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Birth:          ABT 1010 of Mercia
Death:          10 Sep 1067 
Burial:         Coventry, Warwickshire, England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Godiva
Godiva, Countess of Mercia (/g?'da?v?/; d.–1067), in Old English Godgifu, was an 
English noblewoman who, according to a legend dating at least to the 13th century, 
rode naked – covered only in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to gain a 
remission of the oppressive taxation that her husband imposed on his tenants. The 
name "Peeping Tom" for a voyeur originates from later versions of this legend in which 
a man named Tom watched her ride and was struck blind or dead.
Historical figure[edit]
Godiva was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. They had one known son, Aelfgar.[2] 
The modern era Kingsbury family have claimed descent from Lady Godiva.[3][4][5][6]
[7]

Godiva's name occurs in charters and the Domesday survey, though the spelling 
varies. The Old English name Godgifu or Godgyfu meant "gift of God"; Godiva was the 
Latinised form. Since the name was a popular one, there are contemporaries of the 
same name.[7][8]

If she is the same Godiva who appears in the history of Ely Abbey, the Liber Eliensis, 
written at the end of the 12th century, then she was a widow when Leofric married 
her. Both Leofric and Godiva were generous benefactors to religious houses. In 1043 
Leofric founded and endowed a Benedictine monastery at Coventry[9] on the site of a 
nunnery destroyed by the Danes in 1016. Writing in the 12th century, Roger of 
Wendover credits Godiva as the persuasive force behind this act. In the 1050s, her 
name is coupled with that of her husband on a grant of land to the monastery of St. 
Mary, Worcester and the endowment of the minster at Stow St Mary, Lincolnshire.[10]
[11][12] She and her husband are commemorated as benefactors of other monasteries 
at Leominster, Chester, Much Wenlock, and Evesham.[13] She gave Coventry a 
number of works in precious metal by the famous goldsmith Mannig and bequeathed a 
necklace valued at 100 marks of silver.[14] Another necklace went to Evesham, to be 
hung around the figure of the Virgin accompanying the life-size gold and silver rood 
she and her husband gave, and St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London received a 
gold-fringed chasuble.[15] She and her husband were among the most munificent of 
the several large Anglo-Saxon donors of the last decades before the Norman 
Conquest; the early Norman bishops made short work of their gifts, carrying them off to 
Normandy or melting them down for bullion.[16]
The manor of Woolhope in Herefordshire, along with four others, was given to the 
cathedral at Hereford before the Norman Conquest by the benefactresses Wulviva and 
Godiva – usually held to be this Godiva and her sister. The church there has a 20th-
century stained glass window representing them.[17]

Her signature, Ego Godiva Comitissa diu istud desideravi [I, The Countess Godiva, 
have desired this for a long time], appears on a charter purportedly given by Thorold 
of Bucknall to the Benedictine monastery of Spalding. However, this charter is 
considered spurious by many historians.[18] Even so, it is possible that Thorold, who 
appears in the Domesday Book as sheriff of Lincolnshire, was her brother.

After Leofric's death in 1057, his widow lived on until sometime between the Norman 
Conquest of 1066 and 1086. She is mentioned in the Domesday survey as one of the 
few Anglo-Saxons and the only woman to remain a major landholder shortly after the 
conquest. By the time of this great survey in 1086, Godiva had died, but her former 
lands are listed, although now held by others.[19] Thus, Godiva apparently died 
between 1066 and 1086.[8]

The place where Godiva was buried has been a matter of debate. According to the 
Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham, or Evesham Chronicle, she was buried at the Church 
of the Blessed Trinity at Evesham, which is no longer standing. According to the 
account in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "There is no reason to doubt 
that she was buried with her husband at Coventry, despite the assertion of the 
Evesham chronicle that she lay in Holy Trinity, Evesham."[8]

William Dugdale (1656) says that a window with representations of Leofric and Godiva 
was placed in Trinity Church, Coventry, about the time of Richard II.[20]

Legend[edit]

