General Notes

REFN: 7650AN
aka Lady Godiva. Little is known about the historical Godiva (Godgifu), ex
cept that she and her husband were generous patrons of several churches. S
he is now famous for her legendary ride, naked, through the streets of Cov
entry in an attempt to persuaDe her stubborn husband to reduce the taxati
on on the
people of the town. The story of the riDe originated in the thirteenth cen
tury. Source: Who's Who in British History. Collins & Brown. London. 2000
Countess of Mercia. Her name in Saxon is "Godgifu", meaning " God's Gift
". She was th e owner of the city of Coventry, and its Patroness.
Source: RootsWeb: Horrock
Perhaps one of the most famous early personalities of the period was La
dy Godiva (Godwa or Godgifu) who allegedly roDe naked the streets of Coven
try in Warwickshire as a protest against her husband's high taxes on the p
eople of the city. This husband, Earl Leofric, a Saxon Earl of Mercia, di
ed an old man in 1057, nine years before the Norman Conquest. They seeming
ly had issue, at least one daughter, who married into the Malet famil
y. 29 years after her husband's death, Lady (Countess) Godiva held many es
tates in Warwickshire, including Coventry, as revealed by the Domesday Bo
ok in 1086. Chronologically, either Leofric had married a child brid
e, or Lady Godiva was a very old woman at the time of the Domesday Surv
ey in 1086. The former is the most likely. The lordships bestowed on La
dy Godiva in Warwickshire by William the Conqueror in 1066 were considerab
le, probably the result of an alliance struck either with Leofric or La
dy Godiva before the Conquest. Since, Lady Godiva was a wealthy woman in 1
057, and still wealthy after the Conquest, it is not likely she display
ed herself in protest after that date, since she would have been protesti
ng her own taxation. She apparently inherited her lands and titles in 105
7. Therefore, the event in question probably took place, if at all, sever
al years before 1057, when, young and innocent, the impatient and passiona
te Lady Godiva, appalled by her aging husband's despotic ways, leapt on h
er nag and took to the streets of Coventry in all her naked glory, perha
ps too young to realize that within a few short years she would be in fu
ll control of all the taxation of her husband's considerable holdings at t
he time of his death, holdings which she carried through to at least 1086.