of Coventry Godiva (Godgifu) 
of Coventry was born in 0980 in Mercia, England.1 Of Coventry's father was Thorold of Buckingham Sheriff of Lincolnshire. She was an only child. She died at the age of 87 on September 10th, 1067.1 General Notes
[SUSANNA KEENE.FTW]
Godiva, Lady (flourished about 1040-80), Anglo-Saxon
noblewoman, wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia (flourished
1005-57). She is known to have persuaded her husband to found
monasteries at Coventry (1043) and Stow. According to legend,
she obtained a reduction in the excessive taxes levied by her
husband on the people of Coventry by consenting to ride naked
through the town on a white horse. Only one person disobeyed
her orders to remain indoors behind closed shutters; this man,
a tailor known afterward as Peeping Tom, peered through a
window and immediately became blind. The oldest form of the
legend is in the 13th-century Flores Historiarum (Flowers of
the Historians). A festival in her honor was instituted as part
of Coventry Fair in 1678.
Source: 'The World Book Encyclopedia', 1968, p G235. 'Godiva,
Lady,' Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1993
Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1993 Funk & Wagnall's
Corporation
Details of of Coventry's family with Leofric III Earl of Mercia
1 SUSANNA KEENE.FTW
Further sources/citations:
Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to @ line 176A pp 151-152, Sister to Thorold of Buckingham, Sheriff
of Lincolnshire, parentage uncertain but she was evidently from
an old, noble family. The "Lady Godiva" of legend., King Hereafter, File Number: ISBN # 0-375-70403-5 @ no parents
Further sources/citations:
Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to @ line 176A pp 151-152, Sister to Thorold of Buckingham, Sheriff
of Lincolnshire, parentage uncertain but she was evidently from
an old, noble family. The "Lady Godiva" of legend., King Hereafter, File Number: ISBN # 0-375-70403-5 @ no parents
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