Fair Maid of Brittany
Preserved but no longer current.
Eleanor (d. 1241), granddaughter of Henry II,. and, after the death of Arthur (1203), the rightful sovereign of England. Her uncle, the usurper King John, imprisoned her in Bristol Castle, which she left to enter a nunnery at Amesbury. Her father, Geoffrey, John's elder brother, was Count of Brittany.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Fair Maid of Brittany” mean?
Eleanor (d. 1241), granddaughter of Henry II,. and, after the death of Arthur (1203), the rightful sovereign of England. Her uncle, the usurper King John, imprisoned her in Bristol Castle, which she left to enter a nunnery at Amesbury. Her father, Geoffrey, John's elder brother, was Count of Brittany.
Is “Fair Maid of Brittany” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.