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A famously explicit example of the association of roses with female sexuality is the
thirteenth- century poem “The Romance of the Rose.” This allegorical fantasy, set in a
walled garden, concerns a young man who falls in love with a rosebud. It was begun in
1237 by Guillaume de Lorris, who died after writing 4,058 lines. This version ended with
the young man’s passion for his rosebud still unconsummated. Subsequently, two different
poets added their own endings to the poem. The first was an anonymous poet who added
seventy- eight lines describing the young man’s amorous romp on the lawn with his beloved
rosebud. The second was Jean de Meun, a Parisian scholar, poet, and satirist, who wrote
another 21,780 lines before finally allowing the impatient lover unrestricted access to his
rosebud. Most scholars agree that Jean de Meun’s contribution, informed both by scholastic
philosophy and the comedies of Juvenal, transformed the original work— which was begun(a)Figure 11.1 Roses and secular love. A. Roxe (rose); Tacuinum santitatis. B. Venus above an
enclosed garden, from the Italian Codex Sphaera.
A is from Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, MS nouv. acq. lat. 1673, fol. 83 recto. Ca. 1380– 90. B is from
Berlin Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte.