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LADY GODIVA
AROUND 1040 - 1080
Legend tells us that upper-class lady Godgifu, aka Lady
Godiva, rode through the city of Coventry (in Warwickshire) in the nudes.
Now why would she do that and what did her husband Leofric
think about it?
Leofric was
Earl of Mercia,
by the way, and here you can learn
more about Mercia.
Who
brought us the story in the first place? Historian and secret lover of fiction
Roger of Wendover
was the first to report on the fun ride.
Basically, the tale goes like this:
Godiva keeps giving her husband Leofric hell because Leofric keeps
collecting heavy taxes. Then one day, Leofric just arrived home from the pub,
and Godiva started the nagging again. Leo,
slightly hammered and always
up for some entertainment, told his girl that he would reduce taxes if she would
ride through town without clothes. And so
she did, while letting her looong hair cover everything.
Roger the
historian also reported that Godiva and Leofric had founded a
Benedictine monastery at Coventry.
So everybody ran off with Roger's little
yarn and added his or her own details. Remember, those
guys didn't have TV back then.
Lady Godiva's tale started
another tale - that of
Peeping Tom. Although nobody was allowed to look outside while
Lady G was riding by, Tom couldn't help it. As a punishment, and
depending on the storyteller, all kinds of
bad things happened to him. Some insisted that horny little bastard Tom got instantly zapped by
lightning.
And isn't this just the kind of story you would
think Maureen O'Hara would have had a field day with? Bingo. Maureen
found the perfect wig and was
Lady Godiva of Coventry
in 1955.
For the people of Coventry today, this semi-arousing folk tale is
reason enough to let their hair down annually at the Godiva Festival.
And you are welcome to join the craze.
Here's the link.
And here is the map
1065 England
More maps
1066 Battle of Hastings
1066 Battle of Hastings (USMA)
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