The legend of the nude ride is first recorded in the 13th century, in the Flores 
Historiarum and the adaptation of it by Roger of Wendover; despite its considerable 
age, it is not regarded as plausible by modern historians,[citation needed] nor is it 
mentioned in the two centuries intervening between Godiva's death and its first 
appearance, while her generous donations to the church receive various mentions. 
According to the typical version of the story,[21][22] Lady Godiva took pity on the 
people of Coventry, who were suffering grievously under her husband's oppressive 
taxation. Lady Godiva appealed again and again to her husband, who obstinately 
refused to remit the tolls. At last, weary of her entreaties, he said he would grant her 
request if she would strip naked and ride on a horse through the streets of the town. 
Lady Godiva took him at his word, and after issuing a proclamation that all persons 
should stay indoors and shut their windows, she rode through the town, clothed only in 
her long hair. Just one person in the town, a tailor ever afterwards known as Peeping 
Tom, disobeyed her proclamation in one of the most famous instances of voyeurism.
[23]

Some historians have discerned elements of pagan fertility rituals in the Godiva story, 
whereby a young "May Queen" was led to the sacred Cofa's tree, perhaps to 
celebrate the renewal of spring.[24] The oldest form of the legend has Godiva passing 
through Coventry market from one end to the other while the people were assembled, 
attended only by two knights.[25] This version is given in Flores Historiarum by Roger 
of Wendover (died 1236), a somewhat gullible collector of anecdotes, who quoted 
from unnamed earlier writers.
Other attempts to find a more plausible rationale for the legend include one based on 
the custom at the time for penitents to make a public procession in their shift, a 
sleeveless white garment similar to a slip today and one which was certainly 
considered "underwear". Thus Godiva might have actually travelled through town as a 
penitent, in her shift. Godiva's story could have passed into folk history to be recorded 
in a romanticised version. Another theory has it that Lady Godiva's "nakedness" might 
refer to her riding through the streets stripped of her jewellery, the trademark of her 
upper class rank. However, these attempts to reconcile known facts with legend are 
both weak; in the era of the earliest accounts, the word "naked" is only known to 
mean "without any clothing whatsoever".[26]

A modified version of the story was given by printer Richard Grafton, later elected MP 
for Coventry. According to his Chronicle of England (1569), "Leofricus" had already 
exempted the people of Coventry from "any maner of Tolle, Except onely of Horsse 
(sic.)", so that Godiva ("Godina" in text) had agreed to the naked ride just to win relief 
for this horse tax. And as a pre-condition, she required the officials of Coventry to 
forbid the populace "upon a great pain" from watching her, and to shut themselves in 
and shutter all windows on the day of her ride.[27] Grafton was an ardent Protestant 
and sanitized the earlier story.[24]

The ballad "Leoffricus" in the Percy Folio (ca. 1650)[28][29] conforms to Grafton's 
version, saying that Lady Godiva performed her ride to remove the customs paid on 
horses, and that the town's officers ordered the townsfolk to "shutt their dore, & clap 
their windowes downe," and remain indoors on the day of her ride.[30][31]

Peeping Tom[edit]
The story of "Peeping Tom", who alone among the townsfolk spied on the Lady 
Godiva's naked ride, probably did not originate in literature, but came about through 
popular lore in the locality of Coventry. Reference by 17th-century chroniclers has 
been claimed,[24] but all the published accounts are 18th-century or later.

According to an 1826 article submitted by someone well-versed in local history and 
identifying himself as W. Reader,[32] there was already a well-established tradition 
that there was a certain tailor who had spied on Lady Godiva, and that at the annual 
Trinity Great Fair (now called the Godiva Festival) featuring the Godiva processions "a 
grotesque figure called Peeping Tom" would be set on display, and it was a wooden 
statue carved from oak. The author has dated this effigy, based on the style of armour 
he is shown wearing, from the reign of Charles II (d. 1685). The same writer felt the 
legend had to be subsequent to William Dugdale (d. 1686) since he made no mention 
of it in his works that discussed Coventry at full length.[33] (The story of the tailor and 
the use of a wooden effigy may be as old as the 17th century, but the effigy may not 
have always been called "Tom". See 1773 date below, and the alternate suggested 
name "Action".)

