of Coventry, Godiva (Godgifu)

Birth Name of Coventry, Godiva (Godgifu) 1a 2a 3a 4a
Gramps ID I28782
Gender female
Age at Death 87 years, 8 months, 9 days

Events

Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Birth [E37699] 980 Mercia, England  
1b 2b 3b
Death [E37700] 1067-09-10    
2c 3c
_FA1 [E37701]   The famous Lady Godiva who rode nude on her horse through Coventry.  
1c 2d 3d
_FA2 [E37702]   Lived & buried in Coventry, Warwickshire.  
2e 3e
_FA3 [E37703]   Persuaded her husband to found monasteries at Coventry (1043) and Stow.  
2f 3f

Parents

Relation to main person Name Birth date Death date Relation within this family (if not by birth)
Father Sheriff of Lincolnshire, Thorold of Buckingham [I30096]955
         of Coventry, Godiva (Godgifu) [I28782] 980 1067-09-10

Families

    Family of Earl of Mercia, Leofric III and of Coventry, Godiva (Godgifu) [F11237]
Married Husband Earl of Mercia, Leofric III [I28783] ( * 968-05-14 + 1057-08-31 )
   
Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Marriage [E58448]      
1d 2g 3g
  Children
Name Birth Date Death Date
Earl of Mercia, AElfgar III of Mercia [I28779]1002BET. 1059 - 1063

Narrative

[large-G675.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

Pedigree

  1. Sheriff of Lincolnshire, Thorold of Buckingham [I30096]
    1. of Coventry, Godiva (Godgifu)
      1. Earl of Mercia, Leofric III [I28783]
        1. Earl of Mercia, AElfgar III of Mercia [I28779]

Ancestors

Source References

  1. Frederick Lewis Weis: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America bef 1760 [S286879]
      • Page: line 176A pp 151-152
      • Source text:

        Sister to Thorold of Buckingham, Sheriff of Lincolnshire, parentage uncertain but she was evidently from an old, noble family. The "Lady Godiva" of legend.

      • Page: line 176A pp 151-152
      • Source text:

        b prob ca 1010

      • Page: line 176A pp 151-152
      • Page: line 176A pp 151-152
      • Source text:

        m by 1030, possibly her 2nd m, one known child

  2. large-G675.FTW [S286834]
      • Source text:

        Date of Import: 14 Mar 1999

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        Date of Import: 14 Mar 1999

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        Date of Import: 14 Mar 1999

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        Date of Import: 14 Mar 1999

      • Source text:

        Date of Import: 14 Mar 1999

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        Date of Import: 14 Mar 1999

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        Date of Import: 14 Mar 1999

  3. large-G675.FTW [S261374]
      • Source text:

        b bef 1000

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        b bef 1000

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        b bef 1000

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        b bef 1000

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        b bef 1000

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        b bef 1000

      • Page: line 176A pp 151-152
      • Source text:

        m by 1030, possibly her 2nd m, one known child

  4. 11615-2.ftw [S7587]
      • Source text:

        Date of Import: 21 Feb 1999