1535944

[charlemegne.FTW]

This is the "Lady Godiva" of legend.

About the year 1028, a wealthy widow named Godgifu, "gift of God ", or Godiva (there are 17 different spellings of her name), bel ieving herself to be on her deathbed, bequeathed her considerabl e property to the monastery at Ely, England. But she recovered a nd a decade or so later remarried, soon interesting her new husb and, Leofric, the earl of Mercia, in her charitable donations. L eofric and Godiva moved to Coventry in Warwickshire from Shrewsb ury, Shropshire where Leofric had earned his fortune in the mutt on trade. In 1043 the earl and his lady founded a Benedictine mo nastery at Coventry on the site of the present-day bombed-out ru in of Coventry Cathedral and nearby new Coventry Cathedral whic h was built by German students after World War II. On October 4 , the monastery (or abbey) which was named in honor of St. Eunic e of Saxmundham and was dedicated to St. Peter, St. Osburg, Al l Saints, and the Virgin Mary, to whom Godiva was particularly d evoted. Her later gifts of gold and gems made the monastery chap el one of the richest in England. After the earl's death, Lady G odiva continued her patronage of at least half a dozen more mona steries. Yet, it is not for such good works that Lady Godiva i s remembered, but rather for her legendary ride through Coventr y in the nude. The people of Coventry, as most subjects of Edwar d the Confessor in England, were suffering from the burden of hi gh taxes. But their pleas for relief went unheeded by Leofric, w ho had his own obligations to meet and who was not above passin g them on to the citizenry. Instead of mercy, Coventry's inhabit ants received notice of a tax increase. To meet it they would ha ve to impoverish themselves. Filled with compassion for the desp erate people, Lady Godiva approached her husband - as she had o n earlier occasions - to ask that he suspend the onerous levies . Perhaps angered at her persistence, and wishing to put an en d to her tiresome requests, the earl made an outlandish proposal . "Mount your horse naked," he said to his wife, "and pass throu gh the market of the town, from one end to the other, when the p eople are assembled." On her return from the ride, he promised , Godiva would be granted her wish and the townspeople would b e spared the burdensome new taxes. Leofric expected his wife t o withdraw in shock and embarrassment. Instead, to his astonishm ent, she agreed. The following day, completely unclothed , Godiv a mounted a charger and rode through the marketplace. She was ac companied by two female servants also on horseback, though full y dressed. The story of her ride first appeared in the Flores Hi storiarum of Roger of Wendover, an historian who lived some tw o centuries after Lady Godiva's time. He seems to have based hi s account on the work of an earlier but now lost chronicle. Subs equent writers steadily embellished the tale. In one version, La dy Godiva's body she was concealed by her flowing hair and anoth er has her enveloped in a God-granted cloak of invisibility. I n yet another, she orders Coventry's inhabitants to remain indoo rs behind shuttered windows on the morning of the ride, thus spa ring herself the rude stares of the common folk. Early in the 18 th century, another character was added to the narrative. A tail or named Tom, it was claimed, disobeyed her command. When he pee ked through a crack in the shutter of his window, Tom was miracu lously struck blind. The justly punished voyeur was the origina l "peeping Tom." As for Leofric's taxes, the humbled earl reward ed his wife's act of compassion by lifting all tolls on Coventr y except those for keeping horses. As late at the 17th century , the town was still boasting of such a tax-exempt status. As re cently as 1966, Lady Godiva made headline news of a wildly impro bable nature. That year's edition of Debrett's Peerage, the defi nitive guide to who's who among Britain's aristocracy, took a ne w look at the lineage of Queen Elizabeth II. The queen, long kno wn to count William the Conqueror among her ancestors, was now s aid also to be 31st in descent from Harold, the monarch Willia m displaced. Diligent readers of Debrett's were quick to note th an Harold's great grandparents were none other than Leofric an d Godiva.

Godiva, Lady, Old English GODGIFU (fl. c. 1040-80), Anglo-Saxo n gentlewoman famous for her legendary ride while nude through C oventry, Warwickshire.

Godiva was the wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia, with whom she fo unded and endowed a monastery at Coventry. The chronicler Floren ce of Worcester (d. 1118) mentions Leofric and Godiva with respe ct, but does not refer to the ride. There is no evidence connect ing the rider with the historical Godiva.

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