W. Reader dates the first Godiva procession to 1677,[34] but other sources date the 
first parade to 1678, and on that year a lad from the household of James Swinnerton 
enacted the role of Lady Godiva.[35]

The English Dictionary of National Biography (D.N.B.) gives a meticulous account of 
the literary sources.[36] The historian Paul de Rapin (1732) reported the Coventry lore 
that Lady Godiva performed her ride while "commanding all Persons to keep within 
Doors and from their Windows, on pain of Death" but one man could not refrain from 
looking and it "cost him his life"; Rapin further reported that the town commemorates 
this with a "Statue of a Man looking out of a Window."[37]

Next, Thomas Pennant in Journey from Chester to London (1782) recounted how "the 
curiosity of a certain taylor overcoming his fear, he took a single peep".[38] Pennant 
noted that the person enacting Godiva in the procession was not fully naked of 
course, but wore "silk, closely fitted to her limbs", which had a colour resembling the 
skin's complexion.[38] (In Chester's time around 1782 silk was worn, but the annotator 
of the 1811 edition noted that a cotton garment had since replaced the silk fabric.
[38]) According to the D.N.B., the oldest document that mentions "Peeping Tom" by 
name is a record in Coventry's official annals, dating to 11 June 1773, documenting 
that the city issued a new wig and paint for the wooden effigy.

There is also said to be a letter from pre-1700, stating that the peeper was actually 
Action (pronounced Actæon?), Lady Godiva's groom.[39]

Additional legend proclaims that Peeping Tom was later struck blind as heavenly 
punishment, or that the townspeople took the matter in their own hands and blinded 
him.[40]

The Peeping Tom story is absent from the few sources contemporary with Godiva. It 
has been pointed out that Tom (Thomas) is not an Anglo-Saxon name, and therefore 
hardly likely to be a name of a townsperson governed by Leoffric. Coventry was still a 
small settlement, with only 69 families (and the monastery) recorded in the Domesday 
Book some decades later. Lastly, the only recorded tolls were on horses. Thus, it 
remains doubtful whether there is any historical basis for the famous ride. The story is 
particularly doubtful since Countess Godiva would herself have been responsible for 
setting taxation in Coventry; Salic law, which excluded females from the inheritance of 
a throne or fief, did not apply in Anglo-Saxon society. If only because of the nudity in 
the story, its popularity has been maintained, and spread internationally, with many 
references in modern popular culture.
Images in art and society[edit]

The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry maintains a permanent exhibition on 
the subject. The oldest painting was commissioned by the County of the City of 
Coventry in 1586 and produced by Adam van Noort, a refugee Flemish artist. His 
painting depicts a "voluptuously displayed" Lady Godiva against the background of a 
"fantastical Italianate Coventry". In addition the Gallery has collected many Victorian 
interpretations of the subject described by Marina Warner as "an oddly composed 
Landseer, a swooning Watts and a sumptuous Alfred Woolmer".[24]

Colliers' Lady Godiva was bequeathed by social reformer Thomas Hancock Nunn. 
When he died in 1937, the painting was offered to the Corporation of Hampstead. He 
specified in his will that should his bequest be refused by Hampstead (presumably on 
grounds of propriety) the painting was then to be offered to Coventry. The painting 
now hangs in the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.[2]

American sculptor Anne Whitney created a marble sculpture of Lady Godiva, now in 
the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas.[41]

Godiva Chocolatier is named after Lady Godiva, and features a stylised rendition of 
her ride as its logo.

The New York-based rock group The Velvet Underground recorded a song titled Lady 
Godiva's Operation for their 1968 album White Light/White Heat.

Lady Godiva was also mentioned in the lyrics of the song Don't Stop Me Now, by 
Queen, "I am a racing car passing by, like Lady Godiva".

Simply Red had a single in 1992 from The Montreux EP called Lady Godiva's Room, 
which peaked on the UK charts at number 11.

British pop duo Peter and Gordon also popularised the song.

