There’s a song in Carmina Burana whose lyrics, in English, are something like this:
“If all the world were mine
from the sea to the Rhine,
I would give it all up
if the Queen of England lay in my arms.”
Now, the manuscript from which the Carmina Burana texts were taken dates back to the early 13th century, but since we don’t have an exact date, said Queen of England remains unidentifiable, if in fact the author of the poem had a specific queen in mind. (If it does refer to a specific queen, I might guess Eleanor of Aquitaine, but as I said, we don’t know for sure.)
Anyway, a friend of mine tells me that in the Middle Ages, “the queen of England” was sort of a generic term for a powerful and sexy foreign woman – along the same lines of “the Sheik of Araby” much later on (well, without the referring to a woman part). He also said that he wasn’t certain about this – has anyone else ever heard of it?
The main muscripts of Carmina Burana were written in about 1230 and contained songs of an older vintage. It’s impossible to pin down the exact monarch in question. However, it is known that the sex of the speaker for Were diu werlt alle min was changed and that male speakers used female voices where required. In the original, the unidentified monarch was the “King of England” and mostly likely referred to Richard the Lionheart (reigned 1189-1199). The speaker would likely have been the German princess with whom he was rumored to have had an affair. Later when the monarch was changed to the Queen of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine would have been the likely subject. Her beauty was legendary even in old age.
About 9 years ago I had privelege of performing Carl Orff’s adaptation of Carmina Burana with full orchestra and a 200 member chorus. It was an experience I’ll never forget. It’s powerful stuff when performed properly.