Tracing a Life

It is hard to find an objective description of Rochester in contemporary accounts. Rochester aroused extreme feelings and descriptsions of him are always biased, one way or the other. The life of Rochester as we know it today is no more than a cobbled mosaic of conflicting accounts from his friends and enemies. Rochester's life was extreme and it is hard to find a logical thread that we can trace when writing about his life.

Most biographies manage to conceal the chaos of conflicting opinions and facts behind the veneer of a linear timeline. But we can posit that the real Rochester is only a bricolage of undated legends, folk tales and contemporary accounts.

The inhabitants of Rochester's home counties, Ditchley and Adderbury, still tell tales of Rochester. However, they don't remember his name. In his stead, an anonymous mythologial character has arisen, a person who lived hereabouts a long long time ago...