Extreme metal band Heaven Shall Burn used the legend of Lady Godiva for the song 
"Godiva" from their 2013 album Veto.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I00630
This is the famous Lady Godiva. She complained constantly to her husband that the 
taxes were too high on the townspeople of Coventry. He finally said that he would 
reduce the taxes if she would ride nude through the marketplace on market day. She 
arranged for all of the men to remain inside and covered her entire body, except her 
legs, with her hair. Supposedly one person named Tom did not remain inside during 
her ride and became known as "Peeping Tom". Leofric eliminated all taxes, except for 
one on horses. During Edward I's reign, a check was made and the only tax in 
Coventry was one on horses. Since 1678 the town of Coventry still celebrates the ride 
during its annual fair.

Concerning her dates of birth and death. I originally had 980-1067, but this was not in 
agreement with Ancestral Roots line 176a-2, which has her birth at c1010 and her 
marriage at c1030. Nor was it consistant with the Encyclopedia Britannica which had 
Godiva fl. 1040-1080. However the 980 birth date was consistant with her gr 
grandaughter Nesta b. c1055/7, dau of Edith, dau of Aelfgar, son of Godiva. With 
some serious scrunching of dates I could conceive of:

Godiva b. 1010 (originally 980)
Aelfgar b. 1025 (originally 1002)
Edith b. 1041 (originally 1030)
Nesta b. 1057

with two other daughters of Leofric born to a "first wife or mistress". It is physically 
possible for 3 generations in a row born at the 15/16th year of their parents life 
(however unlikely), so that is what I have done.

--------------------------------------------

Curt Hofemann, curt_hofemann AT yaoo.com, e-mailed:

Hi Jim,
You may want to adjust the date of death [of Godiva, which at the time was 10 Sep 
1067]]
Warwickshire - the Domesday Book in 1086

Perhaps one of the most famous early personalities of the period was Lady Godiva 
(Godwa or Godgifu) who allegedly rode naked the streets of Coventry in Warwickshire 
as a protest against her husband's high taxes on the people of the city. This husband, 
Earl Leofric, a Saxon Earl of Mercia, died an old man in 1057, nine years before the 
Norman Conquest. They seemingly had issue, at least one daughter, who married into 
the Malet family. 29 years after her husband's death, Lady (Countess) Godiva held 
many estates in Warwickshire, including Coventry, as revealed by the Domesday Book 
in 1086. Chronologically, either Leofric had married a child bride, or Lady Godivawas a 
very old woman at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. The former is the most 
likely. The lordships bestowed on Lady Godiva in Warwickshire by William the 
Conqueror in 1066 were considerable, probably the result of an alliance struck either 
with Leofric or Lady Godiva before the Conquest. Since, Lady Godiva was a wealthy 
woman in 1057, and still wealthy after the Conquest, it is not likely she displayed 
herself in protest after that date, since she would have been protesting her own 
taxation. She apparently inherited her lands and titles in 1057. Therefore, the event in 
question probably took place, if at all, several years before 1057, when, young and 
innocent, the impatient and passionate Lady Godiva, appalled by her aging husband's 
despotic ways, leapt on her nag and took to the streets of Coventry in all her naked 
glory, perhaps too young to realize that within a few short years she would be in full 
control of all the taxation of her husband's considerable holdings at the time of his 
death, holdings which she carried through to at least 1086. [Ref: ]

Also the Encyclopædia Britannica lists "fl. c. 1040, -80"

Other refs:
aka: Gogdifu [Dict of Brit History p153-4, Ency Britannica]

Godiva's ancestry is uncertain, but she was evidently of an old, noble family. [Ref: 
Weis AR7 176A]

sister of Thorold of Buckingham, sheriff of Lincs [Ref: Weis AR7 176A, Watney 673] 
Turold the Sheriff [Ref: KeatsRohan Lucy]

Regards,
Curt

Parents
OF COVENTRY Thorold (ABT  985 - )
----- ----- ()

Siblings
____ Godiva (Godgifu) (ABT 1010 - 10 Sep 1067)
____ Turold (ABT 1020 - BEF 1079)

Marriage To ____ Leofric III (14 May  978 - 31 Aug 1057)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
____ Leofwine (ABT  950 - 1028)
____ Alwara (ABT  950 - )

Children by ____ Leofric III 14 May  978 - 31 Aug 1057
____ Alfgar III (ABT 1025 - ABT 1060)

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