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Estrildis
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{{Short description|Mistress of King Locrinus of the Britons}} '''Estrildis''' was the beloved [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] of King [[Locrinus]] of the [[Britons (Celtic people)|Britons]] and the mother of his daughter [[Hafren|Habren]], according to the 12th-century chronicler [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]].<ref name="Tatlock">{{cite journal |last1=Tatlock |first1=J. S. P. |title=The Origin of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Estrildis |journal=Speculum |date=January 1936 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=121–124 |doi=10.2307/2846878 |jstor=2846878 |s2cid=163104127 }}</ref><ref name="Oxford">{{cite book |editor1-last=Drabble |editor1-first=Margaret |editor2-last=Stringer |editor2-first=Jenny |editor3-last=Hahn |editor3-first=Daniel |title=The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191727092 |edition=3rd |chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095758804 |access-date=11 January 2019 |chapter=Estrildis}}</ref><ref name="Olson">{{cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=Katherine |title=Gwendolyn and Estrildis: Invading Queens in British Historiography |journal=Medieval Feminist Forum |date=2008 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=36–52 |doi=10.17077/1536-8742.1708 |doi-access= }}</ref> == Medieval literature == In Geoffrey's pseudohistorical ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'' (History of the Kings of Britain), Estrildis, the daughter of a king in [[Germania]], was brought to Britain as a captive of Chief [[Humber the Hun]] during his invasion following the death of King [[Brutus of Troy|Brutus]]. Eventually [[Humber's Huns]] were defeated by Brutus' three sons, the eldest of whom—Locrinus—fell in love with the beautiful [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] princess upon discovering her in one of Humber's ships.<ref name="Brewer">{{cite book |last1=Brewer |first1=E. Cobham |title=Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable |date=1898 |url=https://www.bartleby.com/81/5940.html |access-date=11 January 2019}}</ref> Locrinus was forced to honour his prior betrothal to [[Queen Gwendolen|Gwendolen]], the daughter of [[Corineus|King Corineus of Cornwall]], but kept Estrildis as his mistress.<ref name="Tolhurst">{{cite book |last1=Tolhurst |first1=F |title=Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Translation of Female Kingship |date=2013 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137329264 |pages=111, 197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=01Xg2aAnn8EC&q=Estrildis&pg=PA197 |access-date=11 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="Johns">{{cite book |last1=Johns |first1=Susan M. |title=Noblewomen, aristocracy and power in the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9781847790538 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHLLCgAAQBAJ&q=Estrildis&pg=PA41}}</ref> For seven years he secretly visited her in a cave beneath [[Trinovantum]] (London, i.e., "New Troy"), where she was cared for by servants.<ref name="Reinhard">{{cite book |last1=Reinhard |first1=John Revell |title=Mediaeval Pageant. Collection of English versions of select mediaeval tales |date=1939 |publisher=Ardent Media |pages=619–621 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3i8nmdU7ge8C&q=Estrildis&pg=PA621 |access-date=11 January 2019}}</ref> Estrildis bore him a daughter, [[Habren]]. When Corineus died, Locrinus deserted Gwendolen and their son [[Maddan]] and declared Estrildis his queen. Gwendolen retaliated by raising a Cornish army against Locrinus and defeating him in battle; she then had Estrildis and her daughter, Habren, drowned in a river thereafter called ''Hafren'' in [[Old Welsh|Welsh]] and [[Sabrina (given name)|Sabrina]] by the Romans (which is the [[River Severn]] in English). == Post-mediaeval literature == Elstridis and her story feature in ''Elstrild'' by Charles Tilney (d. 1586),<ref name="Berek">{{cite journal |last1=Berek |first1=Peter |title=Tamburlaine's Weak Sons: Imitation as Interpretation Before 1593 |journal=Renaissance Drama |series=New Series |date=1982 |volume=13 |pages=68–69 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press for Northwestern University|doi=10.1086/rd.13.43264629 |jstor=43264629 |s2cid=191389670 }}</ref> ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' (1590) by [[Edmund Spenser]], ''The Complaynt of Elstred'' (1593) by [[Thomas Lodge]], and ''Locrine'' (1887) by [[Swinburne]].<ref name="Oxford"/> A variant of the story is told by [[Oliver Mathews]], in which Estrildis is called Sŵs-wên, and [[Locrinus]] builds [[Caersws]] for her.<ref>{{cite book | title=Parochialia | editor-first=Rupert | editor-last=Morris | editor-link=Rupert Morris | series=[[Archaeologia Cambrensis]] | publisher=[[Cambrian Archaeological Association]] | publication-place=London | year=1911 | url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b3812192?urlappend=%3Bseq=409%3Bownerid=9007199257593373-425 | page=99 | volume=3 | hdl=2027/uc1.b3812192?urlappend=%3Bseq=409 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=Oliver | last=Mathews | author-link=Oliver Mathews | title=The Scituation, Foundation, and Auncient Names of the Famous Towne of Sallop | orig-year=1616 | year=1877 | publication-place=Shrewsbury | publisher=T. W. Bickley & Son | url=https://archive.org/details/oliver-mathews-towne-of-sallop/page/n37 | pages=17–18 }}</ref><ref name="WCD Locrinus">{{cite encyclopedia | title=Locrinus | encyclopedia=A Welsh Classical Dictionary | volume=7 | first=Peter C. | last=Bartrum | author-link=Peter Bartrum | orig-year=1993 | year=2009 | editor=MPS | publisher=[[National Library of Wales]] | page=485 | url=https://www.library.wales/fileadmin/docs_gwefan/new_structure/discover/digital_exhibitions/printed_material/welsh_classical_dictionary/07_H-LL.pdf }}</ref> The story went on to inspire the folktale of [[Rosamund Clifford]], mistress of King [[Henry II of England|Henry II]], being hidden in an underground labyrinth.<ref name="Worrall 1977">{{cite journal | last=Worrall | first=David | title=Blake's 'Jerusalem' and the Visionary History of Britain | journal=Studies in Romanticism | publisher=Boston University | volume=16 | issue=2 | year=1977 | issn=0039-3762 | jstor=25600075 | pages=215–216 | doi=10.2307/25600075 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25600075 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> == Name == Her name is probably a [[Latinisation of names|Latinized]] form of the medieval name ''Estrild'' ({{langx|ang|Éastorhild}}), which survived in England only until the 12th century, according to the 1984 ''Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names''.<ref>[http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/reaney.cgi?Estrild "Feminine Given Names in ''A Dictionary of English Surnames''"] ([http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ Medieval Names Archive] at www.s-gabriel.org)</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}} {{House of Brutus family tree}} {{Geoffrey of Monmouth}} [[Category:People executed by drowning]] [[Category:Legendary German people]]
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