamund Clifford
Rosamund Clifford (before 1150 – ), often called "The Fair Rosamund" or "Rose of the World" (Latin: ''rosa mundi''), was a medieval English noblewoman and mistress of Henry II, King of England, who became famous in English folklore.
Life
...
, known as "Fair Rosamund", the mistress of King
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
. The aim is to unite Rosamund and Henry at the top of the single foundationpile. Meanwhile, the "sinister object" of the Jack of Spades is to dispose of Henry and the guards and capture Rosamund.
History
The game is first described as Rosamond's Bower Patience in 1898 by
Mary Whitmore Jones
Mary Elizabeth Whitmore Jones ( 1823 – 1915) was an English author and the first female heir of Chastleton House. She was unmarried and did not have any children.Parlett (1979) and Arnold (2011). It is normally called Rosamund's Bower, but Parlett calls it ''Rosamund'' and gives ''Rosamund's Bower'' as an alternative. Only Whitmore Jones uses the spelling ''Rosamond''.
Background
The background is a legendary story that King
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
adopted
Rosamund Clifford
Rosamund Clifford (before 1150 – ), often called "The Fair Rosamund" or "Rose of the World" (Latin: ''rosa mundi''), was a medieval English noblewoman and mistress of Henry II, King of England, who became famous in English folklore.
Life
...
as his mistress. Rosamund was reputed to be one of the great beauties of the 12th century, inspiring ballads, poems, stories, and paintings. To conceal his illicit amours from his queen,
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from ...
, Henry conducted them within the innermost recesses of an elaborate maze, "Rosamund's Bower", which he laid out in his park at Woodstock Palace in
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
."'Fair Rosamund' well to be restored at Blenheim Palace", BBC News (Oxford), July 20, 2014 /ref> However, Eleanor heard rumours of the affair and made her way through the labyrinth to force Rosamund to choose between a dagger and a bowl of poison. Rosamund chose the poison and died. /ref>
Gardner, Martin
Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...
''More Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions'' p. 88, Penguin Books (1966)
Based on this story, Arnold states that the aim of this game is to "reunite Rosamund and Henry" by succeeding in building its single foundation up to the final Ace, which is then followed by King Henry and then Fair Rosamund herself.
Rules
First, Rosamund (Q), Henry (K) and the J are removed from a single pack of 52 cards. Rosamund is placed in the centre of the
tableau
Tableau (French for 'little table' literally, also used to mean 'picture'; tableaux or, rarely, tableaus) may refer to:
Arts
* ''Tableau'', a series of four paintings by Piet Mondrian titled ''Tableau I'' through to ''Tableau IV''
* ''Tableau viv ...
and eight cards arranged in the form of a cross around her; these are the "guards of her bower". Henry is placed at the top right of the tableau and the J at the bottom right. A packet of seven cards is placed face down and to the right of the King as a reserve or "extra guards."
The J is the
base card
Games of patience, or (card) solitaires as they are usually called in North America, have their own 'language' of specialised terms such as "building down", "packing", "foundations", "talon" and "tableau". Once learnt they are helpful in des ...
of the single foundation which must be built on in
descending sequence
Games of patience, or (card) solitaires as they are usually called in North America, have their own 'language' of specialised terms such as "building down", "packing", "foundations", "talon" and "tableau". Once learnt they are helpful in de ...
, regardless of suit, with Kings following Aces. The outermost cards of the cross are available for play to the foundation. As soon as one is moved to the foundation, its place is taken by the
top card
''Top Card'' is a game show that aired on TNN and produced by Reid-Land Productions, replacing TNN's original game show ''Fandango''. The show aired from April 3, 1989 to March 26, 1993 and was based on the card game Blackjack.
Jim Caldwell was ...
of the reserve guard. Once the latter is exhausted, the outer cards are not replaced and an inner card becomes available once the corresponding outer card has gone.
Once any initial moves have been made from the guards, the
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
is turned singly, cards being played directly to the foundation if possible or to any one of three rubbish heaps (or wastepiles) placed in a row at the bottom left of the tableau. The top card of each rubbish heap is always available for play to the foundation, but cards may not be moved between rubbish heaps. If an outer card of Rosamund's bower is suitable to be built to the foundation, it must always be taken in preference to a card from a rubbish heap.
When the stock is exhausted, the rubbish heaps may be gathered up - Arnold allows this "in any order" - and redealt. They must not be shuffled. Three re-deals are allowed. The game is won if all cards are built to the foundation with Henry and Fair Rosamund as the last two.
References
Bibliography
* Arnold, Peter (2011). ''Card Games for One.'' 2nd edn. London: Chambers.
* Dalton, Basil (1948,64,67). ''The Complete Patience Book''. John Baker. 234 pp.
* Parlett, David (1979). ''The Penguin Book of Patience'', London: Penguin.
*
Whitmore Jones, Mary
Mary Elizabeth Whitmore Jones ( 1823 – 1915) was an English author and the first female heir of Chastleton House. She was unmarried and did not have any children.List of patiences and card solitaires
This is a list of patiences, which are card games that are also referred to as solitaires or as card solitaire.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but only includes games that have met the usual Wikipedia requirements (e.g. notabilit ...