Born: 990 (circa), United Kingdom
Died: 10 September 1067
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Godgifu
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Godiva, according to legend, a Saxon lady of Coventry, in Warwickshire. She was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Lord of Coventry in the reign of Edward the Confessor (1050). The inhabitants of Coventry were so heavily oppressed by taxes, that they appealed to Lady Godiva to intercede for them, saying that if they paid they must starve. Godiva, sympathizing with the people, went to her lord to plead that, for her sake, the tax might be remitted. Leofric, when she persisted in her entreaties, at last said half jocularly and half contemptuously, that he would grant her request if she would ride naked through the town. Godiva caused it to be made known on what terms the earl had agreed to relieve the people from the tax, and then proclaimed that on a certain day no one should leave his house before noon, that all windows and other apertures in the houses should be closed, and that no one should look out until noon was past. She then, on the day appointed, mounted naked on her palfrey, rode through the town, and returned, upon which Leofric, in fulfilment of his promise, and in admiration of his wife’s heroism, freed the inhabitants from the burdens he had imposed on them. Only one “peeping Tom,” the story says, attempted to look out, and he was immediately struck blind. A mediaeval pageant celebrating Godiva’s ride was a feature of the Coventry fair for several centuries. One of Tennyson’s graceful short poems, entitled Godiva, deals with this subject.
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
The name of a beautiful lady, sister of Therald de Burgenhall, sheriff of Lincolnshire, and wife of Leofric, Earl of Leicester, who was the eldest son of Algar, the great Earl of Mercia. This lady, having an extraordinary affection for Coventry, solicited her husband to release the inhabitants of that city from a grievous tax laid on them. He consented, on condition that she would ride naked through the streets of Coventry in noon-day. This she did, first enjoining every one to keep within their houses, the doors and windows of which were to be closely shut. She then partially veiled herself with her flowing hair, mounted her palfrey, and made the circuit of the city. Leofric kept his promise, and the city of Coventry was relieved from the oppression. This adventure was painted in one of the windows of Trinity-church, in Coventry, with these lines,
“I, Leofric, for the love of thee,
Do make Coventry toll-free.”