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"Godiva" redirects here. For other uses, see Godiva (disambiguation).
Lady Godiva: Edmund Blair Leighton depicts the moment of decision (1892)
Lady Godiva (/ɡəˈdaɪvə/; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English
Godgifu, was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented
as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and
monasteries. Today, she is mainly remembered for a legend dating back to at
least the 13th century, in which she rode naked - covered only in her long
hair - through the streets of Coventry to gain a remission of the oppressive
taxation that her husband, Leofric, imposed on his tenants. The name "Peeping
Tom" for a voyeur originates from later versions of this legend, in which a
man named Thomas watched her ride and was struck blind or dead.
Lady Godiva by John Collier, c. 1897, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum,
Coventry.
Contents
1 Historical figure
2 Legend
2.1 Peeping Tom
3 Degree of nudity
4 Images in art and society
5 Gallery
6 Notes
7 References
8 Further reading
8.1 Sourced and additional bibliography
8.1.1 Historic texts
8.1.2 Secondary sources
9 External links
Historical figure
Godiva was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. They had nine children; one
son was Ælfgar.[1] 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 name's Latinised form. Since the name was a
popular one, there are contemporaries of the same name.[2]
Lady Godiva, a statue by Sir William Reid Dick unveiled in 1949 in Broadgate,
Coventry, a £20,000 gift from W. H. Bassett-Green, a Coventrian[3]
(photograph taken in October 2011)
A Godiva was recorded in the 12th century history of Ely Abbey, Liber
Eliensis; this, if the same as the figure in legend, would make Godiva 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[4] 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.[5][6][a] She and
her husband are commemorated as benefactors of other monasteries at
Leominster, Chester, Much Wenlock, and Evesham.[8] 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.[9] Another necklace went to Evesham,
to be hung around the figure of the Virgin Mary accompanying the life-size
gold and silver rood she and her husband had donated, and St Paul's Cathedral
in the City of London received a gold-fringed chasuble.[10] Both Godiva 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.[11]
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 the Godiva of legend and her sister. The
church there has a 20th century stained glass window representing them.[12]
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.[13] Even so,
it is possible that Thorold, who appears in the Domesday Book as sheriff of
Lincolnshire, was her brother.[b]
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 and her former lands are listed as held by others.[14] Thus, Godiva
apparently died between 1066 and 1086.[2]
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."[2] Her husband was buried in St Mary's Priory and Cathedral in 1057.
William Dugdale (1656) stated that a window with representations of Leofric
and Godiva was placed in Trinity Church, Coventry, about the time of Richard
II.[15]
Legend
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,[16]
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.
19th century equestrian statue of the legendary ride, by John Thomas,
Maidstone Museum, Kent
According to the typical version of the story,[17][18] 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 lower the taxes. 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 what is the most famous instance of voyeurism.[19]
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.[20] 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.[21] This version is given
in Flores Historiarum by Roger of Wendover (died 1236), a somewhat gullible
collector of anecdotes. In a chronicle written in the 1560s, Richard Grafton
claimed the version given in Flores Historiarum originated from a "lost
chronicle" written between 1216 and 1235 by the Prior of the monastery of
Coventry.[22]
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 Horses", so that Godiva ("Godina" in text) had agreed
to the naked ride just to win relief for this horse tax. And as a 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.[23] Grafton was an ardent Protestant and sanitized the
earlier story.[20]
The ballad "Leoffricus" in the Percy Folio (c. 1650)[24][c] 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.[25][